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HK-47

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HK-47
Star Wars character
HK-47, from Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003).
First appearanceStar Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (2003)
Created byDavid Gaider
Voiced byKristoffer Tabori
In-universe information
TitleHK-47
B-1 (Mister Bones)
AffiliationRevan
Jedi Exile
New Republic (as Bones)

HK-47 is a fictional droid in the Star Wars franchise. Introduced in the 2003 video game Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic, he is an extremely efficient assassin droid constructed by Revan to assist them in hunting Jedi, until both have their memories wiped and made to serve the Jedi themselves. Voiced by Kristoffer Tabori, HK-47 reappears in the 2004 sequel, Star Wars Knights of the Old Republic II: The Sith Lords, the Trials of Obi-Wan 2005 expansion pack to the massively multiplayer online game Star Wars Galaxies, and the 2011 MMORPG Star Wars: The Old Republic, as well as various other novels, short stories, comics, and video games in the Star Wars Expanded Universe.[1]

Lucasfilm rebranded the Expanded Universe works as Star Wars Legends in 2014 and declared them non-canon to the franchise; however in the 2017 Chuck Wendig novel Star Wars: Aftermath: Empire's End, the recurring character of B-1 (Mister Bones) is revealed to have been built from parts of HK-47 to help the fledging New Republic against the leaderless Galactic Empire, briefly taking over the droid with their "strange, hard-angle" accent. The character will reappear in the 2022 Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic — Remake, set within Star Wars canon.

Development

A BioWare developer posted to the company's forum that HK-47 is named in homage of a dropship in Shattered Steel.[2] However, Knights of the Old Republic lead writer Drew Karpyshyn claimed the name derived from his billiards team's name, which in turn was partially derived from the AK-47;[3] the "Mister Bones" nickname provided to the character's B-1 battle droid form introduced in Chuck Wendig's Star Wars: Aftermath trilogy is derived from how "B-dash-O-N-E, looks like Bone or Bones."[4]

Appearances

In Knights of the Old Republic, the player's character purchases HK-47 on Tatooine. Dialogue establishes that Revan built the bloodthirsty droid, which characteristically refers to organic lifeforms as "meatbags".

HK-47 is disabled at the beginning of The Sith Lords; the player's character recovers material from damaged droids to repair HK-47. Dialogue in The Sith Lords expands on the droid's backstory and purpose, establishing that Revan used the droid to kill people who destabilized or weakened the galaxy.

In the time frame of the Trials of Obi-Wan expansion to Star Wars Galaxies, HK-47's artificial intelligence has transferred into a computer on a Galactic Republic cruiser that later crashed on Mustafar. The droid calls on players to complete several quests to return him to a droid body.

HK-47 was included as an action figure in the Champions of the Force line of Star Wars figures.[5]

HK-47 returns in Star Wars: The Old Republic as a boss battle in two separate flashpoints and as a mini boss in a level 60 operation.[6][7]

HK-47 is an unlockable character in the mobile game Star Wars: Galaxy of Heroes.

The B-1 battle droid known as "Mister Bones", rebuilt by New Republic supporter Temmin "Snap" Wexley from droid parts from a scrapyard, is revealed to have been built from parts of HK-47 in the 2017 Chuck Wendig novel Star Wars: Aftermath: Empire's End, with HK-47 briefly taking over Bones after they "glitch" and their voice "warps", causing their "strange, hard-angle" accent to return and say "COMMENTARY: I SAY WE BLAST THE MEATBAG AND SAVE YOU THE TROUBLE, MASTER". Following Bones' destruction at the end of the novel, their programming briefly reappears in Marvel Comics' Star Wars: Poe Dameron #13 in before being destroyed again; the character previously appeared in Star Wars: Aftermath (2015) and Star Wars: Aftermath: Life Debt (2016).

Promotion and reception

At the 2004 Game Developers Choice Awards, the HK-47 character won the category of "Original Game Character of the Year".[8] The character also won Computer Gaming World's 2003 "NPC of the Year" award.[9] GameSpot called the character one of the coolest characters of 2003, saying he was possibly the most original Star Wars character in years.[10] GamesRadar listed HK-47 as the 3rd best conceived character in video gaming, calling him "cheerfully insane" and saying he was "[e]asily the highlight of the [Knights of the Old Republic] series".[11] IGN chose the character as the 13th top Star Wars hero.[12] GameDaily's Robert Workman called HK-47 one of his favourite characters from Star Wars video games.[13] GameDaily's Chris Buffa also listed the assassin droid as one of their top 25 video game robots, praising its humour and in-game value.[14] UGO Networks listed the character as one of the top 50 Star Wars expanded universe characters, noting his sarcastic personality made him unique among droids.[15] GamesRadar's identified HK-47 as an example of BioWare's "Kickass Robot" character archetype,[16] and listed it as one of the 25 best new characters of the decade, stating that Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic and HK-47 had some of the best characterization in Star Wars history, adding that HK-47 was one of the most memorable characters in the game.[16][17]

