Jango Fett’s Slave I - SW [DV/ROTS] - Vehicles

Jango Fett flees Kamino in his ship Slave I to escape from Obi-Wan Kenobi. Slave I is a highly modified Firespray-class patrol and attack ship originally used in law enforcement, then rebuilt by Fett for bounty hunting. The ship's shield generators, sensor systems, and concealed weapons make it an ideal craft for the bounty hunter to track his prey – or escape his pursuer.

It was a BITTER pill to swallow when collectors realized that the “Class II” vehicles line was going to be dramatically altered. 2013, in general, was a nightmare for both Hasbro and collectors, but when the salvaged merchandise from the Star Wars [Yoda/Attack Of The Clones] line finally made it out of Hasbro’s factories, collectors were astounded by the direction the line was heading. Three vehicles were part of the inaugural launch of “dumbed down” vehicles, Jango Fett’s Slave I being one of them. Now it has been carried forward and reissued in the Star Wars [Darth Vader/Revenge Of The Sith] line look with as much disappointment as the version created. In an era where Hasbro has expressed a need to keep tooling costs at an all-time low, they ironically found it fit to develop three all-new tools for the first wave of the reduced-scale vehicles line and charging the same price that they would for all the vehicles they already have parts for in their vault. Instead of going back to larger and more “in scale” vehicles that were designed years ago, they spent the time, money and energy to create a line of vehicles that looks about 50% as big as their “normal-scaled” counterparts. The change in direction is nearly laughable and frustrating at the same time. What makes this even more difficult is that it’s evident Hasbro spent some time developing and adding as much quality detail that they could here, so why not refresh what exists instead of trying to reinvent the wheel?

At face value, the detail etched into these vehicles is pretty cool, but it’s the size of these vehicles that will make you scratch your head. Frustratingly, Jango Fett’s Slave I vehicle looks rather fantastic from a distance. But as you hold the vehicle in your hand, you may puzzle yourself into thinking that you’re holding a Class I vehicle in your hands by mistake. This is a mini-rig version of the classic Original Trilogy and Prequel Trilogy vehicle. Frankly, all is not entirely lost in the new Class II assortment. The paint jobs are quite gorgeous. Jango Fett’s Slave I has been given the royal treatment and both the colors and accentuated details will impress even the most negative collector. Three decals accompany the vehicle and are almost unnecessary in the light of the painted details given to this toy. If you turn the vehicle upside down, it truly looks like a miniature replica of the awesome Slave I that came as part of 2010’s TCW [SOTDS] The Rise Of Boba Fett Ultimate Battle Packs set. Nothing was held back with regards to detail. Unfortunately, if you see them together, the first thing that will come to mind is that the size difference is comparable to a mother whale and baby whale somewhere in the ocean. That is how distinctly different their sizes are indeed. It’s aggravating, it’s frustrating, and it’s something that saddens us, to say the least. Yes, our discontent for these is redundant, but sometimes things have to be repeatedly said to become poignant. It’s easier to forgive Jedi starfighters in this line. it’s not so easy to forgive this Slave I.

The 2013 version of Jango Fett’s Slave I vehicle comes with three features. The wings pivot (and without the ease of its larger ancestors we’d like to add), the cockpit opens up and a missile fires via an action feature at the bottom of the ship. OK, so that’s a decent amount of play value for a vehicle of this size, but there isn’t a removable hatch or door, and there are no bombs to drop out of the hull. All that’s here is on the surface, and that doesn’t make playtime engaging and exciting as far as we're concerned. It just reinforces to us that this was the completely wrong direction to go for the Class II vehicle assortment. As you can see in our photo gallery, we tried multiple figures of varying size to situate them in the pilot’s seat. Figures of all sizes fit well inside, but just forget about the option of posing a secondary figure in there with them. It is just not going to happen. It looks like Hasbro has unintentionally alienated collectors once again by taking the vehicle line in this direction. Kids and collectors know what they’ve done in the past. We’re not this “stupid” for lack of a better word. What puzzles us is that we were offered a Slave I vehicle in the 80s that had a ton more bells and whistles. Also, wasn’t getting a Han Solo in carbonite “figure” the main reason to even get a Slave I? And wasn't it kids (and NOT collectors) buying/wanting this awesome toy back in the day? Times have changed, but we hope that Hasbro can keep some of the magic alive with the “adult” vehicles they plan to release as exclusives. Otherwise, the love for the line may one day be lost completely.