Boba Fett was initially envisioned as a "Super Stormtrooper" with a white look to his iconic Mandalorian armor. For the record, Johnston has no memory of the term “Mandalorian” -- the canonical armor-type that would define Boba’s suit -- being used during production or of its origins. Though he has an idea. “I’m sure the term came from George,” he says. “All that stuff does. Or at least he approves of it, but most of it he comes up with.” Though Johnston only had one suit to work with, he would just paint over a panel of armor until he found a color he liked. And maybe most importantly, he figured out a way to make the armor look battle-worn without actually damaging it. To make certain plates appear dented, Johnston would paint the entire area silver, cover it with frisket, and then paint the final color over that. “When you pull the frisket off,” Johnston explains, “you would see this silver paint coming through. It would look like there was a dent and the metal underneath was revealed.” The technique was used on both the body armor and helmet, and finally, Johnston dyed the jumpsuit a blue-grey. He presented his work to Lucas, who liked it, but Johnston wasn’t done.

Hake’s Senior Consignment Manager Kelly McClain can be reached at [email protected] toll-free at 866-404-9800, ext. 1636, to discuss consigning to future auctions. Visit Hake’s online at www.hakes.com . Hasbro brings the original Boba Fett concept armor to life, plus new print-on-demand items inspired by The Book of Boba Fett. At that point I took it over to the [Industrial Light & Magic] facility on Kerner [Boulevard], and I laid everything out on the floor.” Johnston says. “I went down to the hobby shop in San Anselmo and I bought this brand of paint called Floquil. It was mostly used for model railroading. I bought just dozens of jars of this stuff, as many colors as I wanted. I put them in air brushes and I start painting this thing.”

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Almost all of the prototypes are unpainted, blue/grey figures. One version is known to have yellow legs.

Featuring highly-detailed design and interior padding, adjustable fit, and electronic lights, this full-scale Boba Fett (Prototype Armor) helmet is an iconic addition to any Star Wars fan’s collection The legendary Star Wars art director speaks to StarWars.com about designing the galaxy’s baddest bounty hunter and the very first set of Mandalorian armor. While there is a now-famous video tryout of the prototype armor (which can be seen above), there was actually another armor test, in which Bruce Nicholson (optical photography supervisor) suited up as Fett in the painted costume. Johnston didn’t know what Fett would have to physically do in the movie, but he wanted to make sure he could handle action befitting a bounty hunter. “I just wanted to see him move around in it,” Johnston says. “We took pictures of it. We didn’t take any video, unfortunately. I said, ‘Just move around.’ I wanted to make sure that it looked like you could move comfortably. A bounty hunter or gunslinger from the Old West needs to look comfortable in his outfit, for sure. ‘Just move around. I want to see if he can run in it.’” And he could run around -- if he opted to leave a specific piece of equipment home.

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BOBA FETT (PROTOTYPE ARMOR): Boba Fett was initially envisioned as a "Super Stormtrooper" with a white look to his iconic Mandalorian armor The L-slot missiles have 4 distinctive "ribs," whereas the J-slot version has 8 distinctive ribs. Since this projectile separated from the figure, it's not necessarily paired with every prototype; some were lost. In designing Boba Fett and everything else they cooked up for Empire, Johnston and McQuarrie continued a collaboration that began with Star Wars. They worked together closely, t hough their skills were quite different -- and to Johnston’s mind, that turned out to be a good thing. Once the armor was complete and finalized, did Johnston know that the design worked? That he had created something that would impress audiences? “It looked like a cool thing to me,” he admits. “I thought it was pretty cool.” But a single element stands out to Johnston both in terms of the success of the design and the character. “One thing I thought was very important about Boba Fett was that the helmet was his face. I never felt that you should ever see his face,” Johnston says. “I think his helmet is his face, basically.” But as it turns out, the now-iconic look created for Boba Fett was actually made for someone, or something, else entirely.

Boba Fett was initially envisioned as a "Super Stormtrooper" with a white look to his iconic Mandalorian armor ILLUMINATED RANGEFINDER HEADS-UP DISPLAY (HUD): With the press of a button the rangefinder drops down, activating 2 red LEDs that flash in a hunting pattern as well as a white LED-illuminated heads-up display With the press of a button the rangefinder drops down, activating 2 red LEDs that flash in a “hunting” pattern as well as a white LED-illuminated heads-up display (HUD) We’re very pleased with the results from our Star Wars Special Event Auction,” said Hake’s president Alex Winter. “ Star Wars has become an important part of our premier events, accounting for a strong percentage of the auction totals. Choosing to hold a Star Wars –only auction was an easy decision because we know our customers are hungry for the cream of the crop from Star Warscollectibles.” Fun fact: Boba Fett’s now-iconic armor was actually designed for “super troopers” of the Empire. When that idea was abandoned, however, filmmakers repurposed the striking gear for a new bounty hunter. The rest is Star Wars history, and Hasbro’s stunning figure pays tribute to the earliest incarnation of a legend.

Get a first look at Hasbro's tribute to the original look of the iconic bounty hunter!

Fett fashion: Joe Johnston's work on the costume continues. Note the "eyes" on the helmet, which would disappear following another round of painting. PREMIUM ELECTRONIC HELMET: Featuring highly-detailed design and interior padding, adjustable fit, and electronic lights, this full-scale Boba Fett (Prototype Armor) helmet is an iconic addition to any Star Wars fans collection He continued tinkering and adding modifications, including a lot of aging and a lot of “metal” damage. Johnston even added talismans to decorate the suit, and took some inspiration from classic Westerns. “At one point we had a poncho on him like the Clint Eastwood character in For a Few Dollars More . That ended up getting in the way and being cumbersome, so we eliminated that.” Finally, the armor was more or less done. But would it be functional for a bounty hunter of Fett’s caliber?