Nien Nunb is indeed in a B-wing costume, and taller than Lando!

[JediTricks]

Hasbro and Lucasfilm weren't wrong in naming the red b-wing-suited Sullustan "Nien Nunb", during the briefing scene in ROTJ, you can see clearly that Nien is standing right next to Lando, and he's wearing a red B-wing pilot costume. I'll attach a still showing him next to Lando:

You can tell it's Nien because A) he's standing next to Lando, and B) he's wearing his flight cap (which Hasbro did not produce with the recent flight suit Nien Nunb figure). Here's another shot of Nien from a different angle (you can see Wedge standing on his right side and make out Lando's cape on his left) where the hoses on his B-wing pilot costume are present:

But stranger, a few minutes earlier, there's a long shot of Lando & Nien Nunb, and Nien is TALLER than Lando!

The official database lists Nien Nunb as being 1.6m, which is 5' 2", while Lando is listed as 1.78, which is 5' 8" (and also wrong since Billy Dee Williams is 5' 11"). I'm 6' tall and my sister is 5' 2" tall, together she's nearly a head shorter than me.

This blows my mind a little, it counters 2 notions I had always carried:

• that Nien Nunb was always *just* the guy in the Falcon costume, and
• that Nien Nunb was a pretty small guy.

It also puts into question the very existence of Ten Numb, the "other" Sullustan that's in a white B-wing costume as seen in the movie's production materials. Nien Nunb is back in his red B-wing pilot duds and hat at the end of the film during the celebration, but there are no white B-wing outfit-wearing Sullustans in the film at all that I can see, and none without a hat.

That said, the hat Nien wears is merely the same flight helmet that Ten Numb has always had, but without the earpieces and chinstrap. So is that just a generic Sullustan hat that has earpieces clamped on, and for no reason at all, Ten Numb wears red in the film and is standing next to Lando during the briefing? I'm not buying it, but there is still wiggle room.

[Darth Awgmon]

Nice research, JT! I love finding out new stuff about the original movies. Nien Nunb was one of my favorite minor characters and ROTJ action figures as a kid. Later in life, my friends and I referred to him as "pu**y face." I hope I can get away with that here!

[El Chuxter]

In that last shot, are you sure it's not the perspective that makes him look taller than Lando? To me, they look like they're about the same height, but that's not accounting for Nien being closer to the camera than Lando, which is what it looks like to me?

Nien's head is also much larger than Lando's in the last shot, which makes me think that's a trick of perspective.

[Mr. JabbaJohnL]

In that last shot, are you sure it's not the perspective that makes him look taller than Lando? To me, they look like they're about the same height, but that's not accounting for Nien being closer to the camera than Lando, which is what it looks like to me?

Nien's head is also much larger than Lando's in the last shot, which makes me think that's a trick of perspective.

If he's closer, it's only very slightly, by perhaps three inches at most. Look at the table in front of them to see how he couldn't be that much closer than Lando. And in case you weren't aware, Nien Numb in that shot is a human actor with a mask on his head, meaning of course his head is going to look larger than a normal human head.

This is a very interesting find, JT!

[JediTricks]

Nice research, JT! I love finding out new stuff about the original movies. Nien Nunb was one of my favorite minor characters and ROTJ action figures as a kid. Later in life, my friends and I referred to him as "pu**y face." I hope I can get away with that here!

Thanks! I was actually researching the Y-wing pilot costume for a Q&A question that was being suggested, and when I saw it, I couldn't believe what I was saying.

Nien Nunb always captured my attention when I was a kid too.

Your self-censor with 2 letters out is adequate for the site's needs. That term is generally reserved for the titular character in "Predator" though.

In that last shot, are you sure it's not the perspective that makes him look taller than Lando? To me, they look like they're about the same height, but that's not accounting for Nien being closer to the camera than Lando, which is what it looks like to me?

Nien's head is also much larger than Lando's in the last shot, which makes me think that's a trick of perspective.

I am positive it's not perspective. They're standing next to each other and the camera is pretty far away and not at a funky angle. There are other shots that show it as well, and shots from the celebration at the end where he's taller than other pilots. I'll include the next frame from that shot of Nien, Wedge, and Lando so you can see where Lando's head is:

Plus, looking at the shot, Wedge is closer to the camera and yet Nien is still taller than him, so the idea that perspective is at play here is unlikely. And in that shot's action, Nien's is nodding so it's slightly lower in that shot. Nien Nunb is taller than Lando.

And of course Nien's head is larger than a human's, it's a full-head puppet alien mask, it's larger in real life.

[El Chuxter]

Okay, that shot shows it a bit better. The long shot of them, and it could be due to the focus, looks like Nien could be standing as much as a foot or two closer to the foreground when you account for the curvature of the table. No mistaking there's a height discrepancy from what we've been told in this pic, though.

When I was referring to his head, it looked (and it could, again, be due to them both being blurry in the long shot) proportionally larger to the body and to Lando's head than in the other shots.

Very good detective work, JT.

[DarkJedi5]

Well, this all sorta makes sense to me. I mean, I always thought Nien was shorter cause he looks shorter sitting next to Lando on the Falcon. But when you think about it, he's sitting in Chewie's chair and Chewie is really tall and so perhaps his seat is set lower on the ship. Like when my wife sits in the driver seat after I get out of the car she can barely reach the pedals. If the seats on the Falcon are not easily adjustable, and the actors/characters just sat in the seats, Han's chair being higher would make Lando seem taller.

[Rocketboy]

That is not Nien Nunb!

You guys are just racists that think all Sullustans look the same.

[bigbarada]

From the behind the scenes info that I've read, Nien Nunb was supposed to be leading a B-Wing squadron in the battle that eventually destroyed the Super Star Destroyer. That's where that one famous image of a group of B-Wings flying away from an exploding Star Destroyer came from. However, for some reason the scenes weren't filmed and I believe the Green Leader A-Wing Pilot scenes were filmed to fill in those gaps.

Also, Nein Nunb in the Millennium Falcon is a puppet, not a guy in a costume. Which probably explains the height inconsistencies.

[Bel-Cam Jos]

And in no way does NN resemble Snaggletooth, the most acurate screen-to-toy version in SW lore. I heard Kenner originally had him with webbed boots, since they figured (pun always intended) Nunb was from Walrusman's world.

Good video evidence, JT. But the heights of characters are relative when it comes to their bios and backstories.