Saga What is the explanation for why C-3PO has a metal segment connecting his forearm to his upper arm?

Okay, here's something I've always wondered about. Why does C-3PO have a metal segment connecting his mid-forearm to his mid-upper arm? What practical value could that have given that it would limit arm movement so substantially?

At first I thought it was because Anthony Daniels was so weak in his biceps that it would be awkward and clunky when he tried to move C-3PO's heavy metallic forearms, but then I realized to fix that, all they'd have to do is make the arm so that it's fused at the elbow (a top half and a bottom half that Daniels would put his arm in as if they were sandwich buns & then they'd screw the top and bottom halves together, enclosing his arm within C-3PO's arm.) So, now I can't think of a real-world practical function or an in-universe function for those little metallic connecting segments.

Can anyone explain this weird little detail about C-3PO?

 

I always figured it was the mechanism that moved the lower arm, like hydraulics or something

 

Hoping this thread gets some action because this is something I've always wondered about too

 

I honestly never noticed that about him.

 

I don't suppose there's a solid, real in-universe explanation for that. I believe it contributes to the "used future" aspect of the first movies, with a little steampunk/retro cyberpunk side. Complicated, high-tech machinery that looks primitive.

 

I always thought it was to make moving his arms easier.

 

Yep, same here. It's similar to what you have on a door.
TBH, I've never been sure if it's a cosmetic thing to make the character look more 'robotic', or something required for the costume.



At a glance, it looks too loose to be a functioning part of the costume, so it's probably just a stylistic feature - exposed parts to emphasise the fact that he's a machine. It works, though.

There's a Topps trading card that was released, then withdrawn from circulation, which shows a far more intriguing mechanism on Threepio's framework.

 

Darth_Nub

oh. my. god.

I don't ... oh my god lol

Never saw that card.

 

It's 100% authentic (don't think I should post it here - anyone else should also hold off), but if you look closely, it's just a piece of the costume that's come loose. How it got released in the first place, I've no idea.

 

I think it's just for the look of the character, not something needed to make the costume work

as to that other piece you refer to, I refrain from comment

 

Well, six million forms of communication can't all be just about talking.

Mod edit: Back on topic, and watch it with this line of th- oh, wait, that's me

 

Uhh, if your movie costume is so heavy that your actor can't move around, the solution is to make the costume lighter not try to devise some kind of mechanical means to augment his movement. Plus, I'm pretty certain that kind of "powered exoskeleton" technology is something fairly recent and didn't exist back in 1977 (and it's expensive).

 

Didn't they promise for AOTC that we'd learn why 3PO has one silver leg? Never delivered on that...

 

I've had time to get over it.

 

I always assumed "hydrolics"