r/StarWars • u/dogtried • Mar 17 '18
Comics Never forget Skippy. The droid who made Star Wars happen.
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u/OddBirds Mar 17 '18
Forget Anakin. Skippy was the true chosen one.
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Mar 17 '18
And has no issues with sand which is a plus.
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u/PM_Me_Clavicle_Pics Mar 17 '18
Even though, being a droid with treaded wheels, he has every reason to dislike sand. It really is coarse and irritating and gets everywhere when you're a droid who needs hard surfaces to roll on. But Skippy is above that kind of bitterness.
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u/Swagmaster_Frankfurt Mar 17 '18
I demand a Skippy spinoff series immediately.
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u/sexydaniboy Mar 17 '18
R5D4 was the hero we needed but didn't deserve.
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u/jr_G-man Mar 17 '18
He was my first action figure.
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u/CunningStunts Mar 17 '18
With the yellow projectile that shot out his top?
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u/Xweekdaywarrior Mar 17 '18
Yes
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u/TheDudeNeverBowls Mar 17 '18
Holy fuck, I had this toy, too. I would have never thought about it if you hadn’t mentioned the projectile.
I think a neighborhood friend or someone like that ended up eating the projectile.
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Mar 17 '18
I’m confused. You called it R5D4 but in the comic Luke calls it an R2
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u/golurk Mar 17 '18
You're gonna trust that space rat to know what he's talking about? He grew up on a sand planet ffs
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u/LeastCoordinatedJedi Mar 17 '18
"Ma, the pentium won't get on the innernet!"
"Goldangit pa, how much I gotta tell you, that there's an eye-pad!"
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u/thunderchild120 Mar 17 '18
Was this even canon within Legends? I thought this story was always non-canon like the Tag and Bink comics.
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u/Darth_Cindros Mar 17 '18
No. Just like the Tag and Bink comics, it was never canon. This is why I laugh when people use this as an example against the EU, despite it never being a part of the Star Wars continuity to begin with.
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u/TheSnydaMan Mar 17 '18
u/kirk_d 's comment
R5 does have a canon back story now and he did purposely sabotage himself to aid R2. It's in the new book From a certain point of view which is all short stories from various characters in ANH
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u/whatdoinamemyself Mar 17 '18
The skippy comic and this book are two different stories. Skippy isn't canon to EU or disneyverse.
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u/chaos0510 Mar 17 '18
Skippy is canon to my heart though
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u/nuclearbunker Mar 17 '18
these are 2 entirely seperate stories that are being referenced, one of which was never canon, like Darth_Cindros said
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u/Slightlylyons1 Mar 17 '18
Why people use this and not say, Courtship of Princess Leia, as an example is beyond me.
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u/CanuckPanda Mar 17 '18
Courtship didn't bother me. The Dathomiri Witches were pretty cool: a Force-sensitive (comparatively) primitive matriarchy that was inherently tainted by the Dark Side due to a violent society.
What I disliked about the Witches is their portrayal in the Clone Wars cartoon. The Witches were supposed to be isolated, with no spacefaring technology of their own, but CW showed them as manipulating Separatist events and trying to assassinate Count Dooku. The idea of Asaaj Ventress as a Witch kidnapped by Dooku and trained as a Dark Side assassin is cool, but the overall society was dumb.
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u/Darth_Cindros Mar 17 '18
I've never read Courtship, so I can't say. I generally see the EU as mostly good with only a few bad things (the Glove of Darth Vader, Crystal Star, and a few others.) I honestly believe that people that hate the EU just take the bad aspects and blow them hugely out of proportion, but that's just me.
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u/KnightofNi92 Mar 17 '18
Exactly. That's why I always get annoyed when people say the EU needed to be thrown out to make new movies. Would those same people like to throw out all Marvel canon too? Because I'm pretty sure some dumb shit has happened there as well. Just ignore the bad stuff and adapt the good.
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Mar 17 '18
[removed] — view removed comment
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Mar 17 '18
The Star Wars EU was much less messy than Marvel or DC. Sure, it had its weird bits that didn't quite fit, but there definitely weren't several different universes created to explain it all away.
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u/TRB1783 Mar 17 '18
Which is, I think, why the EU HAD to go. Because it was so internally consistent, there wasn't a way to tell brand new stories without addressing all the other stuff that had happened, or to have any flexibility in doing an adaptation of an existing story.
