He's had several owners over the course of the movies. He is initially property of Naboo - an emergency repair droid on the queen's ship. The R2 appears to become Padme's property although Anakin seems to have a “personal” connection with him.
The R2-D2 droid was the most expensive item ever offered in a movie memorabilia auction, the auction house Profiles is History told the AP. Before the sale, it was estimated the droid would go for nearly $2 million—almost $1 million less than what it auctioned for in the end.
There, a company named Norank did build six Artoo units, and since at that time a lot of people from the aerospace industrie were working there, these R2 were mostly built of aluminum, including the legs.
English actor Kenny Baker played R2-D2 in all three original Star Wars films and received billing credit for the character in the prequel trilogy, where Baker's role was reduced as R2-D2 was portrayed mainly by radio controlled props and CGI models.
A smart, spunky droid who would serve a multitude of masters over his lifetime, R2-D2 was never given a full memory wipe nor did he ever receive new programming, with these factors resulting in an adventurous and independent attitude.
While R2-D2 is no longer manufactured or sold by Sphero, the Sphero Edu app can still be used to program the Sphero R2-D2 robot and expand its capabilities. Looking to explore new terrain? Sphero RVR+ is a mobile robot that you can drive, build on, and code.
They aren't abbreviations — they're model and serial numbers. R2 is a second generation R-series astromech, serial number D2. * And C-3PO is a C-series protocol droid with the serial number 3PO.
A C-3PO head from the private collection of Star Wars actor Anthony Daniels has sold for $843,750 dollars at auction. The light-up prop from 1983's Star Wars: Episode VI - Return Of The Jedi, was sold as part of the Anthony Daniels Collection in Los Angeles.
The set is estimated to retire sometime within mid to late 2024. Once retired, the expected annual growth will be close to 7% after the second year, which will value the set between $293 and $314 shortly after it is retired. Retirement risk.
The name derives from when Lucas was making one of his earlier films, American Graffiti . Sound editor Walter Murch states that he is responsible for the utterance which sparked the name for the droid. Murch asked for Reel 2, Dialog Track 2, in the abbreviated form "R-2-D-2".
Darth Vader's true identity as Anakin Skywalker was a highly guarded secret, known only to a select few individuals including Palpatine, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Luke, Han, Leia, R2-D2, C-3PO, Master Yoda, Bail Organa, Ahsoka Tano, Darth Maul, Grand Moff Tarkin, Grand Admiral Thrawn, Jocasta Nu, Ferren Barr, Verla, Reva, ...
Darth Vader acts like he doesn't even know C-3PO or R2D2. They were with him since he was a child. He did everything he could to forget his past. Also, his plating had been replaced many times, and protocol droids all look very similar.
The base assumption of why Obi-Wan doesn't remember R2-D2 -- in light of the prequels -- is that Obi-Wan is feigning ignorance in A New Hope to downplay the importance of the droid's arrival. That explanation holds the most water for a number of reasons.
After the Clone Wars, however, Brooks Propulsion Devices, the company responsible for the development of his boosters, was shut down, and his rocket boosters were eventually damaged and thus could not be repaired. Despite this, however, R2 hardly regretted the loss of his ability to fly.
A replacement droid assigned to Anakin Skywalker during the Clone Wars after the loss of R2-D2, R3-S6 was a newer model at the time, the latest in astromech technology.
However, the same could not be said for R2-D2, who never had his memories erased. While there isn't a canonical reason for this decision, the likely explanation may have been that Threepio was more likely to say something he shouldn't have.
Ownership of the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO changes throughout the Star Wars prequel trilogy. R2-D2: R2-D2 is initially owned by the Naboo Royal Starship, serving as the astromech droid for Queen Amidala's starship. C-3PO: C-3PO is created by Anakin Skywalker on Tatooine using spare parts.
Internally BB-8 was originally called "Ball-Bot". JJ Abrams previous explained why he named the droid BB-8: "I named him BB-8 because it was almost onomatopoeia. It was sort of how he looked to me, with the 8, obviously, and then the 2 B's."
