Tig Fromm

Tig Fromm, a male Annoo-dat Blue hailing from the planet Annoo, was the son of the infamous gangster Sise Fromm, who headed the Fromm Gang. His older sibling, Sonko Fromm, Sise's eldest, initially served as their father's second-in-command until his capture during a botched transport raid. As punishment, Sonko was imprisoned within the dungeon of Sise's stronghold on Annoo. Tig, following suit, became a gangster himself. He grew increasingly convinced that his father's conventional methods and reliance on brute force were obsolete, believing that technology held the key to the Fromm Gang's future. Establishing a secret base in the Vaj Desert on Ingo, Fromm commenced designing and manufacturing his own droids, including the Fromm Tower Droid, utilizing them to maintain the base's operations and provide security. While granted considerable autonomy in managing his operations, he often collaborated with his father.

However, Fromm's technological reliance often backfired. On one occasion, droids assigned to protect his father malfunctioned, turning on Sise and surrendering him to the authorities. Fromm's reputation suffered further when his attempt to rescue his father resulted in freeing the wrong person and leaving Sise behind. In another incident, Fromm inadvertently destroyed his father's vacation palace on Bolad.

These failures earned him the demeaning titles of Baby-Face Fromm and Fromm Junior. Sise, embarrassed by his son, assigned Vlix Oncard to serve as Tig's personal bodyguard and keep him under surveillance. Oncard never allowed Fromm to forget his shortcomings, frequently addressing him with the derogatory nickname Tiggy.

Fromm's fascination with technology drove him to seek increasingly powerful weaponry. Upon learning that Lonn Idd, a scientist, had developed a revolutionary laser to aid his droid research, Fromm set out for Idd's repair station with the intent of capturing the scientist and demanding he install the device on Tig's ship. Accompanied by Oncard, two Annoo-dat Blue guards, and several hover guard and interrogation droids, Fromm intended to use intimidation to coerce Idd into complying.

Aboard the space station, Fromm was about to resort to physical persuasion when Lonn's children, Vik and Nikki, returned on their shuttle along with the droids C-3PO and R2-D2. Nikki interrupted her father's interrogation, providing Fromm with a new means of coercion: threatening to harm Nikki unless Idd cooperated. Before Nikki could be captured, she activated the station's communications system, alerting her brother to the situation. R2-D2 proposed a plan to rescue Nikki, where C-3PO would cause his counterpart to malfunction, distracting the guards, while Vik rescued his sister. However, the plan failed due to a hover guard's intervention, and both Idd children were taken into Fromm's custody.

Lonn Idd reluctantly completed the laser's installation, but Fromm intended to test its power by destroying the station as he departed, killing its inhabitants. Just before his departure, C-3PO arrived wearing the shell of a guardian droid. Mistaking it for a real guardian droid, Fromm planned to take the valuable droid with him and demanded its control disk. Instead, Nikki Idd threw perfume in Fromm's face, temporarily blinding him. C-3PO seized the opportunity to attack, and protected by his armor, proved invulnerable to the weapons of Fromm's hover guards. As C-3PO cornered the Annoo-dat Blue, Vik activated a control, dropping a packing net on them and trapping the gangsters. Lonn Idd subsequently handed Fromm and his accomplices over to the authorities. Mindful of his brother's fate, Fromm avoided contacting his father for a period following his release.

By 15 BBY, Fromm and Oncard were at liberty to pursue a new scheme for power. Despite Sise's aversion to technology, Fromm convinced his father to invest heavily in a clandestine project to construct a powerful weapons satellite dubbed the Trigon One, designed by Fromm himself. Despite its compact size, Fromm assured his father it possessed the firepower of a vessel a thousand times larger. Using its orbital laser, the Fromms planned to target rival gangs and secure their position as the dominant criminal organization in the galaxy. Placed in command of the project, Fromm oversaw construction at his secret base.

As the Trigon One approached completion, news of its development reached Demma Moll, leader of the Annoo resistance, who dispatched her daughter, Kea, to investigate. Upon arrival, the young freedom fighter witnessed Fromm's old adversaries, the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, along with their new companions, the speeder racers Thall Joben and Jord Dusat, inadvertently entering the restricted zone around Fromm's base. With Moll's assistance, the group evaded the sentry droids sent to intercept them.

Fromm and Oncard feared that the base's location might be revealed to rival gang leaders, jeopardizing the Trigon One project. Deciding that the speeder racers needed to be silenced, Fromm led a group of muscle droids to their speeder shop with the intention of capturing them. Arriving while Joben and the droids were absent, the droids captured Dusat and awaited Joben's return. However, Moll intervened once more, helping Joben escape the trap.

