Boba Fett (The Pit Of Carkoon) - SW [S - P2] - Basic (’03 #08)

The Empire prepares to crush the Rebellion with a second, more powerful Death Star. As the Rebel fleet mounts a massive attack on the dreaded space station, Luke Skywalker confronts his father, Darth Vader, in a climactic duel before the evil Emperor. In the last second, Vader makes a momentous choice: he destroys the Emperor and saves his son. The Empire is finally defeated, the evil Sith are destroyed, and Anakin Skywalker is redeemed. At long last, freedom is restored to the galaxy.

Part of the entourage accompanying Jabbe 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.

As Solo is freed from the carbonite but still suffering from blindness, he swings a vibro-axe into Fett's jetpack, forcing him into flight and out of control. (Star Wars "Saga" Phase III additional text)

Any new Boba Fett figure in any give basic figure line is a wonderful and interesting addition, right? That may not be the full sentiment for Hasbro’s 2003 Star Wars “Saga” interpretation. Boba Fett (The Pit Of Carkoon) comes with a few too many special features that not only affect the integrity of the sculpt, but also prove to be completely unnecessary. At this stage of the game, when Hasbro revisits a classic character like this, all that adult collectors want to see is a solid sculpt with as much meaningful articulation as possible added. Sadly, Hasbro had more kids in mind for this release and while we have to commend Hasbro for keeping a non-exposed appearance of the action features, it is impossible to completely forget they are there. What you’re left with is more of a fun-and-games styled Boba Fett who you can make look good on a display shelf. As far as play value is concerned however, you’re truly limited to what you can do with him. Boba Fett (The Pit Of Carkoon) does have a few redeeming qualities and we’ll address them all, but you may walk away from this action figure thinking why would Hasbro attempt a long-awaited update to the most famous bounty hunter of all time like this. And then again, maybe you’ll enjoy it for what it is. We remain on the fence with this version of Boba Fett and we imagine we won’t be alone on this side of the assessment. With a nice amount of articulation and some cool accessories, there should be something for everyone here. But you’ll probably just have to forget about referring to this figure as a definitive version, because it’s nowhere near that status.

There is no denying that Boba Fett (The Pit Of Carkoon) looks very nice. That much is sure. His helmet is in perfect proportion to his body and even his arms, which are ridden with action features, fit in well with the rest of sculpt. He is decently articulated. Boba Fett comes with a swivel head (with a bonus swivel rangefinder), two swivel shoulders, two swivel elbows, a swivel waist, two swivel hips, a hinge-jointed right knee and a ball-jointed left ankle. That’s an impressive 11 points of articulation that don’t obstruct the continuity of the sculpt or really affect its aesthetics in any meaningful way. Sure, we haven’t forgotten about the action feature, but that is activated by his jetpack. So as far as Boba Fett (The Pit Of Carkoon) looks from the front, you should have very little to complain about here. Boba Fett is painted a little too brightly. In fact, he has been released in two distinct paint jobs, both of which are technically incorrect as far as we’re concerned. The first release sported a light baby blue jumpsuit. The revised version sports a mint green colored version. Again, both are not accurate as he really wore a jumpsuit that was colored gray. Boba Fett (The Pit Of Carkoon) was released in phase II and phase III of the Star Wars “Saga” line look and both colors can be found in both styles of packaging. For those keeping track, that means you have to buy this figure four times if you want to secure each paint variation on each card back style. This action figure is meant to be played with so it makes sense why Hasbro wasn’t too concerned about getting the colors 100% correctly for this release. Remember that this is meant to be for kids, and there are certainly enough things for collectors to enjoy about it as well.

Perhaps the biggest surprise here is the environmental display base that comes with Boba Fett (The Pit Of Carkoon). A large “flame” action figure stand has been included. What makes this especially nice is that the rockets on Boba Fett’s jet pack plug in beautifully to the “flame posts” that make up the highest portion of the “flames” and Boba Fett (The Pit Of Carkoon) can be perched on top of it to help recreate the scene in Return Of The Jedi when he gets thrown off course thanks to Han Solo’s force pike bump. We have to tell you that this version of Boba Fett looks fantastic with the flames display base. He really does. This is why we feel that as a displayed action figure that this should resonate with collectors…. even a little bit. Between the excellently sculpted portions of him to the accessories, there is something her to be appreciated. Boba Fett (The Pit Of Carkoon) also comes with a blaster rifle and blast effect. These accessories are less enthralling, but they help to complete his character and therefore they’re appreciated. You really do get a nice amount of plastic with this basic figure release, and it’s quite amazing that Hasbro is able to cost it all out for less than five dollars. Will Boba Fett (The Pit Of Carkoon) be the consummate Boba Fett action figure? We would have to claim absolutely not. But you have to appreciate it from a completely different angle. This is a kids’ toy and it’s a fun one. Boba Fett (The Pit Of Carkoon) may not be the action figure you expected, but there is no denying that it looks good, from a certain point of view, and has been made in a way to appeal to both kids and collectors of the Star Wars basic figure line.