Why is Boba Fett So Cool?

Read this article today:

moviesblog.mtv.com/2012/02/03/star-wars-boba-fett/

Sometimes it seems that people can be oblivious. I will now 'splain why Boba Fett is awesome.

#1: He looks cool. This is dismissed by the article writer but should not be downplayed. The guy has a freakin missile launcher on his back! C'mon!

#2: Pure attitude. He doesn't say much in the movies. But when he speaks you just know he don't give a rat's ass about you or anybody. Hell, he isn't even afraid of Darth Vader.

#3: He is no dope! This guy isn't a blithering idiot like all those Imperial officers. He sees right through Han's ruse. Not fooled for a second. Boba has got street smarts.

#4: The real reason Boba is great is because he is the dark image of Han Solo. Just like Belloch in Raider's of the Lost Ark, he is what the hero could be if he didn't have that spark of goodness in him. And he's a match for Han, maybe even a little bit better. That's the whole reason why we wish he was in the movie more, because we want to know who would win that inevitable confrontation and aren't really sure. That's why the rocket malfunction that sends him into the sand monsters mouth is such a cheat.

i concur, its a pitty his dad was so lame in the new series, but this was less his fault than the prequals in general. Jango is only really in the film to bring other characters together and move them around, forward the plot etc.

This really should be "why WAS" Boba Fett so cool". The prequels pretty much ruined him with all of that Jango Fett crap.

The #1 reason that he was cool was that WE KNEW ALMOST NOTHING ABOUT HIM. He was mysterious. We knew bits and pieces. Mandalorian armor, Slave-1, and that's really about it other than that weird cartoon from the SW Xmas Special where he first appeared, riding a dragon. He was a man of few words, and he had a great costume that was equal parts King of the Rocketmen and a medieval knight.

No other reasons are necessary, because the more you explain the less cool he becomes.

Bobba Fett was always my favorite and his death, simply for some lame comic relief, was the begining of the end for Star Wars and me.

The other great thing about Bobba Fett you don't mention.

Mystery, there is a ton of mystery surrounding the character (until the prequels fucked that up) I remember arguing with other kids about him. Some said he was the first Storm Trooper (now I know why unfortunately) some said he was always a bounty hunter. No one knew and that was cool because the imagination could take over at that point.

edit: Barnes beat me to it. Fucking ass! His post was not there when I started.

Barnes beat me to it too, dammit. Boba Fett was amazing before the prequels came out. Now he's a grown-up whiny kid seeking vengence because of what happened to his dad and that's the ONLY reason he's bada$$ which is a lame motivation. I agree that he is the 'dark' Han Solo before that tho, which is what made him SOOOO cool.

Knowing that's he's JUST a stormtrooper now completely ruins him.

Damn, I should have qualified this. Those shitty prequels...they don't exist for me. I'm speaking strictly original trilogy.

I was always mystified by his popularity, because he does one interesting thing and then stands beside other people in power for a bit then dies like a chump.

However Slave-1 is cool, just because it shows how orientation is unimportant in space.

Michael Barnes wrote: This really should be "why WAS" Boba Fett so cool". The prequels pretty much ruined him with all of that Jango Fett crap.

The #1 reason that he was cool was that WE KNEW ALMOST NOTHING ABOUT HIM. He was mysterious. We knew bits and pieces. Mandalorian armor, Slave-1, and that's really about it other than that weird cartoon from the SW Xmas Special where he first appeared, riding a dragon. He was a man of few words, and he had a great costume that was equal parts King of the Rocketmen and a medieval knight.

No other reasons are necessary, because the more you explain the less cool he becomes.

To me, this is one of the main reasons that the original trilogy is quite good, even now. The world building that goes on in the old films, without any exposition or explanation, is really good. It doesn't tell you all that much about the non-empire groups---it leaves you guessing and filling in yourself in a really organic way. It's kind of unfortunate that younger kids have had all the minor characters, etc filled in for them by the extended universe. They can look to some star wars bible to tell them about every character or whatever if they choose to.

That said, I'm sure that Lucas has added post hoc explanation for every group in the new cuts, I dunno. I'm just talking about the original cut.

Regarding the looks thing, it's not just the awesome rifle and and missile launcher backpack, but the fact that they look used. Lived in. Not only the bare metal beneath the dents and paint scratches, but that it looks like the armor is from numerous different suits. Green chestplate and codpiece, yellow shoulder armor and kneepads, and the gauntlets (red in ROTJ, Green in TESB). He obviously doesn't give a shit that he looks like a battlefield scavenger, and that makes him even more badass.

