The LM-432, also known as the "Muckraker" crab droid, frequently shortened to crab droid or just "Muckraker," was a multi-legged droid walker of varying sizes. It was produced by the Techno Union. Some models of this droid were equipped with six legs. During the Clone Wars, the Confederacy of Independent Systems employed them.
The Separatist military utilized the LM-432 crab droid, which proved particularly effective in swampy terrains. These droids came in different sizes, with smaller versions having four legs and larger ones having six. The armored limbs allowed it to move securely over uneven ground. Teeth located at the ends of the limbs, combined with gripping prongs at the joints, enabled the crab droid to climb steep slopes. Its face featured three glowing red photoreceptors, and antennae kept it connected with its Separatist commanders. For engaging targets at a distance, the crab droid possessed two blaster cannons mounted on its underbelly. Its front legs were powerful enough to penetrate the armor of vehicles.
The crab droid's vulnerability lay in its blind spots. A clever adversary 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."
Early in the Clone Wars, Rodian Republic Senator Onaconda Farr brokered a deal with Nute Gunray, the viceroy of the Trade Federation, who secretly sided with the Separatists. Crab droids were part of the Separatist droid army forces that briefly occupied the Senatorial Residence on Rodia under the guise of providing protection. During this occupation, Representative Binks, Senator Amidala, and her protocol droid C-3PO were dispatched to Rodia to discuss Republic aid, but Amidala was captured by Gunray's droids. Meanwhile, in the hangar, 3PO and Binks were attacked by battle droids, along with a crab droid that charged at Binks and fired its blaster cannon. Binks sought cover, guided by 3PO from above. The crab droid quickly approached Binks and inadvertently launched him onto its back. In an attempt to dislodge the gungan, the crab droid lost its footing and tumbled off the hangar deck into the swamp below. Binks barely managed to hold on before being pulled down with the droid.
During the Battle of Malastare, the Confederacy deployed LM-432 crab droids alongside standard B1 battle droids, B2 super battle droids, and dwarf spider droids. They participated in a major Separatist assault on a Republic base, but the entire force was decimated by the Republic's prototype electro-proton bomb.
Crab droids were among the security 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 extract Even Piell and Wilhuff Tarkin. During their escape, they were pursued by crab droids.
As Kenobi's group approached the airfield where their escape shuttle awaited, they were ambushed by battle droids, and a crab droid descended to block their path back into the prison. Meanwhile, Skywalker's team navigated through a fuel line to reach the rendezvous point. Upon exiting the pipe, they encountered more security forces, and two crab droids advanced from behind cover. The group evaded the attack and moved to the other side of the pipe, with a crab droid pursuing them across it.
Realizing their initial plan had failed, Skywalker tossed a thermal detonator into the open pipe hatch from which they had emerged, where a crab droid was positioned directly above. The crab droid looked down at the hatch just before the detonator ignited the entire fuel line, launching the droid into the air and causing it to crash near the Jedi. Skywalker and Tano confidently walked past the wreckage as they departed. Later, both groups reunited at the airfield with their shuttle, but the droid guards had been alerted to the attempted escape, leading to further engagement. Two more crab droids arrived on the platform and began advancing toward the group, who were strategizing. To hold back the droids, Advanced Recon Commando Fives provided cover for fellow ARC Trooper Echo as he planted a charge beneath a crab droid, destroying it.
After escaping the prison complex, the Jedi and Republic officers again encountered crab droids that crawled 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 grapple lines 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. Piell severed three of one droid's legs before destroying its photoreceptor. Tano and Piell remained behind to fight the droids as more emerged over the cliff and began circling Tano. While Tano deflected blaster shots with her lightsabers, Piell evaded another droid's attacks and bisected it as he ran underneath. The Jedi finished off the last two crab droids by piercing 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.
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 towards a crab droid, jumped onto its back, and fired his blaster until it was disabled, mirroring Cody's tactic at the Citadel.
The crab droid's design originated from transformed tank droid concepts created by Ryan Church in the summer of 2002. The final shape was largely present in a sketch titled "droid soldiers." In Star Wars: The Clone Wars, crab droids are depicted with four legs instead of six, which surprised Supervising Director Dave Filoni when questioned about it. Filoni explained that there was no deliberate reason for the design change, suggesting it was simply a variant model.