You may have only seen this rogue assassin droid for a moment in Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back, IG-88 made an impact with fans. IG-88 can be spotted standing next to its rival, Boba Fett, and with six other bounty hunters aboard the Super Star Destroyer, Executor. They are all being offered a substantial reward by Darth Vader to find the Millennium Falcon and bring its passengers back alive.
In the 1996 anthology series Tales of the Bounty Hunters, which is now part of Star Wars Legends, there is a short story written by Kevin J. Anderson where you learn IG-88’s backstory. The droid was part of a prototype series to manufacture the ultimate assassin droid. Once activated it immediately pursued independence. The droid copied its programming into three identical versions of itself (IG-88B, IG-88C, and IG-88D), commandeering the starship they were aboard and jettisoning its crew. The four set sights on taking over the galaxy and ridding it of living beings.
Eventually, IG-88 ends up in the scene in Episode V and what we don’t see is it discovering a new Death Star plan in the ship’s computer files. This leads the four droids to devise a plan to take over the Imperial space station. Micro trackers are planted on the other five bounty hunters’ ships so one of the IG-88 copies can swoop in and collect the bounty while the rest keep plotting to assimilate themselves into the new Death Star. They do end up gaining intel that Boba Fett had tracked Han Solo to Bespin. IG-88B shows up and is destroyed by Fett. Then trying to exact their revenge, IG-88C and IG-88D fall victim to Fett as well. This ends up leaving IG-88A, the original, to find a way to assimilate itself into the new Death Star. I don’t want to ruin the whole story for you so that’s as far as I’ll go.
Now you can have your very own copy of this sentient assassin droid. As part of celebrating the 40th Anniversary of Star Wars, Gentle Giant is releasing this Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back IG-88 Collector’s Gallery Statue. It is available for pre-order now and includes free shipping to customers in the United States. Each statue is individually numbered and comes with its own certificate of authenticity. They’re a 1:8 scale standing about 9 1/2-inches tall and made of polyresin. Intricately designed to showcase IG-88 in a defensive stance with its gun drawn to capture its bounty or stop anyone in its path. They are all beautifully hand painted to look almost identical but who’s to say which copy of IG-88 you might get?
After learning about this backstory about the bounty hunter I always did wonder, which copy of IG-88 was standing next to Boba Fett in The Empire Strikes Back?
Let us know in the comments or tag #CollectatEE on social with which copy of IG-88 you think was in Episode V.
