Tig Fromm

"I am Tig Fromm. I am of the new ways. Technology is the key to the power of the new Fromm Gang, not ancient blood ties and old-world methods. Those are the ways of my father, Sise."

- Tig Fromm

Tig Fromm was an Annoo-dat gangster and, as the son of Sise Fromm, heir to the then-most-powerful crime family in the galaxy. Through a series of misadventures he came to be known by the nicknames Tiggy, Baby-Face Fromm and Junior Fromm.

Fromm ran the Fromm Gang's operation on Ingo where he developed a belief that the Fromm Gang could achieve dominance over their rivals through the acquisition of advanced technology. To this end, he attempted to steal a powerful new laser from the scientist Lonn Idd, but was thwarted by intervention of the droids C-3PO and R2-D2.

Fromm later developed the weapons satellite Trigon One as part of a plot to overthrow the other gangs. However, the interference of the Annoo resistance led to the destruction of the Trigon One and the downfall of the Fromm Gang. Fromm, along with his father, was later turned over to rival crimelord Jabba Desilijic Tiure by the bounty hunter Boba Fett.

Early life
Born on Annoo, Tig Fromm was the son of the the renowned gangster Sise Fromm, leader of the Fromm Gang. Following in his father's footsteps, Fromm became a gangster of some repute. He became increasingly convinced that his father's methods and reliance on muscle power were outdated and that technology represented the future of the Fromm Gang. Establishing a secret base in the Vaj Desert on Ingo, Fromm began designing and manufacturing his own droids at the base, including the Fromm Tower Droid, and made use of his creations to keep the base functioning and to provide security. Though he was given the freedom to run his operation largely independently from his father's, the two would often work in cooperation.

However, Fromm's reliance on technology was known to backfire. On one occasion, droids assigned to protect his father malfunctioned, turning on Sise and handing him over to the authorities. Fromm's reputation was further degraded when the attempted rescue of his father resulted in him breaking somebody else out and leaving Sise there. On another occasion, Fromm accidentally destroyed his father's vacation palace on Bolad.

Fromm's failures earned him the nicknames Baby-Face Fromm and Fromm Junior. Sise, embarrassed with his son, assigned Vlix Oncard to act as Tig's personal bodyguard and keep watch over him. Oncard never let Fromm forget his failures, frequently referring to him by the derogatory nickname Tiggy.

The ultimate weapon
"Won't my father be proud when he sees what I've done!''" "''Yes&hellip;it just might make up for all the other times you thought he'd be proud of you!"

- Tig Fromm and Vlix Oncard

Fromm's interest in technology led him to search for increasingly powerful weapons. Upon learning that the scientist Lonn Idd had developed a powerful new laser to aid in his droid research, Fromm set off for the Intergalactic Droid Agency Station to capture the scientist and demand that he install the device on Tig's ship. With Oncard, a pair of Annoo-dat guards and several hover guard droids, Fromm hoped to use the threat of force to persuade Lonn to do as he asked.

While Fromm was about to begin physical persuasion, Lonn's children, Vik and Nikki, returned to the station on their shuttle, along with the droids, C-3PO and R2-D2. Nikki walked in on her father's interrogation, providing Fromm with a new means of persuasion; threatening to hurt Nikki if Lonn didn't cooperate. Before Nikki was captured, however, she was able to activate the communications system, alerting her brother to what was happening.

R2-D2 suggested a plan to rescue Nikki where C-3PO would cause his counterpart to blow a fuse, distracting the guards, while Vik rescued his sister. The plan failed, however, due to the intervention of a hover guard and both Idd children were now in Fromm's custody.

Lonn reluctantly completed the installation of the laser but Fromm planned to test its power by destroying the station as he left, killing the inhabitants. Just before he could leave, C-3PO arrived wearing the empty shell of a guardian droid. Fromm, mistaking it for a real guardian droid, planned to take the valuable droid with him and demanded its control disk. C-3PO took the opportunity to attack and, protected by his armor, proved virtually invulnerable to the weapons of Fromm's hover guards. As C-3PO backed the Annoo-dat into a corner, Vik activated a control, dropping a packing net on them and trapping the gangsters. Lonn Idd announced his intention to turn Fromm over to the authorities.

Power play
"Be careful, Mister Dusat. I am an ambitious man&hellip;ambitious men can be dangerous."

- Tig Fromm threatens Jord Dusat

What punishment, if any, Tig and Oncard received after their encounter with the Idd family is unknown but, by 15 BBY, they were free to pursue a new scheme for power. Despite Sise's distaste for technology, Fromm persuaded his father to invest heavily in a covert project to build a powerful weapons satellite dubbed the Trigon One and designed by Fromm himself. Despite its relatively small size, Fromm assured his father that it would have the firepower of something a thousand times its size. Using its orbital laser, the Fromm's planned to move against the other gangs and secure their place as the dominant criminal organization in the galaxy. Placed in charge of the project, Fromm oversaw the construction at his secret base.

