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Manufacturer Information:
Hasbro
Pawtucket, Rhode Island
02862
U.S.A.
Website
The Package:
Boba Fett, and the other Star Wars Unleashed exclusive re-issues, comes in a very large, transparent cylinder. The package looks attractive, but it takes up a lot of space. The back of the cylinder shows a nice photo of the Boba Fett figure (along with an inset photo of the other Star Wars Unleashed Target exclusive--General Grievous) and gives some background information about Fett's predicament in the maw of the Sarlacc monster (which you can read in the photo above). There's a large (about one foot square) interior piece of background art behind the Boba Fett figure (also shown above), printed on thin cardboard. This looks really snazzy, and you should consider saving it; I did--it makes a great mini-poster or backdrop for displaying the figure. Two of the Sarlacc tentacles weren't wrapped around Boba Fett inside the package like they're supposed to be. They probably came loose due to in-store handling by Target customers/employees and/or shaking during shipping. The cylinder, and all the cardboard inserts, are held together with a lot of transparent tape, I used a knife to slit it all open. An interior plastic bubble holds the base of the figure securely. There's also a transparent rubber band wrapped around Fett's blaster and the hand holding it. It isn't necessary to keep the gun there, so feel free to remove it if you like.
Boba Fett:
You'll probably remember Boba Fett's death in the Star Wars Episode VI: Return of The Jedi movie, during the big sail barge battle. Now, whether Fett actually died or not is open to debate. Boba Fett is a fan favorite and various Star Wars novels/short stories published afterwards have Fett surviving and escaping the Sarlacc to enjoy further misadventures. Fett's trip down the Sarlacc's mouth in the movie wasn't anywhere near as dignified as the valiant pose depicted in the sculpt of this figure--movie purists might take issue with that.
Speaking of the sculpt, it's exceptional. The figure wonderfully captures a frozen moment in time as Fett courageously does his best to escape the Sarlacc's hungry tentacles as they pull him down to his inevitable doom. All the pieces of Fett's Mandalorian combat armor, including its myriad dents and scratches, are faithfully reproduced. Even small details, like the hand tools he keeps in the pockets on his shins, treads on the bottoms of his boots, and tears/worn threads in the material of his cape, are there. The Sarlacc tentacles are wrinkled, bumpy, and sport the occasional sucker. The rim of the Sarlacc's mouth, which is necessarily much smaller in scale than the real thing would be (the Sarlacc mouth had a very large diameter in the movie), sports a gritty, sand-like texture and many angled barbs. The flames coming out of Fett's backpack (how does his cape/uniform not catch on fire?) are molded in translucent plastic which was a great choice. They start out yellow/orange and are painted red/black as they plume downward into the Sarlacc's mouth. Put a light source underneath or behind Fett and the flames almost look alive. The only downside with the sculpt is that several of the mold lines are very visible, particularly on the tentacles. Scale-wise, Boba Fett is an impressively sized chunk of plastic, clocking in at 10 1/2 inches in height at the tip of his outstretched hand.
Unfortunately, the paint job isn't the equal of the excellent sculpt. From a distance, the figure looks impressive, but inspect him more closely and you'll see there's a fair amount of slop, stray marks, overspray, and inconsistent elements on different areas of Fett and the Sarlacc. The spot where one of the tentacles wraps around his leg is particularly bad--there's white paint from the leg on the tentacle and brown paint from the tentacle on the leg, not to mention yellow bleeding off of the kneepad underneath. The most glaring omission, at least to my eyes, is that his cape sports no paint whatsoever. It's just the green plastic it was molded in. This makes it look very toy-like, in comparison to the rest of the figure. It should have been dirtied up a bit with a wash or some airbrushing. To be fair, Fett is a complicated figure and sports a lot of different colors and small details, so some stray marks and errors are to be expected. On the plus side of things, the insignias on his chest plate/shoulder and the 'kill' marks on the side of his helmet are very sharp and clean looking and the silver scratches and orange rust marks on his armor look like convincing wear-and-tear/battle damage.
If you're looking for a well articulated figure, look elsewhere. Fett is little more than a sculpture. The wrist of the hand holding the blaster sports a cut joint, and the two tentacles attached to the jetpack and arm are rubbery and have some give to them (you can remove them from his body and have them hang 'free' if you like), but, other than that, Fett's pose is static. The neck looks like it might be a cut joint as well, but I can't get mine to move, and I'm not going to risk ripping it off by cranking on it.
Accessories:
The only 'real' accessory is Boba Fett's blaster. The sculpt is basic, but satisfactory. There's a little bit of an orange/brown wash near the trigger, but other than that it's all black. If you're worried about losing it, keep the included plastic rubber band on it and the hand--it does stay put just fine without it though. Fett also comes with a small color booklet that has several pages of color photos depicting some of the other Hasbro Star Wars toy products (it's 'hidden' between the cardboard interior artwork and the back insert, so don't toss it, unseen, out with the package by mistake if you want it). I suppose you could consider the large piece of color artwork that serves as a backdrop for the figure an accessory too if you really want to stretch the definition.
Cost:
Originally, these cost about $20 a piece--compare that to the $15 carded Star Wars Unleashed figures usually went for. The new packaging is nice, but not an extra $5 nice. Unsurprisingly, most people weren't terribly willing to exchange an Andrew Jackson for Fett or his exclusive companion figure, General Grievous. And so, Target ended up clearancing them for half that, $10, which is what I paid for mine. Fett was a steal at that price. The original, first-issue version of this Boba Fett Star Wars Unleashed figure, which came on a blister card, now sells for many times more than the original $15 asking price on the secondary toy market, so, from that standpoint, you could still consider $20 to be a great value if you paid full price. Boba Fett figures are usually a good investment as they typically increase in value over time due to his popularity.
Final Analysis:
PROS:
- Excellent sculpt and dynamic pose. Fett's final moments are captured beautifully--this is a work of art, as was the intent.
- Translucent jet flames look great when lit from underneath by a light source.
- The large Boba Fett art print is very nice and worth hanging onto.
- Clearanced for $10, sweet!
CONS:
- Package design is nice, but takes up more space than is really necessary. You'd better have some serious storage space available if you're planning on keeping several of these unopened.
- Hasbro and/or Target decided they could charge an extra five bucks for these. That philosophy came back to bite them, because they didn't sell at that price and had to be clearanced.
- Very little articulation, but as these are intended to be static statues, that's forgivable. Making the Sarlacc tentacles bendy wire affairs would have allowed for some nice variation though.
- While decent, I think the paint work could have, and should have, been much cleaner and more elaborate.
Where to Buy:
Boba Fett, along with General Grievous, were both Target-exclusive Star Wars Unleashed re-issues available last year (2006). If your local Target doesn't have any left (and they probably don't, as they got clearanced), you'll have to scrounge for the infamous bounty hunter online and/or from local toy dealers/collectors. Try to avoid getting ripped off by toy scalpers--keep in mind that they probably only paid $10 for him when considering the price they're asking.
I also observed that Wal-Mart had a couple of exclusive Star Wars Unleashed re-issues too, in the same style of cylindrical packaging: Empire Strikes Back Bespin Darth Vader and Return of The Jedi Luke Skywalker. They were also $20 and ended up getting clearanced as well.
For Parents:
Hasbro recommends this figure for ages eight and up. Fett's basically 'just for looking at', so I don't think a child would get much play value out of him; he's more of a collector piece.
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Package art (back). Now, if only the actual figure was painted this well . . . |
