A small detail I noticed in the Finale of BOBF is that just before the Annihilator opened fire it actually dug its back legs into the ground to compensate for the kickback from the cannons.
@@michaelramon2411 I think it only needs to dig in when it’s firing a stronger blast, since we see it dig in to destroy the car but can still walk towards the house the other guys were hiding in.
I believe that happened when it shot a really big blast, but early while walking (and shooting to the sides of buildings instead of at the running enemies) it was walking and shooting less powerful blasts
It was great that they brought this relatively obscure EU element, to the forefront, within this series. Definitely an intriguing design (initially created by Doug Chiang). It was glorious to hear the distinguishable sound effect of the droideka's twin laser cannons, once again.
Ah yes a video discussing an obscure droid showing up in a STAR WARS tv show, this is the perfect place for a my only fans bot to skulk about for maximum clicks.
So I suppose since they are built to destroy vehicles and not infantry that kinda explains why they sucked at hitting things in the show. Though they should have easily been able to blast though a brick wall.
Yeah, that bit stuck out to me. I suppose they were limited by the effects budget, and simply the plot (can't have all the good guys blasted to pieces because of insufficiently-robust cover). I'd love to see this droid show up in a Star Wars game with realistically-destructible terrain.
They still should have scattered into the alleys. And killed most of the mods, and most of the free town militia. The lethality of the enemy force in the last episode was dissapointing. This was the kind of fight you kill all of the background characters. Instead almost no one of their little group dies. Also mando needs to learn to fuking dodge.
@@werewolfjedi38 yeah I don't see why they couldn't have had the droids kill some background characters. I can accept the droids aren't particularly suited to fight infantry, but the fact they hit basically nobody makes no sense.
My favorite parts: 1. how the environment gifted the Freetownians with a dense urban grid with no shortage of side alleyways with which to seek blaster cover or be narrow enough that the scorpenek might not fit, but instead chose the Rickon Stark strategy of running away in a straight line down the main boulevard 2. thankfully the droids couldn't hit a clustered group of a dozen farmers jogging at 10 mph 3. Black Krrsantan, upon fleeing his Trandoshan ambushers, could've taken up any snipe position and taken out individual pyke thugs shooting openly in the streets, but instead limps toward his friends through the crossfire and gets hit some 10x more. Even if the pykes adjusted by returning fire at him, it takes pressure off his friends by dividing the enemy on multiple fronts 4. but the pykes match our crew's poor urban warfare strategy by getting target shot in the open instead of taking cover behind their droids' impenetrable shields (why even have the minions stick around once the droids joined the action? The most they were good for might be building-to-building search and destroy for survivors after the droid canons killed the majority)
Yep butchered in waves before bothering to send this in which they easily could of followed behind in cover. Dumbest battle tactics in Star Wars since those pirates charged the imperial base with hand weapons in the second bill Burr episode.
Poor tactics are what you get when you pit the Pyke Syndicate (Criminal Organization) against Freetown citizens (Farmers). Neither of these factions had professional military training. Only the four of the characters on the Freetown side had anything close to military training. (Boba, Mando, Fang, Krrsantan)
And when the Freetownians showed up instead of taking cover behind the buildings on either side of the street they all opted to take cover, tightly grouped together, behind a very explodable land speeder. Also, everyone just standing around and watching the poor rancor get blasted a number of times after the shields had already been taken down.
@@spartan078ben you think atkim122 has military training? I know I don’t have military training and I was completely taken out of the episode due to the absurdity of it. Really it’s terrible writing that’s the problem. Not to mention blatant misunderstanding of mechanics set up by the show. They show the droid to be very slow moving yet it’s somehow able to keep up with everyone running away and mando on that rickshaw who was WAYYY faster. Also how much people shoot at an invulnerable target and how little that invulnerable target shoots when it should is so silly.
