Boba Fett - TFA - Armor Up (Desert)

Hired by some of the galaxy's most dangerous villains, bounty hunter Boba Fett delivers Han Solo to the notorious gangster Jabba the Hutt.

We won’t keep belaboring the point about how overpriced the Armor Up line of The Force Awakens figures are. Hopefully by now you get our standing on this whole thing. Simply put, it makes no sense to charge $14.99 for one action figure with a single accessory and one that makes the character screen inaccurate no less. We will do our best to move on now. The Boba Fett Armor Up figure may be one of the more successful figures in this lineup. After all, since when does any Boba Fett action figure sell poorly? And in all fairness, Hasbro has gotten a lot of their “crap” together when it comes to the paint operations on many of the latest The Force Awakens figures. Sure there are plenty of issues and misfires here and there, but on the whole, figures in the five points of articulation range have been looking pretty good. Boba Fett is no exception either. If you recall, Boba Fett was last released as 2013’s SW [DV/ROTS] Boba Fett (SL09) basic figure. That release wasn’t a completely terrible action figure, but the paint operations were severely lacking in that they made the figure look muddy and unfinished. Hasbro has completely revisited the way this figure has been decorated and the new paint job is a breath of fresh air. You’re able to appreciate the sculpt much more thanks to how well the figure was decorated.

In all honesty, we’re still a bit cloudy on how Hasbro has organized The Force Awakens line. Clearly, they have split up the figures and vehicles into four separate categories: Desert, Forest, Snow and Space. But what does this mean? And why does it cross beyond the Build A Weapon figures? Specifically, why is this organization influencing the vehicles and some of the more deluxe type of figures? Like, how is it tied to the Armor Up figures as well as the Class I and Class II vehicles (and beyond)? Maybe it has no relevance and it’s just the latest Hasbro gimmick. But our questions reaching out to Hasbro about this very thing have gone unanswered and there has been no official statement regarding The Force Awakens line, how it has been arranged and its lack of availability either. As a result, there are more questions than answers right now. (Hasbro didn’t even know Rebels action figures didn’t make it out a whole month after their release either. So we’re not surprised by this one bit.) With the Armor Up line, it’s going to be a love or hate relationship. And maybe there will be a facet of collectors that will remain indifferent to them. But we feel strongly that if Hasbro wants to get more popular figures or all-new figures, the Armor Up MSRP is certainly not the way to do this. It’s a quick cash grab for Hasbro as there are collectors who will buy anything with 3.75” action figures inside of the package.

Admittedly, the Armor Up accessory is a little more interesting for Boba Fett. The other characters in this line don’t work so well. And by the approach made with Boba Fett, it appears that Hasbro’s intent was to remain as faithful as possible to this Mandalorian bounty hunter by perhaps including an accessory that he may use off camera. (We know, it’s a stretch. The best way to look at this is just an extra play value add in for kids.) Still, we’re having a hard time buying what they’re selling, especially for the escalated price. As so many others have already pointed out, does Boba Fett really need more armor for his armor? And if he did would he need a “bantha skull” emblem emblazoned hugely on the center of his chest? Would he need even more weapons than the arsenal he already carries around? We think not to all of those questions and more. And today’s kids are more secular and in the know now, so we don’t think that they’ll overlook all of these gimmicky things either. So again, the Armor Up accessory is easy to mock as a completely unnecessary addition. It would have behooved Hasbro to sell Boba Fett as part of the Build A Weapon line to give those collectors and kids that missed Boba Fett the first time as a basic figure a second chance. It’s stuff like the Armor Up line that just makes us shake our heads. Why would Hasbro come up with something this ridiculous? There is no point. Star Wars fans just want basic figures without all of the gimmicks. This stuff was done during the POTF2 era. There is no need for it now.