This may blow some of your minds, Star Wars fans, but you never owned a missile-firing version of the Boba Fett figure — at least not from the original line of Star Wars toys.
Thousands have and continue to swear that they had this toy in their collection, even though it was never released to the public.
Before we get into Boba Fett, let’s talk a little bit about the intriguing — and somewhat creepy — mental phenomenon known as The Mandela Effect. And then explore the history of the Boba Fett character.
What Is the Mandela Effect?
The Mandela Effect is named after Nelson Mandela, whose death in 2013 sparked widespread confusion among people who distinctly remembered him dying in prison in the 1980s. This collective misremembering has been attributed to various psychological theories, including confabulation, memory conformity, and the nature of collective memory.
In the context of pop culture and collectibles, the Mandela Effect has manifested widespread false memories about some of the most iconic items and name brands.
The Mandela Effect on Pop Culture
Okay, I may blow your mind a little bit more here. We’re going to reach beyond Star Wars for now and share some of the most earth-shattering examples of pop culture Mandela Effects.
It’s Not Flinstones — It’s FlintStones
There’s two Ts in FlintStones.
There’s No Black at the End of Pikachu’s Tail
It was always just yellow.
The Monopoly Man Does NOT Have a Monicle
But do you know what other iconic character did?
It’s an honest mistake.
It’s Froot Loops NOT Fruit Loops
I still don’t believe this one. Let’s get to the grocery store to verify (wink wink).
It’s Berenstain Bears NOT Berenstein Bears
Another difficult one to swallow. I can’t call them the Berenstain Bears. It's sacrilegious.
It’s Looney Tunes NOT Looney Toons
What were they thinking?
It’s Jif NOT Jiffy
I’m still calling it Jiffy. Even though it’s likely because our childhood had both Jif Peanut Butter and Skippy Peanut Butter (mystery solved).
Okay, I can’t take anymore. Let’s move on to a certain bounty hunter in the Star Wars universe — Boba Fett.
No, his real name isn’t actually Boba Fezz or anything. But before we get into the Mandela Effect of this character, let’s dive into the history of the Star Wars galaxy’s most deadly bounty hunter.
The Brief History of Boba Fett
No, his first public appearance wasn’t in The Empire Strikes Back. Nor was it within the animated short in the terrible Star Wars Holiday Special.
Boba Fett made his first public appearance in 1978, one month before the debut of the forgettable variety TV show special.
It was in a summer parade in Northern California’s Marin County, near George Lucas’s Lucasfilm headquarters.
After the success of the original Star Wars in 1977, Lucas began development on the first sequel — eventually titled The Empire Strikes Back.
Lucas wanted to create a new type of stormtrooper. His design team came up with this “super trooper” design.
The original concept was to create 100 of these super trooper suits. But after going through the design and production phase of the original suit, Lucas realized that it would be too expensive.
So he decided to keep the single suit as an original character.
The design team redesigned the suit with a color scheme, creating the Boba Fett design we know.
As many fans know, the current Boba Fett (the Disney Plus series) is played by Temuera Morrison.
George Lucas retconned the character somewhat when he made the prequels, making Boba the clone of Jango Fett, a bounty hunter.
During the original trilogy version of the character before the prequels were made (The Empire Strikes Backand Return of the Jedi), Boba Fett was played by the late Jeremy Bulloch.
He wasn’t available for one of the scene in The Empire Strikes Back, however. One of the most pivotal Boba Fett scenes, actually.
John Morton briefly stepped into the role for the scene where Boba Fett talks to Vader outside of the torture room where Han Solo was being tortured.
And both Glenn Randall Jr. and Dickey Beer handled stunt scenes in Return of the Jedi.
Bulloch did not return to the role for the brief appearances in the Special Editions.
Mark Anthony Austin donned the suit and mask in the special edition of Star Wars: A New Hope.
Don Bies portrayed him in the special edition of Return of the Jedi.
Nelson Hall was in the suit and mask for another ROTJ shot. A quick walk-by shot behind Jabba.
Trivia note: Bulloch also appeared unmasked as the Imperial Lt. Sheckil, the man who used Princess Leia as a shield in The Empire Strikes Back.
While Bulloch was the man in the Fett suit during most of the original trilogy, Fett’s voice was portrayed in the OT films by Jason Wingreen.
But, that wasn’t Jeremy Bulloch in the suit during Fett’s original public appearance.
That honor went to assistant film editor Duwayne Dunham.
He was the one who donned the original prototype suit. And he also manned the repainted suit for the Marin Country parade.
When it came time for filming The Empire Strikes Back, Jeremy Bulloch was the stage actor who responded to the audition call and fit the suit the best.
But it was Duwayne Dunham in the suit during Fett’s first public appearance. The cool thing is that nobody knew who that character was yet. Kids went crazy for him as he walked side-by-side with Darth Vader.
They wouldn’t find out who he was until a month later when he was featured in the holiday special. Both Don Francks and Gabriel Dell are listed in IMDB as the uncredited voices of that character.
And for those who missed that TV debut, the first time they saw him was in The Empire Strikes Back.
But it was the people of Marin County who got the first peek at what would become one of the greatest and most-liked Star Wars characters of all time.
The Boba Fett Action Figure and Its Mandela Effect
The Boba Fett action figure is a prime example of the Mandela Effect at work. Many Star Wars fans recall a version of the Boba Fett figure with a firing rocket. This was a promised and exciting feature that never made it to the mass market.
His first appearance as a Star Wars action figure was as a mailaway figure. You needed four proofs of purchase to qualify — an ingenious way for Kenner to sell more figures. After mailing your proofs of purchases, you were promised a Boba Fett figure six to eight weeks later with his “rocket-firing backpack.”
The figure was mailed in a plain white box with a product catalog. It was sealed in a translucent baggie with his laser rifle — but not with any rocket-firing backpack! Instead, there was a white piece of paper stating that “the launcher has been removed for safety reasons.”
After a tragic incident involving a Mattel missile-firing Battlestar Galactica Colonial Viper toy that caused a child’s death (and ten other injuries), Kenner decided to cancel the Boba Fett rocket-firing feature.
Although the figure was never released, a small number of prototypes were produced and have become the holy grail for collectors. The exact number of these prototypes is unknown, but estimates suggest that around 20 to 30 were made. These prototypes were never sold to the public, and only a few have surfaced in auctions and private collections over the years, often fetching astronomical prices.
There were two versions of the prototypes. The first version had an L-slot in the jet-pack where the rocket slider couldn't latch into place properly. The reworked jet-pack had a deeper J-slot, where the "trigger" could latch in and be more secure.
The Boba Fett action figure serves as a fascinating case study in the Mandela Effect. While the rocket-firing version never made it to store shelves, the myth persists, fueled by a combination of media influence, collective false memories, and the natural human tendency to romanticize the past.
But let’s face it — it would have been cool to have.
