The monster droid first appeared in Darth Vader (2020) 8, which was written by Greg Pak and illustrated by Raffaele Ienco. When asked about the droids on Twitter by a fan, Ienco confirmed that they were built out of B1 parts. He further revealed the head of the units was modified from a KX-series security droid. Ienco clarified that the units' legs were larger than that of the average B1. The lack of detail on the B1 parts was simply for easier drawing. He defined the droid model as "an evolution of existing parts," with those parts modified to create the new design. The head design remains the same across all of the monster droids, yet with a differing number of circles and lines to make individual droids distinct. When the monster droids appeared in Darth Vader (2020) 29, which was drawn by Luke Ross, they appeared even closer to standard B1s. It is unclear if this should be taken simply as an artistic difference or if these two monster droids, in-universe, retained an appearance closer to their B1 sources.
When asked about why these monster droids appeared in Imperial service in Darth Vader (2020) 35, Ienco reasoned that the monster droids were used for those panels because they were an existing design. As such, using them helped speed up the drawing process, instead of spending one's limited time coming up with a new model. Darth Vader (2020) 37 depicted a type of service droid with the same head design as the monster droid. Given that Ienco clarified the monster droid head is modified from the KX-series, this establishes yet another droid with a modified KX-series head in Imperial service by Ienco's reckoning. Adam Christopher also confirmed these B1/KX-derived droids are the units described in his novel Shadow of the Sith.
The monster droid's appearance in Darth Vader 29
The monster droid first appeared in Darth Vader (2020) 8, which was written by Greg Pak and illustrated by Raffaele Ienco. When asked about the droids on Twitter by a fan, Ienco confirmed that they were built out of B1 parts. He further revealed the head of the units was modified from a KX-series security droid. Ienco clarified that the units' legs were larger than that of the average B1. The lack of detail on the B1 parts was simply for easier drawing. He defined the droid model as "an evolution of existing parts," with those parts modified to create the new design. The head design remains the same across all of the monster droids, yet with a differing number of circles and lines to make individual droids distinct. When the monster droids appeared in Darth Vader (2020) 29, which was drawn by Luke Ross, they appeared even closer to standard B1s. It is unclear if this should be taken simply as an artistic difference or if these two monster droids, in-universe, retained an appearance closer to their B1 sources.
When asked about why these monster droids appeared in Imperial service in Darth Vader (2020) 35, Ienco reasoned that the monster droids were used for those panels because they were an existing design. As such, using them helped speed up the drawing process, instead of spending one's limited time coming up with a new model. Darth Vader (2020) 37 depicted a type of service droid with the same head design as the monster droid. Given that Ienco clarified the monster droid head is modified from the KX-series, this establishes yet another droid with a modified KX-series head in Imperial service by Ienco's reckoning. Adam Christopher also confirmed these B1/KX-derived droids are the units described in his novel Shadow of the Sith.