Toybox REVIEW: Star Wars Black Series Boba Fett (In Disguise)

Release Date: July 2022

RRP: $33.99/£38.99

If Hasbro are ever in doubt about what to release as a convention exclusive, they can always be sure that a Boba Fett variant will go down well. Not only is his Mandalorian armour one of the most iconic designs in all of Star Wars, but there are so many colour variants that it'll be a while before Hasbro run out of options. For 2022's San Diego Comic Con Hasbro turned their attention toward the more recent Marvel Comics, releasing the Black Series Boba Fett (In Disguise) as both an SDCC and fan-channel exclusive. Based on the War of the Bounty Hunters comic event from 2021, the story sees Boba don an all-black look to enter fighting pits after a complication arises in delivering Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt.

"When complications arise in the delivery of Han Solo frozen in carbonite to Jabba the Hutt, Boba Fett must strike a deal with Doc Ragon to ensure Han makes it to Tatooine in one piece. As payment, Doc asks Fett to kill a local fighting pit warrior - Wyrmen Lictor. Fett must disguise himself with nano-spray paint so he can enter the fighting arena and kill Lictor without suffering the repercussions of his task being recognised."

Make no mistakes there are a lot of bad things to say about this release, so it's nice to start this review off with something positive - the packaging of Black Series Boba Fett (In Disguise) is fantastic. It's been done in the same book-style boxes as the recent Legends/Expanded Universe figures, but with each bit of artwork being given a lavish foil finish for extra "exclusive" pizazz. The front of the box features the War of the Bounty Hunters Alpha 1 Director's Cut cover image, showing Boba's new look off in all its glory alongside his weapons of choice. The image of Boba is repeated on the main spine of the box, while the other side features various panels from the comic in silver foil. The back of the box then features the standard cover artwork for the Alpha 1 comic - however it is the variant version (featuring the all-black look) as opposed to the standard cover which has Boba's standard colouring. Open the velcro-sealed box up and the "inside cover" features a nice big panel from the comic alongside a short bio explaining the comic's plot, while the figure itself is visible on the opposite side. Note that unlike the initial book-box figures the figure is not housed on a plastic tray, so once it's freed from it's string-tied prison you will not be able to securely store it in there again. MISB collectors probably couldn't care less, but it's definitely something to consider if you usually open your figures but particularly like this kind of packaging.

This Boba Fett variant is once again a repaint of the original 2013 Empire Strikes Back figure, and as far as a "disguise" goes it's pretty questionable just how effective it is. Sure the landscape of the Star Wars universe has changed so much now that there were probably lots of Mandalorians running around during the reign of the Empire, but it's hard to look at this and not just seen Boba Fett painted all in black. From the various dents in the armour to the Wookie Braids and shoulder cape, all the iconic visual cues of Fett's armour are still present. Regardless, this is how it was presented in the comic so it's how I'd expect for it to be presented here as well. As far as accuracy goes it does the job, but it is incredibly bland. One of the big appeals of Fett's armour is the colouring (as well as the significant level of battle damage/wear and tear) and that's all been lost here - it's just head to toe black plastic without any additional paint detailing whatsoever. If Hasbro were smart they would have based this figure off of the Giuseppe Camuncoli & Arif Prianto variant cover instead - adding those splashes of bright pink blood to give it some additional colour. Of course, that would probably made the figure even more expensive even though there shouldn't be any paint budget here to begin with. As I say - it does the job but it's certainly the least remarkable of the Boba Fett variants Hasbro have released, and certainly not a patch on 2019's SDCC exclusive Boba Fett offering.

While the Empire Strikes Back Boba Fett figure might be dated, in terms of sculpting and proportions it's still a fairly solid release. It's only when you look at the articulation that it really begins to show its age. This has been discussed several times on the blog already but here we are doing it for a fourth time, so here goes. Altogether Boba features;

- Ball jointed head, waist and hips

- Swivel hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists and ankles

- Double hinge knees

- Right bicep and thigh swivels

It all sounds good on paper, but executed in plastic so much of this release just does not work. There's no additional neck movement (just the head itself), the arms can barely raise outward because the fixed shoulder pads get in the way and the legs can barely move forward because of the huge pouches blocking the hip articulation. Admittedly some of this simply comes from the way Empire Boba was designed, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating. There isn't even a moveable range finder on this mould! One weird bit of articulation I'm grateful for however is the additional right bicep swivel, which means the cable protruding out of the right gauntlet stops there rather than carrying on all the way up the arm - meaning far less chance of breakage.

Accessories are the one area this figure might have some wider appeal outside of the deco, because surprisingly it isn't the usual Boba Fett affair we have here. While his Sacros K-11 blaster pistol is still present and correct, the EE-3 Carbine Rifle has been replaced with the battle axe Fett uses in the Kanji Hutts' arena in the War of the Bounty Hunters storyline. It's a long staff axe with a W-shaped blade, as well as a circular pommel on the other end. Both accessories are moulded in black plastic, and like the figure itself lack any additional paint detailing. While it might not be a particularly elaborate or detailed weapon, there is a certain appeal to getting a Boba figure that has a proper melee weapon as opposed to the usual assortment of blasters. It's also considerably easier to get the figure to hold it/pose well than the rifle too, so that's definitely a plus. The inclusion of an all-new weapon is definitely one of the more notable aspects of the release, but between the age of the figure and the complete lack of paint detailing there's no way the axe alone is enough to justify that abysmal price tag.

While I've been fairly lenient on all the Boba Fett repaints Hasbro has churned out in the past, it's hard to see the Black Series Boba Fett (In Disguise) as more than the lowest of effort releases. While as an SDCC/fan channel exclusive may have been the perfect place to release this obscure (and still relatively recent) variant, it's literally just a really expensive all-black repaint of a decade old toy - it was dumb in the comic, and it's dumb here too. Touches like some pink blood splatter could have really help salvage the loss of detailing on the figure, but even then this would only ever be one for the most hardcore of Boba Fett fans. But hey, I'm one of those suckers who bought it (albeit not at full price) purely because it has an axe and a different colour so who am I to judge? At the end of the day it fits in really well with a Boba Fett variant collection (pairing particularly well with the white Prototype release), and for those interested in purchasing it I'm sure that's all that matters.