The Boba Bounty

Could Han Solo and Boba Fett be named couple of the year for 2013?

A few weeks ago rumors flew around the Internet about spin-off films featuring the smuggler and bounty hunter. Then at last week’s New York City Toy Fair, it was announced an exclusive 6-inch Black Series Boba Fett figure, toting Han Solo in Carbonite, would be available at the upcoming San Diego Comic Con.

(It has been confirmed Han Solo in Carbonite would only be available through the comic con, but it is unclear whether Boba Fett’s figure is also a special offer. Since he’s not been named in the first wave of figures in the new series, I’m leaning toward, yes.)

Hasbro also said it would release Boba Fett’s Slave I, with Han Solo in Carbonite, in traditional scale, as an Amazon.com exclusive this spring. The item is part of Hasbro’s Vintage Collection.

Additionally note, Boba Fett made an appearance in Dark Horse’s “Star Wars: In the Shadow of Yavin” #2, which hinted at future altercations between the smuggler and Fett throughout the story arc. Not to get off topic, but I’m still crossing my fingers the subplot will introduce a fresh angle to the two men’s relationship.

While it’s exciting to see new Boba Fett merchandise hit the shelves, I’m growing tired of how Hasbro executes the release of new figures and ships. Its common knowledge that Boba Fett’s was first offered as a mail-away offer through Kenner, and the controversial “missile firing action” tied to the toy.

If you take an inventory of past Boba Fett figures, quite a few have not been included in the base sets, but instead, have been obtained through special offers. Most often you have to purchase five Star Wars action figures and mail their proof-of-purchases.

Even action figures that aren’t mail-away offers are hard to find. Take for example the “Rise of Boba Fett” battle set, which included a young Boba Fett, Slave I in his father’s color scheme and a number of other figures and a star fighter. This set was an exclusive to Toys ‘R Us and not stocked very deep.

The Villain Set featuring Boba Fett, Snaggletooth and a Tusken Raider was a Target exclusive. There’s only a few recent examples of Fett action figures that have been found at multiple retailers and in decent quantities.

Due to the practice of releasing Boba Fett toys as exclusives or special offers, if you’re a targeted collector, like I am, this results in having to end up paying more in the second market. I hope that in future releases; if Hasbro continues to make it more difficult to grab Boba Fett merchandise they will at least execute their figure design in a new way.

Instead of another repaint of past figures, I want to see new accessories and molds. This is one reason I’m excited about the 6-inch Black Series action figure, and hope it will find its way into retail stores, rather than eBay or swap meets.

Hasbro appears to be putting a lot of effort and thought into the accessories in their 6-inch line. I’ve been musing upon what new weapons; items may be included in the Boba Fett figure. What are you hoping might be included with the 6-inch Boba Fett?

Note: This blog entry contains SPOILERS to “Star Wars: In the Shadow of Yavin” #2

The second issue to the bestselling title, “Star Wars,” is full of secret missions and familiar faces – along with some surprises.

When Entertainment Weekly published a sneak peak at this issue last month, it turns out that was the opening for this month’s story. Han Solo and Chewbacca are drifting in the Corsair Outback, on a rendezvous mission assigned by Mon Monthma.

Even though they sit in deep space, among space debris, the smuggler and his companion are discovered by Slave I. This story transpires before Empire Strikes Back, so Boba Fett is hunting Solo due to the bounty placed on his head by Jabba the Hutt.

Solo is forced to make a space jump after Slave I opens fire on his ship. They end up making seven jumps before they’re clear of the bounty hunter. This was disappointing – the issue was marketed as showing the appearance of Boba Fett – but we never actually see the Mandalorian. In fact, the three page preview is the entirety of Fett’s appearance in the issue.

This was a chance for Dark Horse to tear down common tropes comic books have executed with the relationship between Boba Fett and Han Solo. Instead, they kept to the formula of Han Solo being tracked down by Fett, he makes a run for it and escapes. Let’s hope this story arc doesn’t consist of repeated “near encounters” between the adversaries.

I’ve said this in an earlier blog entry – let Solo be captured by Boba Fett, but manage to escape. We need to see why the presence of Boba Fett strikes the fear Solo experiences in the films, that don’t come up with other encounters with bounty hunters, like Greedo.

The issue also sets up two more plot points. In many ways this issue sets up what we should anticipate for the rest of the story arc. Monthma gives Leia a secret assignment, as does the Emperor to Darth Vader. These secret assignments introduce two characters to keep an eye on.

Leia puts together a team of X-Wing pilots to conduct a secret mission to locate a base for the Rebels. This assignment must be done in secret, because Monthma suspects a spy in their ranks.

