Last week, I went through and highlighted some favorite droids of mine- but I missed a lot of them. So this week, I'm going to highlight more of my favorite droids, the ones we all know and love that keep the galaxy running.
R4-P14
R4 gets a spot just because between Attack of the Clones, The Clone Wars, and Revenge of the Sith, this poor droid has to put up with a lot, and deserves to be honored for that- she's way too often ignored. She just wants to help out Obi-Wan with his very important Jedi work, and she gets pulled into all kinds of crazy shenanigans. I had her action figure as a kid, and would always play as her when you needed an astromech in the freeplay missions of the old LEGO Star Wars games because I thought it was cool that she's a girl astromech. I still remember her shocking away jawas on Tatooine in The Clone Wars movie, for some reason that scene was always really memorable to me as a kid. Probably because of the jawas.
Also, R4 gets bonus points because I like how Obi-Wan says "R4" in his British accent. It just sounds so nice.
Ace Squadron's Droids
Ace Squadron's Droids in Star Wars Resistance admittedly don't get much attention. They don't really... do very much in the show. However, they still get a spot here because I think they all look so awesome! Resistance in general is pretty under-appreciated, but I feel like it especially has some really great character designs, even for characters that don't get all that much screentime. I could go on about that for a while, but I'll stick to these droids.
Yeah, they all look awesome. Each droid is so colorful and fun (well, except for R5-G9), and if given pictures of the Aces and/or their ships, even without watching the show you could definitely match each droid up to its rightful place. Even though the droids don't all get much time to shine, just their designs alone have a lot of personality and tell you a lot about them and their pilots, which I think is cool, and exactly what good character design should do.
BD-1
BD is the best little buddy you could ask for in Jedi: Fallen Order. He always hangs on your back, scans everything, and provides you healing on the occasions when Cal needs it (and if you played the game with the same skill level I did, that's a lot of occasions). BD-1 is so, so freaking cute, and he just waddles around on his little legs and makes his cute little "boop boop" noises and just melts your heart.
When you first see him, he's hurt one of his little legs and when Cal fixes it, he's just so happy and so adorable and just... I love BD-1. I need all the BD-1.
Dio
Dio is another fun little video game companion droid. Dio (not to be confused with D-O in The Rise of Skywalker) hangs out with Iden and later Zay in Battlefront II's story mode. Dio, at least if you play how I play, is super helpful, and versatile with all the different potential upgrades he has.
He's also a cute little droid that you can't just help but want to pet, and he's affectionate once he's no longer an Imperial droid. I mean, look at him. Don't you just want to pat that floating little metal head- even if he has like bombs or whatever.
BB-9E & MB-13A
BB-9E and MB-13A are grouped together because I thought they were actually the same droid at first, and they look very similar. And they do have a pretty neat design. While BB-9E doesn't get to shine all that much in The Last Jedi- I mean, he is very shiny in that movie, but you know what I mean- MB-13A gets to be a little (literally) antagonist for a part of Star Wars Resistance. He gets into pretty intense droid fights with CB-23, and for a little while acts like a droid Darth Maul- he just keeps coming back!
Thankfully, our Resistance heroes are able to stop him before he can alert the First Order of the Colossus' location. Poor MB-13A gets shot out into space, but that's what happens when you're a snitch.
IG-11
IG-11: the droid we all know and love from The Mandalorian. While of course this droid starts out as the hilarious semi-suicidal assassin in the first episode, by the last episode we all love him as the overprotective murderous nanny droid for Grogu. And really like... who wouldn't kill for Grogu? IG-11's awesome role is one of the things that really cements the season 1 finale as my favorite episode in the entire series.
Also, bonus points for being played by Taika Waititi. Because Taika Waititi is awesome.
D-O
D-O is just an adorable, lovable little droid. No matter what your thoughts are on The Rise of Skywalker (and I'm sure you have a lot), everyone knows how cute D-O is. He just rolls around on his little wheel with his cone-head, saying his little words every so often and being shy. The friendship that he forms with BB-8 is just so fun, and I loved watching D-O roll around on screen, and I definitely hope we get to see some more D-O some day.
Mr. Bones
Mr. Bones is a droid you'd only be familiar with if you read the Aftermath series of books (which you should). And he is a delight. Mr. Bones is a modified B-1 battle droid, repainted to look really awesome, fitted with cool gear, and he's got actual bones attached to him. Oh yeah, and his personality has been totally overwritten. If I had to liken his personality to another droid, I'd say it's like Triple Zero, just less torture-y and more murder-y. Which is or isn't better depending on your perspective. He also, unlike a regular battle droid, does just use a blaster for his murdering- he fights metal-hand-to-whatever-is-unfortunate-enough-to-face-him-hand.
But yeah- Mr. Bones is awesome. Not only is he murder-y, but he's pretty sweet to his master, a boy named Temmin, and even at times his mother and the rest of their team. He also sings and dances (perhaps not very well), because again, Mr. Bones is awesome. If you need a reason to read the Aftermath trilogy, do it for Mr. Bones. You won't be disappointed.
L3-37
L3 is the featured droid of Solo: A Star Wars Story, and probably my favorite droid of this list. L3 prides herself on her autonomy, and she's a sassy, smart, capable droid that demands the respect that she deserves. And as much as other characters don't really take her seriously, her passion for wanting droids to be free is a very admirable one, culminating in a droid (and slave) uprising in the spice mines of Kessel. L3 is a delight, and though she doesn't always act like it, she does care for her friends (just Lando, really), and each book she's in has always been fun to read about.
Though she doesn't get to survive in her form as L3, she lives on for generations by being connected to the Millennium Falcon, still able to give some of her trademark sass to those like C-3PO, who understand her dialect. Canon or not, I like to think that L3 was still able to talk to the droids that inhabited the Falcon like R2-D2, C-3PO, and eventually BB-8 and D-O, and took some comfort in the fact that those droids got to be much more free than most, and had organics that listened to and valued them.
There are of course many other droids that deserve mentions, but again, these are the few that I want to highlight. There's a few more honorable mentions, like R5-D4 or ME-8D9. or I hope you enjoyed, and maybe this got you thinking about some of your own favorite droids! Can never have too much droid love, after all.