Saga Does anyone else feel like a lot of depictions of Boba Fett miss what makes him cool?

Like a lot of people, I love Boba Fett. Despite having one of the most anticlimactic onscreen "deaths" in movie history (one so disappointing and borderline embarrassing that when the EU almost immediately declared him to be alive, virtually no one had a problem with it), Boba Fett has always been awesome. He's one of the coolest parts of Empire Strikes Back, itself probably the coolest Star Wars film.

Unfortunately, I feel like far too many depictions of Fett over the years have kinda missed why he's awesome. They focus excessively on the external trappings--the cool looking armor, the jetpack, etc. Which, admittedly, do look cool as hell. But the mistake many depictions of Fett make is excessively focusing on the hardware, and extrapolating it to basically conceive of the character primarily as this super badass warrior. This interpretation of the character's primary defining trait seems to be that via a combination of gadgetry, blasters and a sweet ship he can beat the living crap out of anyone who isn't basically a jedi master or a sith lord. Arguably, it was this take on Boba that would in turn influence the handling of Jango in the prequels.

But if you look past the equipment, Jango's exploits and an endless string of "Boba vs [blank]" fights in the EU, and focus on what actually sets Fett apart in Empire Strikes Back, which is what he does, and how he does it. you get a very different picture of the character. One not defined by his skill with a blaster, but by his cunning. Not by his ability to fight, but by his ability to win without even needing to fight.

Throughout ESB, Han is consistently outsmarting the Imperials out to catch him. The full might of the dark side and the Empire seem incapable of catching this awesome smuggler and his sweet ship, because Han is just that good and just that sharp.

That is, until Boba comes along. For the first time ever onscreen, we someone beat Han at his own game. He figures out Han's next move, and tracks him.

But then, consider what he does with that information. Boba doesn't charge in guns blazing like some kind of action hero to take on the heroes on a fight--there is no Jango vs Obi-Wan type moment, because that isn't actually how Boba operates in ESB. Instead, he happily lets Vader and the Empire do the hard work, while managing to collect major rewards from both Vader and Jabba for essentially the same job. He even negotiates Vader into promising him an insurance payoff if their experiment kills Han before Boba can deliver him to Jabba. Then, when the rebels break out, Boba doesn't stick around to show what a badass he is. Far from it. He books it and doesn't look back, happy to take his paycheck and cargo without worrying about the fight.

Boba Fett in ESB isn't really a warrior, he's a tracker. He'd much rather get paid (preferably more than once if he can finagle it) without having to stick around for a fight. And, of course, when he does stick around for a fight in ROTJ, he gets taken out by a blind man with a stick, which however you spin isn't actually all that badass.

This desperate need in subsequent depictions to sort of be like "no no actually that was just a fluke and Boba is totally the best damn non force-using warrior in the galaxy" strikes me as a sort of wrongheaded misreading of what actually made the character cool. Boba's coolest moments don't come from taking out his enemies in a head on fight, they come from taking out his enemies without even needing to fight, because he's just that savvy and ahead of the game. He's basically the only person in the films who gets to really outsmart Han, and to my mind that's a lot more impressive than trying to turn him into The Punisher in Space.

If the new canon does decide to delve more into Boba stories, I really hope they generally steer clear of "and then Boba comes in with blaster blazing on his sweet jetpack and totally owns everyone" type stories, and instead we get more stuff that shows him as this savvy, cunning guy who gets the job done in the most efficient manner with the least amount of risk to himself.

 

I don't consider Fett badass in the least but I do agree that a nuanced character would be welcome.

 

Eh, what's so cool about Boba? Nothing, IMHO. Right or wrong, it SEEMS like his fans think he's cool because of his hardware or minimal screen time...

 

I think its pretty telling that Jango is treated far more like the EU Boba than OT Boba ever was, in terms of being this insanely badass fighter. He takes on Obi-Wan and absolutely holds his own with his blasters and gadgets and jetpack and ship, and even his death at least comes at the hand of a jedi master rather than a blind guy waving a stick.

And yet, despite this, Boba remains by far the more popular character of the two. Basically the same awesome costume, and Jango gets better fight scenes by far, yet people like Boba more. Why? Because Boba is smart. Tough warriors are all well and good, but Star Wars also has a strong tradition of the clever, pragmatic trickster type as embodied by Han and later Lando. What makes Boba interesting is that he's sort of the dark mirror of this, someone cunning and underhanded and money hungry like Han who really has no interest in fighting if he doesn't have to it, but who instead of becoming a hero like Han did, he uses his skills without regard for morality.

 

Yeah, well, immoral/amoral characters are not those I am fans of. Sure, I can admire how well down those characters are portrayed, but there's not enough Boba (nor do I see any need to expand his role to see if I change my mind) to feel that way about. IMHO.

 

The only reason Fett became popular is because he looks really cool. His design and the tarnished aesthetic go together really well. But if it had been (for example) Dengar or one of the other bounty hunters who'd pulled the same stunt in just waiting for Han to reveal himself? Yeah, they'd still never get the hype Fett did because they don't have the same visual impact. Cool-looking dude he may be but with the new canon rules, his actual feats combat wise are blowing up C3P0 (bad. ass.) and falling into the pit of whatsit on Tattooine... and that's it.

 

Easily explained by the 20+ years of wild fanboy imagination. Jango came after that.

