Star Wars Boba Fett

Review by Tobias H:

Prelude: It’s amazing how a minor supporting character like Boba Fett could attract such a cult following. In all six movies combined he appears for maybe twenty minutes in total. Even though, the green-helmeted clone has starred in two series of novels of his own. One is set during his youth, shortly after his father’s death in Episode II, the other, a trilogy, is set after the movies (meaning yes, he does survive his fall into the Sarlacc put. I won’t tell you how, though). While I’m writing this review the most current series of novels, “Legacy of the Force”, is featuring him as well. Considering all this, it’s not surprising that the cool bounty hunter makes an appearance in the Transformers world as well.

Robot Mode: Going by look alone I really do like Fett’s robot mode. Both the helmet and the rest of his armour are done with lots of details, giving it the same worn, somewhat shabby look they had in the movies. It looks like it’s in constant use. Also included are the small antenna on his helmet, just like the missile in his jetpack, which can also be fired off. A nice gimmick, but you should watch it during transformation, as the missile does tend to go off on its own and travels quite the distance. Fett’s other weapons are two small handguns, which look pretty unspectacular, but do conform to the movie original.

Once we get to the actual design of the figure, though, there are some things I don’t like so much. First thing are the strangely designed arms. They are decently posable, yes, but because of the strange wrist joints they take some getting used to. I think some simple elbow joints and ball joints for the hands would have worked better here. Instead, though, we have a strange construction of in-sequence pull-out parts, which is really hard to describe. So let me put it simple: I’ve seen better arms.

The same goes for Boba’s legs. They do have all the necessary joints to enable full posability, but they also have two hip-high extensions, which pretty much reduce said posability to zero. Boba can’t really do a whole lot more than stand there, only minimal movement of the legs is possible. Seeing as the Star Wars Transformers as a rule are very posable figures, this is a pretty big mark against Boba.

In the end I can only conclude that Boba Fett does have some appeal, but all in all this robot mode could have been done a lot better.

Alternate Mode: For an alternate mode Boba Fett uses, what else, his very own, beloved space ship Slave I. The Slave I is a “Modified Kuat Systems Engineering Firespray-Class Patrol and Attack Ship“. A very long name for a ship with a very unconventional design. When landed, the Slave I resembles nothing so much like an oversized flat iron. In flight it reminds me of e mechanical elephant head. This design certainly isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but strangely interesting.

What can I say about this version of Slave I? The model is a pretty decent replica of the movie original. The proportions are okay and you can even wiggle the small wings. It can also fire the missile in this mode, but not in the direction of flight. Reminds me a bit of the seismic bombs the Slave I dropped off in Episode II when flown by its previous owner Jango Fett. Apart from that, though, there are no additional extras to be found here.

Another positive thing is the red/green paint job. The ship realy looks like it did in Star Wars Episode V. Here, too, the colours seem worn and a bit scratched, making the Slave I look like a ship that’s been in service for quite some time (and thanks to Episode II we know it has been). There’s little more I can say about this ship. It’s a pretty decent replica of the original, but I wouldn’t go so far as to call it extraordinary.

Remarks: Boba Fett’s robot mode could have been a whole lot better. Especially in terms of posability the figure is very disappointing and it’s good looks can only make up for that to a certain degree. Which is pretty sad, because the bounty hunter offered a lot more potential than this.

The alternate mode does a better job. The Slave I pulls off the “flying flat iron” look and does it well. It doesn’t exactly offer a lot of extras or gimmicks to the Transformers fan and it isn’t easy to put it into flight position for pictures (it took me about an hour to figure out how to make it stand up the best), but it looks like it’s supposed to, which is something.

Unfortunately the vehicle mode alone doesn’t suffice to give Boba Fett a good overall rating. I think our bounty hunter friend can’t really complain about the mark I’m giving him.

Rating: C-