The Tragedy of the B-1 Battle Droid

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We often write off the B-1 Battle Droid as useless clankers, that are tossed at the Grand Army of the Republic as cannon fodder. They're cheap to make and even easier to destroy, and they seem to be me made in infinite quantities. But as many fans have started to notice, these droids actually do have the ability to feel, they have emotions and even fear death. This self-awareness gives us a glimpse at the suffering these droids went through during the Clone Wars.

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[damonblade]

Droid 1 " They don't care about us do they "
Droid 2 " Roger Roger."

[rubiconprime]

Let’s not forget poor 224 from the Clone Wars pilot. The guy just got promoted, but was handed possibly the most incompetent and/or insubordinate unit of droids to command before being thrown up against the grand master of the Jedi order.
And then he died.

[mirage]

Speaking of droids: they show up as regular enemies in Jedi Survivor. With all their endearing quirkiness intact. And I cannot help but like them. Throughout the games dialog you can hear one being reactivated and immediately asking if they've won the war, you hear one being in awe of the location they're stationed at, having them argue about who is more advanced and even daydreaming about getting promoted.

They might be clankers and a lot of their dialog is played for laughs, but they have a lot of personality. Way more than they were probably ever supposed to have. It almost makes me feel bad for cutting them down to bits, but then I take a wrist rocket to the face and suddenly I find myself out of empathy.

[HihiouZabimaru]

"All for one and one for-gyaaaah!"

-Defector B1 Battle Droid.
Martyr to the cause.
Loyal soldier.
Hero.

[RensStoryteller]

Man, the clones and droids were kindred spirits in a way, forced into existence with the goal of fighting and slaughtering eachother on mass all for the sake of truely evil chess masters who discarded them the instant they got what they wanted. A true tragedy that neither side asked for, and now the few of each that remain are desperately trying to find their own paths in a galaxy that hates them. The Clone Wars were a tragedy of truly monstrous proportions and my heart goes out to all the poor beings of all races who were caught in its clutches, but none more so than these two groups of children forced to fight the war that they had no stake in.

[Superhornet]

People always laugh at me and call me the "c word". The disrespect is high.. Thank you for making this video and bringing more awareness to this topic, we appreciate it.

[digitaal_boog]

Legend has it the final versions of this droid were used to make the headrests in Toyota Yaris’

[justicetaylor]

Robots have always been my very favorite type of character as a kid. Their existence is a marvel by default. The friendships they form show a faint spark of legitimate sentience.
My dad clearly loved this concept too as he read I.Robot books to me as a kid. He even straight up asked “Wouldn’t it be neat to create a soul?”

I’d love to go back and show him the clips of Legion and other Geth from Mass Effect series asking the war starting question “Does this unit have a soul?”

[robertagu]

Love how Din Jarin's plan to find that defective "renegade" B2 for Jack Black was to LITERALLY kick them an see which one basically an ALSO literally kicked back.. even Bo Katan more or less was face palming that one

[midniteraptor]

You forgot one other way the battle droids suffered: neglect. See, these droids didn't always receive proper maintenance because there were so many of them and they could easily be replaced, which is why you can find b1s with quirky behaviors or protocol droid heads

[awesom]

This kind of reminds me of photos of knocked out and abandoned tanks in fields rusting away, they keep watch for decades, the horror of war is done for them, and they finally know peace as they slowly return to the earth

[viktubeproductions]

Did you ever hear the tragedy of the B-1 battle droid? I thought not, it’s not a story that Disney would tell you.

[fatcoyote]

There was a comic from Legends about a B1 who malfunctioned after being recycled after numerous battles and chose to desert. It was pursued by a Super Battle Droid until it was destroyed and the B1 "died" looking at a sunset as its battery gave out.

[tba]

Their power cells may have run out, but their memories will keep going.
And going.
And going.

[Rocketknightgeek]

Never forget the suffering of poor R0GR. Who witnessed his master growing up during a war only to join Luke Skywalker in the first Jedi training since the original clone wars. Unfortunately the son of Solo would leave the school a ruin of death and the boy's loyal B-1 was forced to remember him as strangely irreverent collection of bricks as he trudged through the years of janitorial slavery for the new resistance.

[stephenlutz]

Just seeing the title made me think of the B1 in rebels that thought he made it and fell off the shuttle at the very end. Both sad and funny

[iainballas]

My favorite droid ever so far is the B-1 warehouse manager who shouted "You should have LEFT HIM ALONE!" at the heavily armed mandalorians, one of whom wouldn't have thought twice about firing a parting shot on the way out. The droid dude legit just wanted him and his bretheren to be left alone, allowed to continue performing a function and being able to exist.
I imagine for many of those droids, it's a huge improvement. They are still basically slaves, but now they get regular oil baths, maintenance, and aren't sent in slow marches into artillery fire and mace windu. Now if they got paid, and were able to have free time, life would be good.

[protype]

*"Did you ever hear the Tragedy of the B-1 Battle Droid?"*
*_- "No."_*
*"I thought not. It's not a story Disney would tell you. It's a Generation Tech legend."*

[lerneanlion]

Yes! Finally! A video that basically said why the Battle Droids deserved better! Thank you, Alan!

[bluesmet]

I love B1s. I want to see more B1s in Star Wars as the good guys. Consider the clones: they're artificially constructed. So are the Droids. The droids do suffer.