Thread by @rebelrealcanon

It's not Ponda Baba's arm, and even the EU got it wrong. But no judgment, because we've all spent 4 decades thinking it was Ponda Baba's arm because the sleeve is the same color. I only just realized this tonight analyzing it.

First a little historical background, though.

In the 1976 novelization, Luke is attacked by a trio at the bar: "a large squarish monstrosity...a thing--a cross between a capybara and a small baboon...a short, grubby-looking human."

We would come to know them as Ponda Baba, Kabe the Chadra-fan, and Evazan.

In the novelization, Ben cuts off Evazan's arm and slices Ponda Baba Kabe in half. They even got as far as sculpting the carnage, tho by the final edit, Ben's response is scaled back and he only chops off someone's arm. Due to the orange sleeve, we've all assumed it was Ponda's.

Wookieepedia gets it wrong here by saying "In the final film, though, Kabe didn't accompany Baba." Watch closely, and not only will you see that Kabe is clearly with the gang, but also you'll see it was clearly Kabe who drew first, causing Wuher's panicked cry, "No blasters!"

Watch for yourself. Kabe is nearly invisible between the two of them, launching 4 decades of controversy about Aqualish limbs, suggesting it's a "goof" in the cantina that Ponda sprouts fingers, when all this time... it was the Chadra-fan all along 🤯

I did the bluray frame-by-frame. I have to take pictures with my camera, as there's no way to send shots from my TV to Twitter, but I think you'll get the idea. At least you'll know what to look for when you watch it.

First, you can see Evazan engrossed in something beside Ponda

It immediately cuts to Kabe, whose tiny arms and furry paws are clearly seen in an orange jacket just like Ponda's.

The next time they're visible, she's revealed as being between Ponda and Evazan, and as the object of Evazan's engrossed conversation.

You can even see Evazan start to reach for his cup and get distracted either by Luke's arrival or by Ponda's fixation on Luke's arrival.

And when Ponda claps a hand on Luke's shoulder, it is clearly, explicitly not the one we see on the floor later, despite the orange jacket.

You can see Kabe is clearly involved, facing Obi-Wan the same way they are, and note that while Ponda has drawn a blaster, it doesn't resemble the one we'll see on the floor. Neither does Evazan's blaster match that one.

ALSO WHAT IS THE PRAYING MANTIS?

No wonder we've all seen the scene wrong; it moves so fast. Here's Ponda's left hand with nothing in it, and Evazan's *right* hand with a blaster, moving swiftly in such a way as to make us think it might be Ponda's.

Note that Kabe is so tiny that it's impossible to pick her up on screen. It looks like Ponda and Evazan have drawn and moved to the right while she filled in the spot by the bar.

It seems like Obi-Wan made a sweeping motion to disarm--literally--the two of them, but not Evazan.

You can see the two slump back into their barstools and then both slump forward onto the floor. Evazan is apparently uninjured, but if you really listen to the moaning, it's definitely coming from more than one wounded person.

Finally, look at that blaster and the size of the arm. It's tiny. Ponda's visible blaster had a long, smooth barrel; this one is snub-nosed, and the blaster itself is barely shorter than the full arm. Kabe is the one with an orange sleeve and a furry paw, not Ponda Baba.

It looks as though both Kabe and Ponda Boba were "disarmed" by Ben, which justifies Ponda's later appearances in the EU as a one-armed or cybernetic-limbed Aqualish, although not the mistakes that give him fingers instead of flippers.

Whew. A 43-year misconception, cleared.