As the Trigon One neared completion, word of its development reached Demma Moll, leader of the Annoo resistance, who dispatched her daughter, Kea, to investigate. Upon arriving, the young freedom fighter saw Fromm's old enemies, the droids R2-D2 and C-3PO, together with their new owners, the speeder racers Thall Joben and Jord Dusat, accidentally enter the restricted zone around Fromm's base. With Moll's help the group were able to escape from the sentry droids which had moved to intercept the intruders.

Fromm, together with Vlix Oncard, feared that the location of the base might reach the other gang leaders and compromise the Trigon One project. Deciding that they needed to be silenced before they could talk, Fromm dispatched a group of muscle droids to capture them. Dusat was caught by the droids at the racers' speeder shop, but Joben, working with Moll, was able to escape.

After being interrogated by Fromm and Oncard, Dusat was scheduled to be transferred to Sise Fromm's stronghold on Annoo but Joben, Moll and the droids were able to break into the base in a rescue attempt. Picking up Dusat in their speeder, the White Witch, Joben and R2-D2 headed towards the exit and Fromm sent droids to ambush them. However, C-3PO and Kea Moll had gained access to the security system and redirected them to a different area to allow their allies to escape the trap.

Fromm tried again to stop their escape, ordering his droid cruisers outside to await them, disabling his sentry droids to prevent them attacking the cruisers. However, C-3PO was again able to use the security system to reactivate the sentry droids. As the two groups of droids opened fire on each other, the White Witch escaped.

Loss of the Trigon One
"You can't put a price on an entire star system. Soon this whole quadrant will be ours, to do with as we please."

- Tig Fromm to Sise Fromm

Fromm feared that their escape would lead to the other gangs finding out about the Trigon One but, as luck would have it, as the group traveled to Boonta for the Boonta Speeder Race, a hyperdrive malfunction caused them to head to Annoo for repairs. The Fromm Gang's spies reported the group's presence on Annoo to Sise who vowed to deal with them himself.

Yet again, the young racers were able to escape an attack by the Fromm Gang and soon learned the whole truth about what the Fromms were planning from Demma Moll. Learning that Fromm had come to Annoo to pick up his father for an inspection of the base on Ingo, they agreed to help destroy the Trigon One by sneaking aboard Fromm's ship and gaining access to his base.

Joben, Moll and the droids successfully infiltrated Fromm's ship and were able to gain access to the hangar where the final work was being completed on the Trigon One. Seeing the infiltrators, Fromm ordered his forces to stop them but they were able to steal the Trigon One and escape. Believing that the Trigon One weapons systems were still inactive, Fromm dispatched droid starfighters to intercept. However, R2-D2 was able to activate the weapons systems and the fighters were destroyed as the Trigon One fled Annoo.

With the loss of the Trigon One, the future of the Fromm Gang seemed bleak. Knowing that the other gangs would unite against them, Fromm suggested starting again somewhere else and building a replacement for the Trigon One. However, his father&mdash;blaming Fromm for what had happened&mdash;insisted that he would operate without his son in future.

The fall of the Fromm Gang
"So you see, it doesn’t help anyone to have all these gangs around. I mean half the time you don’t know who’s victimizing who."

- Tig Fromm to Thall Joben

Desperate to prove himself to his father, Fromm planned to capture Joben, Moll and the droids and learn where they had hidden the Trigon One. Fromm sent Oncard with a group of his Annoo-dat guards to attack them at the speeder shop on Ingo. Though they escaped in a landspeeder, they were pursued and channeled into a trap. During his interrogation, Joben initially refused to reveal the location of the weapons satellite. However, upon learning that Dusat and Demma have been captured by Sise's gang on Annoo, Joben agreed to reveal the location, but only to Sise himself.

Angry at yet another humiliation, Fromm departed for Annoo with his captives, where Joben revealed that the Trigon One was hidden in a forest on Ingo. Fromm promptly returned to Ingo, with Oncard in tow, to retrieve it. On the way back to Annoo, Fromm demonstrated the capabilities of the primary weapon to Sise, impressing his father. However, the elder Fromm's newfound respect for his son was not to last. Joben and R2-D2 had sabotaged the Trigon One and as Fromm attempted to engage the docking sequence, it entered a collision course for Sise's stronghold. Quickly escaping in Oncard's Lambda-class shuttle, Fromm warned his father to evacuate the base. Sise escaped, as did the young freedom fighters, moments before the Trigon One collided with the stronghold, turning it into a crater. The loss of the base on Annoo, together with the weapons satellite, effectively spelled the end of the Fromm Gang. Sise was furious with his son.

