Fett Friday: Boba Fett (Vintage Collection)

 I was unable to attend the toy show two weeks ago with everybody else because I had to work that Saturday, but I made sure to give Mario a thorough list of toys I was seeking. He found exactly one item I had requested, the subject of this very post, which he scored for a cool $5. For comparison's sake, this same figure is going for around $25 on Amazon.com at the moment. Good thing I held out!

Released as part of the inaugural Star Wars Vintage Collection wave in 2010, this Boba Fett is the Empire Strikes Back version; a variant with the Return of the Jedi costume (distinguished by a bulkier belt, a different cape, brown gauntlets, and a more vibrantly-painted jetpack) was also issued at the same time. This particular figure was originally released as one-third of the Fett Legacy Evolutions pack in 2008, and also made an appearance as a repaint in the Legacy Collection the following year. What sets this incarnation apart from its predecessors is the far more detailed paint applications, which make an already impressive sculpt look absolutely stunning. On a visual level, it's faultless, and it leaves me amazed at how fantastically well-crafted a figure in this scale can be.

Boba Fett has less accessories than his dad Jango: just a sawed-off blaster rifle, a smaller pistol, and a removable helmet (which reveals the scarred visage of Jango Fett actor Temuera Morrison, so original Star Wars trilogy purists will probably want to leave the toy masked). The pistol was already holstered on the figure when I removed it from the packaging, and as I have never even known the character packed an extra gun on screen, it was a nice surprise.

Unlike Jango, Boba Fett doesn't have two plastic cables sculpted onto his arms that inhibit elbow articulation -- just one. So while the left arm has a wide range of movement, the right one has the same posing issues that cropped up with Jango. Even worse, the cable running from the gauntlet is sculpted so that it gets in the way of rotating the forearm, meaning the right hand is kept more or less slightly upturned.

I've found that while Boba Fett looks better than Jango, he doesn't have the same playability factor. Boba I like to look at and admire the craftsmanship; Jango I like to pick up and pose shooting Jedi. Still, this offering is outstanding even if the arm movement is a tad restricted, and it is certainly the best action figure of the infamous action figure yet made.