IG-100 MagnaGuards

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An IG-100 Series MagnaGuard droid
IG-100 MagnaGuard
Droid type Bodyguard/Battle droid
Manufacturer InterGalactic Banking Clan/Holowan Mechanicals
Gender Masculine programming
Height 1.95 meters
Sensor color Red
Home planet Geonosis (Originally)
Master (owner) General Grievous
Affiliation Confederacy of Independent Systems

The elite IG-100 MagnaGuards are fictional droids seen in the movie Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, The Clone Wars microseries, and the Republic Commando video game. They are the personal bodyguards of General Grievous. They wield electrostaves that can block lightsabers. They are described as being an IG-100 series bodyguard droid, built by the same manufacturer (Holowan Mechanicals) that built the feared bounty hunter droid identified as IG-88, who pursued Han Solo under the orders of Darth Vader.

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[edit] Background

When General Grievous was rebuilt as a cyborg, the capabilities of his organic bodyguards became obsolete. As a result, Darth Sidious ordered the InterGalactic Banking Clan to create the IG-100 series to serve as General Grievous' bodyguards. The MagnaGuard was developed by Holowan because of the companies' debt to the InterGalactic Banking Clan, who released them from encumberment by tasking them to build the ultimate war droid for the newly mechanized Grievous. These elite warriors were not cheap to produce. In fact, they effectively bankrupted the Trade Federation. Nevertheless, the plan was a success and the General was more than pleased with the new droids. He insisted on making them his independent warriors, rather than mindless droids. Grievous presented his bodyguard expendibles with war robes from his home world of Kalee, which were once worn by his original organic comrades. He began training them himself with ruthless combat techniques, after erasing their original programming.

General Grievous, under the orders of the mysterious Darth Sidious, used several MagnaGuards in his kidnapping of Supreme Chancellor Palpatine, which took place about a month before the end of the Clone Wars. Shortly afterwards, many of Grievous' prized warriors were cut down or destroyed by the Jedi. Two of them dueled with Jedi Master Kit Fisto, but were destroyed while attempting this task. Several MagnaGuards also helped Grievous dispose of Palpatine's Senate Guards. Two survived the battle on Coruscant and dueled with Obi-Wan Kenobi and Anakin Skywalker onboard the Invisible Hand, but these were decapitated and dismembered. When Obi-Wan traveled to Utapau, four MagnaGuards attempted to attack him during his confrontation with the General, but were dispatched when Obi-Wan used the force to manipulate a large metal generator, which then fell upon them.

Grievous oversaw the creation of many of these droids, but only brought its elite members with him on his most personal and potentually life threatening campaigns. Grievous refused to have their appearance maintained in any way, insisting that their chipped paintwork and minor battle damage were like medals, which promoted the fact that they had fought powerful foes and overpowered them.

[edit] Design and capabilities

The IG-100 MagnaGuard series proved to be truly powerful creations. After handing the newly constructed MagnaGuards to Grievous, the 6 feet 5 inch killing machines quickly established their reputation as the most deadly battle droids in the galaxy. This was mostly due to the unique skills they displayed when wielding their proprietary electrostaffs. These hand to hand weapons, though impractical in blocking blaster shots, could serve their primary purpose of blocking lightsabers, ending the lives of un-prepared Jedi and eliminating clone troopers. The electrostaffs could not be cut by a lightsaber because they were made of Phrik alloy, a special compound that is resistant to a lightsaber blade. The design of the droid allowed it to have super-human agility and leaping power, something that the less independent battle droids could never have achieved. To supplement their melee combat capability, some of the more heavily-armed MagnaGuards were implanted with twin guided missile launcher magazines, which could be used to destroy small armored vehicles or groups of infantry that stood between these droids and their objective. MagnaGuards are remarkably resilient, even for a non-organic creation. These mechanical warriors are even capable of surviving decapitation, still being able to fight effectively thanks to the back-up processors located on their broad and powerful torsos. When cut in half at the waist, they would automatically scramble around with their arms and grab onto an enemy. Upon accomplishing this, they would initiate a rapid yet violent self destruct sequence. This was a tactic used frequently in the Revenge of the Sith video game. The MagnaGuards can also magnetize their feet and hands in order to attach themselves to metal surfaces and glass. In effect, they can scale walls and walk on ceilings in a quadrupel fasion.

Several different MagnaGuard models were produced by Holowan Mechanicals, distinguished by color; grey, blue, white, and the less common black. With the exception of this, there is no known difference between one model and another, though they may carry different electrostaff models, of which there are three.

A typical strategy of these droids is to form pairs, weakening opponents with dual attacks, until finally exhausting them to the point that they can be easily slaughtered. Even so, there are exceptions to this rule; in Volume 2 of the Clone Wars Microseries, Grievous deployed a large group of a dozen or more magnaguards to defeat Shaak Ti, though she was able to defeat them with their own electrostaffs. Yet another exception can be found in the Star Wars Battlefront II video game, in which MagnaGuards are playable characters. In the game, they do not possess electostaffs and fight beside regular Trade Federation droids, using blasters and rocket launchers.

[edit] Appearances

[edit] External links

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