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It is almost universally agreed that the original vintage Kenner Boba Fett action figure was the best, coolest and most superlatively brilliant of the entire range of Kenner Star Wars figures from 1978 to 1985. From whence did this appeal come? Well first off Boba Fett was mostly purple (including the purple helmet) and second he had a red rocket on his back which looked suspiciously like the erection of a small dog. In short, the Boba Fett figure was the closest thing to a phallus of all the 3.75 inch Kenner action figures.

If the appeal of the 3.75 inch action figure is that it gives young boys something penis-like to grab hold of without grabbing hold of their own, then the Kenner Boba Fett figure perfected the genre. He was a little purple pocket rocket whom Freud would have written entire books about. In fact, when we look a little deeper, where does Boba Fett meet his end? His rocket gets accidentally fired off (along with its purple payload) into the vulva-like mouth of the Sarlaac in The Return of the Jedi. The imagery is just too glaringly sexual to put it any other way especially in a series of films renowned for their lack of genitals.

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By contrast, the other Kenner bounty hunters are just a collection of misshapen sickly looking specimens. Dengar is a stumpy, misshapen and bandaged potato penis and IG-88 a pointy-stick of a swivel-headed sex toy gone wrong. The Bossk figure has a little extra length but is pretty off-colour and 4-LOM and Zuckuss look slightly ashen as well in their beige and grey - hardly any competition for our perky purple rocket man. The virility of Boba Fett contrasts sharply with these lesser specimens.

As a child in The Attack of the Clones Boba seems a rather hard-faced secretive little boy, completely focussed on his father (obviously being cloned himself he has no mother). The relationship echoes that between Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader and between Han Solo and Ben Solo/ Kylo Ren. Father-son relationships are a trope that runs throughout the Star Wars movies with the notable exception of Anakin's immaculate conception. The early Star Wars films are essentially stories of male rites of passage from boy to man with Luke and Anakin as the central characters and then Kylo Ren / Ben Solo in The Force Awakens. The creation of Boba Fett as a clone son for Jango Fett serves as a backdrop to this and provides an interesting counter-point to the immaculate conception of Anakin - with Anakin lacking a father and Boba lacking a mother figure.

Ironically, the most phallic looking of all the Star Wars characters with his little red rocket and purple helmet is a clone who was created without sexual intercourse. However, having been created solely from a very masculine father Boba Fett represents masculinity condensed and personified and his phallic appearance might be regarded as a physical manifestation of this. As such the true irony resides in the manner of his death as he is plunged into the maw of a gigantic mother figure in the form of the vulva-like Sarlaac. Only in death does Boba Fett gain a mother figure and one that rather than protect him in her womb will digest him in her stomach over a thousand years; the direct inverse of his accelerated growth on Kamino prior to The Attack of the Clones. Between Boba's accelerated birth from only a father to his decelerated death with only a mother figure present it's all rather neatly done in terms of plot and poetic justice. And that's before we even get on to the contrasts with Anakin's origins from only a mother with no father.

It could even be argued that Boba Fett's death forms part of the process of balance being returned to the Force. Having been created as a by-product of the machinations of the Sith, he dies as a by-product of the machinations of a Jedi to free his friends. And, having been born in what is arguably an unbalanced and unnatural way, the balance is re-set by his death which introduces the mother who was missing at his birth. The Star Wars world is riddled with such creation stories and myths and that of C-3PO is also of great interest. See for instance my article on The Significance of C-3PO in the Star Wars Movies.

Note: It seems that in the Star Wars Expanded Universe (specifically the Dark Empire comics) Boba Fett actually survives the Sarlaac Pit. This is reflected by the packaging text on the Power of the Force Boba Fett with Wing Blast Rocket Pack which tells us that 'Sometime later, the notorious bounty hunter was spotted on Nar Shaddaa with a menacing-looking weapons pack.'

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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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