Boba
Fett is my favorite. Definitely from Star Wars, maybe from
everything. I’d have to seriously consider that one.
People
either hate Boba Fett because they feel like a character with roughly
14 seconds of screen time across six hours’ worth of movies doesn’t
deserve love, or they love him because… well, lots of different
reasons.
The bulk
of my childhood leisure wear consisted of Batman-related items –
footy pajamas, regular pajamas, multiple styles of Underoos – but I
could most often be found running around the house in my Boba Fett
Underoos, wielding the electronic Han Solo blaster that made a noise
that was entirely unlike any sound effect that could be found in the
Star Wars Trilogy.
It was this annoying buzzer that I’m sure endeared me to my parents
and the cat.
I know
what you’re thinking, and no – I did not buy that one hoodie that
looks like Boba Fett’s armor. I almost
did, but I couldn’t stop thinking about this one guy that I saw
somewhere that was really loud and douchey and was wearing one of
those and it made him seem even more
douchey for some reason. I know it’s not a popular thing and that
these days everybody is supposed to love and be tolerant of
everything and it’s not okay to have a negative thought about
anybody,
but sometimes I’m judgmental.
I’m
judgmental and I love Boba Fett. I’ve mentioned my Wall of Fett
before – which is really more of a Wall of Mandalorian Stuff –
and how I’ll buy pretty much anything with Fett on it; especially
action figures. He’s one of the few characters that I feel
compelled to buy whatever figure is made. There are a few exceptions.
If it’s a format that I think is particularly stupid I don’t
bother. I certainly don’t own any Boba Fett bobbleheads. And I
don’t have any stuffed Boba Fetts. But in general if I see a
plastic version of the Mandalorian orphan I will buy it. And if it’s
in a format that I actually collect I want two – one to open and
one to hang on the Wall.
I am not
collecting the 6” Star Wars Black Series. For the most part they
are excellent action figure – except for that ugly fucking Slave
Leia – but I have hundreds of 3.75” scale Star Wars figures and
vehicles. I’m not starting a new scale, especially a scale where
most of the vehicles will never be produced and if they are would
cost more than an actual vehicle to purchase. To me starfighters and
snow speeders and armored transports are an essential part of Star
Wars. I simply can’t see the point of a collection without those
things.
I almost
got sucked into the bigger Black line. I mean, it is Star Wars and
6” is my preferred scale. I bought three of the figures from the
first wave despite myself. They were great, but dammit I didn’t
need them so I sold them on eBay. Close call. I’ll pick up the odd
figure here and there – this or any other Fett, Vader, Threepio if
they do him right – but I’m going to be pretty strict with it.
Side
Note: That Slave Leia really pisses me off. The worst thing isn’t
its ugly fucking monkey face, it’s the fact that there is a fair
chance that there will only ever be one Princess Leia figure in this
line and Hasbro chose to release this one. I know how popular the
Slave Leia look is and I appreciate Carrie Fisher’s lithe
26-year-old body as much as anybody, but Leia Organa is a central
character in the Trilogy and one of the most powerful individuals in
the galaxy. She deserves better than to end up standing around in her
underwear next to fully clothed figures of all of her friends. And
believe
me
– I am NOT a guy that thinks about gender issues for even a tenth
of a second out of the day. This has nothing to do with Leia being a
female or being objectified or whatever. It’s just about her
character deserving better. Better clothing and a face sculpt that
doesn’t look like a pile of potatoes.
But a
Fett figure is a Fett figure and I had to have this one.
Well,
two of this one.
I
mentioned in my Black Widow review the other day how I
had been checking Amazon from time to time (okay, pretty much daily
[okay, sometimes more]) for this Fett since around November. I
managed to score one early on for around twenty bucks and then never
saw them again for less than forty-five. I thought for sure I’d
find one at retail at some point, but that still hasn’t happened,
despite finding complete cases of the second wave (except for Fett) a
few times. Finally, The Oncoming Josh found one at
Target and hooked me up, which is pretty much the nicest thing ever.