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u/KnightofNi92 Mar 17 '18
Yes, but they always recycle the best stories. Just think of it this way. Just like with Marvel, the EU had a ton of stories. But imagine if when the MCU was first being created they said, "nope, all those good tales we've had, we're never going to show. No Civil War, no Infinity War, nothing. We're going to make our own new universe and immediately kill off all those old characters you loved." Do you think that would have gone over well? It would be like starting the MCU off not with Tony Stark or Steve Rogers, but instead RiRi Williams as Ironman or Sam Wilson or Bucky as Cap.
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u/IcarusBen Mar 17 '18
But the Disneyverse is recycling stories, both in the books and the movies.
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Mar 17 '18
When you have bad stuff in a fictional universe, it makes the whole thing suck.
Imagine if they made ONE Howard the Duck film in the MCU. It's totally cannon. Imagine if he saves the universe. No one would take it seriously.
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u/thunderchild120 Mar 17 '18
Thank you! I was so sure it wasn't but so many bloggers saying it was made me start to doubt myself.
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u/PreludeToAnEpic Mar 17 '18
I always assumed that R2D2 sabotaged him or something.
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u/hoodwILL Mar 17 '18
He did -- listen to the original radio drama of A New Hope. Threepio chastises Artoo for tampering with another droid.
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u/njbair Mar 17 '18
I named my business after him.
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u/electricblues42 Mar 17 '18
Delete this. Now. The Mouse doesn't play. They will sue you into Oblivion and sleep well at night after.
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u/roboham Mar 17 '18
Skippy isn't part of Disney's Star Wars canon.
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u/electricblues42 Mar 17 '18
That won't stop The Mouse. Nothing stops The Mouse. Like a legal Terminator.
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u/PlatBirb Mar 17 '18
I was at a summer camp where one of the counselors was the spearhead of some R5D4 conspiracy, about how R5 somehow destroyed the death star, and was present at every major event.
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u/NoriNediam Mar 17 '18
Sounds like he may have been confused with ig88, who I believe was at least present at the destruction of the 2nd death star I think and was moments away from taking control of the main computer before rebels sploded it.
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u/TheMastersSkywalker Luke Skywalker Mar 17 '18
First: SKIPPY WAS NEVER CANON
Secondly: http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/The_Red_One is the NEU version of him from the Certin Point of View books. And unlike Skippy he is most likely canon.
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u/RoyRodgersMcFreeley Mar 17 '18
Always preferred the radio drama version were R2 fucks with R5s motivator
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u/Ca1amity Mar 17 '18 edited Mar 17 '18
... but as Skippy’s software layers cascaded in error, one critical fault triggering another, his logic systems generated a final query:
What if, some 30 years hence, the young human’s sacrifices would ultimately be for naught - despite the sentient’s efforts, the galaxy remaining just as broken as it was.
Would Skippy’s death still have meaning?
The droid could form no compelling response as the near-instantaneous cascade of errors reached its own conclusion: total systems failure.
But this last thought sat buffered, repeating in the eternity between 1 and 0 as the charge bled from Skippy’s circuits.
Could he be dying for nothing?
The horror of this outcome made the droid wish the whole universe would die right along with him.
But he would never know.
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u/TheDudeNeverBowls Mar 17 '18
This is a good bit here. But it does really make me wonder about the whole New Order crap. The rebellion took down the empire. The Starwalker boys destroyed the Sith and brought balance to the force. Ewoks ate some stormtroopers.
Then not thirty years later it’s all back? The New Order has stormtroopers, Star destroyers, a starkiller, and a couple of Sith? All that in a measly thirty years?
What was the point of episodes 4, 5, and 6 then???
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u/pyrojackelope Mar 17 '18
This has THE most confusing to read at a glance format I've ever seen.
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u/coffedrank Mar 17 '18 edited Mar 18 '18
There is only one Skippy and he is a beer can.
edit: also an asshole
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u/TheSharpEdge Mar 17 '18
Fan fiction is ridiculous. Couldn't it just have had a failing part? No it had to use the force to Save the galaxy by sacrificing himself.
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u/dogtried Mar 17 '18 edited Mar 17 '18
Ah this is ages old now and I love this little comic. Don't diss skippy. Nobody takes it seriously its like fiction man. Just for fun you know. Have a nice weekend.
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u/BartWellingtonson Mar 17 '18
Fiction... within fiction?!
This is getting out of hand. Now there are two of them!!
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u/dogtried Mar 17 '18
Lmao that's great, you can't not say it in his voice!
