"Jabba ruled with fear. I intend to rule with respect.”
Boba Fett is one of the most extensively released characters in the Star Wars Black Series, appearing in the very first wave back in 2013. After a five-year gap following 2014’s Prototype Boba Fett release, the Black Series figures then kicked off again in 2019 with an Archive re-release of the original Boba Fett figure and then settled into a whole new era of Fett releases as Boba made his long-awaited return in The Mandalorian and then in his own series, The Book of Boba Fett.
2022 saw a number of Boba Fett releases taken from the Disney+ shows, including a Deluxe release of Fett in his recovered armour from The Mandalorian Season 2. That figure went on to be repainted and updated to the Throne Room Boba Fett in his fully restored armour that we saw assist Mando in the Season 2 finale and then take the Throne Room in Jabba’s palace from Bib Fortuna in the end credits scene moving us into The Book of Boba Fett series. Boba Fett (Throne Room) is a Deluxe release with the box using the same design principles and slanted side but with a wider frontage to accommodate the additional parts. The figure is the 2nd one of the Galaxy Collection Book of Boba Fett series, with the artwork leading on from the Fennec Shand figure released a few months earlier.
With a number of different looks available to Hasbro on the back of the Disney+ appearances, the new figure is designed with multiple looks in mind. The Throne Room Boba is identical to the armoured figure from the Tyhon Ruins - but with an updated belt and paint job. The belt and upper legs of both these figures are then shared with the Boba figures in his Tusken robes, and the scarred and aged Temura Morrison head used on all the releases.
The Throne Room figure is designed, as per the look on screen, to depict Boba wearing his armour over the Tusken Robes. This is achieved with a torso overlaid with a softer plastic sleeve sculpted and then painted showing the armoured panels, but also the darker robes beneath. The arms similarly are cast in the dark colour of the robes with the armoured shoulders cast in their own yellow plastic and fitted on top. The legs are a dark brown plastic with the joints designed to be disguised by the flow of the fabric and with only a hint of the armour showing via the lower legs with further added mustard yellow armoured panels at the knees. The look is finished with a softer plastic skirt and belt piece with painted buckle detailing. The paintwork is crisp throughout and includes some battle damage around the armour as well as applied decals on the chest and the left shoulder pauldron.
Boba’s Jet Pack is packed separately and connects to the body by way of three pins that slot into holes on the back of the figure. The fit is poor and the pack is easily dislodged from the figure with the pegs on the pack not long enough to get through the softer plastic sleeve of the torso to the harder shell beneath. It is cast in green plastic with yellow, red and silver details added in paint. The lower rocket boosters do rotate and can accept some of the blast effect pieces predominantly seen on Marvel Iron-Man figures, but with a version also used in the Black Series for the Imperial Dark Troopers. The main rocket can also detach if you want to display Boba having fired this main weapon.
The head is a good likeness to Temura Morrison, and endeavours to replicate the scarring we see him with from his time in the Sarlac Pit. While the sculpt is impressive, as is the initial photo-real decor to bring out the eyes and facial features, this scarring does not work having simply been applied as white paint. This ends up looking like Boba has been painting a wall rather than imitating the scarring we see on screen.
We can of course cover this up with the removable Mandalorian helmet. This is cast in green with burgundy painted markings, a black painted visor, darker green panels around the side and the left side orange markings applied as decals considering how neat they are. We also get battle damage and weathering with the dent in place as it should be, and some silver scratches along the face of the helmet. The fit onto the head is secure without being too tight, and the helmet also includes an articulated range finder to give some further posing features when Boba is displayed with his helmet in place.
The figure itself features 21 points of articulation, picking up a couple more than we usually see thanks to a boot cut swivel beneath the knee armour. The legs are, as we mentioned, designed to incorporate the articulation into the robes but still retain movement to gully bend the knees and widen the hip position. The upper body, supported by a waist swivel and butterfly joints in the shoulders, can utilise any of the included weapons as well as being posed aiming the wrist rockets, flamethrower or grappling arm - although none of these accessories are included, despite being available from the Return of the Jedi Deluxe Boba release.
Despite the figure's Deluxe status, there are just two other accessories outside of the helmet and jetpack. These are Boba’s blaster, and his EE-13 Blaster Rifle. Both of these lack any crisp detail in the sculpt, a pity considering how good the Blaster Rifle in particular was in the ROTJ set. Paintwork is restricted only to a dull brown on the handle with no added paintwork to give a metallic finish on top of the dull grey plastic. These fit into Boba’s right hand where a trigger finger holds them in place. The blaster can also be holstered by way of an open holster on the right hip. The larger Rifle can also be placed into a two-handed pose and a number of firing positions are available for both weapons.
There are no particularly significant issues with this Boba Fett release which realises the rearmoured Boba as we find him at the end of The Mandalorian Season 2 heading into The Book of Boba Fett. Sculpt is pretty accurate and well proportioned, paint apps and decals are good, and the articulation works well enough. The issue is that this doesn’t quite give the value for money we’d expect from a Deluxe release. These more expensive Deluxe figures are priced this way due to either size, paint complexity, or sheet volume of accessories and for me, this Boba doesn’t tick any of these boxes. In fact, we got a Tusken Robes boba with more weapons as a standard release. The figure really needed some value-adding accessories, and none of them needed to be new as they could have been transposed over from the Deluxe Return of the Jedi Boba - which did build up the contents of the set with flame effects, extra weapons, and a grappling accessory - and we could have also had the thruster effects from the Dark Trooper added in to fit into a Jet Pack that appears to have been made to accept them or something similar.
Fans have voted with their wallets on this release, and it hasn’t sold overly strongly - turning up currently at deep discount retailers some 12 months after its release. Fans of Boba Fett will not be disappointed with the figure, particularly at the currently reduced prices, it just should never have been Deluxe without considerably more parts.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
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