All the Holiday nonsense is finally over and I’m thrilled to be back in the saddle for a brand new year. While I’ll still be pretty busy with work for the next couple of weeks, my schedule has loosened up enough so that I can start digging into some of the figures I’ve been holding off on during the crazier times of last month. I’ve been itching to open up Wave 2 of Star Wars Black ever since they landed on my stoop last month and now I’ve finally got some time to relax for a moment and do just that. Today, I’m kicking it off with a full-on six inches of rock hard Fett. LET’S DO THIS!!!

After a few weeks of seeing the SWB deco misused on the smaller carded (and mostly shitty) figures, it’s nice to see it again used on the more appropriate collector style window boxes. Wave 1 left me with a real love for this packaging and I’m still displaying those figures packaged for the time being. Needless to say these boxes are totally collector friendly and are just the right size to show off the figure without taking up too much room. Boba is displayed in his tray with his weapons and jetpack spread out beside him. The back of the package has a monochrome shot of Boba talking to Vader and Lando. Man, I can’t wait until Vader and Lando get the 6-inch treatment! Ok, enough about the packaging, it’s time to whip out my Boba.

Ok, so… WOW! We actually have a 6-inch Boba Fett figure from Hasbro. It’s still taking time for this to properly sink in. Boba Fett is a character that has seen some pretty exceptional 3 ¾” figures over the years, so I had little doubt that his 6-inch treatment would be amazing. And you know what? It is. Yes, when you consider the scale upgrade there are a few missed opportunities here, and I’ll point those out, but it’s important to remember that Hasbro is still working within the confines of a $20 retail budget. There was certainly a give and take with 6-inch Fett’s design, but I think the end result balanced out quite well!

With that having been said, I think the first thing that strikes me about this guy is the intricacy of the sculpt. The jumpsuit is beautifully rumpled in all the right places and the armor plating is pretty convincing as separate pieces even though they are part of the same sculpt.The pouches all look great and even he even has the tiny sculpted tools peeking out of the pockets on his pants. The waist belt is a separate piece but it blends seemlessly with the figure. It has pouches and a functional holster for his pistol. I’ll get to the pistol in a bit, but suffice it to say it was a cool surprise. I love functional holsters on my figures so getting one incorporated into a Boba Fett figure really rings my bell. I’m also very pleased with the detailing on his left arm bracer where you can see his dart as well as the keypad. I’m not fanatical with my knowlege of Fett’s design and I’m sure the hardcore could pick apart all kinds of little details on this guy, but he certainly does just fine by me.

Following hot on the heels of the beautiful sculpt is the deco. I’m not just talking about the coloring of the armor, but rather the weathering. Fett’s armor is dinged and scraped in all the right places and the dry brush abrasions look fantastic. Finally, the whole deco is punctuated with some great tampos like the Mandalorean symbol on his shoulder to the insignia on his chest armor. The figure fits beautifully into the “used future” design that makes the Original Trilogy Star Wars Universe such an interesting place to me.

Hasbro packed some really useful articulation into this figure. The head is both ball jointed and hinged, so you get a nice wide range of motion there. His arms feature ball joints in the shoulders, elbows and wrists, and he has swivel cuts in the biceps. His legs are ball jointed at the hips and double hinged at the knees. His ankles feature hinges and rockers. Lastly, Fett is ball jointed at the waist, just above the belt. It’s a well hidden joint that lets him swivel as well as giving him a little range of forward and backward motion in the torso. Nicely done!

Is Fett perfect? Nope. And here’s where that give and take comes in. The wookie braids are a little chunky and unconvincing. It seems like they should have been fashioned from softgoods like the cape. At the very least one of them shouldn’t have been left the same color plastic as his jumpsuit. I know what they’re supposed to be, but they look like they’re tacked on like an afterthought. I’ll also throw out there that it would have been cool if his rangefinder had been hinged. Sure, it looks fine as it is, but that seems like it would have been a good opportunity going from the 3 ¾” to the 6-inch scale. Finally, while the double joints in the knees are welcome, taking advantage of them makes the figure’s legs look unnatural, especially the way the knee caps just float. None of these nitpicks seriously detract from the figure, but since Boba Fett has had some truly excellent 3 ¾” figures, I think it’s worth pointing out some areas for improvement on this 6-incher.

Boba comes with three accessories. First off, you get his trusty jetpack, which pegs into his back. It’s just a solid molded piece of plastic that pegs into a hole on his back. There are sculpted straps to make it look like it’s held on with a harness. I suppose you could argue that Hasbro could have done a little more with it, particularly in this scale. It doesn’t fire a rocket and the little thrusters aren’t articulated, but it looks fine and I’m very happy that it is removable. Somewhere in the delusion center of my brain I am reasoning out that Hasbro made it removable to accommodate the 6-inch scale Slave-1 which is surely coming any day now. Right? RIGHT??? Ok, maybe not.

Next up is the pistol. Again, this was a total surprise for me because I don’t ever recall any previous Boba Fett (and I’ve owned most of them) coming with a pistol. Did he even use one? Is it one of his dad’s? I really don’t know, but I’m not going to turn my nose up at a pistol with a functional holster. It’s a simple enough piece, but he looks damn cool holding it and when I see my Boba Fett quick-drawing his pistol and wearing the poncho-like cape, I can’t help but get a wonderful “Man With No Name” vibe off of him from the Sergio Leone westerns.

Lastly is Fett’s iconinc carbine.  It’s made of bendy plastic which helps get the stock positioned into the crook of his arm. You can also just about get his trigger finger into the trigger guard. The carbine has some exceptionally cool weathering and I like the sculpted detail in the stock, but the barrel doesn’t seem quite right. It seems like it should be thicker, at least that’s based on the prop replicas that I’ve seen.

This Boba Fett was a hotly anticipated figure for me and now that I have finally opened him I can confidently say he’s a great piece. Yes, some might argue (myself included) that Hasbro could have done more with him to take advantage of the scale change, but I keep reminding myself that this is not a $50 Figma or an $75 Play Arts figure. For a $20 figure off the peg at Target or Walmart,  he’s just a great figure and pretty hard for me to put down. Boba will definitely be spending some quality time on my desk before getting relegated to the display shelf in the other room. It’s worth noting that he’s the very first figure I’m looking at in 2014 and I can already tell he’s going to be a strong contender for my Favorites list at the end of the year. Even if you aren’t collecting this line, Boba Fett is the first release that I would recommend people pick up as a stand-alone figure. After all, you can never have too many Fetts.