R2-D2s Devolution

[beaumont sebos]

I don't get into very many SW materials besides the movies and the WEG books, so I was wondering if there is a canonical reason given that R2-D2 devolved from between Episodes III and IV.

Any help?

Thanks
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Beaumont Sebos

"Saving the multiverse, one Gamorrean Ale at a time."

[masque]

What is this episode III you speak of?
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Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

[beaumont sebos]

Yeah... I hear ya...
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Beaumont Sebos

"Saving the multiverse, one Gamorrean Ale at a time."

[masque]

Seriously though, this is just yet another of the serious flaws in the prequels. This is fine for Lucas' artistic vision, but it plays bloody hell with us fans who are interested in a consistent mythology so that we can have fun playing in his universe. I would have left out the droids entirely, possibly creating newer (older) ones if we had to have them.

I have seen excuses made before about how some of the fancier features were removed between movies for one reason or another. There may be an explanation in one of the newer Clone War novels, but I don't concern myself with it; I just ignore the prequels entirely when it comes to issues of continuity.
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Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

[Pel]

I haven't seen any official reason other than "It's George's vision. Live with it." Unofficially, Artoo was either refitted to meet new duty requirements or perhaps droid maintenance wasn't high on their list in the early days of the Rebellion. It's plausible that some of R2's lesser-used systems fell into disrepair. Not likely, but plausible.

Oh yeah: prequels bad.
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Aha!

[Jedi Skyler]

I'm currently in a game where the droids are actually present; R2 took a serious hit, and is now partially damaged.

On an unrelated note, the damage seems to have affected mostly systems one does not encounter in the original trilogy...

On yet another unrelated note, I am well aware that a LOT of people ignore the EU novels altogether. I'm currently reading through the Black Fleet Crisis trilogy again... the one where Luke goes traipsing off after his mother, who's apparently still alive and a member of a race called the Fallanassi, who practice a type of "Force" use called the White Current. It's utterly alien to Luke, and its effects can't even be detected by him until the woman who slipped into his stronghold (read: Vader's recontstructed citadel on Coruscant) and whisked him off on this journey to find the Fallanassi, begins to teach him how to use it.

Yet another bit of blatant inconsistency in an otherwise completely enjoyable universe. But where would we be if we didn't have such controversy to fuel discussion boards on sites like this one?

[masque]

Aside from prequel based stuff and the NJO stuff (which I simply haven't read yet), I actually like the majority of the EU stuff. I haven't read Black Fleet Crisis, but the Thrawn trilogy, Corellian Trilogy, Bounty Hunter Wars, and most of the other stuff has been good. Truce at Bukura didn't do much for me, nor did the Jedi Academy trilogy (except for how it tied in with Tales of the Jedi, which rocked), but even if I didn't like the writing much, none of that EU stuff is as jarring to me as SE IV-VI and I-III.

The best EU stuff, in my opinion, is the stuff that doesn't involve the core characters like Han, Luke, etc. For one, there isn't as much established background, nor as much emotional investment, so the writers have a lot more freedom, but the other thing is that they really do expand the SW universe. The X-Wing series and the Bounty Hunter Wars show this, and the various short story collections really showcase this, particularly Tales from the Empire and New Republic, which collect stuff from the WEG SW Adventure Journals. My players don't ever come into contact with Luke and them, as well they shouldn't, it's a big galaxy. They don't even fight with the Rebellion (although they do sell arms to it). I get a lot more ideas for plot hooks from the EU stuff where the biggest principle character from the movies you might run into is Wedge, or Bossk, or 21B.
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Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

[Jedi Skyler]

That's a good tack to take. A lot of people would run into serious problems if they kept running into the core characters; some players simply don't know how to deal with them.

Although one of the games I'm in has me in danger of being caught by Vader, and me a Jedi youngling (only 15). I have in mind a way to (hopefully) deal with him, but it's something that would only be a stopgap solution to provide enough of a diversion for him so we could maybe get away.

But I can't list it here, since my GM's here and might read this. Don't want him to know what I have in mind... hehehe

He's already thrown a dark Jedi at us, one who would have sliced and diced me if my captain hadn't saved my skin...

[masque]

I generally make a point to include a note on all my fringe characters that they're drinking buddies with Han, but that's just a tradition that dates back to my early days of roleplaying. The campaign I'm running now had the characters hanging out with Doc and Jess for a session or two, from Han Solo at Star's End, but it's a largely Corporate Sector campaign, anyway, and if you need ship repairs, where else would you go? Thinking back to my entire history of playing Star Wars though, I think those are the biggest "name" characters I've encountered, as a player or a GM.
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Hokey religions and ancient weapons are no match for a good blaster at your side, kid.

[Hellcat]

What exactly do you mean by the devolution of Artoo between RotS and ANH? If you're talking about the loss of certain pieces of equipment such as his leg jets, then I'd have to say those are things tha would have ended up in-universe being demed as unimportant whenever it came time to make repairs. I have to imagine, based on the OT, that after the events of RotS Artoo became rather damage and accident prone. Look at the OT if you're wondering what I mean. ANH he gets blasted during the trench run and has to be repaired. ESB he accidently plugs into what is apparently a power outlet on Cloud City and takes a serious electrical jolt. Before that he falls into the Dagobah swamp and gets swallowed by something in the water. And in RoTJ he get's blasted while trying ot open the shield generator bunker's blast doors. We know for a fact he had to be repaired after the Battle of Yavin, and no doubt the same thing happened on the Forest Moon after the Battle of Endor. It seems like if he was so accident and damage prone after the end of the Clone Wars that repairing his ability to fly would be a lot lower on the list of important items a droid mechanich would need to get done.
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FLUFFY for President!!!!

Wanted Poster

[Jedi Skyler]

Those are some good points, HC.

Don't forget his run-in with the Jawas. He got short-circuited there as well. And while that's not necessarily as damaging as getting swallowed and spit out, it still raised the possibility of internal damage that wouldn't be detected unless someone pulled not only the specs for that particular R2 unit, but also a complete and utterly thorough inspection of ALL his systems.

[Pel]

Luke's droid repair skills never impressed me. Of course he was also conned by an astromech at the same time so...

That's right: Blame Luke!
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Aha!

[Jedi Skyler]

Why not? He'll just whine about it anyway. You KNOW how those Skywalker boys are...

[hisham]

There IS an EU explanation for R2's lack of hover rockets in the OT which was made even before Episode II was released.

Check it out.

Though, I believe this is just overexplaining things. I'd prefer an explanation such as it being ripped out and never replaced between Episodes III and IV.
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The Enteague Sector | Cracken's Collection of Crackpots
In D6, of course.

[Jedi Skyler]

It may be an overexplanation, but at least it's fun!