MindofModernMan Star Wars Fan Panel – Favorite Star Wars Droids

Welcome to Star Wars Saturdays! Our Star Wars Fan Panel – a group of big time Star Wars fans – has gathered to talk all things from a Galaxy Far Far Away!

On Saturdays we share our thoughts on ranking anything and everything in the Star Wars galaxy! What makes us different? We vote with our hearts. Our lists are our top FAVORITE things about each Star Wars category. We believe there are already too many critical lists, artistry lists, film making lists… yadda yadda… we are simply talking about our FAVORITES – as all fans do.

Our merry band of rebel fans are:
Brer Brooke (@brer.burke)
Chris B (@thedisneynationtm)
Chris R
Evan (@homeawayfromdisney)
Gina
Jason (@fency53)
Jay
Jeremy (@disneyfamilytime)
Joe N (@joseph.nicholas35)
Jon Gus (thejonnygus)
Kevin (@thekevinawakens)
Meaghan (@homeawayfromdisney)
Steph (@saylikeyay)
And yours truly, Keith – founder of @mindofmodernman and @dadventuredisney

You can follow the Star Wars Panel on Instagram for all our updates!

Happy Independence Day for everyone in the U.S.!

This week – 12 of us make a few fireworks of our own as we debated and came up with our ultimate list of Top 10 Favorite Droids in the Star Wars Universe.

I’m sure you know a lot of the names who will be on this list, but where will they be ranked? Will there be any surprises to make our list? Will some of your favorites be left off? We didn’t include anyone who was ‘half man, half machine’ on this list, so you won’t find Darth Vader or General Grievous here.

Also, we had THREE different droids receive unanimous nominations (on every ballot). Can you guess the three? It may surprise you….

Check out the list and then some of my thoughts after. Then, hit the comments and sound off on what you feel about our Droids List!

On to the list… Punch it!


Imperial Probe Droid
First Seen: Empire Strikes Back
Top 10 Score: 1.50. Nominated on 7 ballots.

Concept Art | Final Look

“An Imperial probe droid.”
“It’s a good bet the Empire knows we’re here.”

Also known as: recon droid or probot.

Some Memorable Appearances: Empire Strikes Back, The Phantom Menace, Battlefront I & II, The Clone Wars, Revenge of the Sith, Solo, Rebels, Rogue One, Return of the Jedi, Forces of Destiny.

Some Notable Models: DRK-1 Dark Eye probe droids – used by Darth Maul to find the Jedis on Tatooine.
XJ9-CS14 was a Viper Probe Droid that found hidden rebel base on Hoth.


IG-88
First Seen: Empire Strikes Back
Top 10 Score: 1.55. Nominated on 4 ballots.

Concept Art | Final Look

“Bounty hunters. We don’t need their scum.”

Also known as: IG-88B or Phlutdroid.

Some Memorable Appearances: Galaxy of Heroes, Empire Strikes Back.

Why do we love IG-88? He just looked cool there with all the other Bounty Hunters that Darth Vader had assembled. Was a great action figure to have, too.


D-O
First Seen: The Rise of Skywalker
Top 10 Score: 1.92. Nominated on 5 ballots.

Concept Art | Final Look

“Coneface?”
“I am D-O.”

Some Memorable Appearances: The Rise of Skywalker, Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga

Original Owner: Sith assassin Ochi of Bestoon.

Did You Know? D-O was voiced by The Force Awakens and The Rise of Skywalker director, J.J. Abrahams?


Mouse Droid
First Seen: A New Hope
Top 10 Score: 2.17. Nominated on 7 ballots.

Final Look | Concept Art

“Here, Mousey Mousey!”

Also known as: MSE-Series General-Purpose Droid.

Some Memorable Appearances: Battlefront, The Clone Wars, Revenge of the Sith, The Force Unleashed, A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Ewoks, Star Tours, The Mandalorian.


Chopper
First Seen: Star Wars Rebels
Top 10 Score: 3.50. Nominated on 6 ballots. 1 first place vote.

Concept Art | Final Look

“This junky little astromech droid keeps the Ghost running. Lucky for him he’s good at it, because he is a pain.”

Also known as: C1-10P, C1-series astromech droid

Some Memorable Appearances: Galaxy of Heroes, Star Wars Rebels, Forces of Destiny, Cameo in Rogue One

Did You Know? Chopper is credited as “Himself” at the end of every episode of Star Wars Rebels, but in reality, Chopper was voiced by the series creator, Dave Filoni?


IG-11
First Seen: The Mandalorian
Top 10 Score: 4.92. Nominated on 10 ballots.

Concept Art | Final Look

“To nurse and protect.”

