Flufto was the moniker given to a group of cloned and genetically altered tookas in the possession of the renegade archaeologist Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra. On the Outer Rim planet Son-tuul, Aphra created more than sixty of these creatures within a laboratory. Each clone had bio-explosives engineered into its genes, which would trigger an explosion when the code phrase "Snugglebum Oogiewoogie" was spoken.
Aphra maintained the tookas in a state of suspended animation inside a crate, carrying her personal Flufto with her during her mission to the world of Skako Minor. To eliminate an Imperial squad that had surrounded Aphra's crew, she detonated the first tooka. Another was later deployed, ultimately serving as an explosive projectile against the cyborg entity referred to as a chthonic worm god.
When Aphra's team made a stop at the Rebel Alliance flight academy, which was located on the Lucrehulk Prime, her Flufto was intentionally let loose to enter the school's control core. Hera Syndulla, the general in charge of rotations, fatally shot the tooka dead. After capturing Syndulla, Aphra and her associates infiltrated the Imperial installation known as Hivebase-1. There, the disreputable archaeologist allowed her remaining tookas to thaw and roam freely throughout the base before they were all detonated because the firing registry had been altered.
Around 1 ABY, the archaeologist turned rogue, Doctor Chelli Lona Aphra, was compelled to work on behalf of the Son-tuul Pride syndicate, then led by the assassin droid 0-0-0. On the Outer Rim Territories planet of Son-tuul, the droid provided Aphra with a private laboratory. She used an antiquated splicer rig to clone a feline species called tookas, reminiscent of a pet she had as a younger person. The new tooka had bio-explosives engineered into its genes, causing it to detonate upon hearing the phrase "Snugglebum Oogiewoogie." At least sixty copies were created and preserved in suspended animation inside a crate.
Aphra carried one of the tookas, naming him Flufto. 0-0-0 questioned her about her carrying the creature, calling him a hairy outgrowth, and the rogue archaeologist mentioned her work with tooka cloning. The doctor was then introduced to a new crew of mercenaries for her upcoming mission to recover the assassin droid's missing memories, and she was required to choose a crewmember to leave behind. Rexa Go—0-0-0's cyborg muscle and the only other mercenary besides Aphra to know the true target of the mission—suggested leaving behind Flufto, but Aphra raised her blaster at the cyborg, telling Go that she would die if she touched the tooka. In the end, the swordsman Rabael Dir Glorio was the one left behind as Aphra and her crew voyaged to their initial destination, the planet Skako Minor.
On Skako Minor, Hallio Bas, a Skakoan guide, led Aphra's crew to the workshop of Wat Tambor, a Techno Union foreman. However, the guide was secretly working with the Galactic Empire, and an Imperial squad ambushed Aphra's group. After the Imperial officer in charge ordered the mercenaries' execution, Aphra handed Flufto to Bas, asking him to care for the tooka. The Skakoan accepted, believing it would make a good meal for his people. At that moment, Aphra spoke the detonation code for Flufto, resulting in an explosion that eliminated the Imperial squad. After the blast, Go confirmed with the rogue archaeologist that Flufto was indeed a customized tooka.
Go set down her crate, allowing Aphra to retrieve another shrink frozen tooka, a new Flufto. The other crew members had assumed the crate's contents were alcohol. As the crew explored Tambor's workshop, they were attacked by Imperial forces under the command of Lieutenant-Inspector Magna Tolvan. The conflict activated the chthonic worm god, a cyborg creature, which then attacked both sides. Amidst the chaos, Aphra, while carrying Flufto, found herself trapped with Tolvan. She then coerced the Imperial to throw her tooka at the worm god while she shouted the codephrase to make him a projectile bomb. Although the explosive tooka attack did not destroy the creature, Aphra's crew ultimately killed it, and they looted Tambor's workshop before leaving.
Before her crew disembarked at the Lucrehulk Prime, a Lucrehulk-class Battleship serving as a Rebel Alliance flight academy, Aphra retrieved yet another Flufto from the crate. Aphra, carrying Flufto, and her crew were given a tour of the school by Bini, an Alliance officer who believed they were recruits. However, the rogue archaeologist's real plan was to abduct Hera Syndulla, the Lucrehulk Prime's rotation general, as part of a scheme to infiltrate Hivebase-1, the Empire's Tarkin Initiative research and development complex, where the doctor had learned 0-0-0's lost memories were stored.
During Bini's tour, Aphra intentionally allowed Flufto to escape and run into the Lucrehulk Prime's control core, drawn to the intense energy field. Despite the core being off-limits, the rogue archaeologist used her tooka's behavior as an excuse to chase after him, much to Bini's dismay. The weapons alarm was also triggered due to Flufto's bio-explosive genes. Aphra pretended to try and catch the feline while simultaneously planting bugs in the control core's systems using her electro-tattoos. It was then that Syndulla, who was using the control core to remotely operate some of the flight school's training X-wing starfighters, shot Flufto, killing him.
Aphra and her crew ultimately succeeded in capturing Syndulla, using their possession of the rebel leader to get close to Hivebase-1. They allowed the Lucrehulk Prime to follow them to the complex as a distraction while they infiltrated the base. After secretly landing in the hangar, Aphra's crew began searching for Hivebase-1's database. Caysin Bog, the cyborg mercenary, inquired whether the rogue archaeologist wanted to bring another Flufto, but Aphra declined, claiming that the tookas' attraction to energy sources might create a mess. Secretly, that was precisely what Aphra intended. Before leaving, she nudged the crate, causing the lid to open slightly and affect the shrink-freezing of the remaining tookas.
While Aphra and her crew reached Hivebase-1's datacore, the tookas thawed and escaped from the crate, roaming freely throughout the Tarkin Initiative complex. Several of the felines encountered Dek-Nil, a droid from Aphra's crew, who startled them by reactivating. Dek-Nil then used a dataport to alter the names in the base's firing registry. As the tookas continued to spread throughout Hivebase-1, Yewl, the base's Commander, ordered the weapons to fire on Lucrehulk Prime, which Aphra had used, through her bug, to rip and steal the complex's datacore using a tractor beam. However, the Imperial officer giving the orders read the tampered firing registry, which included "Snugglebum Oogiewoogie," over the comms, detonating all of the tookas simultaneously and destroying Hivebase-1.
Flufto and each clone had black skin and purple fur. A clone's face was white with black eyes encased in purple eye masks, and the feline was customized with bio explosives in his genes. When activated for detonation, Flufto clones' eye masks gave a red glow. The tooka clones were also customized to be attracted to energy sources and fields.
Flufto first appeared in the fifteenth issue of the 2016 Star Wars: Doctor Aphra comic series, written by Si Spurrier, illustrated by Emilio Laiso, and published by Marvel Comics on December 20, 2017.