For ten , the infamous Firespray-31 of Boba Fett — and his father before him , Jango — has been known as the Slave 1 . But as Boba himself isthrust back into the Star Wars spot , that name might not be coming with him , thanks to a policy that ’s latterly been made rather prominent itself .
Boba Fett ’s return to the spot has been with us for a while now , as the character , who was uncover to have live his issue of the Jedi encounter with the sarlacc , appeared in the second season of The Mandalorian last twelvemonth . Now , as Boba prepares forhis own spinoff Disney+ show in The Book of Boba Fett , and plays major roles in effect likeMarvel ’s War of the Bounty Hunters , one of Star war most recognizable designs has returned to be a major force forthe enfranchisement ’s other keen lovebeyond its own continuity : toys
But that toyetic aspect of Boba — from a generation ofwould - be firing rocket packsall the way to thelatest action figures — may have now revealed an aspect of the reference ’s chronicle that might be on its way out , in one form or another . This retiring weekend , Lego revealed three new Star Wars playsetsinspired by the second time of year of The Mandalorian : Moff Gideon ’s Imperial cruiser , an Imperial shipping Marauder speeder , and a new $ 50 set based on Slave 1 . Except it does n’t stockpile that name . Instead , the set was simply titled “ Boba Fett ’s Starship”—a name that sparked newsperson at Star Wars and Lego sitesJedi NewsandBrickset , respectively , to ask Lego designers Jens Kronvold Frederiksen and Michael Lee Stockwell about the intentionality behind the name change . After all , sometimes Lego Star Wars set receive title modification , either to avoid spoiler in progress of a project ’s release , or sometimes due to legal issues — last year , a trademark difference of opinion pencil lead to the toymakerrebranding its Razor Crest playsetas “ The Mandalorian Bounty Hunter Transport ” in European markets , for model .
Boba Fett deploys a seismic charge from his starship in the second season of The Mandalorian.Screenshot: Lucasfilm
But the name alteration for Slave 1 — whichlast receive a Lego setunder that name as part of the company ’s jubilation of 20 year of Star Wars Lego playsets in 2019 — is supposedly for a unlike reason all : a authorisation from Disney to move away from the ship name in future stigmatization . “ We ’re not calling it Slave I any more . This is Boba Fett ’s spaceship , ” Stockwell tell apart journalists after the reveal , with Frederiksen add together that the insurance stretched beyond Lego itself . “ Everybody is [ changing the name ] . It ’s probably not something which has been annunciate publicly but it is just something that Disney does n’t want to employ any more . ”
While hard worker and thraldom still live as part of the Star Wars world ’s narrative ( two examples that touch upon the subject subject : Anakin Skywalker ’s backstoryin The Phantom Menace , andThe Bad Batch revisit Clone Wars slaver villainsthe Zygerrians ) , distance from the Slave 1 name in merchandise perhaps makes sensory faculty from Lucasfilm ’s perspective . The awkwardness of itbeen the butt of a few jokes over the year , but now Boba Fett is once again a major player in Star Wars persistence , even more so than he was at the height of his Expanded Universe popularity perhaps , thanks to his homecoming in The Mandalorian . With his own live activity series to come later this year ( and , inextricably linked to Star Wars as always , the ream of merchandise that will descend out of that show ) , having a starring hero’s — well , anti - hero’s — principal vessel named Slave 1 is going to be problematic . It ’s not the first fourth dimension that Star Wars has endeavor to distance itself from “ Slave ” for branding design , either . Princess Leia ’s bikini costume from the opening act of Return of the Jedi has been touch to as “ Slave Leia ” for years , but back in 2015 there were reports that Disney was looking to press back fromboth the name and merchandiseof Leia in the outfit , leading tocommentary from Carrie Fisher herself . Inthe 2016 novel Bloodline , the moment is impart a young name in the form of the deed of conveyance “ Huttslayer , ” a reference to a substantial - world push to rebrand the “ Slave Leia ” full term .
While the news has puff ire this weekend from certain grouping of Star Wars rooter — rallying arounda tweet from Mark Anthony Austin , a VFX artist who physically portrayed Fett in textile lend to a single scene in the Special Edition of Star Wars : A New Hope — the move toward not straight off referring to Slave 1 appear to have been in the whole kit and boodle for as long as Boba ’s plotted return , to varying stage . The official site ’s wiki - esque Star Wars databank , for instance , look up to the ship as striver 1 in the header , but in its URL as “ Boba Fett ’s Starship . ”When the ship made its return alongside Boba inThe Mandalorian sequence “ The Tragedy”last year , it was never explicitly referred to by its name despite score outstanding appearances . Since then , further Star Wars cloth has been similarly half - and - one-half . Theongoing Marvel Star Wars comic consequence series , War of the Bounty Hunters , where the ship has appear multiple times , have-to doe with to it exclusively as ‘ [ Boba ’s ] ship , ’ while in last year’sEmpire Strikes Back : From a sure Point of View anthology , the ship is explicitly referred to as Slave I multiple times .
Image: Lego
It ’s also a move that ’s been happening on Star Wars merchandise in the backdrop even before Lego direct addressed it this past weekend with similarly mixed effect . Hasbro ’s recentStar Wars : The Vintage Collection exit of the shiprefers to it as Slave 1 on promotion , as does aShopDisney sole “ Toybox ” variant of the vas , whilean upcoming modeling outfit re - issue from MPCdesignates it “ Boba Fett ’s Starship . ” InTopps ’ digital Star Wars trading add-in app , cards based on pre - Mandalorian appearances of the vas refer to it as Slave 1 , while cards released more recently either use “ the ship ” terminology or trip the light fantastic around appoint the watercraft .
For all the perceived cult around Lego ’s discussion surrounding the ship as a young , active determination by Disney to vary the name , it ’s clear that while not only has this “ insurance policy ” been in the whole kit and boodle for a while , it ’s also one that has not yet been definitively implemented one way or another . What ’s ill-defined currently is if a canonic name change for the ship will appear down the line , or if Star Wars intersection will commit to dance around Slave 1 as a championship for the foreseeable futurity . When io9 reached out ahout the situation to Lego , Disney , and Lucasfilm — the latter specifically to discuss whether or not Slave 1 as a name would be withdraw narratively rather than just in Star Wars merchandising — the companies did not respond to multiple requests to remark . We ’ll update this post if we hear more .
Whether this insurance policy remains strictly circumscribed to merchandise rather than Boba ’s future story stay on to be ascertain , but there ’s not really a reason for Slave 1 to have its name in Disney ’s version of Star Wars canyon right now , anyway . In Legends continuity , Boba ’s father , Jango , was sold into slavery as a young man following a conflict with the Jedi on Galidraan , and constitute his 2nd ship hard worker Iduring the events of the video plot Star Wars : Bounty Hunter when he acquired it furrow down a prey during a prison orgy , details of which have yet to be re - entered into the current persistence timeline . And if they do n’t , Boba could just as easy want to keep using the name in Book of Boba Fett , or change it out of a desire to make it his own , or honor his Padre some other way , having now reclaim his family armour in The Mandalorian . Without that specific connection , Slave 1 just becomes a ship name , and those are just write in Isidor Feinstein Stone — not even on the toy box .
Slave 1’s entry on the official Star Wars website databank. Note the highlighted URL, which reads “Boba Fett’s Starship”.Screenshot: StarWars.com/Gizmodo
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Screenshot: Topps (Fair Use)
Screenshot: Topps (Fair Use)
