For any Star Wars fan, it was hard to avoid the announcement that leaked in June about Boba Fett's spaceship losing its former name of "Slave I" after it was simply called "Boba Fett's Starship" on a new LEGO set. At the time, some believed it was just a toy branding thing, where the description of the ship was being used rather than the name, while others immediately believed that something was afoot to change the name due to the current controversy around the word "slave". Now it seems that no one has a choice in the matter, as Boba Fett's ship has now quietly been given a new name.
Despite fan outrage, which led to a petition to keep the name, Boba Fett's ship will now be called "Firespray", the official name which has been announced very low key during a press release about War of The Bounty Hunters, the current Star Wars comics cross-over event. The story centres on Boba Fett in the aftermath of The Empire Strikes Back as he attempts to deliver Han Solo's Carbonited body to Jabba the Hutt. Fett, however, doesn't have an easy task and is hijacked by Qi'ra, which kicks off a chain of events that seen a galactic free for all between multiple forces attempting to claim Solo for themselves. One of the comics' variant covers shows Fett standing alongside his former "Slave I" ship, and the name of artwork is where we see the new name as it reads: Boba Fett and Firespray.
There was some initial doubt that the ship's name was actually being listed, as it was pointed out that the name could link to some other aspect of the vessel, however a list of all variant covers, which included Bossk and the Hound's Tooth, Zuckuss and The Mist Hunter and IG-88 and IG-2000, clearly showed that the artwork names were being listed as character and their ship name.
- · 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
Someone very vocal about the potential name change back in June was A New Hope Special Edition's Boba Fett actor Mark Austin, who posted on Twitter, "When applying for personalized plates for my car the DMV would not allow "Slave1". Okay I understand. Had to try. But I get it.This #disney idiocy however. Not buying it. Not conforming to the Mouse, no siree. Not gonna happen. When I was growing up I loved #disney. No more."
It seems like many others, Austin is now just going to have to accept this new name as Star Wars canon. It is likely that Fett's ship will appear again in the upcoming Disney+ series, The Book of Boba Fett, and it is likely because of this prominent appearance by the character that the change has been made. Back in June when the LEGO version of the craft appeared, it was hinted that the name change had been brought about to help marketing of the LEGO set and indeed other merchandise based around the future appearances of fan favorite Boba Fett, without having to try and negate the cultural images conjured up by the term of "Slave" being used.
The War of the Bounty Hunters comic book arc is currently available from Marvel Comics, while The Book of Boba Fett is expected to arrive on Disney+ in December. This news was first pointed out in ComicBook.com.