• Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    And those 4 letter names couldn’t be very unique…

    36^4 for four alphanumeric (a-z plus 0-4) characters is 1,679,616 combinations.

    • HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      How many billion people can live on a planet and how many billion planets are there in a galaxy? How many of them have how many droid slaves? Divide that by 1.7 million and you’ve got it.

        • marcos@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          If 20 years from now you meet somebody named Sandra with a completely different face, coming from a completely different place, would you guess it’s her after a plastic surgery?

          • Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            If they said “hey, it’s me, Sanda” then probably.

            Obviously C3P0 should have done more to identify himself to Owen as well.

            This is all before we consider that droids can face memory wipes.

    • Draedark@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      I am not sure each droid has a unique name. Are the designations basically not a model number? I.e. there are many c-3po and r2-d2 running around.

      • Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world
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        8 months ago

        Depends on the droid. C-3PO is a 3PO class droid. R2-D2 is an R2 class droid. So there’s only 36 designations for 3POs and 1,268 for R2s.

        BUT, designations don’t always have to follow the standard scheme. For example HELIOS-3E is IG-86 class droid. And we’ve got Chopper (C1-10P) a C1 class. We’ve also got R0-GR, a B1 series; though my head canon is that all B1s are jammed Roger, so when they say “Roger Roger” it’s actually “Roger, Roger”.

        • Draedark@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          So yes. Yes is what I am reading. The designations are more like generic “make/model” numbers and not unique “serial” numbers or names. Thanks for the reply!

          • Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world
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            8 months ago

            No, the designations are unique names.

            Droids being given shitty names that are often just their make/model mostly has to do with how droids are treated in the Star Wars universe.

            Sentient organics are enslaved in SW; droids gather even less respect, particularly from humans.

            • Draedark@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              If C-3PO is a 3PO series protocol droid, I would find it hard to believe that only 26 (36)? were ever made and each one had a unique name. R2 is an R2 series astromech droid. I would plead a similar case there as well. Especially given the probable number of astromechs built/needed.

              • Nouveau_Burnswick@lemmy.world
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                8 months ago

                Their are many more droids than the easy designation numbers, and droids don’t have to follow standard designations at all.

                Think of it more like the deragatory terms used on enslaved humans in our own history; the desired names of slaves mattered little to the masters.

                Sentient organics are basically saying “yeah, I’ll give you one extra letter to make it easier to call you instead of the other 3PO chattel”

                C-3PO may have a completely different name they would prefer to self express as; but in a universe where even sentient organics are enslaved, droids don’t stand a chance.

                • Draedark@lemmy.world
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                  8 months ago

                  To your first point, the droids in question do seem to follow the “easy designations” as you put it. In fact, they are often referred to in the film by them. Examples: Luke often refers to R2-D2 as just R2. And C-3PO as 3PO.

                  I still don’t buy into the notion that these were unique “names” at all and not “model numbers” though, but thanks for the discussion.