Well, we've known WHY for a while now. But this new comic gives some interesting details.

Fodder for droid enthusiasts.

Robinson and Harris paint Omri as a bit of a droid Nihilist throughout the issue—he questions why the droids have a concept of one side over the other, or whether they’re even capable of human qualities, like bravery or sacrifice. Most importantly, Omri also focuses on the rarely-discussed, but often uncomfortable, willingness the denizens of the Star Wars galaxy have when it comes to wiping a droid’s memories, just as Bail Organa did to C-3PO after the events of the prequels.

http://io9.gizmodo.com/so-now-we-know-how-c-3po-got-his-red-arm-in-the-force-a-1770741572?utm_campaign=socialflow_io9_facebook&utm_source=io9_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

That's C3PO? I didn't recognize him.

This was a good read, and is quite stylistically different from the rest of the new lines. Who knew these droids were programmed to feel feelings?

This comic actually made me want to play a droid character. They had never really caught my eye before, but now I'm considering the possibility. I also consider myself less likely to nix an all-droid party now.

I could get someone to do it for me but I won't be in the vicinity of Star Wars fans for a few hours. Can someone please let me know what I'm missing?

The premise is relatively simple. C-3PO and a rag tag group of Resistance droids, as well as their captive, a First Order RA-7 protocol droid named Omri, crash land on an unidentified planet, their human crew wiped out. Omri has information on where the First Order are keeping a captured Admiral Ackbar, information the Resistance needs to save the venerable Mon Calamari from execution. (But it’s... wait for it... a trap!) After locating a working distress beacon on the planet from a downed TIE fighter, C-3PO and his motley crew trek their way over the planet in a race against time. And then all of them, save for Threepio, die horrible pointless deaths, and Threepio is down an arm.

Omri argues that, as a protocol droid, the extra sentience he is given to perform his duties makes him question the tragedy of a droid’s lot in life—awareness that makes him realize he has lived lives many times over, that who he is as a being has been re-written and re-programmed again and again. Omri’s initial distaste for C-3PO doesn’t come from the fact that they’ve been programmed to be on opposite sides of a war, but C-3PO’s blind acceptance that his sentience and memories are in hands other than his own. At one point, rather pointedly, he even refers to it in a similar manner to the concept of having a Phantom Limb, the gnawing thought of something being there when it isn’t.

There’s a line later on in the issue, when the Droid herd has been thinned down to just Omri and Threepio, where the First Order droid wonders whether their fallen comrades were in their “first lives” or not—noting they were all far newer models than Threepio or himself. And suddenly, everything that had happened in the comic up until that point is reframed in a horrifying perspective.

The callous disregard as little by little the group is taken down—one droid staying behind to be destroyed by hordes of giant spice spiders, another trapped in quick-sand-esque oil, dragging it into the swampy deaths, or a third that is simply carried away to their doom by fly-like creatures—suddenly takes on an altogether darker tone. You suddenly start thinking of them less as droids and more as people. The pointlessness nature of their deaths is suddenly tragic. and yes, the moment C-3PO actually loses his arm because strangely visceral and brutal.

And in the end, it makes Omri’s sacrifice, his evolution from nihilistic to courageous, weirdly heartbreaking. Sheltering from acid rain that will soon destroy both of them, Omri chooses to give the data that he’s been storing to Threepio and walk out into the rain to activate the distress beacon, knowing it’ll destroy him, but save Threepio. And as it does, the acid peels away his shiny exterior, literally revealing a past life where he was painted red.

Man, I want Desslok to write my eulogy!

Naw, twernt me. As I was about to type out a long "what happened" message, I realized that I read something about the issue just a couple of days ago and cribbed that instead of reinventing the wheel.

And I just realized that I forgot to attribute the original source. My bad.

This comic actually made me want to play a droid character. They had never really caught my eye before, but now I'm considering the possibility. I also consider myself less likely to nix an all-droid party now.

If I thought my players would play an all-droid party, I would write a campaign for them in a hot minute.

I once wrote an all-Warforged campaign for 4e D&D. It was one of the best I've ever written (if I do say so myself). Unfortunately, I just couldn't get universal buy-in from my players: 2 out of 4 just did not want to play along with the premise. (One ALWAYS played Elves. Always.)

man... I'd have jumped right into either of those campaigns (all droid, or all warforged...).

Thank you, Desslok.

A great story to be sure that left me nearly crying by the end. It also gave me new ideas on how to roleplay my droid character's memory wipe.

man... I'd have jumped right into either of those campaigns (all droid, or all warforged...).

