Or just a very concise way of saying “this is a really bad guy.”
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Take a step further, rename him Bobbie Fett, Bobbette Fett etc…
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This is such a non-issue. There are one of/or two things going on:
- The ship’s name is still Slave I in universe, but they are changing the name on packaging for marketing purposes. This makes sense. Nerds know the name of the ship, but kids watching the Mandalorian have no clue. The new Mandalorian branded Lego coming out - which is awesome looking - is the lowest price point since the first Slave I made in the early 2000s. (for a large one, at least, the mini ones don’t count). It is clearly marketed at kids. (one could argue the $200 Slave I from a few years ago was marked to adults).
So parents (moms, usually) are the ones who buy most of the toys and if their kid is asking for “Boba Fett’s Starship”, that is what they are looking for. There are several kits in the past that used generic names for ships that have in universe names.
They might be toning down the language some for these consumers, just like how the changed the Death Squad Commander to the Star Destroyer Commander in 1978/79. Or when they removed references to “torture” from the Jabba’s Dungeon play set in 1983.
This isn’t woke or cancel culture - it is marketing 101.
- The other possibility, with the new Book of Boba Fett coming out soon, there may be an in universe change to the name. It makes sense. If Fett is changing from less of a “bad guy” to a “scoundrel with honor/heart of gold”, he is going through some character changes. I am eager to see if they do a wandering monk type thing - quest for self discovery or what. Anyway, it would make sense for the character to re-name his ship - remove past negativity. Just like a new coat of paint can give you a new look. A generic name both prevents spoilers and prevents consumer confusion.
As many know - huge Fett fan. The push back I have seen on this is mostly people looking for a reason to be pissy. I have typed versions of those two paragraphs several times above and hopefully it makes some people go, “Oh - it’s just marketing.”
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I believe in the original ESB script, the ship was called “Boba’s ship”. The name Slave 1 came later, either through toy merchandising or the film novelization.
Regardless, this guy is probably secretly thanking Disney, because this is more attention than he’s gotten, ever. I checked out his Twitter, and boy, for someone who played Boba Fett for a nanoparsec in the movies, he sure does play it up like he is the One True Fett.
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Mr. Bob A. Feet
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IIRC the sourcebooks for the starwars role playing game (west end?) featured lots of slavery related equipment.
this sort of stuff, made more technologically advanced for a society far far away
I guess it helped the GM concoct “rescue the slaves” scenarios, but sometimes realism can be so depressing.
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I like Harrison Ford, but in real life he comes across as distinctly… befuddled I would say. He’s one heck of a fine actor, though, to be able to put that aside and play such witty, charming rogues.
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Star wars marketing is so weird.
Hey kids, here’s a first order flame trooper. Now you can pretend to commit atrocities!
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“Half the people on screen are actual space nazis, but you should definitely feel bad for Ozzel when Vader kills him”
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“My ship will forever be Slave1,” Austin tweeted. “Nothing. Not even #disney can or will change that.”
Why is THIS the hill you’re willing to die on??
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Because he wants to ride the fame coattails.
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“It is EXTREMELY important to me that this fictional ship be named after slavery” seems like it’s a message that will end in exactly the wrong kind of fame for him.
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As a youngling, I had the Kenner Slave I complete with Carbonite Han (and it came with a Shadows of the Empire comic to boot). I was probably the biggest Fett fan among my fellow Star Wars peers, having even the original Kenner Fett, which has probably since been sold on eBay to some adult more obsessed with Star Wars than I was as a kid.
TBH, since Disney holds the rights to SW, they can call it whatever the heck they want. Slave I was always a weird name to me, even as a kid, but it just got filed under “Weird Star Wars Stuff” like “Salacious Crumb” and “Greedo” and “Mon Calimarian” in my mind. If they wanted to call it Rainbow Daffodil I, I don’t think I’d care.
Though, I think it would speak more of Disney if they instead took a stance against modern slavery and called out China for their atrocious oppression and, yes, slavery, of the Uighur people.
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“It’s pronounced ‘slaw-vay’. It’s Italian!”
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Ok-
I KNOW Mark Austin. Or at least, I worked with him for several years atILM during the filming of the Special Editions. (note: I did not work on the Special Editions - or ANY of the prequels).
Mark was a nice English dude and animator, both traditional and CG. He did some wonderful work on Casper the Friendly Ghost. He was one who, as we said, “had his Yoda jammies on.” (mind you, it was the 90’s. We were all pretty thrilled to be there). It was his absolute complete and total DREAM to work for ILM, and even more so to be involved with Star Wars, and even MORE to have ANYTHING to do with Boba Fett. When the word got round they were gonna put him in Ep IV, he jumped at the chance, and as it so happened, he fit the suit. He was over-the-moon ecstatic. So, the question of “why this, of all the stupid hills to die on?” For him I guess it’s personal.
But, for the record, I think he’s playing this the wrong way. Being all defiant and angry about it makes it LOOK like you’re sliding toward the wing-nut side of the equationm regardless of if that’s true. The best thing he could have said was nothing at all. Next, maybe a “I see they’ve changed the packaging on the Slave1 Lego kit. Marketing is tricky these days, huh?”
I’d reach out to him to see what’s what, but I’m sure he’s got his fill of folks doing just that already, and I’d be shocked if he remembered me.
But, at least when I knew him, he showed no sign of right wing nutjobbery…
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I think the fandom may also fan his ego some. Austin and many others make a tidy side profit signing merch for fans. Many Mandalorian/Fett fans are upset over this. This bizarre hill to die on may be because of the echo chamber of fandom he is in, as well as “virtue signal” to all the Fettishist who feel the same way.
YMMV
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This can almost certainly be retconned with a single cool line in the first few minutes of The Book of Boba Fett. Just like Boba Fett’s voice, unhelmeted face, and appearance in ANH were.
Too late to retcon which ship got blown up in that Mandalorian episode? Boba’s was parked somewhere nearby.
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I’ll just leave this here.
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