BX-series droid commando/Legends

"Those clankers have tough armor!"

- Commander Cody, on the durability of the BX-series

The BX-series droid commando, more commonly known as the commando droid, was an elite battle droid model made for stealth assignments.

Characteristics
"Welcome to Rishi&hellip;Commander. As&hellip;you can see, the outpost is operating at&hellip;peak efficiency. Thank you for visiting&hellip;and have a&hellip;safe trip&hellip;back."

- A droid commando trying to imitate a clone trooper

These battle droids appeared similar to the B1 battle droid series; notable changes include two white photoreceptors, in addition to the long head being shortened to half its original size. Their voices were notably different compared to the B1 series, sounding more akin to the deep voices of B2 super battle droids. Unit leaders, which were known as the Commando droid captain, were fitted with white marks on their brows and chestplates. The captain would also have a vibrosword.

They had the same operating abilities as regular battle droids, with the addition of infiltration software. This, along with their humanoid shape, allowed them to fit into a clone trooper's armor. In addition to this, the droids were capable of modulating their voices to match that of others, though they could not accurately copy their mannerisms or vocabulary, nor respond properly to unexpected situations outside of combat.

The droid commandos were built to be substantially faster and stronger than a regular battle droid, and also possessed heavier armor that was capable of withstanding multiple shots from most blasters. However, sustained barrages or a single headshot could overwhelm them, but like Super battle droids and IG-100 MagnaGuards, at least one unit confronting Eeth Koth was sliced in half, but remained operational long enough for Koth to render it inoperable with a stab to the head. The only real drawback of these droids was that they were far more expensive to produce than the regular infantry. This made the droids a fairly rare sight on the battlefield and thus made them to be used exclusively on special and or critical missions only.

The equipment of the droid commandos included E-5 blaster rifles, a stun baton to knock out enemies, and a fusioncutter, used to cut down doors and other obstacles in their path. In addition to this, the leader of a droid commando unit often carried a vibrosword for close-combat purposes. They were also known to use grenades against enemy emplacements. Also, two commandos on Saleucami formed a sniper team, one acting as the shooter with a Sniper rifle and the other using Electrobinoculars, performing as the spotter as modern troops do today.

History
"Well... at least they're not destroyer droids."

- Anakin Skywalker to Adi Gallia after being ambushed by droid commandos.

These sophisticated droids were created to counteract the threat of Jedi or clones. That being said, they were no match for a Jedi in combat. In addition, Captain Rex and Commander Cody both defeated droid commandos in combat on the Rishi moon, and the clone deserter, Cut Lawquane, managed to defeat a force of 20 Commando droids with only minimal assistance from Captain Rex on Saleucami, although the droids they fought were heavily damaged. They were capable of hand-to-hand combat, had greater accuracy with their E-5 carbines, and even sniper capability. However, due to their prohibitive cost, they could not be mass-produced in such a manner as to replace the Confederacy's other battle droids so they were used for SpecOps, boarding parties, and raids.

Battle of the Rishi Moon
"The outpost is secure, General. We shut down the alarm and turned on the all-clear signal."

- A droid commando reporting the capture of the listening post to General Grievous

Around 22 BBY, Confederate General Grievous, the Supreme Commander of the Droid Armies planned to invade the Wild Space planet of Kamino, where the Republic clone troopers were grown. In order to invade the planet unnoticed, Grievous sent several Droch-class boarding ships containing BX-series droid commandos to the moon of Rishi, where a Republic listening post, the Rishi Station was located. The clones stationed on the listening post identified the boarding ships as a meteor shower, and did not alert a nearby Republic fleet. The droids caught the deck officer, CT-327, by surprise, stunning and killing him. They then infiltrated the listening post, but were met by two clones, Droidbait and Nub, who had been sent by Sergeant CT-19-7409 to find out why CT-327 did not reply. Upon hearing fire, the remaining clones rushed to help, but were outnumbered by the commando droids. CT-19-7409 was also killed by the commando droids. However, four clone troopers were able to escape the station through a ventilation shaft. The droids secured the post and jammed the all-clear signal.