Fromm had Dusat taken back to his base, where he and Oncard interrogated him to determine how much he and Joben knew. Before Fromm could transfer Dusat to his father's stronghold on Annoo, Joben, Moll, and the droids infiltrated the base in a rescue attempt. Upon learning of the situation, Fromm dispatched Strong Arm Droids to ambush Joben, Dusat, and R2-D2 in their speeder, the White Witch, as they fled the base. However, C-3PO and Kea Moll gained access to the security system and redirected them to a different area, allowing their allies to pass. Frustrated, Fromm attempted to stop their escape again, ordering his droid cruisers outside to intercept them and disabling his sentry droids to prevent them from attacking the cruisers. However, C-3PO once again manipulated the security system, this time reactivating the sentry droids. As the two droid groups engaged in combat, the White Witch escaped.

Following Joben's rescue, Fromm accelerated production of his Fromm Tower Droids to replace those destroyed in the battle against the cruisers. The young gangster feared that the racers' escape would lead to rival gangs discovering the Trigon One, but, as fate would have it, a hyperdrive malfunction caused the group to divert to Annoo for repairs while traveling to Boonta for the Boonta Speeder Race. Fromm contacted his father to apologize for his failure, only to learn that the Fromm Gang's spies had already informed Sise of the group's presence on Annoo, and Sise vowed to handle the situation himself.

At some point, Fromm concealed the Trigon One in the desert mountains while preparing for its launch. When Joben and Dusat intercepted a message from Fromm to his father, they located the weapons satellite and set out to prevent its launch. While Joben created a diversion, Dusat and R2-D2 boarded the ship and disabled it before the group escaped, leaving Sise enraged with his son once more.

With the Trigon One nearing completion, Fromm traveled to Annoo to collect his father for an inspection of the base on Ingo. By the time he arrived, the young racers had once again evaded an attack by the Fromm Gang and learned the truth about the Fromms' plans from Demma Moll. Upon learning of Fromm's arrival on Annoo, Joben, Moll, and the droids infiltrated his father's starship for the journey to Ingo, hoping to access Fromm's base and destroy the Trigon One.

Hidden in cargo containers supposedly carrying parts for the Trigon One, the infiltrators gained access to the hangar where the final work was being completed on the weapons satellite. Observing from a control room, Fromm recognized the intruders and ordered his forces to stop them, but they managed to steal the Trigon One and escape. Believing the Trigon One's weapons systems were still inactive, Fromm dispatched droid starfighters to intercept. However, R2-D2 activated the weapons systems, destroying the fighters as the Trigon One fled Annoo.

With the loss of the Trigon One, the Fromm Gang's future appeared grim. Aware that rival gangs would unite against them, Fromm suggested relocating and building a replacement for the Trigon One. However, his father—blaming Fromm for the events—insisted on operating without his son in the future.

In retaliation for the loss of the Trigon One, Sise's agents captured Kea Moll and imprisoned her in Sise's headquarters, demanding Joben and Dusat return the weapons satellite in exchange for her release. However, R2-D2 and C-3PO infiltrated the facility and freed Moll from her cell. As the trio fled, Tig ordered his guards to intercept, but they failed to prevent their escape.

Desperate to prove himself to his father, Fromm planned to capture Joben, Moll, and the droids to learn the location of the hidden Trigon One. To this end, he dispatched Oncard with a group of Annoo-dat guards to attack them at the speeder shop on Ingo. Though they escaped in a landspeeder, they were pursued and trapped. Oncard returned the prisoners to the speeder shop, where Fromm personally interrogated them. Joben initially refused to reveal the Trigon One's location, but upon learning that Dusat and Demma had been captured by Sise's gang on Annoo, he agreed to reveal the location, but only to Sise himself.

Enraged by another humiliation, Fromm departed for Annoo with his captives aboard a Lambda-class shuttle. After arriving at Sise's stronghold, the prisoners were brought before both Fromms while Sise questioned Joben, during which the young racer revealed that the Trigon One was hidden in the Jarl forest on Ingo. Fromm requested permission to personally retrieve the ship, which his father granted, but only with Oncard accompanying him. Returning to Ingo, Fromm recovered the Trigon One and flew the vessel back to Annoo, leaving Oncard to return in the shuttle. On the way back, he contacted his father to demonstrate the primary weapon's capabilities, impressing the elder Fromm by destroying an asteroid. However, Sise's newfound respect was short-lived. Joben and R2-D2 had sabotaged the Trigon One, and as Fromm attempted to initiate the docking sequence, it entered a collision course with Sise's stronghold. After failing to alter the ship's course, Fromm was forced to flee aboard Oncard's shuttle, from which he contacted his father to warn him to evacuate the base. Sise and the young freedom fighters escaped moments before the Trigon One collided with the stronghold, reducing it to a crater. The loss of the base and the weapons satellite effectively marked the end of the Fromm Gang. Sise was furious with his son.

