IG-88 - Mini Busts

What does it take to make a great Mini Bust? The answer is quite simple: Just make a bounty hunter and it will be a guaranteed sell! Gentle Giant however made collectors wait a little too long until they brought the second bounty hunter from The Empire Strikes Back into the Mini Bust line. IG-88 gets a coveted yet much expected place in the popular Mini Bust collection right after bad body Boba Fett. As you might already expect, IG-88 is crafted with precision and expertise. And he comes to collectors in three separate pieces: the main Mini Bust with removable hands holding their respective blasters. Gentle Giant Ltd. promises collectors that they scan the actual props and costumes in the Lucasfilm archives. This IG-88 Mini Bust would easily prove this assertion because it’s truly a spectacular piece and done amazingly well. You really need to understand why IG-88 is such a successful Mini Bust, but to make this possible you should know something about the process.

Like all of the other Mini Busts, IG-88 is crafted in highly quality polystone. This cold cast process doesn’t required heat for the polystone material to harden. The resin based material is mixed with porcelain (often called powdered stone additives) to give it its weightiness and “porcelain” feel. You may also be interested in knowing that polystone is extremely durable and effective at maintaining a sharp paint finish. Every last detail manages to get captured in this medium. Unlike porcelain which is fired in an oven, polystone is a cold-cast material in which no heat is used in the manufacturing process, resulting in much greater variations of paint finish. This is why no two Mini Busts will look identical to each other. You maybe wondering why you’re getting a lesson in polystone, but there is a reason for it. IG-88 is a metal assassin droid bounty hunter. How in the world is something that is made from resin and ground stone made to look exactly like real metal? What an amazing material!

IG-88 should be construed as an encouraging sign for the Mini Busts line. Because the Mini Bust line made its debut in 2002, the collection focused on characters from Attack Of The Clones. But after only a few years out from its inception Gentle Giant has been busy beating out character from across the Original Trilogy. And the results have been fantastic. IG-88 has so many fine pieces and parts to it, yet every last one of them have been meticulously captured on the Mini Bust interpretation of him. Limited to 5000 pieces, there are less of IG-88 than Boba Fett, but keep in mind that IG-88 isn’t early as popular as Boba Fett is, so he will ultimately be easier to attain for your collection. But that doesn’t mean you should procrastinate and wait forever to secure one. Sometimes background characters get lost from collectors’ attention spans. The IG-88 Mini Bust should not escape your conscience. It is one fine high-end collectible and one you should definitely own.