During the
Clone
Wars newer and newer droids and mechs came down from the assemble lines of the
CIS. Such droid were the
LM-432 droid, too. But if we call it this
way,
noone would identify which is it. But if we call it crab droid, all Star Wars
fans would know what we are talking about. Crab droids were mechanized battle droids used by the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars,
but the name "crab" very possibly originates from us, not from the CIS. Since
the Star Wars Universe does not know such crabs that we know here on Earth, and
which crab gave the idea and design plan of this walker. The CIS and the clones nicknamed
them "muckrackers", which is not a lofty or noble name, but kind of true, because of their extensive use in marshy terrain. Their name was derived from their six-legged scuttling movement and organic appearance.
Their legs were perfect for moving soft, instable terrains, like swamps, but
were also able to climb solid surfaces.
But these legs were not only good for moving on marshy terrains, but they were
great weapons, too.
The
crab droid could use its legs to attack infantry in its way. The crab droid
could use its legs to attack infantry in its way. A leg attack could range from
pushing down an enemy from his leg, to piercing them. Such thing could be
seen
in the Clone Wars series. They were heavily used as security in the Separatist
prison, Citadel, when Anakin and Ahsoka came to free Jedi Master Even Piel. One
crab droid push down a clone trooper with its legs, an other crab pushed down a
reprogrammed battledroid, then pierced its bodyarmor with his front pincer. And
these front legs were really sharp, they were not only good for piercing enemy
infantry, but with them
a
crab could climb walls. Many were used because of the rough terrain, rocky walls
and surfaces, which the Crab droids easily climbed to capture the Jedi who were
escaping from the prison fortress.
They
surrounded Ahsoka and master Piel, but the two Jedi defeated them all. Anakin
also cut one crab droid down, and he stepped over its "dead" body which was
really cool of
Anakin.
But get back to their legs! So the crab droid could use its legs to attack
infantry in its way, and climb rocks and rocky mountains, but that is not all.
They were also equipped with a vacuum pump system integrated into their forward
pincers, which could suck up and then spit out mud to either clear space for
Separatist forces or obscure the visual sensors of enemy forces. This earned
them the nickname of "muckracker".
This droid were designed and mass produced after the
CIS
has been formed from those many Separatist systems, and their money made it
possible. Palpatine also helped their efforts, providing them money from banking
clan as it was seen in the Clone wars Season 6 episodes. But helped them many
ways, such as Senate permissions, deals, and many other dirty ways. And it was
really needed, because the Crab droid was expensive. The profit was
forty-eight-thousand credits per unit, so we can imagine how much could it cost
if only the profit was 48000 credit on a single Crab! But if you needed a Crab
droid, you had to pay its price.
And we haven't discussed their firepower yet! LM-432 crab droids were armed with
twin blasters located on the bottom of the droid's body. These blasters were
capable of rapid fire and a powerful double blast. The crab droid was equipped with three glowing photoreceptor eyes
which helped them navigating and aiming while shooting.
Clones
often shoot their eyes, making the Crab blind, but we had to know that there was
a secondary receptor which was able to replace the blinded primary eyes, if it
has been destroyed. The torso of the LM-432 units were protected by duranium armorplast-shielding
that could deflect blaster shots, protected the crab from heat and water.
However
veteran
clones after Utapau knew how to avoid the crab droids blaster cannons by leaping
on top of them, attacking the weak armor parts from above. But the CIS noticed
that, and made upgrades. The largest legs of an LM-432 unit were tipped with heavy
stabilizers that could secure perches on even bedrock and were unable to rid
themselves of opponents who got on top of them, allowing the Crab stand on its
legs, trying to get rid of its rider, like a Mustang shook its rider off its
back. But that was not easy for any clone to get so close to a Crab droid that
they could climb on its back, maybe from the side if it can be flanked, or from
above from a higher platform someone could jump on its back. But the best of all
was Jar Jar Binks, who jumped away from 2-3 pincer pierce attacks, managed to
hide in cover from the twin cannon shots, and got on the
Crab's
top in a Clone Wars episode! Jar Jar is funny, I smiled all the way while I was
searching this moment to screenshot. The Crab droid has never met such clever
opponent, it could think Jar Jar was some kind of elite warrior. :) The Crab
tried his final and best solution to get rid of this fearsome opponent, stood on
his rear legs, and tried to shake Jar Jar off, but its stabilizers could not
stabilize the extra weight, and the crab felt down from that platform down into
the swamp of Rodia.
Following the execution of the Separatist Council by Darth
Sidious' new
apprentice, Darth Vader, these Crab droids were de-activated. This was shocking, that
meant Darth Sidious could have stopped the was any time, only a "telephone call"
was needed, with a holomessage to the Separatist leaders, stop the production, and
all war activities. Decades later, crab droids left from the Clone Wars
were still utilized by the Empire during the Galactic Civil War, being used as
scouts and sentries.
There were communication/sensor antennas on the head of the Crab droids, making it seem like it was a living creature
rather than a machine - a feature many of the Separatists' droids included. That
was totally forgot from the toy crab droid, which is a large mistake. An other
failure is that large cannon under the droid, which can launch a red projectile.
That is not a twin cannon, and too big. A third failure are the eyes on the
sides, despite the droid had 3 photoreceptors on the nose area. These
3
failure all together made this whole project a kid toy, a silly and simple copy of that
awesome droid it could have been. That was my motivation to custom make an
other, hopefully better crab droid for me from this awful piece of... I used the
Episode 3 Revenge of the Sith Encyclopedia as a reference, this photo was my
base, even the dirt and battle damage was painted to same areas, included the
heat damages and repaints. I hope everybody will prefer mine, and the reader
will like my work.
