The
MSE-series repair droid, sometimes referred to
as the mouse droid. The name came from their small size, and the fast movement,
also originated from its designation, since the MSE letters almost put out the
English word MOUSE. The mouse droid was a small, box-shaped, wheeled general
purpose MSE-series
droid often used
for delivery and maintenance purposes. MSE-6 units were most notably on Star
Destroyers and both Death Stars during the time of the Galactic
Empire.
The
MSE-6
mouse droid stood about 25 centimeters tall and ran on four
wheels. Although programmed with multiple capabilities, the droid was designed
with only a singular function. Despite the lack of multiple skills, MSE-series
droids were a popular line. These droids were usually programmed with a single
function that varied per assignment. Once they were set on the task, they would
do nothing else. They were pretty dumb. So after a successful task they
required new programming, to do a new job. Since each droid possessed only a
single skill, multiple mouse droids could chain together to pool their
resources for more complex assignments. A modular circuit matrix was installed
beneath
the droid's boxy shell, and contained programming for one skill.
Commonly, mouse droids carried out cleanup and basic repair duties, and could
serve in security and communications fields. Trains of MSE-6 droids could often
be seen guiding troops through military installations; this kind of duty
required mouse droids to be programmed with complete readouts of their assigned
areas. In addition, due to their use in military outposts, the mouse droids had
often vital datas in their memories, which must not got in hostile hands, so
MSE units were rigged to melt down if captured, giving the droids a strong
self-preservation instinct.
Producing billions of the droids, heavily promoting them in over four
hundred sectors
and marketing them as "cute"; the general public instead considered
them irritating, and some considered them similar to annoying vermin. So the
average people did not liked them. Many MSE-6 droids were used by the Republic
Navy during the Clone Wars. (One such droid can be seen in a Season V
episode, where the Separatists use a captured Republic cruiser as a moving
bomb, which was planned to navigate into a space station,
where many important
Republic personalities are gathering.) The Confederacy of Independent Systems
also maintained a number of these droids and MSE
droids in the Separatist Council War Room on Mustafar at
the end of the Clone Wars. A number of MSE-4s were employed by the Confederacy of Independent Systems
on Mustafar,
working in a Techno Union facility. They were easily frightened, and
Darth Vader easily scared a group of them while
walking down a hallway of the base before he killed the Separatist leaders.
Rebaxan Columni became desperate to sell the massive
collection of droids they had built, so they sold the entire lot of them to the
Empire for work in the Imperial Navy, which was desperate for droids, before
bankruptcy. They offered them for a small price and gave all of them to the Galactic
Empire; every ship in the fleet had hundreds of them. Their use was only
limited by their owner's creativity. MSE-droids became common on the Death Star. These droids were often used to carry messages in vast Imperial ships and
battle stations as well as leading troops through mazes of corridors to their
assigned
posts through the many hallways and levels. We could see one of them leading a squad of trooper to that area, where they will be needed because of the rebel attack. An other is serving on that corridor of the Death Star, where
Luke and Han are escorting the captive Chewbacca into prison. The large Wookie
growls at the mouse droid, who scares, turns back, and
retreats from the towering wookie, who very possibly laughs at it. The MSE droids had two small internal
arms and they could do a variety of tasks such as sanitation and security. We
never saw it in the films, however it can be seen in the game Jedi Outcast,
where Kyle Katarn uses one mouse droid to reach a wall console somewhere hidden
in small service tunnels, he opens doors, and deactivates hazards with the
droid to be able to advance.
The mouse droid has found its way into the Hasbro toy line three times now. The 1999 fan exclusive Power of the
Force 2 Freeze Frame Death Star Droid came packaged with a model
mouse droid. The 2002 Power of the Jedi astromech
droid R4-M9
also came packaged with the same mouse droid model. The droid was released a
third time as part of the 2011 San Diego Comic Con Exclusive "Revenge of
the Jedi" Death Star set.
This model was of a single piece hollow plastic mold construction with non
movable wheels. The whole product is crying for a custom upgrade. So I painted
it, a small silver was brushed on its shell, making it more metallic, the
wheels were modified, of course they are still not rolling, but look more
authentic in my opinion.