Also known as: Eyegee-Eleven, IG-series assassin droid

Some Memorable Appearances: The Mandalorian

Did You Know? IG-11 was purposely created by Dave Filoni as a new character as not to take away the stories written about IG-88. Eyegee is voiced by Mandalorian director and MCU favorite, Taika Waititi.


C-3PO
A New Hope
Top 10 Score: 6.50. Nominated on 10 ballots. 1 first place vote.

Concept Art | Final Look

“Don’t call me a mindless philosopher, you overweight glob of grease.”

Also known as: See-Threepio, Threepio, 3PO-series protocol droid

Threepio is one of the most used characters in the Star Wars Universe. Some Memorable Appearances: EVERY Skywalker Saga Film, Battlefront, Clone Wars, Star Wars Rebels, Forces of Destiny, Rogue One, Disney’s Star Tours, ALSO! The Muppet Show, Phineas and Ferb: Star Wars, and LEGO Star Wars.

Did You Know? C-3PO has the FIRST line in the original trilogy and the LAST line of the Prequels!


K-2SO
First Seen: Rogue One
Top 10 Score: 6.58. Nominated on ALL 12 ballots. 1 first place vote.

Concept Art | Final Look

“There Were A Lot Of Explosions For Two People Blending In.”

Also known as: K-2, Kay, KX-series security droid

Some Memorable Appearances: Galaxy of Heroes, Rogue One, Force Arena, Battlefront.

Did You Know? That Heihei the chicken from Disney’s Moana and K-2SO are related? Well, in a certain point of view. Both are voiced by Firefly’s Alan Tudyk.


BB-8
First Seen: The Force Awakens
Top 10 Score: 7.83. Nominated on ALL 12 ballots.

Concept Art | Final Look

“BEEP-BOOP-BEEP”
“Droid, please!”

Also known as: BB, BB-series astromech droid

Some Memorable Appearances: The Force Awakens, The Last Jedi, The Rise of Skywalker, Force Arena, Battlefront II, Galaxy of Heroes, Forces of Destiny, Disney’s Galaxy’s Edge.

Did You Know? BB-8 is a true comedian – actually two of them! His voice is created by digitally altered sounds by SNL vet Bill Hader and Parks & Recreation‘s Ben Schwartz.


R2-D2
A New Hope
Top 10 Score: 9.75. Nominated on ALL 12 ballots. 9 of 12 first place votes.

Concept Art | Final Look

“That little droid and I have been through a lot together.”

Also known as: R2, Artoo, R2-series astromech droid

Some Memorable Appearances: EVERY Skywalker Saga Film, Star Wars Rebels, Clone Wars, Rogue One, Galaxy of Heroes, Battlefront, Force Arena, Forces of Destiny, Disney’s Galaxy Edge.

Did You Know? R2-D2 knows how to get to Sesame Street? Yup. He was on the show in 1979 and fell in love with a Sesame Street fire hydrant.


We love droids. They are full characters to many of us, and our list also contained a great number of characters who only have names because we owned the toys. There’s just something about droids or building a robot that makes all kids (and those who are still kids inside) love them.

Here is the rest of our list. If you don’t know their call numbers, I’ll help you out with some clues…

Droideka
8D-J8 – the droid at Jabba’s palace who tortures the Gonk droid. He’s also now in Galaxy’s Edge cooking up food at Ronto Roasters.
L3-37 – From Solo
Pit Droids
BD-1 – From Jedi Fallen Order video game
R5-D4– He’s got a bad motivator
R-3X / DJ Rex – He was the pilot of Star Tours at Disney before becoming the DJ at Oga’s Cantina
Bucket R1-J5 – Star Wars Resistance
2-1b Medical Droid
RO-GR – A reformed Battledroid from LEGO Freemakers
Gonk
Professor Huyang – The Clone Wars – built lightsabers
Battle Droids
Interrogation Droid – Floating ball with a needle
Aly San San – Star Tours at Disney
3B6-RA-7 – Almost evil looking C-3PO take-off we saw in the Sandcrawler in A New Hope. Saw one in Rogue One, too. Picture Below. The toy was very cool.
BB-9E – Kylo Ren’s version of BB-8.
TT-8L/Y7 – The eye ball that comes out of doors (like Jabba’s Palace) that lets you in or not.

3B6-RA-7

11 of our droids first showed up in the Original Trilogy. 5 from TV, 3 from Disney Trilogy and 3 from the Prequels. 1 from a video game and a handful from the Disney parks.

Have you built your own droid yet at the Disney Parks? TOTALLY fun.


What’s your order? Who are your favorites in the Star Wars Universe? Who didn’t make our list as a glaring mistake in your eyes? Are you team IG-88 or IG-11?

Hit the comments and let us know. Or head over to our Instagram Page and hit us up there, too!

On behalf of the Star Wars Fan Panel, thank you for reading and we’ll see you next time for another Star Wars Saturday.

Cheers!
Keith

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