Slave I - Boba Fett's Spaceship

So everybody knows that if bounty hunters are cool, and Boba Fett is the coolest bounty hunter, then Fett's ride has to be uber-super-cool. So what if it looks like a streetlight? Of course Kenner knew this well so in 1980, they produced a "Slave I" vehicle for their Star Wars mini-action figure line.

 

Packaging is awesome, one of the best designs yet, in my opinion. Notice anything funny about the name of the toy? Maybe not, but to me the ship was always Slave (numeral) "1" - it never occurred to me that Fett might prefer the Roman numeral. And it must be the Roman numeral, since nobody says "Slave Eye".

Box top shows how to place Fett in his cockpit and lock the wings.

There's even a handle on the bottom so kids could "fly" him around. Shades of Darth Vader's Star Destroyer, but on Fett's ship it makes much more sense.

As usual I've set up the scene as shown on the box front - the Cloud City landing pad where Han Solo, frozen in carbonite, is being loaded onto Fett's ship by a pair of Stormtroopers. Lobot and two Bespin guards (both mustachioed) hang around trying to be cool, but Fett out-cools everybody, doesn't he?

Unfortunately the decals on my ship are quite worn and flaking off, readily visible in this overhead shot.

As usual, administrative staff stand around...

...while Stormtroopers do the heavy lifting.

Fett and Lobot chat, completely ignoring the dude on his break who just want to say "hi".

"Turn it... no, turn it... turn it tall ways..."

Lift with your legs, not with your back. That's how workplace injuries happen!

"Well, if everyone's going to ignore me anyway, I'll just pop in for a quick look. Never seen the inside of a Firespray-31 before..."

The rear ramp, along with the Han-in-carbonite-block, is often lost from loose examples of the toy. The other detachable parts are the wings (which must be detached from the root pieces if the ship is to fit into the box) and the side door.

"Wheeee!"

Okay, I know I went a bit off the rails with this post but if anybody's still reading, I hope you don't mind ;-)