Among the pilots is Rus Kal from Durkteel. Kal is part of a subspecies of Transdoshan – the race of Bossk. I’m engaged by this member of the team. I don’t know too much about this species, but I have to wonder how close their characteristics are from their cousins, Transdoshans.

Am I overanalyzing things, or is this foreshadowing that we may see Bossk in the near future pop up?

The second character of interest is Colonel Bircher, who has been put in charge of Darth Vader’s crew and Star Destroyer. While Vader is on his secret mission, Bircher is leading the charge of hunting down the Rebel Alliance.

I enjoyed this issue and the artwork is some of the best that’s come out of Dark Horse, besides the work being down in “Agent of the Empire.” I need to emphasize my disappointment though, we were teased with Boba Fett and Darth Vader in the official synopsis of the issue, but Boba Fett is only in a couple panels and Vader is only mentioned by name.

Earlier this week Bob Iger, chairman and CEO of The Walt Disney Company, announced during a televised interview several spinoff movies were in development. Iger said the original focus was on the sequel trilogy, but these stand alone films have been on the table since their earliest discussions.

Lucasfilm officials followed up on Feb. 5 with a press release confirming the involvement of screenwriters Lawrence Kasdan and Simon Kinberg. These names excited fans, as Kasdan was the scribe for not only The Empire Strikes Back, Raiders of the Lost Ark, but also co-wrote Return of the Jedi. Kinberg has also proved himself, with blockbusters like Sherlock Holmes.

They also confirmed that two spinoff films were in development, sparking speculation throughout the Internet.

According to Feb. 6 online article by Entertainment Weekly, the films will focus on a young Han Solo and Boba Fett, respectively. They cited sources close to both projects. Of course, Lucasfilm and Disney declined to comment or confirm this information.

Entertainment Weekly reported the Boba Fett film could either take place between A New Hope and Empire Strikes Back, or between Empire and Return of the Jedi. They added further, Temuera Morrison is the shoe in to take on the role as the infamous bounty hunter.

I have my doubts about Entertainment Weekly’s “exclusive,” because they also said there’s no indication of who may direct these films – which Lucasfilm had already announced the day previous to the column’s online publishing that the two films already have directors – Kasdan and Kinberg – why wouldn’t sources close to the projects know this?   

Since Iger made his announcement, websites have been spilling all kinds of rumors and information about the spinoff movies. However, most of these news sources that have “exclusive” information also present bogus information, like that Han Solo was a “bounty hunter with a conscious who befriended Luke Skywalker” or misspelling Lucasfilm.

I have no doubt that a Boba Fett film is being discussed behind the secretive walls of Lucasfilm and Disney, but take everything with a grain of salt, until there’s further announcements by Disney or Lucasfilm.

It only took 24 hours for Dark Horse’s new series, “Star Wars,” to sell out during its debut on Jan. 9. Set in the original trilogy era, the happenings of the story arc, “In the Shadow of Yavin,” document the fallout from the destruction of the Death Star by the Rebel Alliance.

Within a few days of its release, Dark Horse staff announced a second print would be made available on Feb. 6, featuring a cover stripped of any text, so fans can revel in the cover art by comic legend Alex Ross.

The same day as the first issue’s release, a blog entry by the comic’s writer, Brian Wood, was ran on StarWars.com, and a few days later re-posted on Dark Horse’s website. Wood shares he aimed to capture the tone and feel of the original trilogy and feature a story that transpires only days after the final events of “A New Hope.”

Wood teases the series will be, “heavy on space battles and snubfighter dogfights. A series that gets into the emotional states of our post-Tattooine, post-Alderaan, post-Yavin characters who have lost so much yet press on in their fight for freedom.”

If there were any doubts that Wood would deliver the space battles and tales of peril he promises, fans were rewarded with a four-page preview of “Star Wars” #2 through the digital pages of Entertainment Weekly.

What is guaranteed to entice another sold out issue is the reveal that the second issue features the infamous bounty hunter, Boba Fett. In the preview, we see the Millennium Falcon avoiding fire by Slave I as the smugglers navigate space debris.

Scheduled for release on Feb. 13, the second issue hones in on Han Solo and Chewbacca as they attempt to evade the capture of Boba Fett; we’ll also see Darth Vader carry out a secret mission assigned to him by the Emperor.  

While the Empire doesn’t formally issue a bounty for Han Solo and company until “Empire Strikes Back,” it is already known after Solo’s encounter with Greedo in “A New Hope” that he is wanted by Jabba the Hutt.

Hiding in space debris, Solo believes they’re safe from being found, however, a ship appears on their radar. When identifying the ship, Solo realizes the immediate danger once they see Slave I fast approaching. Why is this interesting? This tells us Solo and Boba Fett have a history before the happenings of the original trilogy.

