The
IG-100 series of MagnaGuard, or Self-Motivating Heuristically Programmed Combat Droid, was an advanced type of battle droid in the fictionary universe of Star Wars, that was manufactured by Holowan Mechanicals and used by the Confederacy of Independent Systems during the Clone Wars. Ordered by Count Dooku, the MagnaGuards were designed to be General
Grievous' personal bodyguards, although they were sometimes seen serving Dooku himself.
The MagnaGuards were commissioned after the InterGalactic Banking Clan refused to hire
Grievous' Kaleesh elite after securing his own services as an enforcer, and he demanded a cadre of "more intelligent battle droids" to serve him.
The two-meter tall MagnaGuards carried electrostaffs made from lightsaber-resistant phrik metal, and wore cloaks similar to those of Grievous's
old Izvoshra elite during the general's time as a Kaleesh warlord. Most MagnaGuards carried an electrostaff, but ranged models were also utilized, often specializing in dedicated weapons such as grenades, Bulldog RLR, Radiation launchers, or even with neuro poison. We can
control such Magna droids in the game Battlefront 2. Other devices and equipment were occasionally used, such as a built-in tow-cable in its arm, a personal cloaking device or magnetized limbs.
The color of the droid denoted the particular model: black, alabaster, blue, and the rare
grey were all spotted throughout the war. The droids were remarkably resilient, compared to other CIS droids. They were capable of surviving decapitation and were able to fight effectively even after such extensive damage, due to a backup photoreceptor in their chests.
They were also capable of speech, and often taunted their opponents. Aside from Human speech, they appeared to occasionally use an audible form of droid language, to be able to communicate with other droids.
Originally, the Magna guards were programmed with the optimum in combat techniques, which was poor for Grievous. As a result, General Grievous had their minds wiped and trained them all individually in the seven classic styles of lightsaber combat. He even taught how to
rotate their electro staff so rapidly, that a helicopter rotor. This was a very effective style, scary, and dangerous. Even General Grievous applied it at some duels, for example against Master Kenobi at Utapau. Grievous often engaged his bodyguards in practice fights as part of his training, and often damaged them in such fights, sometimes very seriously. Once the magna guards were put to use, Grievous did not allow any repairs to be made to the droids, believing that their numerous scrapes and battle scars made them look more intimidating to opponents.
The first appearance of these droids was in the Clone Wars cartoon.
General Grievous and several MagnaGuards infiltrated the suite of the
chancellor and attempted to capture Palpatine. So some Jedi knights were directed back to 500 Republica, In the Chancellor's chambers, so arrived Shaak Ti joined with fellow Masters Foul Moudama, Roron Corobb, trying to evacuate the Chancellor to safety. The were escorted by some clones. Fleeing the room with the Chancellor while clone troops and senate guards stalled Grievous, the Jedi descended through the Tower, reaching the lower level mag-train station, running from the chasing Magna guards through streets, using elevators, and several kind of public transports.
A crazy chase and fight started, while the Jedi masters and knights destroyed several
magnadroids with their lightsabers. Finally reaching the bunker, a large army of Magna guards attacked them, so Shaak Ti stayed behind, to slow them, or stop them, while the others the two other Jedi protectors escorted Palpatine to the bunker.
But her self-sacrifice proved to be vain, Grievous somehow got down in the bunker, killed the clones, cut down the Jedi masters, captured the chancellor, retreating with his prize back to his ship. On his way up from the bunker, he humiliated the very tired Shaak Ti.
Gripping her by the throat and arms Grievous took her lightsaber as a trophy and trussed the Togruta Jedi lady in a stun-net so that she could tell anyone who found her what had happened. When Windu and Fisto discovered the dead Jedi and heard Shaak Ti's tale,
they sent her back to the Temple to recover as they chased Grievous into space. The Jedi masters, and and the whole Republic Fleet
immediately made after General Grievous' flagship, the
Invisible Hand, where the kidnapped Supreme Chancellor was supposed to be held captive, but the strong and large
Separatist fleet engaged them, and flew in the face of the clone army above Coruscant. Anakin and Obi-wan infiltrated into the ship, and met several magna droids. My Starwars friend, Roland created a software
diorama with the game KOTF, illustrating when Grievous kills
Shaak Ti in front of the eyes of the two Jedi masters. (With this, poor Shaak Ti became that Jedi master, who died the most time. In the book, Anakin kills her in the Jedi temple, where she was sent back by Master Windu to regenerate, as I mentioned some columns above. In the deleted scenes, we can see
how Grievous killed her backstabbing her with her own lightsaber on a corridor of the Invisible Hand, but this is weirs, because it would mean that she was not left in Coruscant tied with that stun net, but she was also kidnapped, just like Palpatine, taken hostage into the
Invisble Hand by Grievous. The third time was in a game, poor Shaak Ti had to fight against Galen Marek, alias Starkiller in the game Force Unleashed, where the player has to defeat poor Jedi lady.) Anakin Skywalker and Obi-Wan Kenobi fought IG-101 and IG-102 on the bridge of General
Grievous' command ship, the Invisible Hand, shortly afterwards they were led in front of Grievous.
