[REVIEW] 75277 - Boba Fett Helmet

[Clone OPatra]

Now for what could be considered the pies de resistance - and without a doubt the most colourful - of this first Helmet Collection: Boba Fett!

75277 Boba Fett Helmet | 2020 | 625 Pieces

USD $60 | GBP 55 | EUR 60 (variable) | CAD 80 | AUS$ 90

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This is one of four review topics for the Helmets Collection: an individual detailed build and review for Boba Fett, Stormtrooper, and TIE Fighter Pilot, and an overview review looking at the whole line including the packaging, all three together, value and the concept in general.

These sets were kindly provided by LEGO but all opinions are my own.

Now, let's look at that silent stunner, that clumsy tumbler, Boba Fett!

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Bag 1

Right from the start we're treated with some fairly rare parts. The sand green corner plate comes in only two other sets; the sand green 4x4, 1x6 and 1x4 and light grey brick with studs on two sides in four other sets, the sand green 2x4 in six others, the 6x6 in five others, and the yellow 6l bar with stopper in six others as well. I was most intrigued by that yellow bar, having no idea how or why it would be used.

Like the others, the inside of the core is hollow. The structure is naturally quite different.

At the end of the first bag, this colourful mess has been built, along with the top of the helmet including the trademark ding (put there by Cad Bane of course, for those in the know). I was still perplexed and intrigued by that yellow bar, having no idea what it might be for.

Bag 2

One thing that struck me in this bag was the variety of colours of jumper plates. Here we see dark red, flame yellowish orange, and lime green, and white, dark tan and sand green are also included in the set. I've often seen the argument that it's to aid in building, but the four lime green ones included in this bag could just as easily be dark red or flame yellowish orange and it'd make no difference. I'm not complaining, of course; the more colours the merrier. Maybe it's to use up stock. There's also a 3x1 blue jumper in there, which comes in just three other sets.

For some reason the technic beams in this set are yellow, while in the others they're light grey.

The head is only slightly taller itself than the base, so once it's added the height of the model suddenly doubles.

The rest of bag 2 has you build these bits, which all get added to the back. The main section involves some pleasing offset work with 2x4 tiles on jumpers over the dark red grill tiles. There's also nice offsets on the other parts here.

Bag 3

Here we see even more delicious sand green, including some parts still rare in that colour like the 1x2 cheese which comes in four other sets, and the macaroni tile which only comes in this set.

Now we finally get to the use of that yellow bar, to attach the stripes on the side of the helmet! The stripe is comprised of two sections attached in different directions, both with lots of offsets achieved by jumpers. You can see more pictures of the individual sections in the album.

Next comes a side, which has a black line running down it achieved with the relatively new bracket with four anti-studs on the side. It's simple but smart, and impressed me.

Here we are at the end of bag 3, with a side and the back done.

Bag 4

This bag contains most of the dark tan of the set, and more of the other expected colours.

First to be built is the last side of the top of the helmet, which on its own looks slightly reminiscent of a colour-swapped pokeball.

The last part of the side is mostly straightforward.

Just missing the face now!

Bag 5

Bag 5 feels pretty sparse, with not much left now to go.

Thank goodness for that curved cutout 4x4 black plate introduced a couple of years ago - the designer of this set would certainly be in a bind without it.

Both halves of the face get attached with the ever-versatile riot shield in dark red.

Here's what it looks like without the centre, which gets added separately, followed by the rangefinder and finally the plaque.

And here are the leftovers. There seem like too many 1x1 sand green plates, so I was worried I had missed something, but I don't think I did.

Completed Model

With no stickers included, we can thankfully jump right in. From afar, it looks quite good. Unlike with the TIE Fighter Pilot which has large areas of studs and large areas of smoothness which interplay in a visually obvious way, this one has enough studs interspersed with smooth that they blend together fairly well.

As a model and display piece it's of course aided by the fact that the in-universe helmet has a lot going on, so there are lots of different points of visual interest and they are achieved with a variety of clever techniques, like I have detailed. It actually makes you want to pick it up and look at all the sides, and the back is one of the most pleasing angles.

The side profile has an appropriate angle to it, matching the source material.

Of course, it's not perfect, and the front is actually the most flawed section. The step in the black section underneath the dark red brim looks weird, and I'm not sure what they were going for or why that was necessary. The seams between the dark red tiles of the front portion and the angled "cheeks" is also pretty noticeable, as are the seams at the back of the cheeks where they go into the sides of the helmet. The designer has tried to fill those latter gaps in one place with bows, but that might make the parts that aren't filled even more noticeable.

Finally, and most glaring of all if you compare it to the source material, the whole of the proportions are not wide enough and, like the Stormtrooper, match the LEGO minifig Mandalorian helmet more closely than Boba's helmet in the movies, which has a wider face. That said, I don't think most people, myself included, have such an accurate picture of Boba in their mind that they'd look at this and notice that something is obviously off. 

And there's a play feature to distract you from any flaws. Flaws, flaws, where?

Final Thoughts and Rating

Boba Fett's helmet lends itself to being a LEGO model like this, what with being fairly angular, and makes a good display piece with its variety of colours and design features. Those features and they way they are executed also make it a fun and consistently intriguing build as a LEGO set, much more pleasing to build than the Stormtrooper or TIE helmets.

As I've touched on, as compared to the source material the helmet isn't without flaws, especially being too slender and with certain sections of colours much more pronounced than they should be. Even on its own terms there are areas that look awkward the two levels of black in the visor and the gaps at the very front.

To some, these flaws might be on par with those of the Stormtrooper. However, to me, the Boba Fett helmet is flawed doesn't look it at a casual glance, while the Stormtrooper is flawed and looks it, obviously. Boba Fett has always been a a popular character, and with interest in Mandalorians at a high in mainstream pop-culture, I imagine this set of the three is the most in demand. To a casual fan, and as a desk or home display piece on a shelf, it certainly wouldn't disappoint.

Parts: I didn't give a number rating for parts in the other two sets because they were so monochrome, so I don't think it would be fair to give one here either, but this set contains a lovely variety of parts including plenty of parts in colours that are still rare and one exclusive, so it's quite good.

Build: 10/10 - Really a fun, varied build with clever and well-integrated techniques

Design: 8.5/10 - There are the issues I touched on which bring it down a little, some of which probably could have done better, but there's also a lot that's great and well done with the design.

Overall: 9.25/10 - It's good and a lovely, visually interesting display piece that does its job well. I recommend it for those interested, and of the three it's the one I'd recommend most for the parts and build experience as well.

[Kit Figsto]

Thanks for these reviews!  I'd been wondering quite a bit about the exact scale and building techniques for these helmets, so this has been great.  

This one definitely looks the best to me, I think because it's less round than a Stormtrooper/TIE pilot helmet.  Luckily, I don't think there's too many other overly round helmets (P2 clone and FO stormtroopers are really the main ones that I can think of), so in the future I would imagine any other similar sets might look a bit less blocky (plus, as we've seen, series of similar models like this tend to get better over time).  It just seems like they were going to have a tough time getting the shape to work regardless for those sets, whereas this one, being more flat on the sides works a lot better visually.  The working rangefinder is a plus!  I know that the price/piece ratio is pretty solid, but size-wise I'm still not sure I'd shell out the money for one of these, at least not at full price.

[Airking]

Thanks, considering buying it.

[Minizem]

Thanks for your review, this set will be at the right place next to my ucs slave one!