| Boba Fett: Special Edition 300th Figure Review Capsule |
| A resculpt of an early figure. The Boba Fett figure has added articulation, a cloth cape, a firing rocket, and other features atypical for a Hasbro Star Wars figure. Highly reccomended for fans, reccomended mildly to non-fans at the regular price of about $9.99.
Stand not included, but suggested. |
Introduction
One of the most requested resculpts in the Star Wars line, Hasbro finally gives us the Boba Fett of our dreams with this new figure. 9 points of articulation, a bevy of accessories, and detailling virtually unheard of at this size make this one of the best figures to date.
Figure
Boba Fett, as one of the most legendary characters in the films, deserves some of the most legendary toys. Between the original non-release of the Rocket Firing Fett in the vintage line to this, the most recent Fett, quite a few toys have been released to rabid fans worldwide, but this is definitely the best at this scale.
Fett looks exactly like he does in The Empire Strikes Back, with the green gauntlets, the grey gloves, and the brown cape. The deco is spot-on, with grime, metallic paint wear, and all the detail one might want on this figure being present. A rubbery belt obscures the waist joints, and the cape is tattered as one might expect.
As seen on the main page, Boba Fett is articulated at the rangefinder, neck, shoulders, elbows, waist, and hips. While some of them allow for a greater range of movement, he can't be places in very many different poses. Knee joints and some sort of non-standard below-the-hips joint would have been nice, as there's more than a little work involved in getting this figure to stand up properly.
The backpack attatches very similarly to how previous Fett packs slid on, with the usual t-bar design. The cloth cape is attatched at the shoulder and is not removable.
Accessories
 Boba Fett has a variety of movable parts: a rifle, a pistol, two rockets, and his rocketpack. The image on the right is a close-up of the toy's insert that explains how the backpack functions. (Note the trendy way the rangefinder is worn backward. The kids would say that Boba Fett is "ill.")
The rifle is the quintissential Fett weapon. Versions of it were packaged with the original 1995 Boba Fett, both versions of the 1990s Boba Fett, and a variety of other toys. The new version has a trigger designed so the figure's trigger finger can go through the trigger's hole, and it also includes a shoulder strap. A class-act.
The pistol is similar to the one included in the original twelve-inch scale figure in the late 1970s that was also part of the "Protofett" suit that was the basis for the toys. This pistol fits into a holster on the back of the figure that blends in so well, 16bit Labs doubts most fans will ever notice it's there. It isn't highlighted on the packaging.
Upon first observation, the Rocketpack is very similar to the 1995 Boba Fett's accessory. However, when compared, there are obvious differences: the new one is larger, more detailled, and nowhere neat as interesting to look at.
The two rockets are included to serve two distinct purposes. The first is packaged inside the backpack, and it is meant to provide a realisting looking component for the most authentic looking action figure experience.
While we though the second one was obvious, people have written in wondering why a force pike was included with the toy, when it was, in fact, not a force pike. The long, black accessory is an alternate rocket, made in such a size as to pass safety tests for a projectile on a toy. That's why the rocket is rounded and significantly longer. Unfortunately, the rocket is not painted in any interesting way... a red rocket like the original or a paint job like the "normal" rocket included with the figure would have been a nice touch. Black is just rather... dull.
16bit Labs was thoroughly unimpressed with the toy's ability to fire a rocket. Our best trial had the rocket fire about two feet. While this is about par for a Hasbro projectile-firing toy, well, we hoped for better.
Comparisons
While it's nice on its own, the question is "How does he stack up to previous releases?"
Truth be told, he still isn't the most impressive Hasbro/Kenner Fett, despite all the unique features. While little more than a swiveling statue, the 1998 Epic Force figure has more detailling, more paint deco applications, and an overall nicer sculpt than the newest Fett.
When compared to his peers, though, he's on top. All three are roughly the same height, but each new incarnation is a quantum leap above the previous version when it comes to detail. The 1979 one was basically a slim cartoon character, but his neutral pose made it a great figure. The POTF2 version from 1995 was a beefy but well-painted and sculpted figure that took the world by storm upon its release. The newest Fett, for some reason, seems to have gotten very little press despite looking like a miniature of the movie costume.
(Yes, we omitted the Shadows of the Empire Boba Fett and the Deluxe Boba Fett since they were basically just modified revisions of the POTF2 Fett.)
Packaging
The figure is packed in a pretty unorthadox manner: a large box with several windows allowed the figure to be viewed in a variety of ways, and be well-lit at the same time. There's quite a few noteworthy nuances, all of which are available on our packaging gallery.
Controversy
Whenever a list is released, people argue about it. Since this figure has a list of 300 on the back, from the start, people were wondering just how accurate it was. While some people have gone on and on about how this list is way off because it leaves out pack-in figures as well as multi-packs, these people are idiots because the list was intended only to cover carded figures.
Actually, Adam was able to ask about it right at the beginning. The findings were that this was supposedly made from Kenner and Hasbro documents concerning the development of the figures, not when they were released. There's also a giant hole in the list. At first, we figured this was more or less a good thing-- we could tell that it had many Episode One figures on the list before the POTF2 Flashback figures released in early 1999, which meant that from everything we knew, this was accurate. Hasbro reps also mentioned that the original Power of the Force series was designed alongisde the animated Ewoks and Droids figures. But...
The list has Luke as #1, Han in Carbonite as #100, Mara Jade as #200, and Boba Fett as #300. The original line-- as in pre- and including POTF (1985)-- had 96 carded figures and a boxed set of three, as far as we could tell the latter of which was not included in the tally. And while it's kinda hard to make out, Carbonite Han is listed before the Ewoks and Droids figures. So we at 16bit Labs have our doubts on the authenticity and overall accuracy of the list.
Fin
All in all, the toy is pretty nice for its price point. With standard Star Wars figures selling from $5.84/$6.99 to $7.99/$8.99, Boba Fett's quite nice for the typical $10-$15. Fans of the character simply must have it. Star Wars collectors will want at least two. And toy buffs will probably enjoy a shot at a cheap 4" scale rocket firing Boba Fett figure. It's nice enough to warrant the purchase, even when cheaper, bigger toys from McFarlane and similar competitors are pegs away. I mean, the rangefinder actually moves...
Our sample was payment for services rendered from a previous employer. In other words, it was more or less a freebie.
Reviewed by Adam Pawlus
Reviewed on February 19, 2001
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