@@ACDC-1FAN No, I don't know if atkim 122 has military training. My point was that when you pit two poorly trained or not at all trained groups against each other you get poor tactics and strategy on both sides.
you said its a slow droid, but what you may have missed while watching BoBF is that it teleports whenever you don't look at it, its like a weeping angle, as every time it was off camera it somehow catches up to everyone fleeing at high speed
that was very glaring to me, for like five minutes people were sprinting away, clearly outrunning them, but every time it cut back to them they were right on their heels. It was such a weird chase sequence, super dumb
This reminds me of some of the German heavy tanks in ww2: immensely powerful, but so expensive to produce and maintain that they were completely impractical on a large scale.
Also didnt German heavy tanks occasionally hit what they were shooting at and kill people? That was evidently a design feature left out of these droids for some reason.
@@personthing88 We see the droid blaster hit the side of a mud wall and do nothing. A WW2 era artilary shell would still demolish the building, plot armor or no plot armor. These droids suck balls plain and simple.
These droids had a targeting system on par with that of Imperial Stormtroopers. Like the latter, they seemed incapable of hitting a single target. As Yoda might have said, “Hit the side of a barn door, you cannot, hmm!”
Because the show writers had to pay off a setup for boba riding a rancor. The droids have plot armor until the rancor shows up. It’s also funny that despite walking extremely slow people can’t escape them.
Which is also why Boba Didn't just go and get his ship. Because I'm pretty sure a couple of precision strafing runs would have leveled the droids without doing much more damage. He also would have gotten back quicker. Really all of the big problems in this show seems to stem from having a list of spectacles that had to happen, and then forcing a way from point A to point B to get them to happen.
Doesn't matter if Din Djarin was wearing a helmet. I could still see the PTSD on his face upon discovering a giant clone wars era battle droid was heading his way.
B2 SUPER BATTE DROIDS! Seeing those in Mandalorian Season 3 or a future season would be awesome and something for Mando to deal with. Perhaps reawaken his childhood trauma or PTSD towards droids. 😅 And... WATCH THOSE WRIST ROCKETS! LoL!😂
@@devildolphin2102 I think their severe failure is purely due to Rodriguez's directing and Favreau's writing. Favreau didn't give Boba enough minions where he could lose a bunch but the battle still appear winnable without also leaving Mos Pelgo / Freetown completely devoid of citizens. And then Rodriguez not understanding how to build genuine tension in a war like environment. The entire scene could have played out identically but with the good guys hiding in an abandoned imperial checkpoint where the walls make more sense to be so durable but also could see them actually, you know, take damage and have chunks fly out without leaving them completely exposed.
Yeah, that was reallly dumb. I have even theory that they were somewhat limited, because Mokk Shaiz, mayor, doesnt want to have his town destroyed. I know, its stupid, but...
For those commenting on the inaccuracy of the firing systems, I would remind you that this is around thirty years after the Clone Wars, and Palpatine basically wiped out Battle Droid manufacturing within his first few years of rule. In effect, it's lucky that these things are still operational at all, as parts would have to be scuttled from other Scorpenek droids, or possibly even replace with subpar parts from other droids.
I mean still that means it's sensors and computer is less advanced then stuff we have had since the 70s to calculate ballistics, see as it doesn't have to correct for environmental effects or bullet drop.
The droids were dreadful, they must have been acquired with faulty laser cannons too as they couldn't even penetrate regular walls of Tatooine houses with sustained fire...
@@thoughtgaming492 they removed targeting system, so that writers didn't have to figure out an interesting and realistic way of how to destroy a thing that was capable of eliminating the whole company of clones (with armor and stuff), and not making this episode R-rated.
It was cool to see this really obscure legends droid. Kind of a reach to dream but, I hope one day they bring back the B3 Ultra Battle Droid. That was always a favorite of mine, and it could work as some crazy enforcer for a group of pirates or another syndicate.
A lot of the shots where it’s focused on Mando or Boba’s visors have really good reflection cgi for blaster bolts and things like that. I love the little details
@@BEZERKSTUDIOS718 shields are not infinite. Krrstan almost got through with his heavy rifle. Everyone else failed to do so because those shields were appereantly regenerating fast.
