Ody Mandrell

«I've seen better parts at a waste dump.»

―Ody Mandrell taunts an opponent — 20?cb=20250116042720

Ody Mandrell was a Er'Kit male who was a Podracer born and raised on the dusty world of Tatooine.

Biography

One of the youngest Podracers to participate in the sport, Ody was barely more than a teenager. His naturally resilient skin, an inherent characteristic of nearly all Er'Kit, allowed him to walk away from most of his crashes nearly unscathed—and Mandrell experienced more crashes than most. The quintessential daredevil, Mandrell raced not for money or fame, but simply for the adrenaline rush. He relished mind-boggling risk, and constantly flew at top speed, edging around corners by the seat of his pants as he whooped and laughed like a madman.

Mandrell was a powerful contender in the midrace battles that frequented Podracing. With his powerful Exelbrok XL 5115 engine, he could deliver serious damage to other racers, and it never seemed to bother him that they might be better pilots. Fans enjoyed his bravado, and he was a favorite among the spectators of the Boonta Eve Classic. During the race in which Anakin Skywalker won his freedom, During a risky^[2] maneuver, Ody's Podracer was disabled in the pits when the droid DUM-4 was sucked into one massive engine and spat out the other end. However, he was able to repair the engine after the race, and was soon back on the Podracing circuit.

During the Galactic Games of 26 BBY, Ody Mandrell crashed his podracer in an illegal Caves race on the planet Euceron. Fourteen-year-old Jedi Padawan Anakin Skywalker competed in and won that race, but he had to push his own engines as hard as he dared in order to outrun Mandrell's crash smoke so it wouldn't blind him. Other competitors included Hekula (son of Sebulba), Aldar Beedo, Gasgano, Elan Mak, "Scorch" Zanales, and Will Neluenf.^[6]

Mandrell dominated on Dethro's Revenge on Ord Ibanna and was the track's favorite there.

Ody remained on Tatooine, where he worked in the old Mos Espa Grand Arena, now a Swoop racing arena after the Galactic Empire banned Podracing. He was employed by Ulda alongside his previous competitor, Teemto Pagalies. In 4 ABY, several months after the Battle of Endor, Luke Skywalker came to the arena seeking information on his father, Anakin. Ody and Teemto recalled the events of the Boonta Eve Classic for the young Skywalker and pointed him to Anakin's friend W. Wald for more information.^[7]

In 8 ABY, when Han and Leia Organa Solo appeared at the Arena looking for a fast transport to catch the runaway Kitster Chanchani Banai and recover the grass painting Killik Twilight, it was Ody who prepared Han with Rao's swoop bike, which was basically a Podracer engine with a seat attached.^[8]

Personality and traits

Relishing in deifying death at every turn, Mandrell participated in the high-speed and high-risk contests of Podracing due to the exhilarating adrenaline rush they provided.^[9] Other Podracers were convinced that Mandrell had a death wish.^[2] The Er'Kit male^[1] had light blue skin with pink and yellow stripes, black eyes,^[4] and was considered short and squat by the standards of species.^[2]

Behind the scenes

Mandrell's voice in Star Wars Episode I: Racer and Star Wars: Racer Revenge was provided by Bob Bergen.

In the Episode I novel, Ody Mandrell returned to the 32 BBY podrace after his pit stop accident, but he crashed when his podracer over-banked.

The early design of Ody Mandrell, first being called Ody Mysturall, and his species design first set to be Boles Roor.

During development, Ody Mandrell was created, but at this time was known as "Ody Mysturall", with a differing design. In concept art, Ody Mysturall was concepted as a tall creature, with longer, lankier legs and arms, and having a (possibly) fused head and body with a long snarling mouth with small, evil-like slanted eyes and small antennae. The name Ody Mysturall made it as far as appearing in post-production art and the animatics stage of the Boonta Eve Classic scene, with Ody Mysturall labeled to his finalized podracer that appears in the final film (albeit all colored red), but was later redesigned.

In said redesign, Ody Mandrell, while labeled as Ody Mysturall, had his species designed labeled by the name Boles Roor, who would later become his own podracer pilot who would appear in the race. Of course, the species was assigned by the name of Boles Roor, would later be assigned to Ody Mysturall, now under the name of Ody Mandrell, and would scrap the Ody Mysturall design, and keep the design that would appear in the finished product.

Ody Mandrell's podracer was first possibly assigned as Mawhonic's podracer, with concept art grid showing not only the scrapped podracers who would have appeared in the film (who would later appear in Star Wars Episode I: Racer), but did show that Mandrell's podracer was supposed to be Mawhonic's, whereas Mawhonic's podracer that would appear in the final film, was indeed signed to Ody Mandrell. Additionally, Aldar Beedo was meant to drive in Ody Mandrell's podracer, before he was replaced with an earlier design of Mawhonic, who would later be designed as a Gran, switch their pods, and eventually settled on their current podracers and designs seen in the final film.