The chase between Fett and Solo is a common trope in Star Wars comics, so the challenge for Woods will be to make it fresh and new. How will Han Solo escape, or will he? I’d be interested to see what story unfolds if Solo and Chewbacca are actually captured – and later escape, of course.

Whatever happens though, this story needs to expand on the relationship between the bounty hunter and smuggler – besides the tired “cat and mouse” angle to their encounters. Unlike other bounty hunters, consider his run in with Greedo at the Catina – the films illustrate Han Solo having a genuine fear toward Fett.

I’m crossing my fingers we get a tale that explains why Solo takes the threat of Boba Fett more seriously than other hired guns.

I finally got the chance to sit down, plug in and listen to Smuggler’s Gambit – an audio drama performed live at Celebration VI on Aug. 22.

The story pulls you back to the era of the original trilogy. Han Solo and Chewbacca are assigned with finding a new base for the Rebel Alliance, but when Solo and Chewie runs into an old acquaintance that aims to claim Jabba’s bounty, they fear being hunted could complicate things for the rebellion.

Han Solo and his Wookiee companion record a message for Luke Skywalker then sneak away, planning to return to their former line of work. Trouble soon follows them, when Solo is captured by an aspiring smuggler named Ro Kurota and held for auction to the highest bidder – including representatives from The Black Sun and Jabba’s Palace.

This original script is penned by Kyle Newman of Fanboys and F.J. DeSanto. The tantalizing script, paired with more than 100 sound effects engineered by Jimmy “Mac” McInerney of ForceCast.net make for a fun adventure in the same spirit of the original films.

On an edition of Star Wars Transmissions, host Christ Gore interviews Newman, who sits on stage with the entire cast of Smuggler’s Gambit. Newman said he was shocked at the reception of their project. He aimed to provide fun entertainment for fans, but never expected the people to embrace the audio play with such rigor.

With the help of Dave Filoni, supervising director for The Clone Wars, Newman was able to secure a lot of The Clone Wars cast for the performance. According to Newman, the cast only had about a half hour between receiving the scripts and going on stage – illustrating the chemistry they’ve built and their performance power.

When asked if further audio adventures are on the horizon, Newman throws the question to the cast – who all smile, raise their hands and cast their votes in favor for more. So, we should expect more of these in the future, possibly at the next Celebration.

When a hefty bounty is in play, you can expect Boba Fett to make an appearance. Daniel Logan once again performs the role of our favorite bounty hunter. Logan has played the part of a young Boba Fett in the prequel trilogy and in The Clone Wars. This is our first time experiencing the actor performing an older version of his character.

Logan’s voice work is on key, but not overused – supplying logic and calmness in a scene where the characters are running high on emotion and caught up in personal rivalries.

I’ll save the spoilers, but recommend giving a listen to the full audio, which runs about 35 minutes.

http://starwarsblog.starwars.com/index.php/2012/11/28/smugglers-gambit-full-audio/#more-18597

“Bounty hunter Boba Fett, whose exploits are known throughout the galaxy, was the only figure capable of collecting the bounty on Han Solo by delivering him to Jabba the Hutt’s desert palace. Even the appearance of Luke Skywalker could not rescue Solo and the other captured Rebels.

On a prisoner skiff above the Great Pit of Carkoon, Fett pits his formidable skills against a Jedi Knight and his Rebel friends as they attempt to save themselves from the lethal date with Carkoon’s dreaded Sarlacc. The hunter discovers that his firepower is no match for the Rebel Alliance.”

The above blurb is featured on the package art of the Star Wars Epic Force figurine of Boba Fett. The text is a bit insulting to fans of Boba Fett, though. Our favorite bounty hunter wasn’t overpowered or strategically defeated – his jet pack was merely accidently engaged by a blind and scared Han Solo.

Looking beyond the box’s blurb, the figurine is quite nice. Boba Fett is sculpted in a fixed position that is scene on film seconds before his blaster is destroyed by Luke Skywalker. The figure stands 6 inches tall and is placed on a platform, which can be spun 360 degrees.

Boba Fett cannot be removed from the platform and is designed to be showcased, aimed more for older collectors.

The packaging is a clear cylinder with an opening for the platform’s dial, so it can be functional and beautifully displayed by collectors who prefer to keep their item in original packaging. However, Boba Fett is sculpted in such detail; I feel its best appreciated outside of the plastic.

The artist succeeds in creating a figure that, as far as I can tell, matches perfectly to Boba Fett’s armor and posture we see in Return of the Jedi. The paint job is applied well and also matches the tones and hues we see on film.

Add this figurine to your collection, click here to find sellers.