LOM Protocol Droid
< Droiden
The corporate rivalry between Cybot Galactica and Industrial Automation is legendary, and no case better illustrates their boardroom backstabbing and petty mudslinging than the development of the controversial LOM protocol series.
Cybot Galactica has been the long standing leader in the protocol droid market and that was a thing that Industrial Automation wanted to change. Industrial Automation relized they couldn`t afford to strugle with Cybot Galactica`s dominant 3PO series for the all-important human consumer market. Industrial Automation decided to get into the market by releasing a droid tailored droid for an alien species, and if sales meet of exceed expetations then IA would produce a human-based protocol series within two years.
IA swiftley approved and initated the LOM series project, and being mindful of the disaster their competitor had suffered with the Lurrian PD series, IA made sure not to define their buyers too narrowly. IA`s target market encompassed most insectoid aliens that included: the Brizzit, Verpine, Xi`Dec, and Yam`rii and the LOM`s features were sculpted to look generically insectlike to appeal too a wide varriety of species phenotypes.
If things had stopped there Cybot Galactica would have left the new product alone, but the LOM series was a stepping stone and testing product for a humanoid droid and IA was determined to sink the 3PO line by offering a comparable model for a better price. The designers approached parts suppliers such as SyntheTech and through some crafty deal-making they obtained many identical technical and perpheral components, and this gave them a result of a droid the could be mistaken for the 3PO unit. Like its rival, the LOM possess an AA-1 Verbobrain and a TranLang III communications module packed with millions of galactic languages, and despite the bulbous compound eyes, internal photoreceptor pickups were keyed to the human visual spectrum.
The droid is also as intellegent and cultured as the 3PO`s, but they seem to be less jumpy and more prone to passivity and well-mannered altruism. Cybot Galactica became furious, with the use of trademarked hardware such as the Verbobrain enraged them even more than the obvious cosmetic duplications, and within a day the army of Cybot Galacticas best copyright attorneys were on the case. A major snarl of lawsuits followed, forcing IA to put their future protocol plans on hold. The LOM had sold well in limited release, then a second headache arose, the LOM droid that was working aboard the cruise liner Kuari Princess, suddenly became a master thief and one of the galaxy`s most lethal bounty hunters.
Cybot Galactica was quick to point fingures at IA`s shoddy craftmanship, while IA blamed the Kuari Princess`s shipboard computer for causing the mysterious programming glitch. Either side, it didn`t matter it was a public relations fiasco and it effectively buried the LOM series.
Technische Daten
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