'Star Wars' May Be Bringing Back Boba Fett's Original White Armor
We are six episodes into Star Wars: The Bad Batch. This author has been watching the adventures of Clone Force 99 (and Omega) religiously every weekend now to avoid any spoilers that may come up. A few characters from other Star Wars projects have made their appearance in the show. (Remember how many cameos we had in the premiere episode alone?) As usual, SPOILER ALERT if you are not caught up with The Bad Batch.
In the fifth episode, “Rampage,” our heroes headed for Ord Mantell, the planet in the Mid Rim territory. Some of us might remember Ord Mantell for its bustling spaceports and trading posts. It was also home to the Black Sun crime syndicate, although we have not seen them in The Bad Batch as of yet.
As the episode played out, we were probably all focused on who this Cid person could be. Who was this mysterious contact that the Jedi trusted? The squad had no idea what this Cid even looked like. The only information Echo had was that Cid hung out in this one seedy cantina located in a shady alley. The evasive Transdoshan bartender kept repeating that the squad was in the wrong place and that Cid was not here. Fortunately for Clone Force 99, Omega’s intuition was correct in deducing that the Transdoshan was Cid.
Of course, we could not talk business out in the open in the middle of the cantina, even though the two aliens fighting in the corner were preoccupied and probably not paying attention to our heroes. Cid led the group into her secret storeroom to discuss business. As the group went off to rescue this “Muchi” kid, our focus moved to the adrenaline-fueled action going on and the implication that we were witnessing the beginning of the Bad Batch’s new career path.
Let us now rewind back to the initial meeting with Cid in her storeroom. The Bad Batch wanted more information on their unknown pursuer, whom we all know as Fennec Shand. Most of us missed what was in the background as Cid asked the clones what they would do for her in exchange for information on the bounty hunter.
Well, luckily for us, someone with sharp eyes spotted this particular white helmet hanging on the wall. It actually appeared several times in the scene, but most of us probably missed it on the first watch. Did anyone recognize it? It looked just like the Mandalorian helmet worn by Boba Fett and the clones’ progenitor Jango Fett. The only difference was its all white color as opposed to Boba Fett’s green helmet with red trim, and Jango Fett’s silver helmet with blue trim.
As pointed out by Screen Rant, in Ralph McQuarrie’s original concept art of the character, Boba Fett’s armor was supposed to be all white. After a quick Google search, this author found a YouTube video of Star Wars sound designer Ben Burtt pointing out the many features of Boba Fett’s armor.
This video from 1978 revealed the all white “proto Fett” armor. Later on, the decision would be made to give Boba Fett the green color armor that we came to know him in. However, this “White Boba Fett” still lives on as toys and collectibles.
How much thought should we put into this proto Fett helmet on the wall? Could this just be a quick homage to the “proto Fett?" At this point, Boba Fett was still an adolescent. He had yet to don Jango Fett’s Mandalorian armor on screen. Perhaps Filoni is teasing an appearance of Boba Fett in The Bad Batch. Fennec Shand already made an appearance, why not add Boba Fett also? Maybe we are just thinking too much into this.
Source(s): Screen Rant