For most Star Wars fans, the name Slave I became synonymous with notorious bounty hunter Boba Fett in Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire Strikes Back (1980). Fett tracks Millennium Falcon pilot Han Solo (Harrison Ford) and his cohorts — including Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill) and Princess Leia Organa (Carrie Fisher) to Bespin’s Cloud City with the aid of Sith Lord Darth Vader (James Earl Jones/David Prowse).
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Then, we saw more of the ship’s backstory when Jango Fett and his “son” — unaltered clone Boba Fett — appeared with it in Star Wars: Attack of the Clones (2002).
George Lucas’s second prequel trilogy film cemented the importance of the Fett family’s starship. Then, Slave I returned in Season 2 of showrunner Jon Favreau and executive producer Dave Filoni’s The Mandalorian.
When bounty hunter Din Djarin (Pedro Pascal) found himself in a bit of a scrape on planet Tython — his charge, Grogu (AKA “Baby Yoda”) was kidnapped by a Dark Trooper squad, and his ship, the Razor Crest, was destroyed by a single strike from Moff Gideon’s (Giancarlo Esposito) Imperial cruiser — Boba Fett (Temuera Morrison), Fennec Shand (Ming-Na Wen), and Slave I swooped in to save the day.
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However, The Walt Disney Company has quietly changed the name of the iconic Star Wars ship, and fans are none too happy about it. In June, astute fans noticed that an upcoming LEGO set was called “Boba Fett’s Starship” instead of the more well-known “Slave I” moniker.
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Now, the ship’s name change has seemingly been officially confirmed in the canon “War of the Bounty Hunters” comic book series. A recent press release noted, in part:
The hunt for Han Solo has brought out the underworld’s most dangerous hunters and acclaimed Star Wars artist Paolo Villanelli’s new BOUNTY HUNTER SHIP BLUEPRINT VARIANT COVERS dynamically depicts them alongside their legendary ships. Fans can see the following characters and vehicles on variant covers throughout September:
· Bossk and The Hound’s Tooth
· Boba Fett and Firespray
· IG-88 and IG-2000
· Zuckuss and The Mist Hunter
· Valance Beilert and The Broken Wing
· Dengar and The Punishing One
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Here’s what some irate Star Wars fans are saying.
Thich Nhat Hahn Solo predicted the general consensus among Boba Fett fans soon after the news broke:
The Boba fanboys are gonna be mad. #Firespray
The Boba fanboys are gonna be mad. 😬 #Firespray
— Thich Nhat Hahn Solo (@NeverNotMarck) August 13, 2021
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BricksFanz make a Prince reference, quipping:
The artist formerly known as Slave I, formerly known as Boba Fett’s Ship now known as the Firespray #StarWars
The artist formerly known as Slave I, formerly known as Boba Fett's Ship now known as the Firespray #StarWars pic.twitter.com/w1Wx8IjtFT
— BricksFanz (@BricksFanz) August 13, 2021
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**The language in the following Tweet may not be appropriate for all readers**
The Disgruntled Jedi had strong feelings about the Star Wars canon change, writing:
Can anyone confirm they are doing this? Also, again @Disney, f*** off! Firespray is the ships class, it will is and always will be ‘Slave 1’
Can anyone confirm they are doing this?
Also, again @Disney, fuck off! Firespray is the ships class, it will is and always will be 'Slave 1' https://t.co/TIYXu4Elvd pic.twitter.com/GYhZUNWqao— The Disgruntled Jedi | Alignment: Chaotic Stupid (@NoobicusMaximus) August 13, 2021
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Terry Kennedy has similar negative feelings about Disney’s big change:
Firespray????? They renamed bobbas [sic: Boba’s] ship firespray? Dinsey will do anything to ruin the Star Wars franchise. It will always be the Slave I. Go ruin your cartoons with live action movies and leave Star Wars alone.
Firespray????? They renamed bobbas ship firespray? Dinsey will do anything to ruin the Star Wars franchise. It will always be the Slave I. Go ruin your cartoons with live action movies and leave Star Wars alone.
— Terry Kennedy (@terrykennedyii) August 13, 2021
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Spartacus Fett called out Disney for lack of action in regard to actual slavery occurring around the world, and even called the starship name change a “Disney fail”:
“Firespray” is a dumb change in a long list of dumb changes to the #starwars universe.
How about instead of just changing the name retroactively – maybe actually do something about real slavery happening in the world today?
#disneyfail #BobaFett #slaveI #mandalorian
“Firespray” is a dumb change in a long list of dumb changes to the #starwars universe.
How about instead of just changing the name retroactively – maybe actually do something about real slavery happening in the world today? #disneyfail #BobaFett #slaveI #mandalorian pic.twitter.com/H9bTmLL25b
— Spartacus Fett (@spartacusfett) August 12, 2021
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Finally, Anarki671 replied to a Twitter thread about the post, noting that the name change isn’t even really unique — Slave I has always been a Firespray-31 class ship:
It was a Firespray-31 always, all they’ve done is give it the model name.
It was a Firespray-31 always, all they've done is give it the model name.
— Anarki671 (@Anarki671) August 12, 2021
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No matter how you feel about Boba Fett’s Slave I now being referred to as Firespray, you’ll be able to see the iconic ship again in December 2021 when Favreau and Filoni’s first Mandalorian spinoff, The Book of Boba Fett debuts on Disney+.
Robert Rodriguez will serve as showrunner and Morrison and Shand will star.
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Although unconfirmed at this time, rumors about that Mandalorian Season 2 favorite, Mos Pelgo Marshal Cobb Vanth (Timothy Olyphant), and other iconic characters will return for the Boba Fett series, which is being hailed as “The Mandalorian Season 2.5″.
What are your thoughts on the new Firespray name?