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Sandcrawler

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CMC digger crawler on Tatooine.
"Maybe the Jawas will find a use for them when we're gone. Ha! That's a laugh!"
―Czerka employee about sandcrawlers, considering ineffectiveness of his company's mining operations[src]

Sandcrawlers were large, slow, treaded vehicles, used as self propelled bases for mining squads. Most notable example of usage of these vessels, later adapted by Jawas for their mobile homes, was on Tatooine, where bulky sandcrawlers climbing the dunes were a common sight.

Contents

[edit] History on Tatooine

[edit] Miners

The sandcrawler of Nebit's Jawa tribe.

Millennia before the Battle of Yavin Tatooine seemed a good place to start mining operation. But it appeared that the ore was very poor quality, corroding very fast. The planet's climate and Tusken Raider's attacks were even worse for miners. As a result, companies left the planet beaten by nature, without enough funds to take their heavy equipment with them.

Many sandcrawlers – bulky, yet very sturdy vehicles able to travel even in the most harsh of desert conditions – met this fate. As several different companies made the same mistake of thinking of Tatooine as a great font of resources, this happened several times. First sandcrawlers were used and left behind on Tatooine by Czerka Corporation years before Sith Wars. Others, brought to the planet on the same purpose by Corellian Mining Corporation, were also abandoned some time later.

[edit] Jawas

Jawas returning to their sandcrawler

The vehicles gained new life thanks to the Jawas, who took to the abandoned vessels as if they were made especially for them. Little known fact is that Tusken Raiders actually sold some of the vehicles to the Jawas, putting aside their differences for a short time, in the pursuit of monetary profit. This might be the reason why Tuskens from time to time succeeded in raiding a Jawa sand crawler. Equipped with magnetic cranes, energy furnaces, workshops and lots of living and or storage space, sandcrawlers were perfect as mobile headquarters, shops, and homes for the diminutive junk scavengers. Soon, the vessels started to play large roles in Jawa society. One of the most important days for most Jawas was the annual meeting of all sandcrawlers. They were also key in Jawa defense doctrine: the vehicle's armor was strong enough to sustain attack of Sand People or even a Krayt Dragon. However, it proved to be too weak to survive attack provided with effective weaponry. One particular sandcrawler was destroyed by a squad of Imperial Sandtroopers, supported by a Flying Fortress, which easily pinpointed and destroyed weak spots of the desert vessel, immobilizing it and slaughtering all the Jawas.

[edit] Known models

[edit] Behind the scenes

Only the bottom part of the sandcrawler was built for close-up scenes in the Tatooine desert for Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. In Star Wars Episode II: Attack of the Clones these large vessels appeared on matte paintings.

[edit] Appearances

Ralph McQuarrie's sandcrawler concept art

[edit] Non-canon appearances

[edit] Sources

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