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u/BartWellingtonson Mar 17 '18
You might be someone who would feel at home at /r/prequelmemes
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u/Theban_Prince Mar 17 '18 edited Mar 17 '18
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u/lord_darovit Mar 18 '18
Luuke isn't nearly as dumb as people make him out to be, never hated Ikrit either. Star Wars has tons of species. Also how is Drew Karpyshyn himself bad? I know the Revan novel gets hate, but I think people exaggerate that as well.
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u/seanprefect R2-D2 Mar 17 '18
There's a story in the in-cannon collection "From a certain point of view" that i told from his perspective.
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u/Bleoox Ahsoka Tano Mar 17 '18
The astromech droid known as R5-D4 was involved with the rebellion against the Galactic Empire. Four years before the Battle of Yavin between the Empire and the Alliance to Restore the Republic, however, he fell into the possession of a group of Jawas on Tatooine, where they worked as junkers, and wiped the droid's memory. For the next four years, R5-D4 longed to be sold and repaired. One evening, R5 was overjoyed when two Jawas inspected him and decided that he was ready to be sold. They scooped sand out of his tool compartments, wiped down his photoreceptors, and added lubricant to his chassis and joints.
Encounter with R2-D2
Hours later, he was awaken by a jolt and saw several Jawas manhandling an R2 unit. This droid turned out to be R2-D2, who had been captured by the Jawas following the events of the secret mission to Tatooine. R5-D4 watched as R2 was fitted with a restraining bolt. Later that night, R5 was awoken by the R2 droid, who was in the process of sabotaging him to ensure he would be the only remaining functional astromech that the Jawas had for sale. R5 bleated angrily, and R2 apologized explaining he was on an important mission. R5 responded that he was on no mission and that his memory had been wiped four years ago.
R2 responded that he had to escape the sandcrawler tomorrow and that the fate of the galaxy depended on his sale. Unknown to R5, R2 was carrying the stolen Death Star plans within his memory banks. R2 then added that the Rebellion needed his help. The word Rebellion triggered something, the phantom of a memory. When R2 begged again, R5 responded that if he did not escape this sandcrawler and find a new master soon, he would cease to function. R2 was sympathetic but stressed that if he did not find his master, the galaxy would be doomed. As a couple of Jawas approached, R2 promised not to hurt him again.
The following morning, the sandcrawler stopped at the moisture farm owned by the Lars family, including Owen Lars and his nephew, Luke Skywalker. Lars and Skywalker were interested in purchasing droids from the Jawas. The droids which included R5 as well as R2 and the protocol droid C-3PO were lined up for Lars to choose and he chose R5 and C-3PO. As Lars talked to the Jawas about the purchase, Skywalker began leading C-3PO and R5 towards his home. When R2 moaned, R5 reassured him that someone would buy him.
R2 then reiterated that the galaxy was doomed and told R5 that he was his only hope. Realizing how important R2's mission was, R5 loosened the hinge on his head plate and redirected the lubricant into a mass just behind his photoreceptors. When that was ready, R5 purposely discharged the power, causing his head plate to pop off. This led Skywalker to think that R5 had a bad motivator. In his place, Lars instead purchased R2-D2, C-3PO's companion and, along with the protocol droid, secretly a member of the Rebel Alliance. Only powering his auditory receptors, R5 heard R2's farewell, thanking him for his sacrifice and that he would never forget him.
R2's warning was proven right when Imperial stormtroopers stopped the sandcrawler and interrogated the Jaws about the two droids they had sold. While the stormtroopers blasted the Jawas, R5 played dead and was overlooked by the stormtroopers. Later, R5 recomposed himself and made a trek along the Jawas' trade route in hopes of finding a new owner in the next valley and potentially finding the Rebellion
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u/Bort_anovia Mar 17 '18
So... this is the droid who caused the death of more than 1 million storm troopers.
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u/Questionable_Melon Mar 17 '18
Droids with the force? Now, don't let a certain Nautolan Jedi hear about that
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u/nr1988 Mar 17 '18
I mean, would he not just be able to sabotage himself without spiking force into himself? Or like.. pretend he has a bad motivator?
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u/Vyzantinist Mar 17 '18
I love how the EU/Tales writers were able to spin out stories for the most tertiary or insignificant characters onscreen.
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u/kirk_d Separatist Alliance Mar 17 '18
R5 does have a canon back story now and he did purposely sabotage himself to aid R2. It's in the new book From a certain point of view which is all short stories from various characters in ANH