BOBA FETT Animated Debut
30th Anniversary Collection Basic Figures
Item No.: Asst. 87500 No. 87296
Number: 30-24
Includes: Blaster, coin, backpack, lance
Action Feature: Holster for blaster
Retail: $6.99
Availability: September 2007
Appearances: Star Wars: Holiday Special, Star Wars: Droids

Bio: The first appearance of Boba Fett was in an animation short in the Star Wars Holiday Special, whose first and only televised airing was on November 17, 1978. In the cartoon, Fett's clothing and armor are much brighter, more colorful, and much less battle-worn than how they will appear in The Empire Strikes Back. While he still wears his jet backpack, he carries a twin-pronged weapon instead of his now-trademark blaster. (Taken from the figure's cardback.)

Image: Adam's TV tray.

Commentary: Because I love anything remotely associated with the Droids TV show, I just adore this version of Boba Fett. Technically, it's based on the infamous Holiday Special, but since they reused the same design for Droids, it'll do. The figure's mold is essentially the 2004 "Vintage" Boba Fett, but with all new forearms & hands as well as a brand new belt with a working holster. The rest of the figure's mold is pretty much the same, and even the figure's body suit is essentially the same color as the 2004 release. The figure has 16 points of articulation and meets the standards of what most fans consider "super articulated," which is, of course, a good thing.

The figure acts pretty much the same as the previously released Fett, except it also has a holster. The hands are in the same pose, but have smoother gauntlets and less detail on them. The Wookiee scalps are still present, the backpack comes off easily, the head pops right off, and the cloth cape is still cloth, except now it's brown. If the figure could benefit from anything, it would be smoother coloring (perhaps more like the upcoming Animated Boba Fett Bobble Head from Funko) with less "realistic" detail. The bumps and scrapes are OK but the silver over it seems like a bit much when you're dealing with a brightly colored figure like this one. Still, I love it, and odds are you will too.

Development Notes: At Toy Fair 2007 and in Hasbro's print ads, this figure features a completely different helmet sculpt. You can tell because the visor shape is different, and there's a little line sculpted over the visor rather than the two back-to back arrows you see there now. I have no idea at this time if we'll ever see this other mold or why it was changed, as it was pretty slick and made this figure stand out even more. The prototype/ad figure also features Boba's chest emblem, and has slightly different shoulders.

Collector's Notes: There are two versions of this figure: one has a silver coin, one has a gold coin and comes with an "Ultimate Galactic Hunt" sticker on the package along with gold foil elements. The gold one is much tougher to get.

I've opened two of these so far and have found some things you should keep an eye out for. One has a very loose waist joint, which is something you might not be able to identify until after you opened it. The other had too much dark blue on his helmet on one side, which made it look like someone smeared it with a blue Bic pen. This, you can see before you open it.

Day 520: October 8, 2007