 

Actually, the newcanon doesn't say it was Boba that did that one. And In the EU, it was stormtroopers.

 

I love Boba, but I don't know that I want more stories about him. He's interesting because he's deadly and mysterious. Any attempts to 'humanise' him like the did with TCW clones will only end in disaster; I'd rather they leave us guessing about his past.

 

Ok, except Boba was a breakout fan favorite from very early on--it didn't take anywhere near 20 years for him to have a huge fan following. Meanwhile Jango has been around for over a decade and still hasn't come close to that sort of popularity. This is despite
a.) Having a look that is nearly identical to Boba's
b.) Having way, way more impressive onscreen fight performances than Boba

All of which suggests that the reason Boba is so popular is not simply his appearance, nor is it simply having been around a while. It also suggests that the whole notion that Boba should be portrayed as this super badass warrior getting into fights all the time entirely misses what set the character apart in the first place.

 

But it grew over all those years. If the character of Jango had come first and Boba came later, Jango would be the favourite (and with more solid reasons to explain it).

It's not comparable. Boba (and his design) came first. And carried the iconic armor, alone, for more than 20 years. No matter how great of a character Jango is (and I do prefer him to Boba), it would never reach the popularity Boba acquired over the years.

Yes, it is. And the fact that he didn't do much only helped to increase the imagination of the fans.

 

Boba only ever meant something to me after we see how good Jango was and how it took a Jedi Master to take him down.

Actually though that the PT does do though is at least explain one thing about Boba. He was so fixed on getting a Jedi that Jango failed at in regards to Mace that he was blinded by this and was defeated by another blind man.

 

Boba came first and so Boba will always be the icon. Jango is the character who looks like Boba, whose character is defined somewhat by Boba. It's like Beady Eye and Gorillaz. No matter how good they are, how much better than Oasis and Blur, their brands will forever be defined by the previous careers of the singers.

Boba's coolness in the first place was a product of the fact that he looked cool and had cool gear and was mysterious. Simple as that.

 

I don't find Bubba Fett cool. In the OT he's just a bad guy that doesn't accomplish much. I don't find anything cool about that.

Duchess Satine a real Mandalorian is better than Bobba Fett

 

I agree that Boba should be a man who outwits his opponents. One of the best parts of the junior novel series was him learning the trade from his father. In TCW, we got to see him go from bounty hunter pupil to bounty hunter leader, and that is canon. So we know that he is smart, especially when it comes to his craft. However, in ESB, he doesn't lead the other bounty hunters; he competes with them. I would love to see a Dark Times story where Boba goes from leader to loner as a character progression. He should be like a cat, stalking his prey until it is time to pounce with everything he has available.

 

I think the OP makes some interesting points. Certainly the character in the OT wasn't a fighting warrior at all and, indeed, a real life bounty hunter is someone who needs to employ detective skills and manipulation as much as he needs to be skilled in fighting. Personally that's the version I stick to. I never got too deep into the EU history for him, nor am I hugely versed on Mandolarian culture. I prefer it that way as I think the character was originally conceived to be one of mystery.

 

The reason I liked Boba pre-PT was because he was a strong, silent type who just radiated cold professionalism in killing. AOTC and TCW kinda ruined that, though, like they did with alot of other things in the SW universe..

 

Boba Fett was a little **** aka a brat in the TCW.

 

What made him cool to a lot of people was his Armor and him not cool so how is someone supposed to depict him without talking.

 

And there's the bit where he outsmarts Han Solo in the chase. He's cool-looking, dangerous, no-nonsense, cunning...Sometimes that's all you need. Less is more. I love him; but it's true that I can't claim any emotional investment or connection.

 

I agree with... everything AATM said. I've always thought people who complain about Boba Fett being lame because he didn't take down Han himself are off the mark. He tracked him to Bespin and told the Empire so he could collect his finder's fee. Why would he do anything more? To quote another sci-fi franchise, "you want to know how I became the greatest bounty hunter in the galaxy? I'm the best because I'm alive. That's it." The dumbest thing he did was to put himself on the front line unnecessarily in ROTJ (why would he even care who won? He had his fee). Apparently, at some point his success went to his head.

Same with Jango. He did a good job facing off against a Jedi... when the weather was on his side, along with a freaking gunship, by staying out of the Jedi's reach for half the fight, and ultimately, "winning" meant getting away in one piece. Somewhere between that and Geonosis, he got it into his head that surviving an encounter with a Jedi when the deck's stacked on your side meant he could take on a much more powerful Jedi head-on without these advantages. Whoops.

 

I think the complaints that exist are against the fans who try to turn the character into something we never see him be or do. All he did in TESB was to track a bounty.

 

And stand up to Vader "What if he doesn't survive? He's worth a lot to me."

Vader's waving a finger in Boba's face and warning "No disintegrations" in a way that seems addressed to him personally, also hints at some kind of history between them.

 

Am I the only fan here that prefers young Boba to the faceless "badass"? Cad Bane and Durge were what Fett should have been like in ROTJ.

Young Boba did more than his adult self in TCW and, hell even in AOTC he blasted obi wan with Slave 1's guns.

Boba should have survived Sarlacc (in film not EU) and actually did something on ground during battle of Endor, and properly get killed by Han at the bunker. (Rogue squadron 3 has some contrived boss fight with an imperial officer named Sarkli, something like this could have happened with Fett in ROTJ.