In the second season, Boba Fett uses a seismic charge from his starship to launch a shockwave. Screenshot by LucasfilmJangohas been the Slave 1 for decades thanks to the legendary Firespray 31 of Boba Fett and his father before him. Boba Fett is now back in the Star Wars spotlight. But, a new policy has made it clear that his name may not be with him.AdvertisementBoba Fett's return to the spotlight has been a long time coming. The character was shown to have survived the Return of the Jedi encounter. He also appeared in the second season of The Mandalorian last summer. As Boba prepares to star in his own Disney+ spinoff show, The Book of Boba Fett and plays key roles in events such as Marvels War of the Bounty Hunters on Disney+, Star Wars' most iconic design has been back to be a significant force for the franchises other great love, toys.The toyetic side of Boba, which spanned a generation of rocket-pack firing kids all the way up to the most recent action figures, may have revealed a part of Boba's history that could be in danger of being lost. Lego unveiled three Star Wars playsets this weekend that were inspired by The Mandalorian's second season: Moff Gideons Imperial cruiser and an Imperial transport Marauder speeder. A new $50 set is based on Slave 1 But it doesn't have that name. The set was simply called Boba Fetts Starship. This name prompted Star Wars and Lego sites Jedi News, Brickset and Brickset reporters to question Jens Kronvold Fredericksen and Michael Lee Stockwell, Lego designers, about the intention behind the name change. Sometimes, Lego Star Wars sets get title changes to avoid spoilers or to address legal issues. In the case of The Mandalorian Bounty Hunter Transport, the toymaker changed its Razor Crest playset in European markets last year due to a trademark dispute.Lego ImageThe name change for Slave 1which was last given a Lego set under this name as part the company's 20-year celebration of Star Wars Lego playsets in 2019, is purportedly due to a different reason: Disney mandated that the ship name be dropped from future branding. It is no longer called Slave I. Stockwell revealed that this is Boba Fett's Starship to journalists, Frederiksen confirming that Lego was not the only policy. Everyone is [changing the name]. Although it's unlikely that this has been publicly announced, it is something Disney does not want to use anymore.Slavery and slavery are still part of Star Wars universes story (two examples of this include Anakin Skywalkers backstory and The Bad Batch revisiting Clone Wars slaver villains, the Zygerrians), but Lucasfilms view suggests that distancing one's name from merchandise might make sense. The awkwardness of the situation has been the subject of some jokes over the years. But Boba Fett is now a key player in Star Wars continuity. Perhaps more than he was during his Expanded Universe popularity, perhaps due to his return in The Mandalorian. His live-action series will be released later in the year. This show will also include a lot of Star Wars merchandise. Star Wars has not been shy about referring to Slave as a brand. Slave Leia's bikini dress from Return of the Jedi's opening act has been called Princess Leia's for many years. However, there were reports back in 2015 that Disney wanted to distance itself from the name and merchandise of Leia wearing the costume. This led to comments from Carrie Fisher. In the 2016 novel Bloodline the moment is given a new title in the form Huttslayer. This refers to a real-world effort to rebrand Slave Leia terms.The entry for Slave 1 on the Star Wars website databank. The highlighted URL reads Boba Fetts starship. Screenshot: StarWars.com/GizmodoAdvertisementThe news is causing outrage among Star Wars fans, with some rallying around a tweet by Mark Anthony Austin, a VFX Artist who physically portrayed Fett during material added in to the Special Edition Star Wars: A New Hope. This move towards not directly referring Slave 1 seems to have been in the making for as long as Boba's planned return. For example, the official Star Wars databank site wiki-esque refers to the ship in the header as Slave 1 but in its URL as Boba Fetts Starship. This despite the fact that it made prominent appearances. Star Wars material in the future has been split half-and-half. In the ongoing Marvel Star Wars comic series War of the Bounty Hunters the ship is referred to only as "Bobas" ship. However, in the Empire Strikes Back anthology last year, the ship is explicitly called Slave I several times.This is a move that has been occurring on Star Wars merchandise since before Lego addressed it directly this weekend. The Star Wars: The Vintage Collection ship release by Hasbro refers to the ship as Slave 1 on packaging. A ShopDisney exclusive Toybox model of the ship also uses the same name, while a reissued MPC model kit will designate it Boba Fetts Starship. Topp's Star Wars digital trading card app refers to cards that are based on preMandalorian appearances, while cards made more recently use ship terminology or dance around with the name of the vessel.AdvertisementStar Wars Card Trader cards refer to Slave 1 by their names. Screenshot - Topps Screenshot – Topps Slideshow : Topps Advertisement. You can skip an ad after 1 sec. Continue... and cards from The Mandalorian season 2, which avoid it entirely. Screenshot: Topps Screenshot: Topps screenshot: Topps screenshot: Topps 1/8Despite all the controversy surrounding Legos, it is clear that this policy has been in place for some time. However, it has not been implemented in any way yet. It is not clear if the ship will be given a new name or if Star Wars products will continue to use Slave 1 for their titles. When io9 asked Lego, Disney and Lucasfilm about the situation, they declined to respond to multiple requests for comment. We will update this post if more information is received.AdvertisementIt remains to be determined if this policy is strictly restricted to merchandise or Bobas future narrative. However, there's no reason for Slave 1 not to have its name in Disneys Star Wars canon. Legends continuity reveals that Boba's father Jango was sold into slavery when he was a young man after a battle against the Jedi on Galidraan. He named his second ship Slave I while chasing down a target in a prison riot. Details of this incident have not been re-entered into current continuity timeline. Boba can choose to keep the name in Book of Boba Fett or to change it to honor his father. He has now reclaimed his family's armor in The Mandalorian. Slave 1 becomes a ship's name without that connection. These are not even written on toys boxes.Are you curious about where our RSS feed went. The new one can be found here.