Empire listed HK-47 as the 43rd greatest video game character, calling him "brilliantly twisted".[18] Dakota Grabowski of GameZone listed HK-47 as the second top BioWare created teammate, commenting that he delivered some of the best lines in Knights of the Old Republic.[19] Game Informer's Kimberley Wallace considered him to be one of the best BioWare characters, saying that "While BioWare's games have always had comic-relief characters, none have come close to the simple wisdom and mean-spiritedness of HK-47."[20] Matt Miller from the same magazine called HK-47 the second top AI character of the decade, commenting that if the player chose to go light-side, then "he is a perfect counter to your heroic actions".[21] In 2010, Game Informer ranked HK-47 at #15 in "The Top 30 Characters who Defined a Decade" list, who called him the best character in Knights of the Old Republic. The magazine noted that his personality and humour "[held] a mirror to Revan's dual history with both sides of the Force", saying that he highlighted the overarching Star Wars theme of everyone having both good and evil in them.[22] HK-47 was also voted as the 18th top character of the decade by Game Informer's readers.[23] GameSpy's Mike Sharkey called HK-47 a noticeable omission from the 2011 Guinness World Records Gamer's Edition's top 50 video game characters.[24] A reader's poll published by IGN in December 2014 for their top ultimate RPG party choices, drawing from characters of several disparate RPG video game franchises, placed HK-47 at #13 under the "Reserves" section.[25] Gamestm named HK-47's one of BioWare’s 8 most memorable companion characters.[26] Evan Lahti from PC Gamer named HK-47 as his personal favorite Bioware companion, commenting "For all the well-rounded, nonarchetypal, and sensitive characters BioWare has thrown at us, I delight in the silliest, most murderous, and one-dimensional partner they've written."[27] In a 2017 article, PC Gamer staff included HK-47 in their definitive list of the best RPG squad mates around.[28] HK-47 placed second on App Trigger's list of the 10 Best BioWare Companions.[29]

References

  1. ^ "HK-47". Star Wars Databank. StarWars.com. Archived from the original on 2011-06-28. Retrieved 2011-05-18.
  2. ^ "BioWare - Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic - HK-47". Archived from the original on 2007-06-14.
  3. ^ Drew Karpyshyn Creative Works
  4. ^ Breznican, Anthony. "How Chuck Wendig's Star Wars: Aftermath novel sets the stage for The Force Awakens". Entertainment Weekly. Archived from the original on 2015-11-07. Retrieved 2015-11-04. {{cite web}}: |archive-date= / |archive-url= timestamp mismatch; 2015-09-07 suggested (help)
  5. ^ "Star Wars Champions of the Force Gallery". Wizards.com. Archived from the original on 2008-12-04. Retrieved 2011-04-23.
  6. ^ "Star Wars: The Old Republic Trailers > Mysteries of Knights of the Old Republic". Archived from the original on 2010-09-16.
  7. ^ Star Wars: The Old Republic | Trailers | Fate of the Galaxy
  8. ^ "Inside the 2004 Game Developers Conference - Event Coverage". Archived from the original on 2004-04-05.
  9. ^ "Ziff Davis Media : Press Release". Archived from the original on 2004-06-07.
  10. ^ "Coolest New Character". GameSpot. Archived from the original on 2004-02-04. Retrieved 2011-04-12.
  11. ^ "Getting into characters..." GamesRadar. 2008-05-28. Retrieved 2011-05-07.
  12. ^ Jesse Schedeen (2008-08-13). "Top 25 Star Wars Heroes: Day 3". IGN. Retrieved 2011-01-12.
  13. ^ Robert Workman (2008-09-11). "Our Favorite Characters From Star Wars Video Games". GameDaily. Archived from the original on 2008-12-02. Retrieved 2011-05-10.
  14. ^ Chris Buffa (2009-02-06). "Top 25 Video Game Robots". GameDaily. Archived from the original on 2009-05-04.
  15. ^ Adam Rosenburg (2009-01-07). "Top 50 Star Wars Expanded Universe Characters". UGO Networks. Archived from the original on 2010-08-27. Retrieved 2011-04-12.
  16. ^ a b Baughman, Jordan (2011-05-03). "Recycled characters you see in every BioWare game". GamesRadar. Retrieved 2014-05-19.
  17. ^ "The 25 best new characters of the decade". GamesRadar. 2009-12-29. Retrieved 2010-01-04.
  18. ^ Dyer, James; McComb, David; Plumb, Alastair; Scarborough, David. "The 50 Greatest Video Game Characters". Empire. Retrieved 2011-05-10.
  19. ^ Dakota Grabowski (2010-01-08). "Top Ten BioWare-created Squadmates". Archived from the original on 2014-05-19. Retrieved 2014-05-18.
  20. ^ Kimberley Wallace (August 15, 2013). "The Best BioWare Characters". Game Informer. Retrieved May 16, 2014.
  21. ^ Matt Miller (2010-11-24). "Top Ten A.I. Characters of the Decade". Game Informer. Retrieved 2011-04-12.
  22. ^ "The Top 30 Characters who Defined a Decade". Game Informer. No. 212. December 2010. p. 59.
  23. ^ Bryan Vore (2010-12-03). "Readers' Top 30 Characters Results Revealed". Game Informer. Retrieved 2011-04-26.
  24. ^ Mike Sharkey (2011-02-16). "Guinness Ranks Your 50 Favorite Video Game Characters of All Time". GameSpy. Archived from the original on 2011-02-21. Retrieved 2011-04-11.
  25. ^ "THE ULTIMATE RPG PARTY REVEALED". IGN. December 17, 2014. Retrieved March 21, 2020.[dead link‍]
  26. ^ "BioWare's 8 most memorable companions". Gamestm. June 23, 2015. Archived from the original on June 23, 2015. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
  27. ^ Andy Kelly (November 7, 2018). "The best and worst BioWare companions". PC Gamer. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
  28. ^ "The RPG dream teams". PC Gamer. June 9, 2017. Retrieved February 15, 2020.
  29. ^ Eric Chrisman (March 10, 2017). "Mass Effect, Dragon Age, and the 10 Best BioWare Companions". App Trigger. Retrieved March 6, 2020.
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