10 Most Notorious Star Wars Urban Legends
5. A Rocket-Firing Boba Fett Action Figure Was Made And Shipped
Verdict: Untrue
Ask a gaggle of Star Wars geeks to name their favourite character and the chances are youll hear Han Solo mentioned a lot, Luke Skywalker not so much. However, one character guaranteed to get plenty of endorsements is Boba Fett.
A mysterious bounty hunter with a blaster and a jetpack, the Fett is unquestionably the most celebrated minor character in the Star Wars universe. His popularity has always been somewhat baffling in that he appears for a matter of minutes in The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi, uttering a handful of lines and suffering a rather ignominious demise.
Regardless, he remains a cult figure and Fett-related products remain some of the most sought after and expensive in the limitless Star Wars merchandise universe. But there's one item most fans will never lay their hands on.
When American toy company Kenner Products advertised their second series of Star Wars action figures in 1979, a Boba Fett action figure, complete with rocket-firing backpack, was included, and a few fans still believe that some of these toys were shipped to consumers who participated in the mail-in promotion.
Alas, no such thing ever occurred. Several prototypes were made - one sold for an auction price of $16,000 in 2003 - but a similar missile-firing feature in Battlestar Galactica toys was identified as a choking hazard around the same time. This led to a product recall by manufacturers Mattel and Kenners last-minute decision to alter the Boba Fett action figures and shatter thousands of childhood dreams.