Slave I - TFA - Vehicles (Class II) (Space)

Boba Fett flies his starfighter Slave I to Bespin as he tracks down the Millennium Falcon and a prized bounty: Han Solo.

You know what REALLY sticks in our craw? It’s when Hasbro indirectly acts like we never saw a vintage Star Wars vehicle or a modern Star Wars vehicle that was relatively to scale with the 3.75” line. How do we know that something like this actually transpires? Because they produce total and utter crap like 2016’s TFA Slave I vehicle. And just to be clear, it’s not like this is something new. This is the same vehicle they’ve been pushing since 2013 and have repainted a few times to make it Jango Fett specific first and then Boba Fett specific second. Ever since the inaugural release of this sculpt in 2013, there has been an ever-increasing dichotomy in the Star Wars collecting community and how they view these newly approached and dumbed-down Class II vehicles. There are staunch longtime collectors that will never embrace this ridiculously smaller scale, and then there are those who are more open and empathize with Hasbro that the reduced scale is necessary to keep the brand afloat. The “war” rages on and as hardcore collectors’ frustration boils over into nearly abandoning the hobby, others are finding that this is being done for a reason, but since there are empty promises that better things would be coming, now we’re all losing patience big time and are waiting for a revival in the Star Wars toy line.... especially with the vehicles. After multiple Slave I vehicles released throughout the years, especially including the 2013 TVC Slave I (Boba Fett’s Spaceship) Amazon exclusive, seeing a tiny version of the vehicle AGAIN seems ludicrous no matter how you slice it. We personally aren’t here to condemn Hasbro’s decision of what the Class II vehicles is now, but we just want to question a few things to see if this is really the wisest way to head. This direction is disconcerting no doubt, but is it really going to work and make things attractive to those who aren’t in the hardcore collector universe?

And to slap on an MSRP just a penny shy of $30 is nothing short of offensive. Hasbro, do you see how narrowly thin the box for the Slave I vehicle is? This is $19.99 WITH a pack-in figure. Come on now! Hasbro wasted no time repainting 2013’s SW [Y/AOTC] Jango Fett’s Slave I to bring everyone an Original Trilogy interpretation of the vehicle and originally released it in the 2013/2014 Star Wars [Darth Vader/Revenge Of The Sith] lineup. Now this vehicle has reared it’s ugly head once again for The Force Awakens line. It’s cutesy, it’s well designed (for a Micro Machines vehicle – NOT a Hasbro vehicle), and it would be a the perfect vehicle for a two-inch Star Wars action figure line if that were to exist. (Maybe we should shut up while we’re ahead.) In fact, the Boba Fett vintage figure that came inside of the 2013 Gentle Giant Ltd. Yoda (Holiday Edition) Jumbo Vintage Kenner Figure would be the perfect size figure to go along with Boba Fett’s Slave I. We don’t deny the amount of work that went into designing this vehicle. There is an inordinate amount of detail etched into the hull of Boba Fett’s spaceship as well as the underside. The size and lack of features are the issues for us. Hasbro needs to produce a vehicle assortment that falls within certain budgets, and they decided that a smaller scale and less play features was the route to take. Arguably, kids may not notice the size difference, and that may be the whole point. What we don’t understand however, if you alienate the devoted longtime followers of the Star Wars brand and those who have extra money to burn, doesn’t that translate into less sales because those people are “boycotting” the line? That’s a quandary that we just want to resolve. Boba Fett’s Slave I is simply decorated and the vehicle comes without any battle-damage markings. For the most part the vehicle is accurately painted but it looks like it came right off of the assembly without any wear or tear.

It is our opinion that the pack-in 3.75” Boba Fett action figure posed next the vehicle is comical. He is nearly as tall as the Slave I and when placed in the cockpit he looks very cramped. There is no removable side panel to reveal storage space and there is no Han Solo in Carbonite “figure/accessory” to accompany it because it would be too big to fit anywhere within it? So how does this befit kids? We clearly remember the play power of the original vintage Kenner Slave I vehicle. There is a huge amount of stuff “gone” with this release. Kids today aren’t getting anything close to what we got as kids in the 80s. A simple repack/slight repaint of 2013’s SW [DV/ROTS] Boba Fett (SL09) figure, Boba Fett brings absolutely nothing new to the table.... and adversely affects the Slave I by making it look even smaller than it is when posed next to it. Boba Fett comes with a removable jetpack and blaster rifle. Many aspects of the figure have good paint operations, but then Hasbro just left other parts completely unpainted which gives the overall impression of this figure a very uncompleted look. We are finding that many figures in this line are suffering from this lack of attention as well. Sadly, another release of this figure still hasn’t enabled Hasbro to perfect the paint operations of this figure. It’s a bit tricky, but his blaster rifle can be placed in both his left and right hands. With a little patience you should get both hands to function in this manner. Based on his appearance from The Empire Strikes Back, we suppose we can expect Hasbro to release a similar version of this character in the colors we saw him wear in Return Of The Jedi as well. If Hasbro doesn’t amortize these sculpts more often, isn’t the all-new tooling defeating the purpose then? Boba Fett can be placed inside of the cockpit of the Slave I vehicle. He still looks much too big for the vehicle, and you’re limited with how you situate him in the cockpit. But now we feel it’s high time to retire this vehicle. It has served its purpose and it’s time to move on from it.