R5 - D4 / Legends R5 - D4 , Arfive - Deefour , or Red as Luke Skywalker called him , was a white and red striped R5 - series astromech droid on Tatooine . Biography . R5 - D4 , also known as Red , was one of the last droids produced in the low cost Industrial Automaton R5 line , a line plagued with malfunctions . As a result , R5 - D4 was owned by many beings and in a constant state of used sale . His programming became jealous of other droids that were capable of serving without failure and had loyal masters . The droid eventually came into the possession of Chief Nebit ' s Jawa tribe , that sold used droids to Owen Lars . He grew angrier as he suffered the abuse of the Jawas , but before he acted on that anger , a Power Droid on board Nebit ' s sandcrawler suggested that if he cooperated , he would eventually be sold to masters who had to be better than the Jawas . Aboard the sandcrawler , the new arrival R2 - D2 sabotaged R5 - D4 ' s motivator , acting under the orders of Princess Leia aboard the " Tantive IV " to find Obi - Wan Kenobi by any means possible , even if it involved modifying other droids , an action usually prohibited by basic droid programming laws . Eventually , the sandcrawler arrived outside the Lars homestead . Owen Lars purchased the inexpensive R5 - D4 , but within seconds of the transaction , the droid ' s motivator malfunctioned . After Lars accused the Jawas of selling faulty merchandise , the Jawas hastily let Owen have R2 - D2 as a consolation . After failing to make a sale , the Squib trader Macemillian - winduarté stole R5 - D4 from the Jawas , saving the droid from destruction at the hands of stormtroopers . R5 - D4 then changed hands once again in Mos Eisley , being sold to Voren Na ' al , Rebel Alliance historian and spy . While communicating with the droid through a datapad , Na ' al learned a great deal about the sale of R2 - D2 and C - 3PO to Owen Lars . Na ' al then refurbished the maltreated droid and installed an intelligence gathering software package . Decades of low self - confidence and jealousy were reversed : R5 - D4 had a purpose . R5 - D4 was placed as an intelligence gathering source in the office of the Imperial Prefect ' s administrative assistant in Mos Eisley . He continued to serve in that capacity , providing important and valuable data to the Alliance , until the Battle of Endor . Behind the scenes . Five action figures of R5 - D4 have been made so far . The first figure was part of the original vintage toy line from that ran from 1977 to 1985 . R5 - D4 was one of the second wave of 8 cards released in 1978 , a total of 20 Star Wars cards being released before 1979 . The R5 - D4 figure was similar in design to that of R2 - D2 , using the same hollow , white plastic tube shaped body , topped with a band of silver detail separating the head from the body . A printed body sticker was used with same picture detail as R2 - D2 ' s , except the details were printed in an orange / red color , orange / red paint details finished off the two side legs . The second figure was to be released in 1996 as part of the " Power of the Force 2 " toy line , again in the same 3 and 3 / 4 inch scale . This figure has become reviled as a terrible rendition of the droid . The addition of its over - sized leg - mounted rockets and spring - loaded missile launcher , a feature accessed by opening up the two halves of the R5 - D4 body , the missile is then released by a small yellow plastic tag that protrudes from the bottom of the body . Neither of these additions were featured in the character ' s film appearance . As an aid to the secret missile design , the two side legs were joined together at the base of the feet via a piece of plastic , this made the figure ' s legs unable to move independently of each other . The figure was out of proportion with other astromech droid figures . This missile launcher design spawned a rare variant of this figure . The first " Power of the Force 2 " release came on a red card with gold picture border and featured a " straight " missile release lever , but this was soon replaced by an easy to use lever with a downward bend , so nicknamed the " bent " release lever . This newer figure was released on a green " Power of the Force 2 " card . The earlier " straight " lever has become a sought after item by variant collectors . Kenner released an 6 inch tall R5 - D4 with retracting 3rd leg and removable antenna as a part of the Kenner Action Collection back in late 90 ' s . The next figure was based on an R2 - D2 mold and released in 2006 as part of the " Saga Collection ' s " Tatooine wave . This figure had a removable dome antenna and a damaged motivator that popped up when the head was turned . The most recent figure was released in 2011 and was a repaint of the R5 mold established in the " build a droid " sets . This version of the figure was packed in a way to mimic its predecessor ' s packaging from 1978 . The Sideshow / Medicom Toy Company released a 1 / 6 scale version of R5 - D4 in 2011 as part of their Star Wars Real Action Hero line - up . On the DVD of " " , there is a menu screen - shot which displays a clearer image of R5 - D4 ' s malfunctioning motivator sky - rocketing into the air . There is a continuity error in " A New Hope " , involving R5 - D4 . Just after the red droid ' s motivator has blown , C - 3PO puts a good word in for R2 . For a second , we are shown R2 , with R5 inexplicably replaced beside him . The next shot shows the Jawas running over to retrieve the droid from where he stands ( correctly ) next to Luke and Threepio . The R5 - D4 card from the Star Wars CCG series , claims that R5 - D4 purposely blew his motivator to prevent splitting up R2 - D2 and C - 3PO . This seems to be in line with the non - canon explanation from " Skippy the Jedi Droid " . Luke refers to R5 - D4 as an " R2 unit " . The name R5 - D4 was created by Kenner for the action figure , and seems not to have taken into account the line in the film referring to it as an R2 unit . The later introduction of the R2 - AG - series agromech droid seems to be a retcon for this discrepancy . R2 - AG units were established in the " Star Wars Technical Journal " as being a line of R2 units housed in R5 - series droid casings . The non - canon comedic story " Skippy the Jedi Droid " identifies R5 - D4 as " Skippy " , a Force - sensitive droid who is responsible for the entire " Star Wars " saga . The article " " , alluded to this story as a wild rumor . During the assault on the Death Star in , the X - wing piloted by Jek Tono Porkins appears to have a droid identical to R5 - D4 in the astromech socket . This droid has been identified as a different R5 unit , R5 - D8 in " " . In the " Christmas in the Stars " , Star Wars Christmas album , R5 - D4 accidentally stood beneath some mistletoe at C - 3PO ' s party , and was kissed by Chewbacca . R5 did not sound happy about it afterward . The vintage R5 - D4 figure had no major variations but there was a variation in the way R5 ' s name was written on the card . The Star Wars and " " card releases featured the name " R5 - D4 " , while the " " and the later European Tri - Logo card featured two versions of the name . " Arfive - Defore " was to be found at the top of the name plate while " R5 - D4 " was found directly underneath .