A popular pet on the Chadra-Fan homeworld of Chad, the pleeky, also named the chak-chak, was a species of rodent which was miniscule in stature. The pleeky's features inspired the design of Rebaxan Columni's MSE-series "mouse droid," and despite the manufacturing executives' hope that customers would find the MSEs cute, many buyers found the machines discomforting. Faced with bankruptcy toward the Clone Wars' end, the company sold all of its MSE-6-series repair droids to the new Galactic Empire.
Jumpy MSE droids, whose design owed to the pleeky.
The pleeky, also known as the chak-chak, was a species of diminutive rodent that lived on the planet Chad, which was home to the rodent-descended sentient Chadra-Fan species. The creature featured long fur that partly hid a deceptively strong pair of long arms that folded up. Coupled with the addition of four smaller legs beneath its furry body, the well-balanced pleeky could achieve incredible speeds, creating the visual illusion of a fur torpedo, darting seemingly without means of propulsion.
The Chadra-Fan–ran Rebaxan Columni's MSE-series "mouse droid" design was inspired by the pleeky, a popular pet on Chad. While Rebaxan Columni wished that the galactic market would consider the MSE cute, many potential buyers from different cultures did not share the company's enthusiastic attitude regarding rodentia. Indeed, a majority of the rat-like MSE-6 droids—which had been manufactured in the billions after test runs of the MSE-4 and MSE-5—were left unbought, and most of the units that were sold were returned upon the buyers' realization that the machines resembled disease-carrying rodents that plagued the antiquated sailing ships of times long gone. Similarly, the reptilian Aar'aa customers complained that their skittering MSE-6s brought discomfort by triggering their food cravings.
Rebaxan Columni's mouse droid venture thus resulted in bankruptcy toward the end of the Clone Wars in 19 BBY, although the newly established Galactic Empire acquired the company's remaining MSE-6s as ubiquitous labor droids to service its expanding starfleet.
The pleeky was introduced as "chak-chak" in the nineteenth issue of De Agostini's The Official Star Wars Fact File magazine around May 8, 2002. Daniel Wallace's 2006 reference title The New Essential Guide to Droids later provided the name "pleeky."
- The Official Star Wars Fact File19
- The New Essential Guide to Droids