- "So RB-919 was as good as they claimed."
"An engineer beyond compare. I've never operated better." - ―Deva Lompop and IG-88
RB-919 was a human cyborg droid engineer who operated during the Imperial Era. As a cyborg, they empathized with droids that were created to perform simple tasks, and disliked instances where they had to destroy such droids. As an entity viewed primarily as one who repaired, they related to how the droid bounty hunter IG-88 also had a reputation that overlooked his excellence. Rather than solely admiring IG-88's image of efficiency, RB-919 was impressed by how the droid had secured so many high-profile bounties.[2]
The bounty hunter Deva Lompop, working for Lady Qi'ra of the Crimson Dawn criminal syndicate, hired RB-919 to repair IG-88. RB-919 collected IG-88's remains, repairing him aboard their starship. While doing so, the cyborg contemplated the thought of programming IG-88 to partner with them, while also implanting a chip containing Lompop's mission directives into the droid's behavioral circuitry matrix. When RB-919 reactivated the droid, they introduced themselves and their objective, as well as telling IG-88 that it was an honor to restore him. However, the first directive of the chip had been to kill those who were no longer necessary; as such, IG-88 shot and killed RB-919, commandeering their starship in order to complete his mission.[2]
Behind the scenes[]
RB-919 first appeared in War of the Bounty Hunters – IG-88 1, a one-shot comic in the Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters crossover event. The issue was written by Rodney Barnes, illustrated by Guiu Vilanova, and published by Marvel Comics[2] on October 27, 2021.[3] In the issue when speaking about RB-919, Deva Lompop uses "they" in a way that could be either plural or singular. Barnes later confirmed on Twitter that the use of "they" was not to indicate a non-binary gender for the character, but to instead reinforce lore.[4]
Appearances[]
- War of the Bounty Hunters – IG-88 1 (First appearance)
Sources[]
- Star Wars: The Secrets of the Bounty Hunters (Indirect mention only)
Notes and references[]
- ↑ Star Wars: Timelines dates the events of War of the Bounty Hunters – IG-88 1, including the death of RB-919, to 3 ABY
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 War of the Bounty Hunters – IG-88 1
- ↑
Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters – IG-88 (2021) #1 on Marvel Comics' official website (backup link)
- ↑
Rodney Barnes (@TheRodneyBarnes) on Twitter: "Not in that instance. Just reinforcing lore." (backup link) (In response to: "@TheRodneyBarnes Hey there! Was the they pronoun used to refer to RB-919 in War of the Bounty Hunters - IG-88 intended to indicate they are non-binary?")