News of the Fromms' plan soon reached Jabba Desilijic Tiure, a rival crime lord. The quick-witted Hutt seized the opportunity and placed a bounty on the entire Fromm organization, aiming to crush them while they were still vulnerable.

Seeking revenge, the Fromms pursued the young rebels in Tig's modified Lambda-class shuttle, the Voor Viper, as they resumed their course for Boonta. As Moll's Starrunner-class starship, the Sand Sloth, prepared to jump to hyperspace, Fromm opened fire, damaging the ship's engines and injuring Dusat. However, a weapons malfunction on the rundown shuttle allowed the speeder racers to escape before he could destroy the Sand Sloth. Despite their own engine problems, the Fromms entered hyperspace to pursue their adversaries to Boonta.

After arriving on Boonta, Sise contacted Boba Fett, a bounty hunter, requesting him to capture the speeder racers and their companions. Since Fett owed Sise a favor, he agreed to overlook Jabba's bounty and comply with the elder Fromm's request. Tig, however, was determined to prove himself to his father and resolved to beat the bounty hunter to the punch and get revenge. After enlisting Oncard's help—in exchange for a new wardrobe—the pair located the garage where the racers were storing the White Witch ahead of the upcoming Boonta Speeder Race. Fromm planned to plant a thermal detonator on the White Witch, but arrived just as a gas leak in the garage caused R2-D2 to break down the door in order to get Moll outside to safety.

Taking cover nearby, Fromm and Oncard followed C-3PO as the droid moved the White Witch to another facility. There, Boba Fett attacked Joben and Moll, providing Fromm with the cover needed to plant the thermal detonator on the White Witch, setting it to detonate at the end of the Boonta Speeder Race's tenth and final lap. Thall Joben escaped in the White Witch and headed straight for the Boonta Speeder Race with Fett in pursuit. However, Proto One, a droid the racers had met on Boonta, saw Fromm plant the device and warned Moll.

Fromm headed straight to the Boonta Speeder Race, where his family had requisitioned a private viewing box from its unwitting owners. By the time Moll reached the race track, the White Witch was already participating in the race. With no way for Joben's friends to warn him, it appeared that Fromm's plan was set to work. However, Fett was pursuing Joben in his Silver Speeder. Fett attacked Joben throughout the race, unaware of the thermal detonator. An attack involving magnets accidentally loosened the detonator, which attached itself to the Silver Speeder. Although Fett ejected in time, the Silver Speeder was destroyed. Joben went on to win the race.

After the race, the Fromms confronted the victorious racer and his companions one last time. Interrupted by a blaster-wielding Proto One, they attempted to flee but ran straight into Boba Fett. Fett blamed Fromm's meddling for the loss of his speeder and almost his life. Capturing Fromm, his father, and Oncard, Fett took them to Jabba to claim the reward. The trio's imprisonment was short-lived; the Fromms bribed Jabba into canceling the bounty by agreeing to pay him a percentage of their profits and committing their Annoo-dat gangsters to eliminating the Mandalorian Death Watch.

At some point, Fromm dispatched Oncard to intercept Moll, C-3PO, and R2-D2 on Annoo in an attempt to retrieve a datacard in Moll's possession containing instructions on how to build a nuclear missile. Oncard brought the trio before Fromm, who agreed to release them after Moll turned over the datacard, unaware that C-3PO had wiped the data. Fromm later invented a method of producing an artificial smoke cloud in space to prey on passing vessels. While testing the device, Fromm ensnared C-3PO and R2-D2's transport, but the two droids boarded Fromm's ship and deactivated the device, allowing them to escape.

As Sise Fromm's son, Tig lived in his father's shadow, and despite running the Fromm Gang's operations on Ingo, his reputation never matched his father's. Seeking to distinguish himself from what he perceived as Sise's outdated methods, Fromm developed a fascination with technology and, eventually, an aptitude for designing droids and other advanced technology, believing them superior to sentients due to their greater loyalty and power. Fromm's knowledge of droids was such that, in addition to Galactic Basic Standard and Dat-an, he understood their Binary language.

