Holoprojector R4 unit made for the start of Clone Wars season two
I introduce an 
R4 unit in this article, who was seen in a 
Clone Wars second season episode, and who had to project the hologram of Darth Sidious. The mysterious Sith lord likes the different kinds of holographic transmissions, which help him to stay in the shadows, hiding his true identity, eliminating the risk of the personal presence.
We have seen him communicating with the Neimodians with holotransmissions, sending orders for them from the distance. We could see a really interesting walking hologram projector in the Clone Wars cartoon previously, which
mobile holoprojector was used by Count Dooku to introduce the lord of the Sith to Asajj Ventress. There will be a newer one in the second season of the Clone Wars animated film, we
won't know its identifier, only that he is a purple-grey R4 unit. His long conical head is purple, and his grey body was burned
by the hot temperature of Mustafar, and the flying ash scale in the air. His duty was to project Darth Sidous' hologram, who wanted to oversee the transformation of the Force sensitive children personally.
There was a small rodian child next, when we join them at the plot.
Fortunately Ahsoka and her companion arrived just in time, saved the children, and mostly destroyed the droids. Then the whole Mustafar complex collapsed into the lava sea, which seems to become an everyday act there in the Star Wars movies and cartoons recently.
The R4-series agromech droid was produced by Industrial Automaton, which soon became a successful attempt to capture new market prospects mostly amongst the Outer Rim urbanite who were more likely have a souped-up landspeeder parked in their garage than an X-wing. Accordingly, the R4 agromech droid was designed for life outside the hangar bays. It was simpler, tougher, and cheaper than previous R2 or R3-series models.
The
R4 had the same outward appearance of an R2 or R3 droid below the neck, but to save money on production, items such as the video display screen and miniature fire extinguisher were omitted. The holographic projector/recorder unit was retained, but relocated to the top of the head dome to allow for use of a cheaper, less miniaturized unit. This is where he projected Darth Sidious' hologram from in the Clone Wars episode. The
droid's Intellex VI computer was advanced, and was able to process many data. The computer brain was designed with more space between the components, lowering production costs, but requiring a larger head dome, and likewise eliminated many of the function indicators and gadgetry found on other R-series head domes, and also R2-D2, who used them cleverly in many situations in the movies. This is why R4 units have conical heads. The R4 was unsuited to the task of starfighter astromech; it could only hold the coordinates for a single hyperspace jump in its astrogation buffer, but
couldn't aid the flight itself.
The
droids were rugged; able to work around in a garage environment as well or better than other R-droids. IA was pleased to discover that, with regular maintenance checks, the R4 outlasted its design parameters for operational life, weather endurance, personality matrix stability, and time elapsed between recharge sessions. Darth Sidious chose this R4 unit for the Mustafar mission for the same reasons, he knew that the droid will be able to work in those cruel
circumstances, and really, although the hot temperature and the flying ash scale in the air burned the droid's torso, but it could work in those conditions, too.
Because of their increased durability, R4's were the preferred "mech" droids used by the Jedi and the Sith. However, some R4 droids purchased by the Jedi were modified to include the more expensive R2 style head. This gave them many of the best features of the R2 and R4 series. For example Obi-wan had an R4 astro droid in the ROTS movie with a dome. Many of these droids were further modified by mechanics or by Anakin Skywalker in the Jedi Temple.
Update with new pictures:
After
seeing all 6 seasons, and watching the whole Clone Wars again, I noticed
some other purple R4 astromech units, which are the same, or very similar. There
was an episode, when Anakin and Padme are expecting a
Roonan
senator for a party, but some fruits are missing on top dressing of the cake. So
Anakin sends the 2 droids to the market, to buy some fruit, we can spot a purple
R4 in the background
as
they going to market. They found and bought the fruits, but R2 wants to go to a
droid spa instead of going
home
immediately. That was a kind of relaxation and recreation center for droids,
where polite droid girls greet the tired droid boys, then they can have a bath
in fine oil, and will
be
cleaned with great care. We can spot a purple R4 outside waiting, then the same,
or an other one inside, having a good cleaning. Later the same purple R4 texture
was used, when R2-D2 is being chased by the men of Cad Bane. He was accompanied
by
a blue protocol droid, who will be also introduced here in this section, just
take a look at the left menu bar. Finally the fruits got home, however very
adventurously, and they were on the top of that cake, for the joy of the Roonan
senator.
Please take a look at my custom holoprojector R4 unit figure!