@@TmanTheTdog did you not notice that the shield went from blue to red because of his shots? Red means it's weakened, which allowed him to go through with his hand.
@@PetersaberHD After rewatching the clip, it looks like the Scorponek adjusted it’s shields towards Krrsantan to compensate for the heavy blaster and him trying to bust through, similar to what the other one did vs the Rancor which causes the side opposite to weaken (how mando got through the other one’s shields). If you rewatch you’ll notice how the side opposite to Krrsantan was red until it gave him a good whack, then it evened out again.
A small detail I noticed in the show was that the droid lacks any sort of targeting systems. It open fired into a crowd of people running 5 feet away from it in an open street with no cover and managed to miss every single person miraculously. I think that the lack of targeting systems was a huge oversight by the creators of the droid.
I think the question should be, "Why was it so hard for the droid to hit a target or do damage?". A farcical end to the series. More like the shootout scene around the dustbins from Police Squad.
The worst part these big brother of Droidekas are more Anti vehicle not Anti Infantry. Having a Droideka paired with Scorpenek would be harder (remember Droidekas already difficult to deal with to begin with)
These things seemed absolutely pathetic, even clankers seem to be a better option. Couldn't hit anyone even when a group of people were slowly jogging away out in the open. It wasn't even powerful enough to destroy a small clay wall. It would have been nice to have them be an actual threat.
What did you wan't to see: dismembered bodies, shell-shocked people, buildings turning into deadly shrapnel? -This is a kid's show with no real stakes, the sole purpose of which is to sell baby yoda toys.
@@solarissv777 yes, if they made an R rated star wars series like that it would do insanely well. But no, I just wanted the Droid to actually shoot and kill some people. Obiously they aren't going to do dismemberment but people getting thrown around from the blasts and dying would be much better then what we got.
They're siege droids. Not designed for urban combat. Although, I admit - I expected them to actually kill some people. I'm not sure they actually killed anyone, the only casualties that appeared after they showed up were caused by the Pyke escort.
@@pll3827 I'd say they're more equivalent to the Collicoid's interpretation of a main battle tank. Tanks can absolutely be used to siege forts and knock down walls, but their primary job is to destroy armored vehicles.
Let's face the facts. The only reason everyone in Boba Fett's group survived was because they were protected by plot armor. Otherwise these Scorpenek Annihilator Droids would've desimated that group of farmers and street punks and whatnot. LoL!😅🤣
Could've fixed it by having them run out the back of the building or take a side street and then take cover below a ground line instead of a thin wall that the droid could just walk through.
@@TheHonoredMadman >not at all explained at all in the show Quit trying to jump in and defend Robert Rodriguez. Bad writing and choreography is bad writing and choreography.
@@TheHonoredMadman Oh come on now. If one Scorpenek Annihilator Droids is capable of taking out three to four platoons (that's at least 200 or so number of troops) and capable of taking out several AT-TE Walkers. A Scorpenek Droid's high power blaster cannons should have no problem penetrating a concrete wall or ramming right through it. Old and defective targeting system notwithstanding. So yeah, they were made very underpower within the season finale episode. It was seriously plot armor bullf**kry at play here.😅😌
I was hyped when I first saw the tell tale shape of the Scorpenek in the episode. Yet it didn't seem to kill anyone and had trouble with blasting through a stone wall. Really underwhelming for an otherwise action packed episode. They had formidable defenses but in hindsight were not much of a threat. : (
@@yoloman3607 I think the dark troopers are a different story as Mando and Luke were the only people to really fight them iirc. Mando barely survived against a single one and he was fully kitted out in all his armour and weapons, and Luke is Luke, which explains why he tore through them. I do expect to see more of them and for them to wreck havok. Whereas with the scorpenek droids, they were up against farmers and engineers and couldn't hit anything or do any damage, they were pathetic and did less than a normal B2 would've
@@Jay-fs2nw I would say the script is remarkably similar despite totally different setting, scenes, etc. Menacing droid appearance scene, intimidation scene, unstoppable march scene, characters hiding behind a barrier, then super strong character mops floor appearing from offscreen. Yes the actual fights were a little different, but the style is the same and so is the outcome.
