IG-88 - OTC - Basic (OTC #27)

The droid IG-88 works as a bounty hunter throughout the galaxy. He is hired by the evil Imperial leader Darth Vader to capture the Millennium Falcon and its crew of Rebel heroes. He is a dangerous and deadly droid that is feared by all. In the end, IG-88 fails to capture the Falcon's crew first, losing the contest to the bounty hunter Boba Fett.

Out of all six bounty hunters from The Empire Strikes Back Executor meeting scene, only IG-88 and Bossk were the lucky ones to be chosen for the collector-focused The Original Trilogy Collection line. This collection of figures with packaging inspired from the classic card back from the vintage Kenner era was a sudden announcement by Hasbro and they only had a few short months to organize it and get product out to the market in time for the first time release of the Original Trilogy on DVD later in the 2004 year. Because Hasbro hasn’t revisited IG-88 all too often in the modern line, they had to use 2000’s POTJ IG-88 (Bounty Hunter) figure with a slightly revised paint job (negligible at best) and released again for The Original Trilogy Collection. Although too short and very limited in its articulation, this particular sculpt of IG-88 still looks pretty good. And since it’s a character that really doesn’t do anything but stand around on the Executor bridge in Episode V, it still holds up well today. (Of course this figure isn’t definitive by any means.)

For reasons unknown, Hasbro can’t seem to give us a “completed” version of IG-88 despite its multiple releases. Sure, Hasbro includes the obligatory removable bandolier and the large blaster rifle, but where is the BlasTech E-11 that the original vintage Kenner figure had? And why couldn’t Hasbro make an exception and include it here, especially since The Original Trilogy Collection is meant to pay homage to the Kenner line? It still wouldn’t be fair to criticize Hasbro efforts without stating what’s positive about the figure, so we’ll do that next. IG-88 actually does look pretty good. He has some issues standing upright (for which you can blame his limited articulation). When you try to balance him you’ll find that one foot has difficulty standing flush to the ground surface on which you’re trying to stand him and you become increasingly frustrated by this. IG-88’s articulation includes a swivel head joint, a swivel neck joint, 2 swivel shoulders, swivel waist and 2 swivel hips. Obviously IG-88’s cybernetic structure is intended to have many more points of articulation, but Hasbro simplified it for this sculpt.

IG-88 comes with a removable bandolier. This is actually a bittersweet accessory because although we love the flexibility of posing the figure with or without it, it gets bumped around very easily and never hangs in the way it looks in the film. Because it’s easily disrupted, we wish there was a way that it could stay in place on the actual figure, like a plug or something. As an action figure, IG-88 technically “fails” because the included articulation really doesn’t benefit the figure in any meaningful ways. At the very minimum Hasbro should have included hinge-jointed elbows and ankles. This would have aided this sculpt in achieving awesome and realistic looking poses. But why waste breath wishing for something that could have been? It’s a waste of time. Once again, IG-88’s older sculpt is rescued by excellent packaging. The backdrop is the bridge of the Executor which is the perfect diorama background for this bounty hunter. But until an all-new sculpt comes out, this is the best we have. (Editor’s Note: Hasbro created a definitive sculpt of this character and released it as 2007’s VTSC IG-88 (Bounty Hunter) figure.)