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We get a lot of questions as to why we don't cover more Star Wars toys here on OAFEnet. The answer, really, is simple: we can't find the damn things.
Between stores buried under old product and scalpers snapping up everything new, I haven't seen a recent Star Wars figure in months. You have to hit the stores during "golden time," those few brief moments after the instant when new shipments get past collector stockboys onto the shelves and before the scalpers descend. Finding Star Wars toys is pure luck.
Imagine my surprise, then, when a last minute trip to my woefully understocked Wal*Mart turned up something new.
Part of the entourage accompanying Jabba the Hutt to the Pit of Carkoon to watch the execution of Han Solo, the infamous bounty hunter Boba Fett leaps into battle to save his life after Jabba's sail barge is attacked by Han's rescuers.
Boba Fett is easily the most popular character in Star Wars geek circles - an undefined character in a ratty costume became a mysterious, hard-fighting loner in the desperate minds of children. He talks back to Vader with no retribution? That's not poor writing, that's evidence that Vader respects him! He's a badass! The old movies are better than the new ones!
Fett's popularity has garnered him many an action figure, from the mail-away preview to the deluxe 300th edition. The newest version represents the character's last on-screen moments.
Little 3¾" Boba Fett has a wide-legged stance and is holding his rifle in his right hand, with his left arm crossed in front of his chest to rest on the weapon's stock. He moves at the neck, shoulders, elbows, waist, hips, right knee and left ankle. The viewfinder on his helmet can be rotated down in front of his face. Press the missile on Boba's backpack for quick-draw action: his arms raise to point the gun at his bounty.
The action feature in this case could have been omitted - the articulation in his arms is useless because of it, and the rocket in his backpack looks nothing like its cinematic counterpart. As soon as you release the button, his arms fall back down, so you can't even pose him in an attack position. That's fairly disappointing.
Another disappointment is the sculpt. While Hasbro generally does a good job with the detailing on their small figures, packing more detail into those miniscule frames with each successive series, Pit of Carkoon Boba Fett looks unfinished and cartoony. Almost on par with the very first Fett Hasbro produced in the new line, Fett just doesn't compare to the beauty of the 300th Fett; while it may seem unfair to compare the two, it's just bad form to create a really high-quality figure and then immediately return to the depths of mediocrity.
The figure's redeeming quality is the nice display base included with the figure. Re-creating the moment when he leapt from Jabba's sail barge to the skiff transporting the mighty gangster's prisoners, Fett comes with a large, two-pronged blast cloud that plugs into his backpack to represent flame and exhaust. Measuring 2½" tall, the base supports Boba well, and can be positioned either vertically or at a slight angle. The oddly distributed articulation in Fett's legs serves the figure well when he's on the base.
Finding new Star Wars toys is much harder than it should be, and unimpressive figures like this mean the search is really not worth your while. Though the figure itself is fairly decent, it's certainly not worth the eBay prices that a casual collector might have to pay.
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