Droid

How a Droid looks shifts with the continuity. Manga and Crystal render them as blank machines with neither eyes nor mouths, able only to screech rather than talk. Those in the anime frequently pass for regular humans, and each hides a colored gem stamped with a crescent, the Black Moon emblem, somewhere on its body. Once a Droid is slain, it stiffens into glassy crystal and cracks apart beneath its own weight, leaving a heap of sparkling blue sand around the gem, which darkens to black.

In the anime that gem is the real core of the machine. It stirs loose sand into a standing body and channels its orders, so that whichever Black Moon member assembles a Droid decides its mind, its powers, its temperament, even its face. Certain ones, such as Atsugessho, string together full sentences, while others, like Marzipan, do no more than say their own name. Any menace they pose is written into their programming rather than sprung from real wickedness.

The manga assigns their creation to Saphir, who builds them with the Malefic Black Crystal and considers Veneti and Aquatici his finest pair. Within the anime, the Spectre Sisters initially unleash them to capture Crystal Points, and after Rubeus dies, Esmeraude turns them loose to seed the city's soft spots with dark energy. Droids recur beyond those stories as well, popping up in the stage musicals and in various video games as named opponents. Their entire concept tips its hat to the droids of Star Wars.