The droid commandos, however, were not aware that a routine inspection of the station conducted by Commander CC-2224 and Captain CC-7567 was on its way. Upon arriving in the Nu-class attack shuttle Obex, the two clone officers were greeted by a commando droid dressed in a clone armor. The droid tried to convince the clone troopers to leave the listening posts, however, CC-7567 saw a droid attack flare from the survivors, which made him shoot the droid in the head upon noticing the trick. The commando droids then launched an ambush, and after throwing grenades toward the clones and the shuttle, destroying the shuttle and the droids believed that the two had died in the explosion. In fact, CC-2224 and CC-7567 had survived with the help of their harpoon cables. Meeting the survivors of the first droid assault below the station, the officers introduced themselves and a plot to retake the station was developed. CC-7567 used a droid commando head to cheat the droids within the station to open the door. The clones then stormed the station, eventually regaining control of the control center after killing the commando droids, including the Commando droid captain. Despite of reinforcements sent by General Grievous, the clone troopers blew up the station, cutting of the all-clear signal, thus alerting the Republic fleet of the planned Confederate invasion.

Battle of Ryloth
During the Battle of Ryloth, at least two droid commandos were present in the capital city of Lessu. The two attacked the ARF troopers Razor and Stak, shortly after the two troopers activated the plasma bridge and allowed Republic forces to enter the city. Even using fellow battle droids as projectiles, they eschewed the use of blasters and engaged the two troopers in hand-to-hand combat, but were soon defeated.

Senate Hostage Crisis
Later on, two of these units were used by bounty hunter Cad Bane during his capture of the Senate Building. After killing a contingent of Senate Commandos that guarded the landing area, the two BX-series droids stripped two bodies of their armor and disguised themselves as the commandos. They later escaped with Bane, Ziro and the other Bounty hunters.

They were also deployed during the Battle of Tirahnn.

Battle of Saleucami
A squad of such commando droids accompanied General Grievous when he boarded Jedi Master Eeth Koth's Venator-class Star Destroyer. The droids defeat the Jedi's clone trooper guards but were defeated by Koth. Later, during a rescue attempt conducted by the Jedi to rescue Koth, Jedi General Obi-Wan Kenobi's Republic light cruiser was boarded and its crew was assaulted by BX-series droids. Anakin Skywalker and Adi Gallia found a squad of commando droids, commanded by TV-94, guarding Koth when they boarded Grievous's flagship. Skywalker and Gallia destroyed all of the droids and rescued Koth.

Later during the First Battle of Saleucami, Grievous's forces were forced to crash land onto the planet Saleucami where a pair of commando droids were operational. One of the commandos was a sniper and his spotter observed the arrival of Clone Captain Rex whereupon the sniper took a shot that wounded the target. However, the pair of commando droids were tracked down and killed by Rex's comrades. While Rex recuperated at Cut Lawquane's farm another squad of heavily damaged BX-series droids in an escape pod were accidentally reactivated by Cut's adopted children, Shaeeah and Jek. The droids attacked the farm and despite their heavy damage were able to pin down and nearly overwhelm its defenders. After a hard fought battle and close call they were destroyed by Lawquane and Rex.



Citadel Escape
In the Confederacy prison The Citadel, Warden Osi Sobeck had a team of these commandos painted with a special yellow color scheme called elite commando droids. One of these droids was seen torturing Jedi Master Even Piell for information on the Nexus Route with an electrostaff, while an interrogation droid questioned Piell. Many of them carried hand-held energy shields. One of them was responsible for the death of ARC Trooper Echo.A commando droid captain was also orderd to 'teach' another commando droid a lesson(shooting the droid) by saying the word escape from Osi Sobeck the citadel warden at the time.

Appearances

 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Defenders of the Republic
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes
 * Swamp Station Sweep
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: In Service of the Republic
 * A Trooper's Tale
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: Republic Heroes
 * Swamp Station Sweep
 * Star Wars: The Clone Wars: In Service of the Republic
 * A Trooper's Tale