For many years, the notorious Firespray-31 of Boba Fett—and his father earlier than him, Jango—has been referred to as the Slave 1. But as Boba himself is thrust again into the Star Wars highlight, that title may not be coming with him, due to a coverage that’s not too long ago been made slightly outstanding itself.

Boba Fett’s return to the highlight has been with us for a whereas now, because the character, who was revealed to have survived his Return of the Jedi encounter with the sarlacc, appeared within the second season of The Mandalorian final 12 months. Now, as Boba prepares for his personal spinoff Disney+ present in The Book of Boba Fett, and performs main roles in occasions like Marvel’s War of the Bounty Hunters, considered one of Star Wars most recognizable designs has returned to be a significant pressure for the franchise’s different nice love past its personal continuity: toys

But that toyetic facet of Boba—from a era of would-be firing rocket packs all the best way to the newest motion figures—might have now revealed a side of the character’s historical past that could be on its method out, in a single type or one other. This previous weekend, Lego revealed three new Star Wars playsets impressed by the second season of The Mandalorian: Moff Gideon’s Imperial cruiser, an Imperial transport Marauder speeder, and a brand new $50 set based mostly on Slave 1. Except it doesn’t carry that title. Instead, the set was merely titled “Boba Fett’s Starship”—a reputation that sparked reporters at Star Wars and Lego websites Jedi News and Brickset, respectively, to ask Lego designers Jens Kronvold Frederiksen and Michael Lee Stockwell in regards to the intentionality behind the title change. After all, typically Lego Star Wars units obtain title adjustments, both to keep away from spoilers upfront of a venture’s launch, or typically because of authorized points—final 12 months, a trademark dispute result in the toymaker rebranding its Razor Crest playset as “The Mandalorian Bounty Hunter Transport” in European markets, for instance.

But the title change for Slave 1—which last received a Lego set beneath that title as a part of the corporate’s celebration of 20 years of Star Wars Lego playsets in 2019—is purportedly for a special cause altogether: a mandate from Disney to maneuver away from the ship title in future branding. “We’re not calling it Slave I any more. This is Boba Fett’s Starship,” Stockwell advised journalists after the reveal, with Frederiksen including that the coverage stretched past Lego itself. “Everybody is [changing the name]. It’s probably not something which has been announced publicly but it is just something that Disney doesn’t want to use any more.”

While slaves and slavery nonetheless exist as a part of the Star Wars universe’s narrative (two examples that contact upon the subject material: Anakin Skywalker’s backstory in The Phantom Menace, and The Bad Batch revisiting Clone Wars slaver villains the Zygerrians), distancing from the Slave 1 title in merchandise maybe is smart from Lucasfilm’s perspective. The awkwardness of it been the butt of a few jokes over the years, however now Boba Fett is as soon as once more a significant participant in Star Wars continuity, much more so than he was on the peak of his Expanded Universe reputation maybe, due to his return in The Mandalorian. With his personal stay motion sequence to come back later this 12 months (and, inextricably linked to Star Wars as all the time, the reams of merchandise that may come out of that present), having a starring hero’s—properly, anti-hero’s—primary vessel named Slave 1 goes to be problematic. It’s not the primary time that Star Wars has tried to distance itself from “Slave” for branding functions, both. Princess Leia’s bikini costume from the opening act of Return of the Jedi has been known as “Slave Leia” for years, however again in 2015 there have been stories that Disney was seeking to push again from each the title and merchandise of Leia within the outfit, resulting in commentary from Carrie Fisher herself. In the 2016 novel Bloodline, the second is given a brand new title within the type of the title “Huttslayer,” a reference to a real-world push to rebrand the “Slave Leia” time period.

While the information has drawn ire this weekend from sure teams of Star Wars followers—rallying round a tweet from Mark Anthony Austin, a VFX artist who bodily portrayed Fett in materials added to a single scene within the Special Edition of Star Wars: A New Hope—the transfer towards in a roundabout way referring to Slave 1 seems to have been within the works for so long as Boba’s deliberate return, to various levels. The official web site’s wiki-esque Star Wars databank, for instance, refers back to the ship as Slave 1 within the header, but in its URL as “Boba Fett’s Starship.” When the ship made its return alongside Boba in The Mandalorian episode “The Tragedy” final 12 months, it was by no means explicitly referred to by its title regardless of making outstanding appearances. Since then, additional Star Wars materials has been equally half-and-half. The ongoing Marvel Star Wars comedian occasion sequence, War of the Bounty Hunters, the place the ship has appeared a number of occasions, refers to it completely as ‘[Boba’s] ship,’ whereas in final 12 months’s Empire Strikes Back: From a Certain Point of View anthology, the ship is explicitly known as Slave I a number of occasions.

It’s additionally a transfer that’s been taking place on Star Wars merchandise within the background even earlier than Lego immediately addressed it this previous weekend with equally blended impact. Hasbro’s latest Star Wars: The Vintage Collection release of the ship refers to it as Slave 1 on packaging, as does a ShopDisney exclusive “Toybox” version of the vessel, whereas an upcoming model kit re-issue from MPC designates it “Boba Fett’s Starship.” In Topps’ digital Star Wars buying and selling card app, playing cards based mostly on pre-Mandalorian appearances of the vessel confer with it as Slave 1, whereas playing cards launched extra not too long ago both use “the ship” terminology or dance round naming the vessel.

For all of the perceived furor round Lego’s dialogue surrounding the ship as a brand new, energetic determination by Disney to vary the title, it’s clear that whereas not solely has this “policy” been within the works for some time, it’s additionally one which has not but been definitively applied a technique or one other. What’s unclear at present is that if a canonical title change for the ship will seem down the road, or if Star Wars product will decide to dancing round Slave 1 as a title for the foreseeable future. When io9 reached out ahout the scenario to Lego, Disney, and Lucasfilm—the latter particularly to debate whether or not or not Slave 1 as a reputation can be retired narratively slightly than simply in Star Wars merchandising—the businesses didn’t reply to a number of requests to remark. We’ll replace this publish if we hear extra.

Whether this coverage stays strictly restricted to merchandise slightly than Boba’s future narrative stays to be seen, however there’s probably not a cause for Slave 1 to have its title in Disney’s model of Star Wars canon proper now, anyway. In Legends continuity, Boba’s father, Jango, was offered into slavery as a younger man following a battle with the Jedi on Galidraan, and named his second ship Slave I in the course of the occasions of the online game Star Wars: Bounty Hunter when he acquired it chasing down a goal throughout a jail riot, particulars of which have but to be re-entered into the present continuity timeline. And in the event that they don’t, Boba might simply as simply need to maintain utilizing the title in Book of Boba Fett, or change it out of a need to make it his personal, or honor his father another method, having now reclaimed his household armor in The Mandalorian. Without that particular connection, Slave 1 simply turns into a ship title, and people are hardly written in stone—not even on the toy containers.

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