These 2 droids were maybe the most talented, experienced veteran droids, who were kept as
personal body guard right behind Grievous. The became the most popular droids from the IG series, they can be found in the Star Wars
encyclopaedia, they are called IG-101, and IG-102. (IG-102 is the white body, with brown stripes on his cloak, IG-101 is the blue body, who has green stripes on his cloak.) Kenobi
beheaded his opponent, only to
surprised discover that the Magna Guard was able to fight even without a head. Skywalker cut the droid he was fighting in half, so he had no more difficulties with his. Finally Kenobi finished destroying his, too. This scene was
modeled by Roland too, who created a nice software diorama with the KotF engine.
Kenobi also met MagnaGuards on Utapau in the Episode 3, they are watching him from above in the shadows, while Obi-wan talks to the leader of the Utapaus on the landing platform, but later
there will be some more, when they attack Kenobi to protect Grievous. Kenobi learned from the previous battles, and avoids the fight cleverly.
He destroyed three of the four magnas immediately when he used the Force to crash a large block of metal upon them. The fourth was partly pinned under the block; it attempted to reach his electrostaff but was decapitated by Kenobi before it could reach its weapon. This Utapau scene was also inspired one of the most faithful reader of CustomStarWars, please take a look at his work.
We
could see some Magna guards in the pilot episode of the Clone Wars animated film, too. Upon Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka Tano's arrival to Tatooine onboard the Twilight, they were attacked by several MagnaGuards piloting Porax-38 starfighters. Anakin managed to destroy the droids and make it onto the surfaces of the planet. On Tatooine, Ahsoka Tano faced off against three more MagnaGuards, while Anakin fought off Count Dooku. Ahsoka managed to destroy all three of her opponents.
Later on, in the Clone Wars series Magna guards will come in larger quantities.
Grievous fights very well, however he often needs extra protection, for the guaranteed victory. The most indignity "duel" was against master Eeth Koth. First of all, the Jedi was seriously hurt by a commando droid, then Grievous started the duel with the injured Jedi, but still well surrounded with his guard droids, in case of his opponent gets the upper hand, the magnas have to paralyze the Jedi with a dose of current. In this
screenshot you can see Eeth Koth backstabbed with an electo staff, so until Grievous is not ready to continue, he won't be allowed to fight against the general. No chance to win!
MagnaGuards were also present at
Grievous' castle. Upon Grievous' return to his castle, he discovered his guard of elite MagnaGuards had mysteriously been deactivated. When Count Dooku alerted him of the infiltration of his castle by
Jedi master Kit Fisto and his former apprentice, Nahdar Vebb, Grievous realized Dooku himself had deactivated his guards to ensure no intrusions on his duel with the
Jedi. After being reactivated, the strong MagnaGuard army overwhelmed even the experienced Kit Fisto, who was force to retreat, slightly being able to escape with the help of his smart
astromech droid, who came to rescue his master with the Jedi starfighter, piloting the ship escape off-planet. In each and every season the magna droids will appear, in the new, forth season, too. They will be a little bit modified, though - their photo receptors will be yellow. The sneak peek picture was sent by Dzsejt, our fellow Star Wars fan, thanks for it!
Let us mention the game Republic Commando, too, where the Delta squad realizes, that General Grievous is present on Kashyyk.
Delta Squad was forced to fight several MagnaGuards on the wookie planet during their rescue of the Wookiee chieftain Tarfful. The four elite clone commandos managed to destroy the Magna Guards with great difficulty, because they have never met such enemy before in their life.
Take a look at my custom white magna guard droid figure!
There was an available version of the white magna guard figure here in Hungary, however it was so expensive, that it was not worth buying. Obviously, its torso was the same like the blue had, yet it was priced a lot higher. Asking why was vain, the answer was the usual, it is rare... But why was it rare? Why it wasn't produced in larger
quantities? You can solve the problem, after buying a cheaper blue one, you can customize it, just paint its infamous battle damages, paint his head more beautiful, and add a current effect with a blue energy bolt twisted on the staff!
Custom white magna guard droid figure front
Custom white magna guard droid figure back
Custom magna guard figure from a bit above
Thanks for your interest, visit back soon to CustomStarWars!