Star Wars‘ droids are usually meant to be a little bit too cute for their own good — just look at BB-8! But we also love when that cuteness is subverted with a violent streak, like with Knights of the Old Republic‘s HK-47, Rebels‘ Chopper or the Darth Vader comic’s Triple Zero and BT. Or, case in point, this astromech from the new Poe Dameron comic.
I’m loving the second arc of Charles Soule and Phil Noto’s Poe Dameron series. While the first started out very strong, it didn’t quite deliver on the Rogue Squadron-ish fighter pilot adventures as much as I wanted. The second — which sees Poe and Black Squadron trapped in a Republic prison planet on a mission to break a Hutt crimelord out of gaol before the First Order can — still isn’t the glorious spacefighter combat I want, but feels way more like an adventure you’d see in the pages of the classic Rogue Squadron novels.
Also it had said Hutt in a giant bathtub in issue four. That’s pretty great.
The fifth issue, which came out this week, sees Poe and his fellow pilots begin their plans to free the Hutt, Grakkus, out of prison, with a little help from their droid buddies housed in their ships above the prison planet. Led by BB-8, the droids start slicing into the prison security systems to help Poe out, while having to evade Republic security… until one of them gives the team away. Hence the Astromech up top leaping in to smack the living crap out of some guards.
Look at that! Kung fu droid kicks! Amazing. I don’t know why more people in the galaxy aren’t petrified by Astromech droids. They kick a surprising amount of arse — and approved by BB-8 himself:
That little salute is just adorable.
Sadly, the poor ‘mech isn’t anywhere successful the next time it has to get into a brawl. When the station sends security droids after BB-8’s crew, the droid gets swiftly taken out.
That sort of gung-ho attitude might work against pesky humans, but unfortunately not against equally homicidal droids. RIP, you crazy little ro-buddy.
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