Trilogo (Light grey) Boba Fett
The Trilogo Fett is a variant Vintage collectors the world over are aware of. Many people add this cool variation to their collections due to its popularity and striking colour.
A loose Trilogo Fett is characterised by a few particular differences that make him stand out when compared with a regular Made In Hong Kong or Taiwan figure.
(Comparison between a Trilogo Boba Fett and a Hong Kong Boba Fett)
You can see in the above picture that the colour of the plastic that this figure was made from is a lot lighter than any other Boba Fett figure, it is almost an off white/light grey colour.
The other notable difference is the lack of Country Of Origin details (COO). The COO was actually manually removed from the figures mold before production.
Unfortunately, when collectors use the term “Trilogo Fett” to describe or name this variant they actually couldn’t be further from the truth with regard to its origin. The light grey Boba Fett actually came out on both Palitoy & Meccano ROTJ cards prior to it’s Trilogo release so it’s definitely not just a Trilogo only release. In fact, many of the loose figures out there are probably not from Trilogo cards at all.
As you can see, there were a lot of these lighter coloured figures sold in Europe. The Meccano card was primarily available in France, the Palitoy card was produced for the UK and exported to other European countries and of course Trilogo cards were available all over Europe towards the end of the line. So while loose light grey Trilogo variants always fetch a good price when sold, they are in fact quite readily available within Europe.
The real Trilogo Boba Fett variant?
With that said, there is actually a Boba Fett variant that appears to be the real deal..
The information available at the moment suggests that this figure actually is a Trilogo only release. It wasn’t available on every Trilogo card however. So far, it’s only been confirmed on a Meccano Trilogo card (Type 2 on the advanced guide: Small bubble and regular punch hole).
The figure inside the bubble on this French origin Trilogo card looks just like a regular Hong Kong COO figure (normal grey limbs and torso with a light brown belt) but in fact it has no COO at all, hardly even a “scar” (a term used to describe a roughly removed COO). This particular Boba Fett variant has not been found anywhere else but France nor on any other carded figure the world over.
You can see that this figures COO area is completely smoothed over, unique to the figure (Similar but NOT the same as the Lili Ledy Fett COO)
As it appears that this figure was released only in France and only on this particular Trilogo card, it is pretty hard to track down and loose variant hunters will often be prepared to pay more for one than a more common Taiwan or Hong Kong figure. The same can be said for a carded Meccano Fett, it’s one of the most desired carded Trilogo variations out there.
So..is this the real Trilogo Fett?
Well, I would say yes. This figure probably deserves the title “Trilogo Fett” much more than the light grey variant, however, as the light grey figure has been referred to as the Trilogo release for such a long time, it is doubtful that the name will ever be changed.
It has actually become known as the “Meccano” Fett variant, which is a little broad in terms of accurately describing the figure but we have to remember that when it was first discovered, the only clue to it’s origin that collectors had was the country that it kept being found in, which was France.
While the name might lead some collectors to believe it was released on various different French cards, until that is proven with a sealed example (Either ROTJ or ESB) the figure should be considered a Trilogo only release.
Hopefully this article will help educate collectors on this variation and also remind us all that new discoveries can happen at any time in our hobby!
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Here is a line up of Boba Fett Variants, the real Trilogo/Meccano Fett is on the far right! (COO markings shown for comparison).
Update to come!