1979

Kenner

Rumor has it that only 100 of these were made, and only 15-30 are accounted for. These were never sold to the public. (Not talking about cheap bootlegs here.)

Two major variants exist: an "L"-slot rocket firing mechanism and a "J"-slot mechanism, based on the backwards shape of those letters.

Almost all of the prototypes are unpainted, blue figures. One version is known to have yellow legs.

The "L"-slot missiles have 4 distinctive "ribs," whereas the "J"-slot version has 8 distinctive ribs. Since this projectile separated from the figure, it's not necessarily paired with every prototype; some were lost.

None of the figures have a copyright stamp on the leg, like the regular release of this figure (which did not have a working, firing rocket).

Each prototype figure was loose, however, one version was shown carded at a Toy Fair expo.

Tomart's Action Figure Digest #20 has an authoritative write-up on the further back story.

Auction Sale Values

In July 2016, an L-slot with authentic 4-sided missile (AFA authenticated and encased on 12/12/03) sold for $19,632 (£15,000) at auction via Vectis.

In March 2018, an L-slot with an AFA grading of 85 sold for $86,383.47 at auction via Hake's Americana and Collectibles.

In November 2018, an L-slot with an AFA grading of 90 sold for a "best offer" of supposedly $145,000 (on a $185,000 asking price) via eBay thru seller k95zt01. The insight comes from collectors on The Imperial Commissary group on Facebook.

Links

* Rocket Firing Boba Fett (L-Slot Version) First Shot (TheSWCA.com)
* J-Slot Boba Fett (TheSWCA.com)
* Rocket Fett analysis by Chris Georgoulias (12Back.com)