Commando droid from Clone Wars seasons

During the Clone Wars era, but maybe during the whole Star wars era the CIS was the most creative fraction. They always tried to develop some newer, or more upgraded, more deadly inventions, making the initial Trade Federation droid army better and better, that can be perfect for the war. Dozens of new air, water, and ground units were implemented and manufactured during the war. Of course they had the funds of it, since other new systems joined their cause, rising up against the Republic, giving their money and new ideas for the CIS, not to mention Dooku's money, and the "donations" of the Banking Clan. No doubt, this fraction is the most colorful, the most various. While the Republic built their army around the kaminoan clones, arming them with the necessary weapons and vehicles, with minimal changes by the end of the war, the CIS continuously find out something new, something lethal. The CIS became more and more powerful, and if the Jedi would not fought with the clones, Palpatine would not balanced the war between the two sides, and if the clones wouldn't have been so self-sacrificing, so humanly resourceful, and spontaneous, the war have been ended earlier, and CIS may have won the war.

One of these new inventions, upgraded droids was the commando droid. The BX-series droid commando, more commonly known as the commando droid, was an elite battle droid model in the army of the CIS made for special assignments. If we follow the serial numbers, the B1 were the basic battle droids, the B2 were the SuperBattleDroids, the BX may came from Xtra, as it can be seen amongst the motherboard names. Very possibly it is a name of special, or upgraded battle droid version.

Although these commando battle droids appeared similar to the B1 battle droid series, and it may seem they are almost the same, they are not. They are much better. Only a few outer notable changes have been made on them, include two white photoreceptors, in addition to the long head being shortened to half its original size. Their voices were notably different compared to the B1 series, sounding more akin to the deep voices of B2 super battle droids.

They had the same operating abilities as B1 battle droids, with the addition of infiltration software. This, along with their humanoid shape, allowed them to fit into a clone trooper's armor. (They did it sometimes in the Clone wars, as it could be seen on Richi, and on Coruscant, but while they infiltrated the Senate, they dressed in blue Coruscant guard armor, not clone armor.) In addition to this, the droids were capable of modulating their voices to match that of others, though they could not accurately copy their mannerisms or vocabulary, nor respond properly to unexpected situations outside of combat.

Their fighting abilities were great. Today, in our world we would say they are very similar to the ninjas, and a special agent with great skills of martial arts and special weapon knowledge. They jump, somersault, sneak if necessary, using firearms or melee weapons, quickly and organized, in small teams, like an elite commando. Oh yes, no wonder it is the name – commando droid. The droid commandos were built to be substantially faster and stronger than a regular battle droid, and also possessed heavier armor that was capable of withstanding multiple shots from most blasters. However, sustained barrages or a single headshot could overwhelm them, and the head could be torn down easily, as a kind of Achilles point of the droid, but like Super battle droids and IG-100 MagnaGuards, some units confronted the enemy even being sliced in half or being decapitated, but remained operational fighting further, but of course with less effectiveness. The only real drawback of these droids was that they were far more expensive to produce than the regular infantry. This made the droids a fairly rare sight on the battlefield and thus made them to be used exclusively on special and or critical missions only. Due to their prohibitive cost, they could not be mass-produced in such a manner as to replace the Confederacy's other battle droids so they were used for SpecOps, boarding parties, and raids.

The equipment of the droid commandos included E-5 blaster rifles, a stun baton to knock out enemies, and a fusion cutter, used to cut down doors and other obstacles in their path. In addition to this, the leader of a droid commando unit often carried a vibrosword for close-combat purposes. They were also known to use grenades against enemy emplacements. Also, two commandos on Saleucami formed a sniper team, one acting as the shooter with a sniper rifle and the other using electrobinoculars, performing as the spotter.

Special units:

In the Confederacy prison the Citadel, Warden Osi Sobeck had a team of these commandos painted with a special yellow color scheme. One of these droids was seen torturing Jedi Master Even Piell for information on the Nexus Route with an electrostaff, while an interrogation droid questioned Piell. Many of them carried hand-held energy shields. These shield are very similar like the personal gungan infantry shields were on the battle of the grassy plain of Naboo.

Unit leaders, which were known as the Commando droid captain, were fitted with white marks on their brows and chest plates. The captain often had a vibrosword.

