Monster droid

"A worn R4 unit explained to me that after the Jawas satisfy their obsessive curiosity, the machines are either sold or broken up for use in some strange, hybrid Jawa invention."

―QT-3PO^[1]

Monster droid, also known as a junk droid, was the term used to describe any droid that was created by piecing together component parts of many other droids. Junk droid was a common designation for various self-made droids, created from leftover spare parts. Because of their mashed-together programming they were considered dangerous by most civilized people, for they could go on a rampage, confuse orders, or even start building more of their own kind when having enough junk to do so. Though anyone with the know-how could cobble together a monster droid, they were most notably created by the various Jawa tribes on Tatooine. Because they mainly sold their wares to moisture farmers and small town businesses, Jawas knew what peoples' needs were, and were able to create custom droids to meet the individual needs of any customer.^[2]

Though no two "Monster" Uglies were exactly the same, they were generally constructed in four classes:^[2]

The Mechano-droid was a heavy labor unit, designed for permanent installation inside a tech dome
The Quad-pod droid was a four-legged cargo carrier
The Rollarc droid was a four-wheeled multipurpose unit suited to variable tasks
The Tracto-droid was a tank-treaded mobile scanning/radar unit

History

"I created me! They junked me after a century of loyal mechanical service. So I repaired myself."

―Proto One^[3]

The building of monster droids was begun more than fifty years before the Clone Wars by Tatakoz, a Jawa trader of Tatooine's Mospic High Range. His custom-made droids became popular with the citizens of Mos Espa and Mos Entha, prompting rival Jawa tribes to build them and steal his business. Eventually Tatakoz built and sold his first full size monster droid.^[2]

In the years that followed, monster droids were sometimes sought after by eccentric collectors looking to find the most functional droid comprised of the most incorporated parts that is the most pleasing to the eye. They are seen by some as more like folk art than tools. Jawas themselves see building monster droids as a way to bring glory to their tribe, and as a creative outlet for younger Jawas. Most sandcrawlers carry one or two of the droids under construction at any time.^[2]

After the Clone Wars, many groups turned to recycling, rebuilding and re-purposing the enormous amount of broken high-tech machinery left on the ravaged battlefields and on the junk worlds such as Raxus Prime, and Lotho Minor. These junk droids were built out of almost any spare droid and/or vehicle parts and were capable of performing a large variety of tasks. They could be roughly divided into three large categories: regular, brute and behemoth droids. Regular droids, fairly fragile and often equipped with shields, were approximately Human size and shape and generally used for common labor tasks. Brute droids were larger, stronger and solid rather than flexible and used as brute-force bodyguards or beasts of burden. Special-build behemoth droids served as walking power plants or armor carriers. On Raxus Prime, Jedi Kazdan Paratus used junk golems, held together only by the power of the Force. Junk droids were fairly common right after the Clone Wars, but as the supply of high-tech components decreased, so did the population of junk droids. Scrap drones were flying junk golems designed specifically to combat Darth Vader, who Kazdan knew would one day find him. Capable of creating a powerful negative feedback field, they could attack with a beam that drained force energy from its victims.^[4]

Behind the scenes

Monster droid from Kenner's Droid Factory "blueprints"

The Monster droid originated in Kenner's 1979 Droid Factory playset, as one suggested droid that could be built with various droid parts.^[5] In the instruction manual, only a single droid was given that name but in The New Essential Guide to Droids, Daniel Wallace used the name to also describe the other four droids listed in the manual and listed above, making the toys part of the Expanded Universe canon.^[6] The actual "Monster droid" design was used to illustrate its entry in the Essential Guide.^[2]