Continuing my page-by-page breakdown of behind-the-scenes trivia from The New Essential Guide to Droids (click here for Part 1):

p. 47: The idea that there are "boutique models" of 3PO units goes a long way toward explaining 3PO-style knockoffs in the Expanded Universe. Three boutique models - the PX, the Consul360, and the ii77, have no prior history and appear only in this entry.
--- The TC boutique model refers to the 3PO unit that greets Qui-Gon and Obi-Wan at the beginning of The Phantom Menace.
--- The 3PX boutique model is a complicated case. Many fans are familiar with deadly Threepio lookalike C-3PX, from the Droids comics. So...is that a "3PX" boutique model? At first I thought so, but then complications arose when I saw Scholastic's Episode I Adventures (thanks again to Abel Pena), which depicted an early version of C-3PX that looked identical to a Death Star Droid! So is that a "3PX" boutique model? I figured it had to be, particularly after discovering an almost unimaginable coincidence in Marvel Star Wars issue #75, which features a droid called K3PX that looked remarkably like a Death Star droid. (The relevant line in the comic is "We've got an A3 that's about ready for the furnaces, two C3s in fair condition, and that K3PX unit over there, the black one.") This is why I described the 3PX boutique model as having a "sharp, angular appearance," and why I stated that many of its design elements later appeared in the Death Star Droid. [Marvel #75 also shows Threepio describing himself as a member of the "3P-series," but I had already achieved retcon fatigue while writing this entry. I whistled right past that particular continuity pothole.]
--- The 5YQ boutique model is personified by I-Five, the cynical droid introduced in the novel Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter (2001), and later in Medstar: Battle Surgeons and Medstar: Jedi Healer (2004).
--- The final boutique model is the C series, mentioned in the novel The New Rebellion (1996). (In fact, I believe the "C series" originated as a mistake on the part of the author, who implied that Threepio was a "C-3" model.)

p. 53: Here's C-3PX again. As mentioned, he first appeared Star Wars Droids issue #3 (reprinted in trade paperback in Star Wars Droids: The Kalarba Adventures), and he died in the same issue -- though TFN reader Rogue_Follower pointed out that he was apparently rebuilt in time to appear in the roleplaying module Ultimate Adversaries. C-3PX was retconned as Darth Maul's assistant in Scholastic's Episode I Adventures, but the accompanying illustration made him appear to be a Death Star droid. This discrepancy is (hopefully) ironed out in this entry.

p. 57: The Death Star droid entry mentions the 3PX affair, completing the three-way round-robin of 3PX referencing. Also, there's a droid show mentioned here: the North Quadrant Intergalactic Automaton Show on Zug. This is my tip of the hat to the premiere U.S. automobile show, the North American International Auto Show in Detroit. Zug is a pre-existing SW planet, but works as a stand-in for Detroit because of the Motor City's gritty Zug Island.

p. 59: The EV Supervisor droid entry features this line: "On Kadril, in one of the rare cases where an EV oversaw organic workers, employees were often prodded with high-voltage electroprods." Yes, this is a sad, sad fate for the poor inhabitants of Kadril, who are so beloved by Star Wars fans. Here's something extra: my original line read, "...employees were often prodded with high-voltage electroprods for failing to submit their TPS reports," but the editors apparently decided the Office Space gag was a little over the top.

p. 61: As mentioned earlier, the I-Five entry details a droid character introduced in Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter. I-Five is also a supporting player in the Medstar duology, and will feature in the upcoming novel Coruscant Nights.

p. 65: This is Ellie, who first appeared in Marvel issue #80 (and died in the same issue). The issue is reprinted in volume 5 of Classic Star Wars: A Long Time Ago. Ellie's design is sleek art deco, clearly inspired by Maria from Fritz Lang's silent film classic Metropolis (from which Ralph McQuarrie also took inspiration for See-Threepio). Because Marvel's "LE" designation is identical to the LE repair droid from Shadows of the Empire (featured in the original Essential Guide to Droids), I decided to establish both models as products of Cybot Galactica.