And now we got to the very special commando droids, that I decided to make. They were some elite units, used to guarding prisons, body guarding important persons, or senate chambers. Their design is very spectacular, and they can be only seen in 2 Clone Wars scenes. They have a great CIS feeling, meaning a great model for such a custom figure maker, that I am. :) 

Onderon: "Front Runners" is the third episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series' fifth season. The Onderon rebels, under the supervision of the Jedi Anakin Skywalker, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ahsoka Tano, and clone trooper Rex, have begun striking at the Separatist droid forces in Iziz, wrecking them in droves while taking painstaking care not to endanger innocent civilians, and inching their way closer to the Royal Palace with each step. Seeing this as a direct threat on his life and position, Sanjay Rash, the usurper King of Onderon, has his predecessor Ramsis Dendup brought from the palace dungeons, self-indulgently accusing him of having caused this uprising. Dendup, however, declares that this was actually triggered by Rash's submission to the Separatists, and that only he - as the acting king - has the power to end this by ending the droid occupation first.

A number of BX-series droid commandos were present on the planet Onderon where they served under the super tactical droid Kalani who was dispatched to defeat a local rebellion brought against the Confederacy. These droid commandos were seen battling the Onderonian rebels where they were ultimately defeated due to the armaments and training they had received to fight off the Separatist forces. When King Sanjay Rash's bodyguards abandoned him to fight for the rebels, BX-series droid commandos replaced them as his bodyguards, protecting him in his throne room.

Mandalore: "A Friend in Need" is the fourteenth episode of the Star Wars: The Clone Wars television series' fourth season. Shortly thereafter, count Dooku had Sith assassins murder Bonteri's mother, then publicly attributed her death to a Republic attack and used the incident as an excuse to repeal the Parliament's peace proposal. Newly orphaned with both of his parents gone, Bonteri did not accept Dooku's explanation that the Republic was responsible for his mother's death. Yet after discovering Dooku's part in her murder, Bonteri renounced his affiliations to the Confederacy and departed from Raxus to pursue justice for her death. He made contact with the Death Watch, a Mandalorian splinter group based on the planet Carlac that strove for a return to Mandalorian warrior culture over the pacifistic regime of Duchess Satine Kryze and her New Mandalorians. Led by Pre Vizsla, the Death Watch had lost the support of Dooku and the Confederacy on the eve of a planned invasion of Mandalore, leading to their exile from the Mandalore system and their desire to murder Dooku. Sharing their objective and being blind to their murderous nature, Bonteri believed that the group had honor and sought membership. For admission, Vizsla ordered him to obtain Dooku's exact location so that they could target him. Bonteri developed a plan to openly accuse Dooku of murdering his mother, and when brought before the count, he would use a holotrace device to determine the Head of State's whereabouts via the holotransmission. With that information, he hoped that the Death Watch would be able to assassinate Dooku. To obtain Dooku's attention, Bonteri traveled to Mandalore, where Duchess Kryze was hosting the first-ever peace conference between delegations from the Republic Senate and the Separatist Parliament.

Although not invited to Mandalore by the Separatist delegates, Bonteri proceeded to the royal palace in the capital city Sundari and interrupted the proceedings just as Atell was demanding that Padme Amidala, the Republic delegation leader, acknowledge the Confederacy's legitimacy on behalf of the Republic. Making a dramatic entrance, Bonteri was escorted into the palace by Kryze's Mandalorian Royal Guard and caused a significant stir among both parties, particularly for Ahsoka Tano, who was serving as Amidala's bodyguard. After bowing to Kryze and receiving permission to speak, Bonteri wasted no time in accusing Dooku of complicity in his mother's assassination. The Separatist senators reacted with outrage to his claims, and Lawise, labeling him a traitor, immediately ordered his delegation's security droids to arrest the young man and remove him from the room. With the matter an internal Separatist affair, neither Kryze nor the Republic representatives could interfere. As a pair of BX-series droid commandos dragged him out of the throne room, Bonteri warned the Separatist delegates that they would all be betrayed by Dooku, as his mother had been.

The security droids escorted Bonteri to republic landing craft docked at the city spaceport, where he was brought before a holographic transmission of Dooku. Discreetly activating his holotrace device, Bonteri repeated his accusations to Dooku, who unimpressed by his bravery ordered the commando droids to execute him. Before the droids could do so, Tano, having followed Bonteri to the docks, stormed into the hold. Being bereft of her lightsabers as per Mandalorian law, Tano used the Force to destroy one of the droids and kicked the other aside. Bonteri took Tano's hand and joined her in escaping from the Separatist landing craft, though they were pursued by a trio of security droids that had been guarding the vessel. En route to a Republic diplomatic ship elsewhere at the docks, Bonteri attempted to tell Tano that her assistance was appreciated but unnecessary. Nevertheless, Tano hurriedly urged him to the ship, where Republic Captain Taggart and his retinue of Senate Guards held off the incoming security droids.

The commando droid figure was made from different figure parts, we need 2 figures for the purpose, a battle droid, and a General Grievous figure. 

Please take a look at my custom Commando droid figure!

Custom Commando droid figure front

Custom Commando droid figure side

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 by: Norbert Rostas