Ion Blaster

Jawas are meter-tall humanoids completely hidden behind rough, hand-woven robes. Their faces are concealed within the dark folds of a cowl, from which peer their sickly glowing yellow eyes. They comb the deserts of Tatooine in search of discarded scrap and wayward mechanicals. Using their cobbled-together weaponry, they can incapacitate droids and drag them to their treaded fortress-homes, immense sand-scarred vehicles known as sandcrawlers. They sell their hastily refurbished junk to moisture farmers who are hard-pressed to find a better selection elsewhere.

A reliable and versatile astromech droid, R2-D2 has served Padmé Amidala, Anakin Skywalker, and Luke Skywalker in turn, showing great bravery in rescuing his masters and their friends from many perils. A skilled starship mechanic and fighter pilot's assistant, he has an unlikely but enduring friendship with the fussy protocol droid C-3PO.

C-3PO longs for more peaceful times, but his continued service to the Resistance — and his knowledge of more than seven million forms of communication — keeps the worry-prone droid in the frontlines of galactic conflict. Programmed for etiquette and protocol, Threepio was built by a young Anakin Skywalker, and has been a constant companion to astromech R2-D2. Over the years, he was involved in some of the galaxy’s most defining moments and thrilling battles. Since the Empire’s defeat, C-3PO has served Leia Organa, head of a Resistance spy ring aimed at undermining the First Order.

Tatooine is harsh desert world orbiting twin suns in the galaxy’s Outer Rim. In the days of the Empire and the Republic, many settlers scratched out a living on moisture farms, while spaceport cities such as Mos Eisley and Mos Espa served as home base for smugglers, criminals, and other rogues. Anakin Skywalker and Luke Skywalker both once called Tatooine home, although across the stars it was more widely known as a hive of scum and villainy ruled by the crime boss Jabba the Hutt.

T-7 ion disruptor rifles were deadly, powerful weapons capable of disabling starships; when used against organic beings, the results could be gruesome. As a result, they were banned by the Senate. During the age of the Empire, Imperial forces used the disruptors to clear out worlds and, sometimes, slaughter their inhabitants, as was the case with their takeover of Lasan.

Ion weapons fire ionized particles that disrupt electronic systems. These weapons range in size from Jawas’ custom ion blasters, used to disable droids, to massive cannons that can turn starships into silent, drifting hulks. During the Clone Wars, the Separatists mounted twin ion cannons on the dreadnought Malevolence, which laid waste to several Republic task forces before her destruction. Years later, the Alliance defended Hoth’s Echo Base with a powerful surface-mounted ion cannon.