Plus they couldn't hit anything. They were firing a crowd of people running down a long narrow street in straight line (practically fish in a barrel) and they still couldn't hit them.
Seeing these dudes was my favorite part of the episode last night, I have to hand it to the droid army, arc troopers are cool and badass but the CIS had droids am that could wipe the floor with them, hope we see more unique CIS droids in Mando or the bad batch( personally I’m a big fan of the B 3 Ultra battle droid, cuz it’s a bigger version of the B2.)
Going from seeing this thing in the AotC concept art book as a kid and thinking this design was cool and wanting it on screen, to over 10 years later seeing it on screen in a live action show. This made me even more excited than the cameos we got.
If only the seperatists ie griveous and dooku produced and invested onto these annihilators commando droids and supertactical droids their empire would be absolutely invincible!
One gripe I had with the scorpenek droid that it was unable to destroy a wall (occupied by the enemy) that seems to be made out of sandstone or something similar to that
Yeah, they really need to work on what exactly blaster fire can do. I mean, you had Mando's original sniper rifle that vaporized its targets but then Krrsantan's gun which looked like a blaster shotgun just seemed to do the same damage to living targets as any other blaster instead of like shooting right through them (or just vaporizing again). And then the bigger guns seem to do less damage than an RPG
my first thought was the Sith War Droids from the old Republic. Also it strikes me as really odd that the Pikes would divert such a expensive piece of hardware let alone 2 to such a backwater world like Tatooine.
Personally, I thought the droids were a disappointment; they look cool, but I'm fairly sure they were destroyed without killing anyone. The only serious damage they inflicted wasn't even with their cannons; it was their legs! As for being vehicle killers, they couldn't even shoot through the sandstone blocks the good guys were hiding behind, and they were so slow that Boba and the Mandalorian spent good chunks of the episode just dancing around them.
The whole gang even went to the Prometheus school of running, straight away down an open street. Yet, they weren't hit once even by splash. What is the point of the huge feeding belts to huge blaster cannons and they can't shoot farther than 20ft?
@@yoloman3607 they then decided to "dig in", presumably because they had a fair chance of outrunning the things. I'd have said it was stupid to try and hold against an enemy you have no chance of hitting... except it worked. Thank the force for sandstorm. I can understand the rational that the droids were old, probably bought from Wattos descendants, and therefore far from their prime, but a lack of threat doesn't make compelling television.
I love how they brought one of if not my most favorite droid from the depths of star wars lore out to the main scene. BUT come-on these things where killers in the expanded universe. They aren't stormtroopers that comically miss their targets when its plot convenient. They are droids with literal targeting computers built into them by the Colicoids who spared no expense when it came to droid manufacturing. If it wasn't for plot convenience im sure our beloved Boba and his gang would've been dead before the rancor could've shown its face. If all it take is two of technological terrors to turn a whole battalion of clone troopers and a column of AT-TEs to dust, idk what kinda vibranium plot armor this is but i want it in my life😂
Knowing that an entire planet in its wartime economic prime could only afford to field a little over 100 of these things and that they could demolish platoons of highly trained clones… makes you wonder how the pikes got two of them, and then they were destroyed by one older clone and his pet.
@@bradhedgehog12 Oops, I forgot that in this video Justin was talking about the same facts, I watched this video months ago and I decided I would return here to look at coment section and I didn't even rewatched the video and I wrote that comment without remembering what Justin said in the video, now that comment I made is kinda pointless, I'm gonna delete it now.
I freaked out so hard as soon as I saw the thermal profile through the walls. I can’t even tell you how many times I re read that page in the guide to droids as a kid and just pictured controlling such a beast of a machine.