News of the Fromm's plan soon reached rival crimelord, Jabba Desilijic Tiure. The quick-witted Hutt struck while the iron was hot and placed a bounty on the heads of the entire Fromm organization, aiming to crush them while they were still reeling from their losses.

Revenge
"Your meddling has cost me my droid, my speeder and almost my neck, Tig Fromm."

- Boba Fett to Tig Fromm

The Fromms attempted to get revenge by attacking Kea Moll's ship, the Sand Sloth, with their one remaining vessel, Fromm's modified Lambda-class T-4a shuttle, the Voor Viper. Fromm succeeded in damaging the engine on the Sand Sloth but a weapons malfunction on the rundown shuttle allowed the speeder racers to escape before he could destroy them. Despite having their own engine problems, the Fromms entered hyperspace to pursue them to Boonta.

Upon arriving at Boonta, Sise contacted the bounty hunter Boba Fett and asked him to capture the speeder racers and their companions. Since Fett owed Sise a favor, he agreed to overlook Jabba's bounty and do as Sise asked. Fromm, however, was determined to prove himself to his father. Enlisting Oncard's help, he resolved to beat the bounty hunter to the punch and get revenge.

Following the group to where they were storing the White Witch, and using an attack by Boba Fett as cover, Fromm planted a thermal detonator on the speeder. 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 box off of its unwitting owners. By the time Moll reached the race track, the White Witch was already participating in the race. With the detonator set to explode after ten laps there was no way to warn Joben and it appeared that Fromm's plan was set to work. Unfortunately, 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, as well as his father and Oncard, Fett took them to Jabba to claim the reward.

Personality and traits
"If it's not a droid, I don't trust it&hellip;and I'm not my father, I'm me."

- Tig Fromm

As the son of Sise Fromm, Tig spent much of his life in his father's shadow and, despite running the Fromm Gang's operations on Ingo, his reputation failed to reach the level of his father's. Perhaps it was this desire to mark him out as different to his father and to prove that he could cope while doing things his own way that led to his fascination with technology. Over time Fromm demonstrated an aptitude for designing droids and other advanced technology which he believed were superior to sentients due to greater loyalty and power. However, he ultimately became over-dependent on technology and his plans would often fail due to malfunctions in his droids. Yet, despite frequent suggestions from Oncard that he use gang members for jobs, Fromm stubbornly refused, becoming increasingly reliant on droids and distrustful of everybody else.

Fromm was ambitious and had plans to increase the From Gang's power and secure their place among the galaxy's most powerful gangs. However, Fromm's frequent failures left Sise with little faith in his abilities and Tig was determined to prove his worth to Sise. This desire to impress his father, overcome his frequent failures, and shake off his less than flattering nicknames seemed to be the driving force behind his actions and he saw the acquisition of powerful technology as one way of achieving this.

Such was the level of Fromm's knowledge of droids that, in addition to Galactic Basic Standard and Dat-an, he was also able to understand their Binary language.

Behind the scenes
Tig Fromm was created for the 1985 animated series Star Wars: Droids, in which he first appeared in the episode "The White Witch." Fromm served as the main antagonist throughout the first story arc, consisting of the first four episodes of the series. Fromm also appeared in the picture book adaptations of the Droids episodes. Fromm later appeared in Star Wars Droids 2: The Ultimate Weapon, the second issue of Marvel's Star Wars: Droids comic series. The comic's position in the timeline is unclear, but the fact that the Fromm Gang is still around would appear to place it before the events depicted in the animated series.

Both of Fromm's appearances hinted at his many earlier failures and these were later elaborated on in the 2004 Rich Handley and Abel G. Peña article Star Wars Droids: The Adventures of R2-D2 and C-3PO, which appeared in Polyhedron 170 and was illustrated by Jeff Carlisle. Among Carlisle's inspirations for the article's illustrations was an early promotional image for Star Wars: Droids which depicted what Carlisle has speculated may have been a female version of Fromm.

A Tig Fromm action figure was produced by Kenner as part of its Star Wars: Droids collection to accompany the television series.

Appearances

 * Star Wars Droids 2: The Ultimate Weapon
 * The White Witch: A Droid Adventure
 * The White Witch
 * Escape Into Terror
 * The Trigon Unleashed
 * A Race to the Finish
 * The Trigon Unleashed
 * A Race to the Finish
 * A Race to the Finish
 * A Race to the Finish