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In the Prequel Trilogies our first introduction to Anakin Skywalker and our last sight of the remnants of him before he fully becomes Darth Vader frames the three films with the construction of a mechanical man at the beginning and at the end. When we first meet Anakin he is in the process of finishing building C-3PO and when we last glimpse him in human form the Emperor is in the process of transforming him into the cyborg that completes his transition to the Dark Side.

Anakin brings the neurotic but well meaning C-3PO to life at the beginning and Palpatine brings to life Darth Vader, the uber villain at the end of the Trilogy. This gives us a fair indication that C-3PO is an important and highly significant character who represents more within the movies than is immediately apparent. It is also notable that, in the very middle of the trilogy in The Attack of the Clones during the battle on Geonosis, it is C-3PO who switches head and body with a Battle Droid. The transferance of heads and bodies between the goodies and the baddies represents not only that everything hangs in the balance but also that the lines are becoming blurred between good and evil. The creation of C-3PO at the beginning represents the birth of a creature who is totally benign and without malice (albeit neurotic) and that of Vader at the end of a creature completely malevolent. In the middle, we see C-3PO ossilating between the two as the battle droid's programming partially takes over his mind until he is freed by Kit Fisto 'Die Jedi Dogs! Oh what did I say?

Just as C-3PO undergoes a transformation, Anakin gets processed through the droid factory in a highly symbolic way getting his arm encased - prefiguring his later transformation to Darth Vader. The signposts are all there that the battle of Geonosis is highly symbolic of the shift in balance between good and evil and it represents a turning point in the trajectory of Anakin's fate and that of the entire Star Wars galaxy.

This also creates a really strong parallel with The Empire Strikes Back. In The Attack of the Clones C-3PO is dismembered shortly before Anakin loses his arm in combat with Darth Tyrannus (Count Dooku), and in The Empire Strikes Back C-3PO is dismembered shortly before Luke loses his hand in combat with Darth Vader. Both sets of events are significant parts of the characters' journeys towards their respective destinies; Luke in his journey towards becoming a Jedi and Anakin's towards becoming a Sith Lord. C-3PO's parallel dismemberments represent his intrinsic connection to his masters at a fundamental level almost like the Force is at work prefiguring events to come. Whatever is about to happen to his subsequent masters is literally transcribed upon C-3PO's body beforehand with the potency of a Jedi premonition.

All in all this gives us a very smooth symbolic transition from the Good Side of the Force and towards the Dark Side as the Trilogy progresses and without C-3PO this symbolism would not be there. C-3PO is the vehicle for our greater understanding of events and his significance should never be underestimated.

I have just one other rather intriguing thing to mention about the creation of C-3PO before I finish. We know that other droids are created in factories and seem to run off some very sophisticated AI (artificial intelligence). However, C-3PO was created by Anakin and this raises the question of where on earth as a slave boy in a junkyard he would have got his hands on that AI. In fact, C-3PO is even shocked by the notion of droids creating droids at the Geonosis Droid Factory ('Droids making droids. How perverse!'). So far as he is concerned he has been given life by a human. The intriguing possibility is that C-3PO doesn't run off AI at all and that Anakin has actually created sentient life, the very mystery of which Palpatine later promises to reveal to him. Were this to be the case, the droid that everyone ignores and overlooks could actually be carrying around the most important information in the Galaxy, more important even than the plans to the Death Star. If Anakin has infused C-3PO with midichlorians and created life from nothing what a wonderful irony that would be. In this reading C-3PO would both hold the secret to the creation of Life and be a physical embodiment of (and a channel of access to) the Good Side of the Force. Little wonder that the Ewoks see him as a god. Padmé perhaps also has some intuition into this right back in Episode One. When Anakin first shows C-3PO to her she says 'he's perfect'. This might be a stretch too far, but only the divine can be perfect and in this reading C-3PO is very subtely cast as having diety-like qualities in the very first movie of the Prequel Trilogy and in the very last movie of the Original Trilogy. This benign, well-meaning and neurotic protocol droid may well hold the secret to life and even the balance of the Force in the Star Wars world.

It will be very interesting to see if and how this underlying theme of C-3PO as a diety that holds the key to the balance of the Force is played out in the upcoming Rise of Skywalker Movie. The second trailer definitely gives us a teaser that this might actually be the case. In the trailer we get a very brief look at C-3PO in which he appears to be sat somewhere aboard the Millennium Falcon. Firstly if you look at his arms they are spread as if he has them resting on the arms of some sort of wide, throne-like chair. We haven't seen him in this position since the Ewok throne on Endor. Secondly, C-3PO, for the first time ever, is shown with red Sith eyes glaring into space like the twin suns of Tatooine. We are being teased with the possibility of a truly remarkable and significant role for C-3PO in this movie and we can only wait to see if it is fulfilled. What we can say for sure is that C-3PO looks to have suffered a perhaps mind-altering mishap reminiscent of that on Geonosis, except this time there is a big gaping hole in his forehead giving the impression that he has undergone some sort of droid brain surgery. This is intriguing and you have to wonder whether someone has been poking around in there looking for the secret to the balance of the Force.

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All Star Wars action figures, vehicles, collectibles and Star Wars toys shown on this website are the 3.75 inch scale and from my own private Star Wars collection unless otherwise stated. Where possible original vintage accessories have been used but in some instances I have placed Kenner Star Wars figures with either reproduction weapons and accessories or for Hasbro figures close approximations have been used. This is mostly the case for modern Star Wars lightsabers where the correct item can be very difficult to identify on some ocassions. Vintage Star Wars action figures are shown with their original weapon or accessory when I have them. When a vintage Kenner action figure is shown with an accessory which is not original I have tried to point this out where possible.

All of the Star Wars action figures shown were purchased second hand, usually incomplete, and in bulk. They have been reunited with their original weapons and accessories where we could get hold of them.

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