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Anybody who's worked in the US foreign service can tell you that people in charge of protocol are often very polite, very considerate, and very attentive to how their actions and words come across to others. It pays not to annoy diplomats and government officers if you have to work with them day after day, and ask them to do favors for you when interacting with their governments. And most importantly, a protocol officer knows what secrets not to say.

I would never hire somebody like C3PO to be in charge of protocol or even translations. He annoys people. He makes rude comments to Chewbacca, R2D2, and other protocol droids. He whines and complains and blurts out inappropriate statements. He's the kind of blabbermouth who would tell all your family secrets to a Sith Lord or a Hutt gangster. And according to an answer for this question, he was built from scavenged parts on Tatooine.

If all the other protocol droids in the galaxy are as rude as him, no wonder the galaxy is going to war! Everyone's droids would have ruffled the feathers (tentacles, eyestalks, whatever) of half the diplomats in the galaxy. Or maybe he's the only rude droid around because he's a custom made one-off built by a small slave boy to do housework for the slave's mother.

Is there any G-canon evidence of other droids being rude or annoying?

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RichS
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  • Perhaps he had been upgraded by an engineer who liked to gamble, and preferred being told the odds of things. – Mike.C.Ford Apr 12 '16 at 07:23
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    Because he's a 6 year old kids idea of a protocol droid? – Binary Worrier Apr 12 '16 at 07:23
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    @BinaryWorrier That's hilarious and it actually makes sense. What do you get when you combine the sensitivity of a diplomat with the impulsivity of a boy? – RichS Apr 12 '16 at 07:35
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    Well, we should consider that C3PO was a droid built by a little boy-slave from scrap parts, and I don't think it was originally designed to a a diplomat. Then again: why did he even become one? If I recall correctly, in the prequels C3PO was mainly a servant in Anakin and Padme's house, it was after the events of Episode III he suddenly became a protocol droid (after his memory was erased). Maybe Senator Organa thought C3PO would make a great diplomat? – AngrySquid Apr 12 '16 at 07:42
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    This has always struck me as incredibly incongruous as well. Since his translation units seem to be standard, presumably so are his etiquette and diplomacy and protocol-stuff units (there’s probably some canon info on whether they are or not)—but something definitely doesn’t add up with that. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Apr 12 '16 at 07:47
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    You'd be annoying too. C3PO has seen a lot of sh*t. – Major Stackings Apr 12 '16 at 07:56
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    @LegoBarker Yes, but his mind was wiped, so it's not like all those bad memories will traumatize him anymore. You know, the entire sunshine of the spotless mind. – RichS Apr 12 '16 at 07:58
  • G-Canon don't exist no more. Just sayin' is all. – Valorum Apr 12 '16 at 08:10
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    I vaguely remember C-3PO being a comic relief character, like a less obnoxious Jar Jar... a character for kids. I don't think I'll find a source, so not making an answer. – Petersaber Apr 12 '16 at 08:25
  • @AngrySquid C3PO was referred to as a "protocol droid" in Episode III - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73E9WD5gi_I – Moo Apr 12 '16 at 08:51
  • G/Disney canon: C-3PO encounters E-3PO, who is rude to him. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FWoG9tKf1lA – phantom42 Apr 12 '16 at 12:15
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    His builder did fall prey to the Dark Side, for what that's worth. – pleurocoelus Apr 12 '16 at 13:38
  • @Petersaber Less obnoxious? Surely not! – Janus Bahs Jacquet Apr 12 '16 at 14:02
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    He wasn't really being annoying when he was translating for Jabba in Episode VI. Maybe he's only annoying in his free time. – John Sensebe Apr 12 '16 at 14:11
  • @AngrySquid If Senator Organa wanted to turn C3PO into a real protocol droid, he should have upgraded the droid's etiquette module to 3.7. Clearly the droid had a deficient module. – RichS Apr 13 '16 at 04:52
  • My understanding is that his model is that of a protocol droid, just as Artoo is an astromech droid. Right? (Keep in mind, Anakin obviously built him from a kit, Threepio identifies a fellow protocol droid at one point.) – Ber Oct 25 '16 at 03:44
  • Well, Sebastian is kind of a "protocol lobster" and he can be annoying. Also Zazu, from The Lion King. Even some iterations of beloved Alfred Pennyworth can also come up as annoying. I think there's a pattern there. There is this stereotype of cowardly uptight characters of protocol who get annoyed when the main characters "don't behave properly" or act "too recklessly" and annoy them (and audience) in return. My, oh my! (monocle drops). ((NO, I couldn't find a TV Tropes article even though I searched for... minutes... then I got trapped there for hours)) – xDaizu May 25 '17 at 12:48
  • @JohnSensebe That's because in Jabba's Palace he was working on a protocol job (which is what he likes and knows how to do), not being dragged around half the galaxy on space wizard fights, clone wars, getting stranded in the desert, smuggling jobs and what-nots. – xDaizu May 25 '17 at 12:54
  • Because protocols are annoying. – Möoz Mar 01 '18 at 03:31

1 Answers1

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Back in the 70s, I remember Lucas stating that he originally wanted C3PO to be a "slimey slick-o used car dealer type" but once Anthony Daniels started talking he made the character into what we all know.

So, the character is there mainly for comic relief as Daniels himself stated:

What’s your favorite and least favorite line of C-3PO dialogue? My favorite line is — interesting you ask least favorite — my favorite line is, [in character as C-3PO] “We’re doomed.” It’s a phrase that encapsulates his whole philosophy. It’s his life. He always feels on the edge of disaster. That’s where the humor comes from because he is a humorous character, but mostly it comes by default. He doesn’t tell jokes. He’s just wrong about everything most of the time and lives on this precipice of fear, which gives a sort of tension. You and I hide that. You hid magnificently that you were terrified of talking to me. As humans, adults, we sort of do. He doesn’t have that guile. And in fact, now that I come to think of it, he is pretty much without guile. He says it as it is and that can occasionally be quite funny because he can be inappropriate without meaning to be. This is the thing that George and the writers originally created and we’ve taken it further and further. There’s no way I can think of the situations he’s put into, but they sometimes let me tweak [his lines]. In fact, they always let me tweak the script.

Plus: He also knows over 6 billion languages so I think of C-3PO more as an interpreter than a diplomat

And to answer your other question, yes there have been other rude droids:

  • the other protocol droid in Cloud City was rude to C-3PO
  • R2-D2 was rude to the droids on the Jawa Sand Crawler
  • And there were other droids on the Sand Crawler torturing droids and restraining them
djm
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