Remember playing with your Kenner Star Wars Slave I playset back in the day?
Yeah, well, according to Disney, Boba Fett’s ship isn’t called that anymore. At least it won’t be in upcoming LEGO sets.
Now it’s just “Boba Fett’s Starship.”
No, I am not kidding.
Likely part of Disney’s continued diversity and inclusion initiatives, the LEGO version of Boba Fett’s iconic ship will drop the “Slave I” moniker and instead be referred by its new name. This at the request of Disney, according to LEGO Star Wars Design Director Jens Kronvold and LEGO Star Wars Lead Designer Michael Lee Stockwell.
While Disney hasn’t made a formal announcement of the internal name change, fans will note the change to “Boba Fett’s Starship” on an upcoming LEGO playset from The Mandalorian. This was addressed casually during the LEGO Fan Media Days event last month.
Via Jedi News…
Jens: Then, the next one, also from The Mandalorian, is Boba Fett’s Starship.
Michael: Yes, I built another. We’re not calling it Slave I any more. This is Boba Fett’s Starship.
James: OK, why are we dropping the Slave I name?
Jens: Everybody is. It’s probably not something which has been announced publicly but it is just something that Disney doesn’t want to use any more.
You can see images of the box for the upcoming release below, confirmed that the name “Slave I” seems to be no more… at least in the LEGO Star Wars universe.
Last year, in the wake of the death of George Floyd, some in the tech world were calling for an end to the “master” and “slave” designations.
It’ll be interesting to see if the Slave I name changes carries over to the entirety of the Star Wars canon, or if it’s just because this product is marketed to kids.
If I had to guess, I’d wager this is a company-wide mandate given the current political climate at Lucasfilm, in particular.
With The Book of Boba Fett coming to Disney Plus, maybe Lucasfilm can at least concoct a plausible story reason for a name change, and give us something better than “Boba Fett’s Starship?”
Now we just wait and see how this goes over with long-time Star Wars fans, some of whom have sunk thousands of dollars into Boba Fett and “Slave I” merchandise.
Grab some popcorn.
[Source: Jedi News, Hat Tip: CCG]
Pirates & Princesses (PNP) is an independent, opinionated fan-powered news blog that covers Disney and Universal Theme Parks, Themed Entertainment and related Pop Culture from a consumer's point of view. Opinions expressed by our contributors do not necessarily reflect the views of PNP, its editors, affiliates, sponsors or advertisers. PNP is an unofficial news source and has no connection to The Walt Disney Company, NBCUniversal or any other company that we may cover.
