Action Figure Overview: Star Wars - IG-88 (Bounty Hunter) (Kenner, 1980)
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| IG-88: Bounty Hunter! (Kenner, 1980) |
When I was a kid, I thought Star Wars figures were the coolest thing ever! As soon as I found discovered that new figures were coming out for The Empire Strikes Back, I had to have them. It was early 1980 and I was probably at the height of my love of Star Wars. These were the first new figures in about a year and I was very excited about their release!
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| 10 NEW Kenner Star Wars figures for 1980! |
The 10 NEW figures that Kenner put out in 1980 for The Empire Strikes Back were a bit of a mixed bag. The wave included awesome figures like the Bespin Luke Skywalker, Rebel Soldier and Imperial Stormtrooper in Hoth Battle Gear, and Han Solo in his Hoth Outfit! On the other hand, there were figures like the FX-7 Medical Droid which barely seemed like an action figure at all to me and the Leia figure in her Bespin Gown which didn't seem as ready-for-action as her Hoth outfit. Even though they didn't appear in the movie much, this wave also included the bounty hunters Bossk and IG-88. They may have been on screen for only a few seconds (and IG-88 in particular didn't say or do anything in those few seconds), but regardless, they were cool figures!
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| Vintage Star Wars IG-88 (Kenner, 1980) |
In the years after the movie, IG-88 was never as popular as Boba Fett and saw very little action back in what I consider to be the 'vintage' Star Wars years (to me, that's the time before there was any real movement towards filming the prequels). IG-88 appeared in a few of the Marvel Comics, but he was a secondary character at best. None of that really mattered when it came to playing with my toys though. All I cared about was how cool the figures were and IG-88 was certainly cool enough to participate in my Star Wars adventures!
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| IG-88 action figure (Kenner, 1980) |
The IG-88 action figure was a good bit taller than my other figures. However, that makes sense. In the movie, IG-88 was almost 8" tall! He also came with two guns, which I thought was awesome as a kid! Over the years, I've heard that IG-88 was an "Assassin Droid," but I never heard that term back in the 1980s. It wasn't until the internet had been around for long enough to have page after page dedicated to the smallest minutia of Star Wars that I started learning about things like "Assassin Droids" or the fact that IG-88's head was originally a prop in the Cantina scene of the first movie (it looks like a cappuccino maker to me).
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| I like the two guns that came with my childhood IG-88! |
My figures from Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back were easily some of my favorite toys from my childhood. However, by the time the Return of the Jedi figures came out, G.I. Joe: A Real American Hero had taken over. I still loved Star Wars and probably had about half of the Return of the Jedi figures and a Speeder Bike. I remember building my own Ewok Village Playset out of wood since I didn't have the one from Kenner, but my Return of the Jedi figures never saw as much action as the figures from Star Wars and The Empire Strikes Back! I'm glad to have had my Empire Strikes Back figures when I did because I had so much fun playing with them during those awesome years of my childhood.
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| IG-88 and friend |
Did you have Star Wars figures as a kid? If so, who was your favorite figure? Tell me in the comments below!
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