I've tried it, and it worked out about as well as can be expected...

This was a good read, and is quite stylistically different from the rest of the new lines. Who knew these droids were programmed to feel feelings?

This was a good read, and is quite stylistically different from the rest of the new lines. Who knew these droids were programmed to feel feelings?

My understanding is that emotional capacity is unintentional, emergent behavior that occurs over time and is ordinarily prevented with routine memory wipes. I might have simply imagined that though...

That seems to jive with my loose understanding as well. I like how C-3PO mentioned he has flashbacks of "previous lives."

That seems to jive with my loose understanding as well. I like how C-3PO mentioned he has flashbacks of "previous lives."

HUGE story hook possibilities in that.

That brings a whole new level of Body Horror to being a droid. And yes, it does open up all kinds of story potential - both in the RPG and in the main universe. Actually I'm thinking of talking with my GM about building a small arc into my Engineer's future development, going from Droids are just tools (she would totally build Kamikaze Droids just for an experiment) to Droids are People Too.

That scene were they just casually order 3PO's execution in RotS always pissed me off, essentially killing a main character like that is terrible.

That scene were they just casually order 3PO's execution in RotS always pissed me off, essentially killing a main character like that is terrible.

Funny that the obnoxious aspects of his personality persisted through multiple memory wipes.

That scene were they just casually order 3PO's execution in RotS always pissed me off, essentially killing a main character like that is terrible.

Funny that the obnoxious aspects of his personality persisted through multiple memory wipes.

OS, updates, and "patches" remain...files and programs deleted.

That scene were they just casually order 3PO's execution in RotS always pissed me off, essentially killing a main character like that is terrible.

Funny that the obnoxious aspects of his personality persisted through multiple memory wipes.

OS, updates, and "patches" remain...files and programs deleted.

That sounds less than thorough, but I could roll that way with it. You're saying they go to the "please insert girder" phase and not the "insert OS media to continue" phase.

That scene were they just casually order 3PO's execution in RotS always pissed me off, essentially killing a main character like that is terrible.

Funny that the obnoxious aspects of his personality persisted through multiple memory wipes.

OS, updates, and "patches" remain...files and programs deleted.

That sounds less than thorough, but I could roll that way with it. You're saying they go to the "please insert girder" phase and not the "insert OS media to continue" phase.

That explanation would also prevent the abuse that comes from copying a friendly droids persona over every droid you capture.

This was a good read, and is quite stylistically different from the rest of the new lines. Who knew these droids were programmed to feel feelings?

My understanding is that emotional capacity is unintentional, emergent behavior that occurs over time and is ordinarily prevented with routine memory wipes. I might have simply imagined that though...

Actually, emotional capacity would be required to avoid systems that could be just simple murder hobos as they have no feelings about killing someone.

That scene were they just casually order 3PO's execution in RotS always pissed me off, essentially killing a main character like that is terrible.

Funny that the obnoxious aspects of his personality persisted through multiple memory wipes.

OS, updates, and "patches" remain...files and programs deleted.

That sounds less than thorough, but I could roll that way with it. You're saying they go to the "please insert girder" phase and not the "insert OS media to continue" phase.

More like, his memories are the hard drive and his core programming is the unwritable ROM chips built into his system. So, wiping a droid restores him to whatever is in those areas of his brain that can't be written over.

More like, his memories are the hard drive and his core programming is the unwritable ROM chips built into his system. So, wiping a droid restores him to whatever is in those areas of his brain that can't be written over.

Yet, it seems to imply that core programming would be "reset to factory settings" but I feel like a "personality matrix" wouldn't live in the read-only memory of a droid. That part would seem to be "how to move an arm" and whatnot.

Of course any sort of attempt to overlay our technology over droids is doomed to failure just like communications and sensors.

More like, his memories are the hard drive and his core programming is the unwritable ROM chips built into his system. So, wiping a droid restores him to whatever is in those areas of his brain that can't be written over.

Yet, it seems to imply that core programming would be "reset to factory settings" but I feel like a "personality matrix" wouldn't live in the read-only memory of a droid. That part would seem to be "how to move an arm" and whatnot.

Of course any sort of attempt to overlay our technology over droids is doomed to failure just like communications and sensors.

That's why I included "patches" (including the quotes), to account for the personality.

Thinking more about it, though, Threepio is an odd duck...how much of his personality is "factory," and how much is a side effect of being cobbled together (and presumably modified) by a 9 year old?