So many figures to cover, so much unfinished business. I decided to go with Star Wars Black today, as I’m down to the last figure in this most recent wave of Hasbro’s 6-inch Star Wars series and I saved my most anticipated figure of the assortment for last… It’s everyone’s favorite assassin droid bounty hunter who’s head moonlights as a bar fixture in Mos Eisely. The one… the only… IG-88!

Behold.. packaging! It’s a souless black box that holds my figure and saves Hasbro a lot of money that they would otherwise have to spend paying artists to make an attractive, presentable box. But at least they pass the savings on to us. Well, not really. It’s still a twenty dollar figure. Er, this is awkward. Let’s just open him up and check him out.

Right off the bat, I’m going to say that this figure is a totally mixed bag for me. The sculpt is pretty good, albeit maybe a bit soft. It shows all the little bits and bobs from the on-screen prop, but it still kind of just looks like an up-scaled 3 3/4″ figure. One thing that I do think is particularly cool is that it actually has the holes in the head and I think this is the first time we’ve seen that accurately reproduced in an IG-88 action figure. The bandolier strap is a separate piece, but it pegs into his shoulder to keep it straight and it does include a functional scabbard on the back for his vibro axe. Yes sir, in terms of sculpt there is a lot to love here.

What’s not to love is right in line with my biggest fears about this figure and that’s that he would turn out a mushy, soft plastic mess and that is sadly pretty close to what happened. His thin arms and legs are bendy plastic, which doesn’t effect the arms much, but it’s terrible for the legs. It takes a ton of fussing to get him to stand as straight as he can, and that ain’t saying much. It’s tough to tell if that’s just because the soft plastic is warped or if one leg is a smidge longer than the other. Either way, it’s annoying and getting him to stay upright without a figure stand can be frustrating.

For a design that is basically a stick figure, IG-88 features some impressive and fun articulation, and here’s where he gains back a lot of my favor. The arms rotate at the shoulders and have lateral movement there as well. There are also rotating hinges in the elbows, which are hidden so well, I didn’t think it was even there at first. The legs feature a standard t-crotch at the hips, hinges in the knees and ankles, and swivels in the thighs and ankles. He can swivel high up in the chest and has an ab-crunch, as well as a rotating neck. He’s a tough cookie to get standing, but I’m certainly happy with the poses he can pull off. The wires also seem to have enough slack to allow for a decent range of movement.

IG comes with three weapons: A blaster, a rifle and a vibro-blade. I already mentioned the scabbard on his back can hold the vibro-blade, but it can also hold either one of the weapons. Pegs on the wrists allow IG-88 to “hold” his guns in those static claws and it works extremely well. How the hell do you get him to hold his blade? I have no idea. I pretty much just sits on his back for show.

I was going to beef about his size, especially when I remember the old Kenner figure to be so tall. But then looking at some pictures of the Bounty Hunters in Empire Strikes Back made me think IG-88 wasn’t so tall after all so I guess the scale works well enough.

Forming an opinion on this guy was a veritable roller coaster ride. The sculpt is solid enough, I love the articulation, the weapons are cool, I only wish he were stable enough to stand straight. What saves the figure is the cool dynamic poses you can put him in, which look fine and distract me from the fact that he leans to the side when not in action. I own the Vintage Collection version of this figure, which has comparable articulation, but it’s still carded, so I find it quite the novelty to have an IG-88 that can actually do stuff.