Star Wars Celebration is about, well, celebration and not shocks, but during the celebration, something popped up that indeed raised some eyebrows. And that something was this: a vintage Star Wars Boba Fett action figure made by Kenner. It hailed from the year 1979 and it is one of three extremely rare action figures of the infamous bounty hunter with a firing rocket pack and the person who owns it was peddling it for an eye-watering $365,000. Holy mother of…
That’s hell lot of money. Enough to buy a decent house, or survive for the entire year. And that’s not even including the obligatory tax the buyer has to pay. But why the owner thinks it deserve the astronomical sticker? Well, there’s a rather interesting back story to it. Back when Kenner was still turning out Star Wars action figures and a full year before the release of The Empire Strikes Back, it already started to hyping the action figure with it firing a spring-loaded red missile out of its rocket pack.
The toy was destined to be mail-in giveaway. However, as you may have guessed, things did not pan out. The reason was, Kenner reconsidered their proposition after deeming that a projectile would be not only be an eye-hazard, but the small ‘rocket’ could pose risk of choking by kids who didn’t know better. So, a decision was made to produce the same toy, but with a non-firing rocket pack. In a way, this $365,000 vintage toy was a remembrance of a broken promise.
While it did not make it into mass production, a small number of prototypes and display versions of the firing rocket pack were made and this one here is one of them the surviving one which numbered no more than 30 at this point, according to the official Boba Feet Fan Club (yup, that is also a thing). Now, you must be thinking: “if there are at least 30 such figures around, then you probably find one at a cheaper price.” Well, the thing is, maybe not.
You see, this piece here claims to be one with a copyright embossed on the back of the leg while the others don’t. The copyright mark also bears some significance: it means this little guys is a final sculpt that was ready for production. Moreover, it has a rocket that “has four sides instead of the more common eight, and it is said that it has the rarer “L-shaped” firing mechanism as opposed to the J-shape that other examples purportedly had.
Still, whether or not it commands the price, remains questionable. Why? Duh. It is a freaking action figure! Anywho, as of April 15, it was still available… if you are interested, that is.
Images: Anthony Breznican/Entertainment Weekly/Star Wars Space Club’s Mail-Away Guide.
Source: Luxury Launches.
