LM-432 crab droid

Description

The Separatist military utilized the LM-432 crab droid as a unit particularly effective in swampy terrains. They came in different sizes, with smaller versions having four legs and larger ones having six. Its armored limbs gave it a firm grip when moving across difficult ground, and teeth at the limb ends, along with gripping prongs at the joints, allowed the crab droid to climb steep slopes. The LM-432 featured three glowing red photoreceptors on its face, and communications antennae kept it connected to its Separatist commanders. For engaging threats at a distance, the crab droid had two blaster cannons mounted on its belly. Its front legs possessed the strength to pierce through vehicle armor.

A vulnerability of the crab droid was its limited field of vision. A clever attacker could bypass its claws and target its vulnerable central processor. During the Battle of Utapau, clone troopers successfully fought crab droids by jumping onto them and repeatedly shooting them in the "head."

History

Occupation of Rodia

Early in the Clone Wars, Onaconda Farr, a Rodian Republic Senator, entered into an agreement with Nute Gunray, the viceroy of the Trade Federation, who secretly sided with the Separatists. Crab droids were included in the separatist droid army forces that briefly occupied the Senatorial Residence on Rodia, supposedly for protection. During this occupation, Padmé Amidala, a Senator, Representative Jar Jar Binks, and her protocol droid, C-3PO, traveled to Rodia to discuss Republic assistance for the planet, but Amidala was captured by Gunray's droids. Simultaneously, in the hangar, 3PO and Binks were attacked by battle droids along with a crab droid, which fired its blaster cannon at Binks. Binks sought cover, guided by 3PO from above, but the crab droid quickly approached and unintentionally launched him onto its back. In an attempt to dislodge the gungan, the crab droid lost its balance and fell from the hangar deck into the swamp below. Binks managed to hold onto the edge before being pulled down with the droid.

Battle of Malastare

During the Battle of Malastare, the Confederacy deployed LM-432 crab droids alongside conventional B1 battle droids, B2 super battle droids, and dwarf spider droids. They were part of a substantial battalion of separatist forces involved in an assault on a Republic base, all of which were defeated by the Republic's testing of their prototype electro-proton bomb.

Citadel Security

Crab droids were among the forces stationed at the Citadel Station on Lola Sayu, which was then under Separatist control. A Republic infiltration team—consisting of Jedi Master Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jedi Knight Anakin Skywalker, Padawan Ahsoka Tano, Clone Commander Cody, Clone Captain Rex, and several [clone troopers](/article/clone_trooper]—was dispatched to the prison to rescue Even Piell and Wilhuff Tarkin, and they were chased by crab droids during their escape.

As Kenobi's group headed toward the airfield where their escape shuttle was located, they were ambushed by battle droids, and a crab droid dropped from above, blocking their path back into the prison. Meanwhile, Skywalker's group used a fuel line to reach the rendezvous point for their escape. Upon exiting the pipe, they encountered more security forces, and two crab droids approached from behind cover. The group avoided the attack and moved to the other side of the pipe, with a crab droid pursuing them over it.

Realizing their plan had failed, Skywalker threw a thermal detonator into the open pipe hatch from which they had emerged, where a crab droid was positioned. The crab droid looked down at the hatch just before the detonator ignited the entire fuel line, sending the droid flying and landing near the Jedi. Skywalker and Tano confidently walked past the droid's wreckage as they left. Later, both groups met at the airfield with their shuttle, but the droid guards there were aware of the infiltrators' attempted escape, leading to more security engaging them. Two more crab droids arrived on the platform and began advancing toward the group, who were planning their next move. To hold off the droids, Advanced Recon Commando Fives covered ARC Trooper Echo as he placed a charge under a crab droid, destroying it.

After escaping the prison complex, the Jedi and Republic officers again encountered crab droids crawling along a wall toward them. Cody jumped onto the back of one and shot it repeatedly until it deactivated. Trapped on the side of a cliff overlooking a river of lava, the group had to use grappling hooks to reach another ledge, requiring R2-D2's reprogrammed battle droids to delay their pursuers. The reprogrammed droids were quickly defeated, with the last one being knocked over and crushed by a crab droid.

Later, the group was ambushed by crab droids crawling over the cliff's edge, resulting in the death of a clone officer and nearly another, but Piell severed three of its legs before penetrating its photoreceptor. Tano and Piell stayed behind to fight the droids as more emerged over the cliff and surrounded Tano. While Tano deflected the crab droid's blaster fire with her lightsabers, Piell evaded another's attacks and cut it in half as he ran underneath it. The last two crab droids were destroyed as the Jedi pierced their bodies.

When the group was eventually met by the gunship for extraction, they quickly escaped as over two dozen more crab droids appeared at the landing site. The Jedi managed to deflect the blasts and escape successfully.

Battle of Utapau

Near the end of the Clone Wars, six-legged LM-432s were deployed in the Battle of Utapau against the Republic's 212th Attack Battalion and some Pau'an warriors. During the battle, a clone ran up to a crab droid, jumped onto its back, and fired his blaster until it was deactivated, mirroring Cody's tactic at the Citadel.

Behind the scenes

The crab droid's design originated from transformed tank droid concepts created by Ryan Church in the summer of 2002. The final form was largely present in a sketch titled "droid soldiers." In Star Wars: The Clone Wars, crab droids are shown with four legs instead of six, which surprised Supervising Director Dave Filoni when questioned. Filoni explained that there was no specific intention behind the design change but suggested it was simply a different model variant.