Original Review by Chris, 10/6/14

The concept Boba Fett is the second release in the 30th Anniversary Collection Ralph McQuarrie Signature Series which saw one concept figure released per wave excluding the repaint wave.  Between being Boba Fett related and having special “Treasure Hunt” color coded packaging, fans compulsively grabbed this figure the second its j-hook touched the peg. Sometimes earlier if you happen to be a “case popper”.  Considering that the balance of wave two of the 30th Anniversary Collection was fairly underwhelming, this made tracking down the figure somewhat difficult as it was snatched up immediately leaving eleven slower selling figures in its wake.  Fortunately it was carried forward and even released with the gold “Ultimate Galactic Hunt” coin.

If you’ve been reading these reviews with any regularity, you’re probably pretty sick of me whining about figures without ankles, but I can assure that the case has never been stronger than with this concept Boba Fett.  It is a top heavy figure that doesn’t have good balance to begin with.  Trying to pose the figure on the tip of one of the feet is exceedingly difficult.  The pose in the fourth picture above took approximately fifteen minutes to set up. I’m not sure how much tolerance there is between toppling left or toppling right is in that picture, but I assure you the prefix “nano” is part of the unit of measure.  Even when not trying to engage the knees, the figure has a wont to topple over backward when in a neutral pose. I assume Hasbro tinkered with the center of gravity of the figure so that it could stand with the detachable flame extended straight out which would pull the figure forward in normal circumstances.  Perhaps I’m giving them too much engineering credit.  Regardless, it’s a somewhat annoying trait of the figure.  As you can see in the profile pictures, I had to lean the upper body forward to keep the figure from falling over.

That issue would compel me give this figure a score of 7 out of 10 under normal circumstances, but the McQuarrie Signature Series gets far from the normal Hasbro treatment.  This figure is based on the final concept painting that Mr. McQuarie produced for the “super Stormtrooper” turned bounty hunter.  There is no ambiguity as to the design of that costume.  The painting was a “three shot” showing Fett from the front, back and in profile to be used for production.  In other words it was as close to the final version as you could get for a concept painting.  That means there was no expectation for Hasbro to include the second head which represents an early pencil sketch for Boba Fett.  This may be sacrilege for a Boba Fett themed site, but I actually find the secondary head more ominous.  Perhaps it’s because the ole t-visor theme has been beaten to death.

In keeping with the “super trooper” armed with James Bond gadgetry theme, Hasbro included a opening abdomen with some sort of weapon concealed inside.  I’m not really sure what that weapon is.  I’m also not sure that this was inspired by Ralph McQuarrie.  I can find no support that this was his invention, but keep in mind that my research was limited to thumbing through the “Art of Ralph McQuarrie” book. This feature unfortunately causes the figure to separate easily at the midsection, but not to the point where it become problematic.  The attachable flame effect provides some serious visual punch for the figure, but cannot be displayed long term.  Gravity will cause the attachment point to bend and warp over time.  Regardless, it’s another element that makes the figure highly configurable.  That multitude of display configurations makes it justifiable to own two of these concept Boba Fett figures and warrants an upgraded score of 8 out of 10.

Updated review by Bret, 9/13/19

8/10?  8/10?  Yeah.  Well, despite the flaws, it keeps the score.  It’s one of those neat niche figures that is cool just because it exists.  The entire McQuarrie sub-line was a great idea by Hasbro, and I’m happy we have all of these.