I could
have reviewed this after getting the first one. It sat on my shelf
with the rest of the unopened toys waiting to be reviewed for a long
time, but eventually I just couldn’t help it anymore and found some
excuse to open it. I think it was my Castle Grayskull Review. I should
have reviewed it then, but I had this weird feeling that it wasn’t
complete yet. Or something. I dunno. Anyway, here’s the review:
I
don’t know why Hasbro has such a preference for Empire
Fett. Fett’s look from Return
of the Jedi
is so much more interesting. His gauntlets are red, his jetpack has
more detail, and his bucket (helmet) looks a lot cooler. There might
be other details that are different – I know there are from
researching my costume a few years ago – but I don’t remember
them all.
But
even the slightly plainer Empire
Fett still looks awesome. And this figure seems to have captured that
to an amazing degree. As good as the other three figures I bought
were, this one immediately appears to be just a little better. It’s
one of those toys where you can almost feel the effort.
PACKAGING
I’ve
discussed Hasbro’s new Marvel Legends box plenty, as well as
Funko’s Game of Thrones Legacy boxes. Oddly enough I never covered
these Black Series boxes, which were actually the first of this new
window box style. Evil reviewed Luke
and Artoo,
but this is the first one of these I’ve covered.
Of
course, it’s still a fancy window box. I like the simple silhouette
graphics and the orange stripe of color inside. The box is simple and
elegant, not clumsy like a blaster.
This
isn’t so much a bio as it is a description of a scene, but for all
intents and purposes this is all we know about the junior Fett since
the Expanded Universe has been nullified. You can read more about
that here.
I’m
going to try my best not to gush too much.
We
all know what this helmet is supposed to look like. From the contours
to the dent to the range finder. This is that helmet. We’ve seen it
tons of times before at many different scales. This is not a thing
Hasbro was going to mess up. Could the range finder have been
designed to swing down? Sure. But did we actually see that in Episode
V? No.
The helmet paint scheme looks great. The trim, visor, and markings
are distinct and bright. The silver wear looks a little painted on,
but the only solution to that would have been to layer the other
colors over a silver base and leave the wear uncovered. I think that
might have been ridiculous.
All
of the points of articulation are worked into the sculpt beautifully.
The profile is almost entirely uninterrupted, even when the figure is
posed. The only joint that really sticks out is the abdominal ball
joint and that’s because Fett is wearing a sort of vest over his
flight suit. I didn’t know this until I made my Mando costume, but
Fett’s armor plates are attached to a separate vest that is over
the flight suit. So this joint actually creates that look. Hasbro
even went so far as to put the closure on the bottom of the flight
suit:
The
armor plates have a great thickness and feature the pitting and
scoring seen in the movie. These are painted nicely, but there is
some slop around the edges of the plates. It’s not all that
noticeable in person, but the pictures really highlight it. The sigil
and lights on the chest plates are tightly done and placed well. The
back portion is a solid piece with dangling straps and clasps
sculpted on for the rocket pack.
The shoulder cloak is permanently attached and is one of the rare successful uses of soft goods. It’s made of a stiff fabric that holds the hanging, folded shape. The design is printed and the edges are nice and ragged.
The shoulder cloak is permanently attached and is one of the rare successful uses of soft goods. It’s made of a stiff fabric that holds the hanging, folded shape. The design is printed and the edges are nice and ragged.
The gauntlets are
amazing. The lines are sharp and defined and the paint detail is
outstanding. Every little button and switch is painted. The rocket on
Fett’s left arm has three different colors without a bit of slop.
The
right gauntlet has the line running from under Fett’s sleeve. I’m
honestly not sure what that is. It seems like it would be the fuel
supply for his flamethrower, but that’s on his left arm. This piece
is mounted on a swivel so that it won’t interfere with posing –
an ingenuous design.
Fett’s
hands are posed to hold blasters and feature the detailed sculpt and
paint job of his gloves.
Fett’s
belts, pouches, and holster are a separately sculpted piece that sits
loosely enough on the figure’s waist to move around a bit. The
paint and detailing are well done, though there’s not much to it
(nor should there be).
I
don’t ever spend a whole lot of time talking about a figure’s
legs because it’s usually just kneepads if you’re lucky. But when
Joe Johnston designed Boba Fett he obviously wanted to make sure that
every bit of the character was interesting to look at. That’s an
important thing to note and likely a part of why Boba Fett is so
popular despite his limited exposure. The bottom portion of the
flight suit has large thigh pouches with a distinctive design and a
nice, thick presence. The kneepads are the middle portion of the
double jointed knees and cover the joint beautifully. They sit over
the joint rather than being a part of the overall sculpt. The small
dart launchers are highly detailed and the paint on these is great.
