The Obsession With Boba Fett

 Since he debuted in the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special, albeit in animated form, Boba Fett has captured the imaginations of Star Wars fans everywhere. Who was he? What's a Mandalorian? Why does he hate Han Solo? Those were some of the questions asked about him. In Legends, he was Jaster Mareel, a Mandalorian warrior who protected Concord Dawn. That was until Attack of the Clones dropped 20 years ago, and we learned he was the unaltered Clone of Jango Fett. Yet at the age of 10, Boba became an orphan when Mace Windu beheaded his father in the Geonosis arena. Now with The Book of Boba Fett streaming on Disney Plus, the obsession with Boba continues.

Of course I'm going to talk about the toys first! Boba debuted on a Star Wars card, but wouldn't appear in that film until 1997's Special Edition. The paint and sculpt is simple, and he has a Stormtrooper blaster, not his rifle. In 1996, he came out in POTF2 in film accurate colors and a not so film accurate blaster rifle. He'd get a couple more figures in the VOTC and Legacy eras plus the intro wave of the Vintage Collection. It took until 2021 to get a signature, film accurate Boba in 3.75 inches. The Black Series has a couple, both ESB & ROTJ versions, with the ESB being better IMO than the deluxe ROTJ Fett. Both his 2021 Vintage Collection and Black Series figure from ROTJ are the top choices for best figure of the year in both of these toylines.

In Legends, Fett 1st came back in the Marvel monthly Star Wars series, issue 82 with Fett having amnesia and the Jawas thinking he was a Droid of some kind. In the end, he got his memory back but appeared to die in the end. But he didn't and showed up in Dark Empire 1 & 2, which the latter hinted he was a former Stormtrooper who left the Empire's service. He would show up in later books in the Young Jedi Knights young readers series and in Legacy of the Force series taught Jaina Solo how to fight like a Mandalorian for her future, fatal duel with her brother Jacen Solo aka Darth Caedus.

But the best Legends Boba story, in my humble opinion is the 2 part comic series Twin Engines of Destruction. Jodo Kast, a Mandalorian bounty hunter starts calling himself Boba Fett to get higher bounty payouts. When Fett learns of this through Dengar, he arranges Jodo to be hired for a bounty job, which is Boba's trap. The 2 Mandalorians fight, with Boba emerging the victor. This past Wednesday, Marvel Comics released some of the best Legends stories starring Boba in Boba Fett: Blood Ties, and is available at your local comic book store!

In the end of the 1st season of The Mandalorian we got to see Boba, but wouldn't have it confirmed until the show's second season that it was in fact him. Cobb Vanth found his armor in the Chuck Wendig novel Aftermath, and of course he appeared in the 2nd season of the Mandalorian and gave Boba his armor back. As we got closer to the end of Season 2, Boba cleaned it up a bit, making it look brand new! Now we have a new series focused on one of the favorite characters in all of Star Wars. And yes, there are toys of Boba from the show coming soon! The obsession with Boba Fett began in the late 1970's and shows little signs of slowing down anytime soon.