p. 67: The quote in the LOM protocol droid entry reads, "The case is inconclusive, but the processor doesn't appear to be at fault. The subject claims he committed crimes simply 'for love of money.'" This is an in-universe nod to 4-LOM's nickname, established by the ILM creature shop.

p. 69: The Tac-Spec Footman droid appears in the Clone Wars novel Yoda: Dark Rendezvous.

p. 71: The WA waitress droid entry describes an art/design craze called Mondeo Modernism. Newly created for this book, I imagined it as a combination of elements from both art deco and googie. In the quote, Flo is serving "cream of fleek eel"; fleek eels were first mentioned in Shadows of the Empire.

p. 73: The Electric Caliphs of Mourn are newly created for this book. The history of assassin droids -- specifically, that they originally worked for the Republic Judicial Department -- is a tie-in to West End Games' Star Wars Sourcebook (1987). The Kol Huro unrest of 44 BBY was first referenced in Greg Bear's novel Rogue Planet (2000). The Great Droid Revolution was first mentioned in Tales of the Jedi: Dark Lords of the Sith (1994-95).

p. 75: The Malkite Poisoners, newly incorporated into the history of Zam Wesell's ASN Assassin droid, first appeared in the novel Han Solo's Revenge (1979).

p. 77: The quote for the B1 battle droid entry reads, "Send more droids against the Jedi Knight! Their bodies are making a pile so high that he will never be able to cross it!" The speaker is Sentepeth Findos, who first appeared in the Attack of the Clones Visual Dictionary. As revealed in "HoloNet News: Special Inaugural Edition" from issue #84 of the Star Wars Insider, Findos became the leader of the Trade Federation after the death of Nute Gunray -- just in time to surrender to the Empire.

p. 79: The entry on battle droids states that their "elongated faces mimic those of their Geonosian builders, but the fearful Neimoidians believed they had been modeled after rotted Neimoidan skulls." This line is, essentially, a retcon of a retcon. During production of The Phantom Menace, George Lucas intended for the Neimoidians to resemble the battle droids they commanded. Lucas eventually decided to scrap the long-faced CG Neimoidians and instead portray them as actors wearing masks. But the battle droid design didn't change to match, and therefore David West Reynolds (writer of the Episode I Visual Dictionary) tried to preserve Lucas' original intent by stating that the battle droids were intentionally designed to mimic the skeletal remains of Neimodians. This, of course, became problematic when Attack of the Clones revealed that the Geonosians were actually the ones who had built the battle droids in their own image.

p. 81: The B2 super battle droid entry contains the line, "A platoon of super battle droids dubbed the 'Orange Panthacs' beat back an occupation force of Yuuzhan Vong firebreathers on Mantessa." This is new info.

p. 83: The B3 Ultra battle droid first appeared in the digest-sized comic book Clone Wars Adventures vol. 1, in the story "Heavy Metal Jedi." The name "B3 Ultra" originated with this book (but appeared on sw.com prior to this book's publication). Background info at Lucasfilm had already given it a different name, the Avatar-7, which was incorporated into its backstory.

p. 85: This version of the Baron Droid first appeared in the X-Box game Star Wars: Obi-Wan. This would have been one of the droids included in the Ultimate Guide to Episode I, and therefore, some parts of this entry were written by Haden Blackman.

p. 87: The quote for the Basilisk war droid entry begins, "The doors opened in front of me and the air was sucked out of the drop bay..." This is verbatim from in-game dialogue in Knights of the Old Republic, as spoken by the character Canderous Ordo.

p. 89: The buzz droid entry reads, "Some found use on vast scrap yards, such as those of Ronyards and Junction, helping their owners strip rusted hulks for usable parts." Ronyards is home to a religious order of droids and appeared in "Rust Never Sleeps" from Dark Horse Comics' Devilworlds, while Junction first appeared in issue #27 of the Marvel Star Wars series.

p. 93: The Colicoid Annihilator droid is an unused Doug Chiang concept sketch for Episode II, as reproduced in The Art of Attack of the Clones. It's got a great look, and the moment I saw it I knew I wanted to officialize it somehow.

