OOM pilot battle droid

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OOM pilot battle droid

Production information

Technical specifications

Height

1.93meters(6ft, 4 in)^[1]

Gender

Masculine programming^[5]

Armament

E-5 blaster rifle^[6]

Equipment

Comlink booster pack^[5]

Chronological and political information

Affiliation

"Don't bother with them! Keep the ship in orbit!"

―General Grievous, to OOM pilot battle droids during the Battle of Coruscant^[8]

OOM pilot battle droids, also known asB1 pilot battle droids, were a type ofOOM-series battle droid. Thebattle droid was used by theTrade Federation, and later, theConfederacy of Independent Systems during theClone Wars.Pilot battle droids hadblue markings on their bodies to distinguish them from other battle droids. They were often seen aboard Trade Federation and Confederatestarships.

Description[]

"You were built to obey orders, not to question them!"

―General Grievous, to an OOM pilot battle droid^[9]

The OOMpilot battle droids were designed to serve as pilots to controlstarships, such as thecruisers of theConfederacy navy.^[10] Pilot droids could also serve asgunners forartillery or, if they were armed with ablaster, be used assoldiers,^[6] though they were known to protest against serving in such roles.^[1]

Pilot battle droids were part of theOOM-series,^[3] a mark of theB1-series battle droid.^[11] Thepilot droid's blue coloring denoted their specialist function,^[3] although standard B1s were also used aboard starshipbridges.^[5] Still, pilots possessed more-advanced cognitive capabilities than the basic B1infantry.^[12]

History[]

Saakak bridge — OOM pilot battle droids and Neimoidians aboard theSaak'ak during the Invasion of Naboo

OOM-series battle droids were used as crews aboardTrade Federation starships. They saw use in the Federation'sLucrehulk-class Battleships during theInvasion of Naboo. After most ofNaboo'sblockade dispersed, the onlybattleship above Naboo was the Droid Control ShipVuutun Palaa. However, all pilot droids andNeimoidians aboard werekilled whenAnakin Skywalker destroyed Droid Control Ship during theBattle of Naboo.^[4]

When the Trade Federation gave its Droid Army to theConfederacy of Independent Systems, OOM pilot droids saw use by the Separatists. Two OOM pilot battle droids stood byViceroy Nute Gunray andRune Haako as they entered aSheathipede-class transport shuttle to escape theFirst Battle of Geonosis, the first battle of theClone Wars. Once theshuttle began to take off, the pilot droids and theorganic Separatists around them moved away.^[7] During themission to sweep outer corridor of space, anOOM pilot battle droid served aboardGeneral Grievous'sMunificent -class star frigate, and the droid notably disagreed with Grievous's decision to launch allstarfighters to combat Anakin Skywalker. The fighters were launched to combat theJedi Knight, however.^[5]

During theinfiltration of theCitadel, the Republic usedthree reprogrammed B1 battle droids, painted blue to serve as undercover pilot droids, to fly^[13]shuttle 81572 and deliver an extraction team to the Citadelprison.^[14] Ultimately, all three units sacrificed themselves to protect their Republic allies, including theircommanding officer,R2-D2.^[15] As the Separatists hijacked theVenator-class Star DestroyerRenown, four OOM pilot battle droids pilot the ship on thebridge as theofficer corps, as theoverseer super tactical droid told the Republic droids to surrender or they will be destroyed. Two other OOM pilot battle droids are the control room above the hangar. The OOM pilot battle droids from the bridge are setting course to thespace station Valor in theCarida system where theRepublic strategy conference is, to blow up theRepublic fleet with lots ofrhydonium canisters.^[16]

Grievous Battle of Bothawui — An OOM pilot battle droid with General Grievous during theBattle of Bothawui

OOM pilot battle droids were used by the Separatists for the entirety of the Clone Wars. They were used aboard theInvisible Hand during theBattle of Coruscant. When Anakin Skywalker andObi-Wan Kenobi were aboard thedreadnought, General Grievous ordered for the pilots to keep working on the ship instead of trying to fight theJedi Generals. After Grievous fled hiscommand ship and it began to crash ontoCoruscant, the pilot battle droids and Neimoidianofficers on thebridge tried to flee, but several of the pilot droids were cut down by Kenobi and Skywalker. Not long afterwards, at theend of the war, Skywalker, now known as theSith Lord Darth Vader, executed theSeparatist Council and shut down all Separatist droid units.^[8]

During theAge of the Resistance, a surviving B1 battle droid namedR0-GR wrote the book "droidography." Among the many droids he discussed in the book were the B1 pilot battle droids.^[2]

Equipment[]

OOM pilot droids could useE-5 blaster rifles if they were deployed forfield combat. Some units also worecomlink booster packs.^[6] On starships pilot droids worked oncomputers.^[8]

Behind the scenes[]

First appearance and other information[]

OOM pilot battle droids first appeared inStar Wars: Episode IThe Phantom Menace,^[4] and were later identified in the novelTarkin, written byJames Luceno.^[17] InStar Wars Battlefront II, pilot droids became playable in the DLC pack called the "B1 Pilot Bundle."^[18]

Discrepancies[]

Animation errors[]

In theStar Wars: The Clone Wars episode "A Necessary Bond," several OOM pilot droids are depicted as fighting with E-5 blaster rifles in theinvasion of Florrum, but the next shot depicts at least two of those pilots as being regular B1 units. Still, this implied that pilot droids could be deployed to fight in surface warfare with blasters,^[6] which was later confirmed byStar Wars Battlefront II.^[18]

Reference material[]

On its pages for theMulti-Troop Transport and theArmored Assault Tank, the2018 reference bookStar Wars: Complete Vehicles features OOM pilot droids. However, the placement of their blue coloring is slightly different between pages^[19] and fromStar Wars: Episode IThe Phantom Menace,^[4] making it unclear if this slight variation on coloring is meant to be acanon appearance or just a mistake.

The magazineStar Wars: Build Your Own R2-D2 31 makes the claim that OOM pilot battle droids were only "often" times identified via their blue markings. With that, the magazine makes the claim that non-marked battle droids seen in piloting positions are actually OOM pilot battle droids without blue markings.^[20] However, numerous other sources make it clear that OOM pilot battle droids are always identified with blue markings^[1]^[2]^[3]^[13] so as to distinguish regular B1s from the specific pilot variant.^[1] Furthermore, it visibly distinguishes OOM pilots from other specialized B1 variants^[21] and openly shows their specific purpose.^[3] As such, the unmarked B1 units seen at piloting stations must simply be regular B1s assigned pilot duty, suggesting a degree of overlap between regular B1s and OOM pilot battle droids.