I've seen complaints regarding the 'poor handling' of the Scorpenek droids in the last episode, claiming they never hit anyone apart from the rancor. What is needed to realize is that the function/purpose of these droids is the equivalent of let's say, the DLT-19 heavy blaster used in the stormtrooper corps and the Imperial army. Taking the weapons description from Battlefront, the DLT-19 is designed to pin down a large number of infantry forces at range due to its heavy rate of fire. The Scorpenek droid is more or less similar: to be a lethal obstacle on the massive, wide battlefield. Its heavy blaster cannons are designed to clear out large numbers of troopers and military vehicles (such as the AT-TEs in Legends sources) with devastating damage. The droideka on the other hand, is much more efficient in clearing out small numbers of infantry in tight spaces and corners. The Scorpeneks deployed by the Pykes against the resistance fighters in Mos Espa were out of their depth; their blaster cannons were not precise enough to target them at such close range as well as the tight spaces and corners of the streets. I'd agree that droidekas would have been a better alternative, or could also have been included alongside the Scorpeneks to form a more formidable opponent barrier against the protagonists and deuteragonists.
You know. I wouldn't mind seeing several Droidekas in the season finale instead of the Scorpenek Annihilator Droids. Especially since it's been so long we last seen one in live action.
@@thespartan-sangheili3224 Hmm, you do have a point there. If anyone here remember that one episode of Star Wars Rebels where the main characters encounter group of old CIS droids from the Clone Wars. Captain Rex was able to take down a Droideka's shield simply by hard throwing his helmet at it. Because it was so old. So I suppose that's old likely possibility of why the Scorpenek Annihilator Droids did so poorly against Boba Fett's group.
@@RedWolf777SG Those droids were not maintained though. These ones are clearly shiny and in a like new condition. The age of the droids would not have the same result as the ones that were not maintained in rebels.
Yup, have always liked this mech. I get the feeling though that Doug did two iterations and then George asked him do add those belts to make it look 'cool', like it has chain guns... with mini-guns and gatlings being very popular in action films at the time. IF the plasma generator was compact enough to fit behind the 'eye' in the central body, then it would be small enough to have a plasma generator fitted directly to the back of each weapons pod - meaning you've got to destroy both pods to disable the droids weapons fully, instead of having one central 'Achilles heel'. Although, almost all 'evil' Star Wars technology seems to have an inbuilt Achilles heel as standard. When I think about shielded droids though, I'm sure the shield doesn't penetrate the surface they are 'standing' on, such as the ground... Delayed fuse shells - for destroying bunkers have been around for 75yrs. You could fire one into the sand / earth, just in front of the shield, it would penetrate the ground continue travelling underground toward the droid, and detonate [after a set interval] beneath the surface and inside the shield area, disabling or destroying it.
I listened to the sounds the blaster cannons of the Scorpenek, and I remembered hearing those cannons before. The untrained ear may think it's just the Droideka's shots pitched down, but I believe they're the exact same sound as the AAT's blaster cannons. No, I'm not talking about the main turret, I'm talking about the cannons mounted on the sides. Specifically, from the video game Star Wars Battlefront.
Glad it finally found its way into cannon is underselling it: The Annihilator Droid only ever *appeared* in the New Essential Guide to Droids. Book of Boba Fett is the first time, in any context, that we got to see these bad boys in action, and I'm here for it.
Let's just say that the scenes looked better on concept art, partially because of extended distances of combat and scale of the town itself. Imho, speed of Droideka was a much more important factor and this design is so slow and unable to properly maneuver that it'll have trouble even in WWI. I also fail to see how it and Droideka are supposed to compliment each other and work together. In short, it needs a more powerful(in terms of speed and traction) yet stable base, maybe hexapod or tracked.
Droideka also has insane anti-infantry firepower with its two dual rapid blaster cannons. And main tactic against Droideka during CW was simply bring heavy equipment against them - what Scorpenec is specialized to fight against. I also think Scorpenec can be faster without shield, it is also one of characteristics of Droideka after all.
