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For other uses, see chak.

"Lastly, we have a complaint from the Aar'aa regarding their order. Apparently, the MSE droids skittering underfoot are making them uncomfortably…hungry."
―Rebaxan Columni executives product-testing the MSE-6, whose design was based on the pleeky[3]

A popular pet on the Chadra-Fan homeworld of Chad, the pleeky, also named the chak-chak, was a species of rodent which was miniscule in stature. The pleeky's features inspired the design of Rebaxan Columni's MSE-series "mouse droid," and despite the manufacturing executives' hope that customers would find the MSEs cute, many buyers found the machines discomforting. Faced with bankruptcy toward the Clone Wars' end, the company sold all of its MSE-6-series repair droids to the new Galactic Empire.

Biology and appearance[]

MSE-4

Jumpy MSE droids, whose design owed to the pleeky.

The pleeky,[3] also known as the chak-chak, was a species of diminutive rodent that lived on[1] the planet Chad, which was home to[2] the rodent-descended[1] sentient Chadra-Fan species.[4] The creature featured long fur that partly hid a deceptively strong pair of long arms that folded up. Coupled with the addition of four smaller legs beneath its furry body, the well-balanced pleeky could achieve incredible speeds, creating the visual illusion of a fur torpedo, darting seemingly without means of propulsion.[1]

History[]

The Chadra-Fan–ran Rebaxan Columni's MSE-series "mouse droid" design was inspired by the pleeky,[3] a popular pet on[1] Chad.[2] While Rebaxan Columni wished that the galactic market would consider the MSE cute,[3] many potential buyers from different cultures did not share the company's enthusiastic attitude regarding rodentia. Indeed, a majority of the rat-like MSE-6 droids[1]—which had been manufactured in the billions after test runs of the MSE-4 and MSE-5[3]—were left unbought,[1] and most of the units that were sold were returned upon the buyers' realization that the machines resembled disease-carrying rodents that plagued the antiquated sailing ships of times long gone. Similarly,[3] the reptilian[5] Aar'aa customers complained that their skittering MSE-6s brought discomfort by triggering their food cravings.[3]

Rebaxan Columni's mouse droid venture thus resulted in bankruptcy toward the end of the Clone Wars[3] in 19 BBY,[6] although the newly established Galactic Empire acquired the company's remaining MSE-6s as ubiquitous labor droids to service its expanding starfleet.[1]

Behind the scenes[]

The pleeky was introduced as "chak-chak" in the nineteenth issue of De Agostini's The Official Star Wars Fact File magazine[1] around May 8, 2002.[7] Daniel Wallace's 2006 reference title The New Essential Guide to Droids later provided the name "pleeky."[3]

Sources[]

Notes and references[]

  1. 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 The Official Star Wars Fact File 19 (MOU1-2, MSE-6 Mouse Droid)
  2. 2.0 2.1 2.2 The New Essential Guide to Droids states that the pleeky were local to the Chadra-Fan homeworld, which Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races identifies as the planet Chad.
  3. 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 3.5 3.6 3.7 3.8 The New Essential Guide to Droids
  4. Galaxy Guide 4: Alien Races
  5. The Paradise Snare
  6. The New Essential Chronology
  7. The second issue of the De Agostini magazine The Official Star Wars Fact File was set to be published on January 9, 2002, according to Star Wars Fact Files Available in UK by Thomas on TheForce.net (December 27, 2001) (archived from the original on June 4, 2022). Additionally, the series announcement on StarWars First Look: DeAgostini Star Wars Fact Files on StarWars.com (content now obsolete; backup link) states that the magazine was to be published weekly. Therefore, it can be calculated that The Official Star Wars Fact File 19 was published around May 8, 2002.
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