At long last, our wait is over! It only took us four, almost five months to finally hear about C-3PO’s red arm – and how he got it.

I mean, seriously. Did he jump universes to borrow some tech from Tony Stark?

Not quite. Apparently, C-3PO wears the arm to remember another droid that sacrificed itself for him while they were fighting on behalf of the Resistance.

A tad anti-climactic when you put it down on paper like that, and yet James Robinson and Tony Harris have given us a pretty detailed back story to 3PO’s new limb…

In the comic C-3PO #1, C-3PO and a few other members of the Resistance capture a First Order RA-7 protocol droid named Omri. Their vessel crash lands on an as yet unidentified planet, killing their human crew members.

C-3PO knows that Omri has information on where the First Order is holding Admiral Ackbar. The Resistance needs this intel to save Mon Calamari from being executed.

But wait! It’s a trap! (ha ha)

After commandeering a distress beacon from a downed TIE fighter, C-3PO and Co. race off to Admiral Ackbar’s location.

And then they all die. Except C-3PO, who only loses one of his golden arms.

But not before we learn that Omri questions everything about being a droid: why they choose sides in human conflict, why do they make sacrifices, and can they even feel human emotions, or possess human qualities like bravery? He also wonders why so many people seem to be okay with mind-wiping droids.

Something C-3PO knows a thing or two about.

Omri mainly doesn’t like C-3PO because of the latter’s blind faith and trust that his memories, his feelings, his very mind are now his to control. Once everyone else is gone except for Omri and 3PO, the protocol droid wonders whether or not the deceased had been in their “first life.” This, of course, refers back to the human’s ability to mind-wipe droids at will.

But then all of the other droids in their party sacrifice themselves one by one so that 3PO and Omri can keep moving forward. In the end, when Omri walks out into the acid rain to activate the distress signal to save 3PO, the rain peels away his chrome to reveal red underneath – a relic from his own past life. 3PO takes one of the red arms, along with the memories and knowledge Omri gave him, as a tribute to his fallen comrade.

So there you have it! A seemingly boring factoid about C-3PO’s new arm gets turned into a journey into the ethics and morals of the human-droid relationship!

Bet you didn’t get all that from seeing The Force Awakens.