p. 95: The cortosis battle droid is an enemy in the GameBoy Advance game The New Droid Army. Due to the poor resolution of the tiny GBA screen, it's almost impossible to make out what the cortosis droids really look like, so this entry's artwork is a bit of a revelation.

p. 99: The Dark Trooper is from the game Dark Forces (1995), and appeared in the first edition of The Essential Guide to Droids (indeed, much of this entry is adapted from that earlier entry). New to this volume is the integration of the L8-L9 and Z-X3 into the history of the Dark Trooper. The timeline goes: L8-L9 --> Z-X3 Droid Trooper --> Dark Trooper. On the TFN boards, Rogue_Follower pointed out that some video games (Star Wars Rebellion, Battlefront II) claim that some varieties of Dark Troopers are actually dark-side equipped cyborgs. That weird factoid will remain a loose end for now, hopefully to be addressed in the future.

p. 103: Dwarf spider droids first appeared in Attack of the Clones, but the idea that they were later used by the stormtroopers is new to this book.

p. 105: The backstory created for the Great Heep (a two-fer with the Vuffi Raa entry), is perhaps this book's biggest instance of stirring up the continuity pot. The Great Heep debuted in a special episode of the 1985 television cartoon Droids. He's established in this entry as an agent of the Abominor, a self-directed droid society with its roots in another galaxy (implied to be the Yuuzhan Vong home galaxy). The Abominor are the ugly, evil counterparts to the uncontaminated Silentium, though in truth the Silentium -- with their devotion to numerical purity -- strike me as slightly sinister. The fact that some of the giant Abominor kept organic slaves "to shovel fuel into their boilers" is a reference to A Guide to the Star Wars Universe (also reprinted in the Star Wars Encyclopedia), which claims the Great Heep did exactly that, even though the Droids episode shows nothing like it. The Great Heep's final resting place in the Baobab Museum of Science is taken from Ben Burrt's Galactic Phrase Book and Travel Guide.

p. 107: HK-series assassin droids come from Knights of the Old Republic and its sequel, Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. HK-47 is a key character in both games, and has become very popular with players and fans (and has subsequently showed up in the online multiplayer Star Wars Galaxies). His quote here, "While you are a meatbag, I suppose I should not call you as such," is verbatim from in-game dialogue.

p. 109: I believe Human Replica Droids first appeared in the Archie Goodwin/Al Williamson newspaper strips (reprinted by Dark Horse Comics as Classic Star Wars), though they were not identified as such. In that story, Luke is taken in by an Imperial governor and his daughter while stranded on Hoth, soon discovering that his rescuers are actually robots. Human Replica Droids later appeared in the Glove of Darth Vader series, and an HRD named Guri played a supporting role in the novel Shadows of the Empire (and a starring role in its comic book sequel, Shadows of the Empire: Evolution). Most recently, HRDs appeared in the New Jedi Order short story "Or Die Trying," published in issue #75 of Star Wars Insider.

p. 111: Here we get into the retconning of the IG series. Back when the first Essential Guide to Droids was written, it was believed that Holowan Mechanicals manufactured the first IG-type droids (i.e., IG-88 and his brethren) during the reign of the Empire. But then IG-droids started showing up during the prequels -- including General Grievous' IG-100s, which actually predated the lower-numbered IG-88. The basic gist of the retconning in this entry is that Phlut Design Systems built the first IG lancer droid, then surrendered its entire storehouse of blueprints to Holowan Mechanicals when the Phlut company declared bankruptcy. Holowan selected a single design, the IG-100, to manufacture as Grievous's bodyguards, then went back to some of the other blueprints to build IG assassins. The timeline now goes: IG lancer --> IG-100 MagnaGuard --> IG-series assassin droid (which includes near-identical submodels IG-88, IG-72, and IG-97).

p. 117: The entry for the IT-O torture droid contains a necessary bit of retconning, as we learn why it looks identical to a G0-T0 from Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords. According to the entry, agents of the Imperial Inquisitorius used this similarity to play upon victims' unconscious psychological dread of the droid tyrants of 400100500260026.

Continue to Part 3!