Clanker

This article covers the Canon version of this subject.  Click here for Wookieepedia's article on the Legends version of this subject. 

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Ezra Bridger: "Hey, was this a Separatist battle droid?"
Captain Rex: "Oh, yeah. Well, a piece of one anyway. This place used to be crawling with them. We called them "clankers.""
Garazeb Orrelios: "Clankers. I like that. How many of these things do you think you blasted?"
Captain Rex: "I don't know. Thousands. Probably tens of thousands. Never kept count like some of the boys."
Ezra Bridger: "They don't look very dangerous."
Captain Rex: "Listen, those droids wiped out a lot of Republic troopers. Many of them… were my friends."
―Ezra Bridger, Captain Rex, and Garazeb Orrelios talk after finding a destroyed B1 battle droid[1]
Battle droids, most notably the B1-series, became infamously known as "clankers" thanks to the "clanking" noise made by their metal joints (marching B1s, pictured).

Battle droids, most notably the B1-series, became infamously known as "clankers" thanks to the "clanking" noise made by their metal joints (marching B1s, pictured).

Clanker was a slang term used to refer to droids[2] that existed since at least the days of the High Republic Era[3] because the joints and metal bodies of droids[4] made noisy[5] "clanking" sounds as they moved.[4] It was commonly associated with and often used by the clone troopers of the Republic Military, who faced off against the battle droids of the Separatist Droid Army during the Clone Wars.[1] During the war, "clanker" was often used as a term for battle droids,[2] particularly the B1-series battle droid.[6] Nonetheless, the term was used to denote other droids as well.[7][8] For example, Kthoo-Ra addressed a damaged service droid as "dumb clanker."[9]

The motifs featured on the monitor of Lucky Shot, a slot machine found in Cid's Parlor, included an array of B1 battle droid heads. Fittingly enough, "clanker bonus" was written in Aurebesh above it.[10]

Behind the scenes

"Oh, the Wookiees aren't going to like this! Just what Kashyyyk needs, a bunch of noisy clankers moving into the neighborhood."
―A sarcastic Clone Commander Tacks, in Star Wars Battlefront II[5]

The slang term clanker was first used in the current Star Wars canon continuity in 2008 in "Ambush," the first episode of the first season of the television series Star Wars: The Clone Wars.[2] The term originated in the 2005 LucasArts video game Star Wars: Republic Commando from the Star Wars Legends continuity.[11] In 2025, "clanker" has become an informal term referring to artificial intelligence (AI) in the real world, functioning as Internet slang that originated from online Star Wars fan communities and achieving wider significance as a meme—sometimes as counter-cultural slang, sometimes as a slur.[12]

Appearances

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Sources

Notes and references

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Rebels-mini-logo Star Wars Rebels — "The Last Battle"
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 TCW mini logo Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Ambush"
  3. ↑ The High Republic: Tempest Breaker script
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 TCW mini logo Star Wars: The Clone Wars — "Voyage of Temptation"
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 Star Wars Battlefront II
  6. ↑ Aftermath
  7. ↑ Rebels-mini-logo Star Wars Rebels — "The Forgotten Droid"
  8. ↑ Star Wars Rebels: Steps Into Shadow
  9. ↑ Doctor Aphra (2016) 12
  10. ↑ TBBtemplate Star Wars: The Bad Batch — "Decommissioned"
  11. ↑ Star Wars: Republic Commando
  12. ↑ Premium-Era-real AI Slurs Are Taking Over the Internet by CT Jones on Rolling Stone (August 6, 2025) (backup link archived on August 6, 2025)

External links