The
shin pockets and tools are sculpted and painted nicely and there’s
some grime painted on the lower legs. This is a detail that is
present in the film but that I’ve never seen on a figure before.
Fett’s boots have the painted, spiked toe caps and all of the line
detail that they should.
I
forgot to mention all of the folds and wrinkles sculpted into the
fabrics. The flight suit and the vest look very real and… present
somehow.
Fett
comes with his rocket pack, blaster, and EE-3 carbine rifle.
It
just now occurs to me that it would have been pretty cool if they had
made Jango Fett’s pistols look like Boba’s blaster. But they
didn’t. This smaller blaster has a cool design and a very simple
paint job. I like the large grip on it. It fits perfectly into Fett’s
holster:
The
EE-3 carbine rifle is one of the best accessories I have seen at this
scale. The sculpt is immaculate and it has more deco than I would
have thought possible. The stock is highly detailed and the wear on
the barrel looks great. This is one of my favorite weapon designs
from Star Wars and I’m glad to see it so faithfully reproduced.
The
rocket pack is another reason why I prefer the Episode
VI Fett
design. This one is so dull. But it looks exactly like it should
look. The wear is great and the detailing is there. It plugs snugly
into Fett’s back armor plate using the clasps as devices to keep it
straight.
So
the pouches prevent this Fett figure from sitting down. Have you ever
seen Boba Fett sit down? Me either. Maybe he can’t
sit
down. He stands up to pilot the Slave-I. He stands up in Jabba’s
palace while flirting with chicks. He was even standing up at his
dinner with Darth Vader. What I’m saying here is sure, it might be
nice if this figure could sit. But there’s no demonstrable reason
for it to sit. And this is probably one of the most ridiculous
paragraphs I have ever written.
Otherwise
the articulation is fantastic. This Fett can do so much more than any
other Boba Fett I own. I spent a lot of time posing the figure and
still haven’t taken it off of my desk. One other minor limitation
on the joints occurs at the ankles. Because of the sculpt of the
bottoms of the flight suit the feet can only go forward so far. This
isn’t a huge deal, but it is something I noticed. Also, Fett can’t
quite
hold his rifle in the way that he does in Jedi.
But since this isn’t a Jedi
Fett, I’m not going to count that. If we ever get an update (which
I think is unlikely), maybe he’ll get shoulders similar to the
Marvel Legends Spider-Man. I’m not a huge fan of those hinges, but
I think Fett’s design could support them.
And
of course, Fett comes with the all-important “things to interact
with”. While the rocket pack isn’t exactly exciting – it
doesn’t shoot the rocket or anything – the two blasters are nice.
They fit into both hands and the pistol slides right into that
holster. The figure can hold everything it comes with and that is
important.
And
yes – I will pay two hundred dollars or whatever they charge for a
6” scale Slave-I if they ever make it (which they won’t).
Here’s
the real reason it’s taken me so long to review this figure –
it’s too good. I hate doing reviews where I just talk about how
awesome something is. I start to feel like that Chris Farley
character. This figure is that awesome. I can’t conceive of a
better Episode
V Boba
Fett coming out. Some Japanese company may make one with more
effective articulation, but I bet you money the profile wouldn’t be
as nice. Nor would the price. For $20 - $22 this is a damned fine
action figure – one of those that I would recommend to any
toy collector as an example of excellence.
5
out of 5
Keep
an eye on Amazon – maybe they’ll get reasonably priced again!
Supposedly there will be more Boba Fetts in one of the upcoming
waves. Be sure to come back here and by it through Needless Things!
I just came here to see how you actually got your hands on this figure. I can't believe someone saw him at retail. I bought my first 6" figure the other day when I saw a regular Stormtrooper on the pegs and couldn't help myself. He is really great, but I'm not going to start collecting 6" SW figures either. Still, I really want Boba.
ReplyDeleteHang in there. One of the next couple of case packs has three Fetts in it.
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