However, Fromm became overly reliant on technology, and his plans often failed due to droid malfunctions. Although Fromm always had an excuse, his frequent failures left Sise with little faith in his abilities, leading him to assign Vlix Oncard to watch over him, which Fromm resented. In addition to his father's contempt and threats, Oncard's frequent mocking and use of the nickname Tiggy frustrated Fromm, who relished opportunities to retaliate. Fromm was determined to prove his worth to his father, but despite Oncard's suggestions to use gang members, he stubbornly refused, relying increasingly on droids and distrusting everyone else. At the same time, Fromm was aware of his father's age and looked forward to taking charge of the Fromm gang and putting Oncard in his place.

Fromm was ambitious and planned to increase the Fromm Gang's power and secure their place among the galaxy's most powerful gangs. He was ruthless, willing to torture or kill anyone who stood in his way, including Lonn Idd's children. When confronted by Boba Fett over the loss of the Silver Speeder, Fromm quickly blamed Oncard.

The animated show Star Wars: Droids: The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO introduced Tig Fromm to the Star Wars universe. His debut occurred in "The White Witch," an episode penned by Peter Sauder and initially aired on September 7, 1985. He functioned as the primary villain in the initial story arc, encompassing the episodes "The White Witch," "Escape Into Terror," "The Trigon Unleashed," and "A Race to the Finish." Furthermore, Fromm was present in several picture book adaptations of Droids episodes, released by Dragon Picture Books in 1987, and in The White Witch: A Droid Adventure, a 1986 adaptation of the series' premiere episode, authored by Emily James and published by Random House. He later made an appearance in Droids (1986) 2, the second installment of Marvel's Star Wars: Droids comic book series, written by David Manak and featuring art by John Romita Sr.. The comic's placement within the timeline remains uncertain, but the continued existence of the Fromm Gang suggests it precedes the events of the animated show.

Fromm's prior appearances alluded to his numerous past failures, which were further detailed in the 2004 article Star Wars Droids: The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO by Rich Handley and Abel G. Peña. This article was featured in Polyhedron 170 and included illustrations by Jeff Carlisle. Carlisle drew inspiration for his illustrations from an early promotional image for Star Wars: Droids that appeared in Starlog magazine, which Carlisle speculated might have depicted a female version of Fromm. Fromm has also been mentioned in various reference publications, including entries in A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Second Edition, Revised and Expanded (1994), the Star Wars Encyclopedia (1998), A Guide to the Star Wars Universe, Third Edition, Revised and Expanded (2000), and The Complete Star Wars Encyclopedia (2008). Kenner produced a Tig Fromm action figure as part of its Star Wars: Droids toy line, released in conjunction with the television program.

In 1986, the Spanish publishing house Editorial Gepsa published a comic series entitled MyComyc, which showcased characters from well-known cartoon shows, including Star Wars: Droids and Ewoks, in a series of short, two-page adventures. These comics remained largely unknown in the United States until 2013, when Dark Horse Comics Vice President of Publishing Randy Stradley considered the possibility of reprinting them. However, Lucasfilm personnel were unable to confirm the comics' official licensing, leading to their ambiguous status within canon. Fromm was a character in the MyComyc stories Neutralizing Trigon I, Kea Kidnapped, The Secret Disk, and The Cloud. "The Stolen Ship" — MyComyc 3 also shows Oncard communicating with "the boss" via subspace transceiver, but it is uncertain if this refers to Tig or Sise Fromm. The MyComyc stories portray events absent from the television series, making their chronological placement unclear. Abel G. Peña, who translated the comics into English, has suggested that Neutralizing Trigon I and Kea Kidnapped might be alternative retellings of events from the Droids cartoon.

Droids, a Spanish picture-book adaptation of "The White Witch," features certain departures from the episode. In this version, Joben arrives in the White Witch while Fromm and Oncard are questioning Dusat, breaking down a wall and rescuing his friend while the Annoo-dat gangsters flee to another room and activate the alarm. Following Dusat's rescue from Fromm's base, his father assumes direct control of the Trigon One project, instructing Fromm to relocate all materials to another base and destroy the Ingo facility to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. Abel G. Peña, who translated Droids into English in 2014, has speculated that such differences may stem from the novelization being based on an earlier version of the script rather than the final episode. In Droids, the Fromm Gang is described as having "innumerable droids and androids (and, above all, clones)" at their disposal, while both Fromm and Oncard are characterized as "androids half-human and half-reptiloid in appearance." Peña has proposed that this might imply that Fromm and Oncard are cyborgs.