His gear really does demonstrate the second-hand nature of legend-building, and that's a part of this two. Take stock of what we knew before fucking Jango Fett:

1) He wears Mandalorian armor. This has something to do with Mandalorian commandos. We know nothing about them.
2) His ship is called Slave-1, but we have no idea why a ship would be called that. Is it a slave-traders ship? Does it have something to do with a "master" ship? Who flies Slave-2?
3) His stuff is beat up. Is it his? Did he scavenge it? Who used to wear it?
4) He dies stupidly, but in reality even the badassedest of the badassedest can be felled by some dumb stroke of fate. But did he really die in the Sarlacc pit?
5) There's the whole Christmas special issue...canonical, or not canonical?
6) The toy was _dangerous_. You could shoot your eye out with it. It was recalled and changed. Have you ever seen one of the shooting ones?
7) Wookie scalps and strange insignias.

All of this adds up to TONS of second hand information that, as was suggested, we filled it for ourselves. It gives us a chance to participate in the story by speculating, which is one of the brilliant things about Star Wars. It gave us _just enough_ to WANT to know more, and when we were kids we would have conversations about all kinds of stuff related to Star Wars- mostly stuff that was pure speculation. Remember talking about how George Lucas was going to make all of these other Star Wars movies in the 1980s? Remember how supposedly he had everything scripted out in a book called the Journal of the Whills? Is Yoda a Whill?

All stuff that the prequels demolished by explaning everything away and giving the audience NOTHING to participate in, in terms of the world-building.

In sum, Star Wars was so great because it let us participate in creating it, and the whole backlash against the prequels and all of that is really a reaction to things like Boba Fett's origin being taken out of our speculative imaginations and TOLD to us. The books, expanded universe, all that doesn't count. Only the films do, at least as far as I'm concerned.

So really, you could look at Boba Fett as a symbol for where Star Wars went so terribly wrong.

Boba Fett was cool because his name was fucking Boba Fett...and he looked like a bad-ass. That is pretty much all I needed when I was a kid.

Why did all of the names in the original trilogy sound so goddamn awesome? Han Solo. Jabba the Hut. Boba Fett. Salacious Crumb. Luke Skywalker. Darth Vader.

Everything in the prequel was garbage compared to that. What the fuck is a Qui-Gon Jinn? Jar Jar Binks. Count Dooku. General Grevious. Shmi Skywalker. It's like they just got wasted did a Pen to Paper test and went with whatever terrible names they scribbled down on their bar napkins.

I read a couple of Boba Fett comic series back before the prequels came out that only added to his badassery, while still maintaining the mystery.

In the first one, Boba Fett captures this guy, telling him about the bounty he has on his head. He insinuates that he's going to he's going to cut the guy's head off. When he starts to panic, Boba Fett tells him, "I told you...the price is on your head."

The second went back to the time before A New Hope. That dent in his helmet? Turns out he earned it by taking a shot at Vader, which of course Vader deflects, sending it back at Fett, thus the dent in his helmet. He takes a shot at Vader and walks away? Pretty badass if you ask me.

Also, any boy growing up should own a Boba Fett action figure. Check any book on parenting, it's there.

I always assumed that Boba Fett would take off his helmet and it would be Jimmie Walker of TV's "Good Times".

As for names...yeah...apparently, Mace Windu was one of the first character names he came up with but it was Mace Windy. But that one isn't so bad. It's all the names like Badguy Villain, Evilious Evillio, Wicked Sinisterous, and Nasty McGillicuddy that are so bad. The good guy names are all OK, strangely...Amidala, Captain Panaka, Kit Fisto...those are pretty SW-ish. But the bad guys...

But then again, it's a movie with a guy in Halloween devil make-up for a main villain. What do you expect.

Michael Barnes wrote: I always assumed that Boba Fett would take off his helmet and it would be Jimmie Walker of TV's "Good Times".

Michael Barnes wrote: It gave us _just enough_ to WANT to know more, and when we were kids we would have conversations about all kinds of stuff related to Star Wars- mostly stuff that was pure speculation. Remember talking about how George Lucas was going to make all of these other Star Wars movies in the 1980s? Remember how supposedly he had everything scripted out in a book called the Journal of the Whills? Is Yoda a Whill?

Ha! I remember having these talks. Journal of the Whills...haven't thought about that in a long time. Wasn't it supposed to be like a 9 part series and we were going to find out at the end of part 9 the whole thing was told via some dump of R2's databank?