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Boba Fett's Slave I gained iconic status in The Empire Strikes Back even though it has quite an understated presence. We first catch a glimpse of it drifting off after the Star Destroyer's garbage behind the Millennium Falcon in the aftermath of the escape from Hoth and then in the shootout on Bespin with Boba Fett fleeing with his carbonite prize.

Find Vintage Slave I on eBay

Would this ship ever have had the same iconic status without the wonderful Kenner Slave I ship? I doubt it. The vintage Kenner Slave I has a great design and an unmistakable shape and this was something which became much more apparent when we got our hands on the toy and started whizzing it around the living room staging makeshift dog fights with the family cat, budgie or poodle. Like Darth Vader's Star Destroyer this had a convenient handle underneath for picking it up and mimicking space flight. With the re-emergence of this ship in The Attack of the Clones we saw the aggressive little sky bug start to fulfil its potential as a formidable and agile galactic warship.

I wonder if we'll see Slave I again. In Episode 6 (The Return of the Jedi), Boba Fett meets his tragi-comic end in the gullet of the Sarlaac and Jabba, his sail barge and all his courtiers fall under lightsaber, blaster and explosion but presumably Slave I is still parked safely in a space port somewhere not too far away. This offers the perfect opportunity for its resurrection in Episode IX (Episode VIII The Last Jedi flouts tradition and gives us no new bounty hunters in the second episode of the Trilogy, but it would still be nice to see Slave I again). Will we encounter another Mandalorian warrior at the helm perhaps?

Or, like the Millennium Falcon, will it have been stolen by some Jakku 'ner-do-well' like Unkar Plutt? Or, perhaps even Bossk has gotten his paws on it. Let's face it he could never go far in CAP2 which was at best a short distance, close combat ship and at worst a clumsy low-rent JCB on an alien construction site. I like to suspect that we may just see Slave I again and it will indeed be piloted by another Mandalorian. The brief debate between Hux and Ren in Episode VII over the advantages of using clones over conditioned troops does tease us with the prospect of cloning coming up again and, since Jango Fett provided the original genetic blueprint for the clone troopers, it's easy to suspect we might see a repeat attempt to clone an army from Mandalorian stock in the latest trilogy.

As for the vintage Kenner Slave I ship, there are three main removable parts to the vehicle, the side door, the back ramp and the Han Solo Carbonite Block. The latter two are the ones most usually missing from these vintage ships and the carbonite block is most easily replaceable - I suspect because it often found its way into figure collections which were stored away separately. The carbonite block was a really good addition to Slave I and meant not only could we act out Bespin scenes with a frozen Han Solo. When the Return of the Jedi came along it meant we also had a nice carbonite ornament to adorn Jabba's Palace.

The most prized piece of the Kenner Slave I ship now, however, is the black back hatch / ramp cover. This seems to have gone missing on many of the vintage Slave I ships and if it is present this can almost double the price of Boba Fett's space ship.

For the bottom carbonite block photo I used half of a clear cocktail stick holder to support the block being pushed along by the Bespin Guard and then Photoshop-ed out the reflections to make it look like it's floating. As you can see from the first photo it is possible for two Bespin Guards to support the block from either side but this doesn't look as good and isn't as true to the scene in The Empire Strikes Back.

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All Star Wars action figures, vehicles, collectibles and Star Wars toys shown on this website are the 3.75 inch scale and from my own private Star Wars collection unless otherwise stated. Where possible original vintage accessories have been used but in some instances I have placed Kenner Star Wars figures with either reproduction weapons and accessories or for Hasbro figures close approximations have been used. This is mostly the case for modern Star Wars lightsabers where the correct item can be very difficult to identify on some ocassions. Vintage Star Wars action figures are shown with their original weapon or accessory when I have them. When a vintage Kenner action figure is shown with an accessory which is not original I have tried to point this out where possible.

All of the Star Wars action figures shown were purchased second hand, usually incomplete, and in bulk. They have been reunited with their original weapons and accessories where we could get hold of them.

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