IG-88

• Appeared in:
  
  I
  II
  III
  IV
  V
  VI
  CW

• Species:
  Assassin droid

• Size:
  1.96 meters

• Weapon:
  Too numerous to list

• Vehicle:
  IG-2000

• Affiliation:
  Bounty Hunter

• Type:
  Assassin / combat droid

• Manufacturer:
  Holowan Laboratories

• 

From the Movies

Much of the anti-droid sentiment existing in the galaxy is unwarranted bigotry, but even pro-droid activists will find it hard to defend the rights of droids bearing arms. The memory of droid armies is still fresh in many minds, and the legions of mechanized troops used by the Trade Federation and other corporate interests paved the way for legislation that eventually did away with the soulless infantry.

Relics from that era still exist, such as the battered chrome war droid known as IG-88. The tall, cylinder-headed and heavily-armed mechanical bounty hunter responded to Darth Vader's call to capture the Millennium Falcon during the events surrounding the Battle of Hoth.

From the Expanded Universe

The scientists at Holowan Laboratories could not have been more naïve. The shortsighted droid developers, under the auspices of Imperial Supervisor Gurdun, traded caution for ambition when developing Project Phlutdroid. Within seconds of the activation of the new generation of combat droid, IG-88 achieved sentience and ran amuck, slaughtering the Holowan scientists. After activating and downloading his consciousness into three mechanical "clones," IG-88 was able to quickly spread his brand of mayhem across the galaxy. The four mechanicals were denoted by letter-suffixes: IG-88A, B, C, and D shared a cold, calculating consciousness bent on destruction and domination.

In the early days of the Empire, IG-88 was hired by Zatec-Cha, the evil vizier of Tammuz-an. Zatec-Cha's agents had caused the memory-wipe of the rightful heir to Tammuz-an's throne, Mon Julpa, and disposed of the amnesia-addled prince on the mining world of Tyne's Horky. Unable to locate the prince's royal scepter, an artifact required to ascend to the throne, Zatec-Cha tasked IG-88 to track down the missing prince and the scepter. IG-88 succeeded, and delivered both to Zatec-Cha, though the Grand Vizier ultimately failed in his plot.

The scope of IG-88's vision of conquest was nothing short of galactic. IG-88A surreptitiously took over the immense droid factory on Mechis III and secretly modified the programming of every droid produced by the prodigious facility. The droid was ensuring he had a legion of secret accomplices in place for when the time was right to launch his uprising.

To draw attention away from this plot, IG-88B became a bounty hunter. Before answering Vader's call to capture the Millennium Falcon, IG-88B had achieved legendary notoriety. He had killed over 150 beings and had a "dismantle-on-sight" warrant in over 40 systems.

IG-88's processor computed that Boba Fett would be the hunter most likely to capture Solo. Rather than expend energy on beating Fett to his quarry, IG-88 sought to intercept Fett after Solo had been captured. IG-88B followed Fett to Cloud City, but Fett got the jump on the droid. He blew the droid to pieces in a Cloud City smelting chamber, leaving the mechanical carcass for Ugnaughts to pick apart.

IG-88C lay in wait for Fett in orbit over Tatooine aboard the modified starship IG-2000. He ordered Fett to surrender his cargo or be destroyed. Fett outmaneuvered the IG-2000 and shot down the vessel, destroying the next droid in the series.

The last surviving unit, IG-88A (smuggler Dash Rendar had reportedly destroyed unit D on Ord Mantell) continued his plans for conquest. Having crafted a duplicate battle station computer core carrying his sentience, IG-88 arranged for it to be installed aboard the second Death Star. IG-88 became the second Death Star. The megalomaniacal droid was set to activate his countless mechanical co-conspirators scattered throughout the galaxy when the battle station was destroyed at the Battle of Endor. Little did Lando Calrissian and Wedge Antilles realized that when they destroyed the Death Star, they saved the galaxy not only from the Empire, but from IG-88 as well.

Though IG-88's reign of terror was brought to an end, at least one lifeless shell remained -- the original body of IG-88A. An unknown party has reprogrammed it for bodyguard duty, and it has been seen protecting individuals such as Barpotomous Drebble and Tyko Thul.

IG-88 is a tall, spindly humanoid droid completely loaded with all manner of concealed weaponry, including a deadly gas dispenser, a flamethrower, a sonic stunner, a pulse cannon and a neural inhibitor projectile launcher.

Behind the Scenes

IG-88 was originally referred to as a "chrome war droid" in the script, and was also called "Phlutdroid" during production. Several development sketches by Ralph McQuarrie show a much sleeker initial design. The mechanical puppet used in The Empire Strikes Back incorporated a number of recycled props from A New Hope: its head was first seen as some sort of drink dispenser in the Mos Eisley Cantina.

In addition to his appearance in Empire, IG-88 also is in one episode of the "Droids" animated series.

According to Expanded Universe fiction, there is another IG-prototype out there, IG-72, that also took the role of a bounty hunter. This unit was introduced and destroyed in the roleplaying game adventure Tatooine Manhunt.