Toonbuck Toora

Toonbuck Toora was a female Sy Myrthian politician who served as the senator of Sy Myrth in the Galactic Senate between 32 BBY and 22 BBY. A supporter of commerce guilds. she profited from illegal affairs and voiced heer disapproval with the increasing taxation, resulting in her pledging her support to the Confederacy of Independent Systems.

Following the end of the Clone Wars in 19 BBY, which saw the transformation of the Galactic Republic into the Galactic Empire under Palpatine and the fall of the Confederacy, Toora led a Separatist holdout against the Galactic Empire until her defeat in the Battle of Trasemene.

Representing Sy Myrth in the Galactic Senate
A female Sy Myrthian politician, Toonbuck Toora served in the Galactic Republic Senate as the representative of her people and all of Sy Myrth. An idealist who had hoped to end corruption within her administration, Toora became jaded and cynical as time progressed and ultimately she embraced the culture of greed that permeated the elite on Coruscant. Over her time in galactic politics, Toora became one of the most corrupt Republic politicians of the time. Dressing herself in fine linens and adorning her arm with an ever-present consort, Ianad Cisma, Toora's wealth was beyond any she could have imagined and gladly made herself comfortable throughout her career.

Profiting greatly from investment in the Trade Federation, Toora became one of the business conglomerate's more vocal supporter's in the Senate at the time surrounding the Federation's blockade and subsequent invasion of the oeaceful planet Naboo.

While most of the Senate was divided, belonging either to the Core faction or to the Rim faction, Toora was mostly autonomous and still influential, being a political ally of figures such as Orn Free Taa of Ryloth, Edcel Bar Gane of Roona and Passel Argente, the Magistrate of the Corporate Alliance. This group was a partidary of Senator Palpatine of Naboo, a relative newcomer to the political scene of Coruscant who, nevertheless, had managed to grasp Supreme Chancellor Finis Valorum's attention. Noticing that Valorum favored Palpatine, Toora questioned Palpatine about the advice he had been giving to the Chancellor. The Naboo official was noncommittal, suggesting that he had only helped the Chancellor to grasp the bigger picture. By saying this, he surprised the Sy Myrthian and perked her interest, but he excused himself before answering any further inquiry.

In 33 BBY, Chancellor Valorum proposed the taxation of the until-then free trade zones. Toora visited the Coruscant Opera, like many other politicians of the time where she met with Palpatine to discuss politics. Attending a reproduction of The Brief Reign of Future Wraiths, performed by a Bith company, she shared a balcony with her political allies when she learned from Senator Palpatine that he had suggested to the Chancellor that a part of the collected money could be invested in the growth of planetary systems in the affected areas. While senators of that region supported the idea, Toora and other delegates including Po Nudo and Wat Tambor openly opposed to it. She was in luck when Palpatine proposed that the matter be resolved at a Trade Summit on Eriadu and, once the Eriadu delegate accepted the idea, Toora was quick to second the motion.

Following Palpatine's accession to the Chancellorship, Toora continued to be a vocal opponent of his policies over the next decade, criticizing his attempts to regulate the Commerce Guilds' operations in the Outer Rim Territories. As a major secessionist movement plagued the Senate, Toora was absent from the Senate for over a month before submitting her world's resignation from the galactic government via a droid proxy. In 22 BBY, Toora was invited to clandestine meeting on Geonosis during which she pledged her support to the Confederacy of Independent Systems. Despite her ties to the Commerce Guilds, she did not keep a neutral facade, rather, she publicly and loyally supported the Separatist Alliance during the three-year conflict known as the Clone Wars.

When the war came to a crashing end in 19 BBY, Toora escaped with a small fleet as the Confederacy collapsed and the Republic turned into the Galactic Empire, which assumed absolute control over the galaxy under the rule of Palpatine himself. One of the last leaders of Confederate holdouts, the former senator had managed to reactivate a significant number of battle droids to stand against the growing threat. Aboard her flagship, the Defiance's Banner, Toora bravely fought against the Empire on many fronts, losing ground at Charros IV, Diado, and Metalorn before eventually being cornered over the planet Trasemene. She was killed when the insurrection ended in the Battle of Trasemene, where the Imperial Praetor-class Star battlecruiser Battalion destroyed the cruiser.

Discrepancy
Toonbuck Toora was portrayed by Howard Swindell in The Phantom Menace and by special effects artist Hilton Howson in Attack of the Clones. Toora was scripted to be in the Separatist war room scene on Geonosis in Attack of the Clones, but was digitally replaced by Rogwa Wodrata because George Lucas was unsatisfied with Toora's mask. She is still present in the novelization and the comic of Attack of the Clones.

The novelization of Attack of the Clones misspelled her name as "Toonebuck Toora". According to her now defunct databank entry, Toora's name is derived from Live Action Animatronics Effects Supervisor Nick Dudman's acquaintance's dog.

According to Leland Chee's "Ask Lobot" article in Star Wars Insider 101, "There has been some suggestion that the Toonbuck Toora we see on Geonosis was actually a Shi'ido shape-shifter involved in a duplicitous ploy to bring Sy Myrth to the Confederacy. In that scenario, the plot is ultimately foiled, leaving the planet firmly loyal to the Republic."

Appearances

 * Darth Plagueis
 * Cloak of Deception
 * Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace  (First appearance)
 * Ando, Sy Myrth Secede—HoloNet News Vol. 531 #45  (content now obsolete; backup link on Archive.org)
 * Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones (ambigous)
 * Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones comic
 * Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones novelization
 * Star Wars: Galactic Battlegrounds: Clone Campaigns  (Appears only in non-storyline event)   (Mentioned only)