I think the scorpenek's lack of anti infantry makes a whole lot more sense when you remember the droidekka is also made by the colicoids. And as you said, the scorpenek is actually fully independant, while the droidekka is hive mind. What I see is a squad of droidekka, linked and under the command of a single scorpenek. While the scorpenek takes on the heavy targets, and soaks up most of the damage, the droidekka drones flank around rapidly, taking care of the infantry. Both perfectly counter the other's vunerabilities.
These droids have helped to annihilate my faith in recovering star wars. Eckhart, I know you have to stay positive, I know you need to look for the best in all of this. But unless we can stare clear eyed at the EXECUTION of these awesome concepts, we will tear each other apart as a fan base. I love the concept. But the execution of it in the show is terrible. Its so terrible.
This, why even bring up these machines if you're not gonna commit in showing them carry the tasks they were designed for? especially with very deadly droids.
Fun fact: the arc trooper he mentioned was in legends called Stec, and was not only a member of the muunilist 10 bit was among those sent to Hypori (the one with Z-6/minigun)
Gotta love when a droid moves at 0.5 mph but every other scene it's right behind the group of running people Had this thing started scrambling it would have been horrifying, but since it didn't... Really man this episode was all combat full of people doing things that made no sense for the sake of plot. I really like when Mando and Boba choose to fight 30 Pykes without using any cover for some reason
Yeah they were like "we can't stay on here" but then just walked outside and got pinned down in the open. So much stupid happened, which is really sad.
I think the droid was more so meant to instill terror, shatter the battle lines and allow the pyke infantry to mop up the fleeing combatants.. Small infantry targets might have affected the accuracy of a machine meant for vehicular combat. I also believe the scorpenek was fitted with anti-personnel armaments by the pykes as to not cause to much structural damage to the city which made the droid even more useless.
Tell me, how was this thing SO underpowered and inaccurate? I know droids aren’t usually too bright in StarWars, but how on earth was it constantly shooting 10 meters behind a huge crown running away in a straight line? And it also couldn’t even shoot through a thin stone wall.
Loved the fight between these and the Rancor. Something about the movement and integration into the setting looked to me like the best of stop-motion animation, even though I assume it's computer graphics.
Fleet battle between Grand admiral Thrawn vs. Ender Wiggin Each one has an equal sized fleet with equally capable subordinates, and since Ender is from a different universe each has equal understanding of the technology they’re using. They are in command of Star Wars vessels. Pick a famous fleet of your choosing I’d suggest death squadron
As soon as the first one turned the corner I was thinking Boba would take it out with his jetpack rocket. Several seconds pass and that doesn't happen, then its shields come on and I yell at the TV for somebody to do... something! It was a very cool addition for live-action SW, but had anybody reacted like they should've, one of them could've been at least severely damaged before it became practically impenetrable.
Well hell this has been one of my favorite heavy battle droids I have ever seen but now we actually get to see it in action oh I'm so looking forward to it or to it.
Ignoring their inaccuracy in firing, I gotta say these were probably some of the toughest droids I've ever seen. Gets thrown into a building and multiple parts ripped off, and it still manages to get back on its feet again.
as soon as these droids presented themselves I immediately got the impression these were mobile anti-aircraft battery. the quad mounted and large caliber cannons look like they would be ideal for defending a placement from aerial attack.
This video was awesome. I was explaining to my friend that the finale had a lot of Attack Of the Clones vibes. I kept on thinking about how in the clone wars Ahsoka and Anakin helped Saul Guerra and his group fight against droidekas using emp grenades…. Lots of fan service in the finale , many from the prequels.
Another big Dark Empire parallel (and possible reference?) is how the heavily shielded Viper droids end up going down to physical attacks from very Rancor-like chrysalis beasts
the inability to turn its head would/should have lead to an immediate redesign if it was ever actually built and fielded. this is the WW1 tank of destroyer droids.