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Review: LEGO Boba Fett (75455)
If you love LEGOs and Boba Fett, then this is for you.
Generally, I just buy my LEGOs online during the insider pre-order window and to make sure I get the GWPs (gift with purchase). However, this LEGO Boba Fett (75455) didn’t have a pre-order window or a GWP so I went to the LEGO store on release day. Having never done that before I need to shout out Lauren and Eric at the Syracuse LEGO store for making it a breeze because I didn’t know there were close to 100 sets (allegedly) dropping that day across all the licensing and themes. Also, big ups to the dude that came out and took my order and had it ready at the counter when I was finally let into the store. Sorry I didn’t get your name, but I appreciate you pulling me a pristine box.
So lets start with the box! Gorgeous art highlighting Boba from multiple angles, and a first for me a telescope style box. Yes, I had to google the box style. I’m used to clamshells for the UCS stuff I buy so this was a nice change. This also turned out to be my first set with paper bags for the pieces instead of plastic. I can get with the change, I save all the bags anyway cause I’m that guy, but I appreciate the environmental concerns. The instructions were in a large paper envelope, not the first time for me but another big positive to keep them from getting bent or folded while loose in the box. Speaking of loose in the box, the two specialty pieces for the belt and gauntlet hose were not bagged, and neither was the sticker sheet. Not a lot of stickers on this set and they’re small so be on the lookout for that when you open it.
As has become custom there’s some background about the set and the character in the beginning of the instructions. I give a lot of credit to the designers for acknowledging upfront in the instructions about how many variations of Boba’s armor there is. There’s some interesting picture choices as well, some art, some live action. Young Daniel Logan picking up Jango’s helmet made the cut, and Boba is depicted emerging from the sand outside the Sarlaac in a piece of concept art rather than a screen grab from the show. Another fun feature is a progress bar across the bottom of all the pages with a Boba mini-figure slowly marching across the pages as you progress through the build.
On to the build. If you’re a regular builder this goes fast. LEGOs move toward bagging pieces by build component over the years has really simplified and sped up the build process. If anyone has built the UCS ISD 10030 you’ll know what I mean. 3,000+ mostly light grey pieces bagged without any rhyme or reason related to the build! Anyway, this build goes from the ground up as you may have expected. It starts with the structural template of the base and then moves on to the legs. The bottom of the feet are built into the base which gives the figure a lot of rigid strength and makes it surprisingly well balanced despite it’s height and weight. After building the “skeleton” of the legs and waist and attaching them to the base we move on to detailing the base, boots, and legs. The designers did a great job of detailing the shins to include the tool pockets and hint of tools. The pieces they chose to represent the tools do a good job of mimicking a couple as well as show off the variety of what he keeps down there. The knee pads look great as well, although they are perfectly symmetrical when it come to the darts. I’m not versed enough in LEGO to know if there’s a piece that could better represent the single cone instead of four open barrels. The fact that the knee pads have pieces representing the straps around the back of the knee makes up for any discrepancy to screen accuracy and is a great touch. The knees themselves look articulated but are not due to the feet being locked into the base. The thigh pouches are also well represented.
Next comes the torso, a rather interesting build itself with multiple techniques to shape and strengthen the attachments. We add the stomach plate, shoulder/back plate and the center “diamond” which brings us to the first sticker. Also added are the belt, a specialty piece to which attaches both the hip pouches as well as the center belt pouches. Getting all the pouches attached to the belt and hanging at similar angles without sticking up weird was probably the most tedious part of the build. We also add the Wookiee braids which I found to be a clever use of pieces as well.
Next is the left arm. The shoulder pad features a Mythosaur sticker, and we find a good deal of articulation. The arms swivel at the shoulders, bicep, and wrist as well as flexing at the elbow. All four fingers and thumb also open and close independently. With the exception of some detailing on the gauntlets the right arm is a mirror image of the left arm. Give the size there’s very little detailing on the gauntlets but what is there is recognizable. I appreciate the designer’s wanting to incorporate the hosing but I feel that’s the weakest design element of the overall figure, connecting from the top of his gauntlet to his backplate. The hose does not impede the articulation in any way so it’s a case of function over form.
Next up is the infamous bucket. A pretty straightforward build that comes together neatly. There are two stickers to help detail his visor that require a lot of attention if you want this to look real good. They need to line up to the bottom and outside edge respectively or you’ll find gaps in the detailing. I wonder if they could have just left them out. The stickers ad some accuracy to the shape of the t-visor against the surrounding red, but I don’t know that anyone would fault them for skipping the stickers and leaving the visor as a square cornered “T”. There are some bricks hidden inside the top of the dome representing the all white Prototype armor as well as the Holiday Special colors in the mini-est of mini builds. The detailing on the dome itself is printed thankfully so no need to fret over lining up the kill stripes. The rangefinder looks great and is also articulated.
After that we add the cape, jet pack, and breast plates which include the last two stickers. The jet pack maybe could have been a little thicker, but the width is right and the shape and coloring is wonderfully designed. I’m curious about the cape, it’s more tan than green, almost the lighter tone of the ESB cape. I’d love to know if they we’re limited in color as this cape seems like it would be a special piece just for this set. Or possibly chosen to match existing materials for the mini figure cap?
Which brings us to the last bag of blaster, title stand, and mini-fig. My favorite part of the blaster is that the barrel detailing is just tires stacked along an axle. The mini-fig looks fantastic too, however I am slightly disappointed we still got the Jango arena jetpack mold. I thought this might be the occasion that they finally mold up or remold Boba’s jetpack. We had a glimpse of back in ’00 when Slave I set 7144 came out. It had the right jetpack design except it was molded as one piece with the helmet. If you haven’t seen that mini fig the helmet had the t visor cut out and you put it over a black cylinder piece for the head. But ever since AOTC it’s been arena jetpacks for everyone.
Overall, I love this set. I stood him up next to my Hot Toys 1/4 ROTJ Boba and they look pretty good together. A lot of the coloring is close, and you can see the effort LEGO put into the detailing. It would have been cool if they’d thrown in the extra pieces to do an ESB version but that’s easy enough to do on my own now that I have the template. Someday, anyway. I’ll be curious to see how long until LEGO retires this, but if you love LEGO and bought this set it’s a must build.
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