Star Wars: 10 Weird Expanded Universe Things We're Glad Aren't Canon Anymore

Skippy the Droid was an astromech featured in the comic Star Wars Tales #1 notable for his ability to use The Force. While such things were almost always left to traditionally-sentient beings in the Star Wars universe, this little machine -designated as R5-D4 - somehow held a mastery of this complex and amorphous property.

Until his merciful decanonization along with the rest of the Star Wars Expanded Universe, Skippy played a huge role in the original trilogy: he was the droid which Luke Skywalker originally purchased from the Jawas in A New Hope. However, Skippy sensed that the alliance would only survive if Luke and R2-D2 were united. As a result, he self-destructed, which forced Luke to go back and buy the now-famous droid duo from the sand-crawler.

This story line is far beyond unnecessary, and, given that the original Star Wars movie is full of continuity errors and logical fallacies, it seems odd that this particular scene would be explored in further detail. Nobody had previously given much thought as to why the first droid Luke purchased malfunctioned, and now that Skippy and his Force skills are no longer canon, no one will have to.