Boba Fett, despite his limited screen time and inglorious end in the original trilogy, was and remains one of the most iconic Star Wars characters of all time. His Mandalorian armor was something to be feared and revered. In fact, his look spawned a good portion of The Clone Wars series focusing on the Mandalorian people. Likewise, we got to see his armor in its original form on his father, Jango, in the prequels. It’s worn appearance, including a dent in the left side of the helmet, just gave Boba Fett an air of toughness. But now, because of The Mandalorian, the origin story for the ding in Boba’s bucket just doesn’t make sense anymore.
First let’s talk about the reason for the dent in the first place. In this instance we’re talking about the real reason, i.e. the real world cause. As the story goes, the look of Boba Fett’s helmet was originally a mistake. A bubble that appeared in the helmet’s molding process popped, causing the indentation. George Lucas reportedly liked the look, and the rest is history. Dave Filoni then gave the in-universe explanation for it at Star Wars Celebration in 2017. In an unused story arc from The Clone Wars, Boba Fett faces off against fellow bounty hunter Cad Bane in a good ol’ fashioned western stand-off. Bane’s shot hit Fett in the helmet, causing the dent. It’s even still there, as we see with Fett appearing In the last two episodes of The Mandalorian. However, as two seasons of The Mandalorian have shown us, Filoni’s explanation for the dent no longer seems viable.
Boba Fett helmet dent no longer makes sense
A major focus of The Mandalorian series on Disney+ has been the strength and durability of Mando’s Beskar armor. Time and again he’s taken, deflected, and shrugged off blaster bolts from stormtroopers, and others. He even went toe to toe with Ahsoka Tano and beat back her lightsabers…. All with his Beskar armor. In most cases the blaster fire or saber blows barely left a mark, let alone a dent. Cad Bane would have had to have been using a blaster more powerful than any other we’ve seen in Star Wars to actually do physical damage to Fett’s Beskar helmet. What are the chances of that?
Remember though; Filoni’s explanation comes from an unused story arc. Thus, it’s not technically canon. Now that he’s so heavily involved in The Mandalorian, maybe Filoni can come up with a better explanation. In any event, the dent still looks badass, even with a fresh coat of paint.
[UPDATE – There have been many comments regarding the composition of Boba Fett’s armor. Many folks have relied on the now-Legends definition of “Mandalorian Armor” in Wookieepedia, which states that Jango and Boba’s armor was made from durasteel. However, the canon explanation on the same cite states that “[the bounty hunter Jango and his cloned son, Boba Fett wore customized Mandalorian armor, which was made with beskar.” Likewise, the specific entry for “Boba Fett’s armor” states that [t]he armor was forged from beskar, a rare and nearly indestructible alloy. It was originally silver and blue while in Jango’s possession.” Beskar… Durasteel…. Whatever you want to believe its made of, Boba Fett’s armor is still awesome, regardless. ]
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Boba Fett’s armour is not made from Beskar… just like Mando’s wasn’t at the start of series one…
Except it is. Mando wouldn’t have been so big on keeping it if it wasn’t beskar
He wanted to keep the armor because it was Mandolorian. Whether or not it was Beskar had nothing to do with it.
Mando didn’t want it for the material. He wanted it because it belonged to his people, not outsiders.
If only a little research were applied by the author. Straight from the Wookiepedia:
“Mandalorian armor was traditionally made out of almost indestructible Mandalorian Iron (beskar), but this was rare and expensive, so many Mandalorians, such as Jango and Boba Fett, opted for less durable materials instead, such as durasteel or duraplast.”
15 second Google search, but let’s just make shit up for the sake of clicks.
Yep, some of these articles are maddeningly inane. And the writer is an attorney? I understand dork culture likes to talk about the most mundane things, and that’s good since it keeps the writers on their beskar toes. But, this was, as you pointed out, easily explained.
Well actually, you are right that Mando’s armor is pure beskar, however Boba’s armor is also beskar. Let me explain. When the Empire started to mine beskar on a massive scale, it became much more rare, and over time it became nearly impossible to find. Because of this Mandalorians started making alloys out of small amounts of beskar, and other materials such as durasteel. So all mandalorian armor has some traces of beskar, however some have less than others, making some armor stronger than others. In Din Djarin’s case his was near indestructible as it was pure beskar, while Boba’s would’ve only had traces of it.
Source?
The source would be the show The mandalorian. We learn of the “The Purge” Where many mandalorians died. Then the empire took their armor and extracted the beskar in them. Mando’s new armor is almost complete beskar as he got it from “The Client” an imperial giving imperial beskar bars. Then no states that mando would be needed to face Gideon with his darksaber to withstand it as hers is not complete beskar as she and her followers did not fall in “The Purge”. So yes most mando armor is not common to be complete beskar. Mando’s armor is very rare only since he did the job for all those imperial bars. Which would be like paying a Jewish person in gold teeth from the holocaust.
“Then bo states”
Stupid autocorrect
It was made of beskar. That’s absurd. The bullet indent explanation is quite simple, and most plausible. Cad Bane had obtained beskar-made rounds.
Remember Din armor is brand new Fetts is100s of years old. We know it can loose integrity over time and have to be reforged that’s why Din had to get his replaced in season one. Din also made a comment in episode 5 that indicated Beskar doesn’t always stop the fire. “This time the Beskar held up” implying it doesn’t always. So no the dent lore is fully intact.
It’s a work of fiction. Canon is great, but I’m sick to death of these stupid artickes that micro analyze stuff to the point of detracting from a great world. Enjoy the stories. If they step on each other sometimes, it’s ok.
It makes sense if you bother to out an iota of thought into it. It’s very old armor, it may have degraded. Or simply not be pure Beskar. If Jango recurved during a tumultuous period like the Civil Wars, Beskar mines may not have been accessible, forcing him to make armor that’s a mix of metals
Boba Fett’s armour, previously Jango’s, was made from durasteel. That’s Canon. So unless they made an awful blunder, it still makes sense. Mandalorian armour isn’t sacred just because some is made out of Beskar, but because some of it is hundreds of years old and passed down through generations through multiple wars.
Mando wouldn’t want armor solely because it’s beskar. He’d want it because no non-Mandalorian should have their armor. They’ve never specifically said it was beskar. That being said, is it beskar or just really tough otherwise? When Cobb Vanth wore it a blaster bolt was deflected off of it. So to somewhat counter my original point, it does appear that it could be beskar.
The dent is more iconic than the armor itself.
I recently had the same question after noticing the painted armor in the last Mandelorian epi. Actually, I was more moved by the seismic charges but that’s another a story. Back on topic.
You see the dent in the helmet in the clone wars animated series. In episode 20. Death Trap, a young Boba, eager to avenge his father’s, sets a trap for Mace Windu. His trap fails and he moves on with comrad’s who rescue him in Slave 1.
Moving into the next episode, 21. R2 Come Home, Anikin and Mace are investigating the wreckage when Anikin identifies a Mandelorian helmet and picks it up. Right as he picks it up, the dent can be seen in the same location.
Of course it’s a trap and the helmet has a detonator inside which explodes only seconds after Anikin picks it up.
So what we know is:
1. Boba Fett set the trap
2. The helmet is very likely to be Jengo’s original Helmet because Boba Fett set the trap and it looks the same
3. The helmet is destroyed in the explosion.
4. If the helmet was destroyed, Boba Fett had to replace it.
So, therefore, the dent may have been an homage to the legacy of his father, Jengo. No matter what Boba repairs on his armor, he will never remove that dent.
People. We saw mandos armor get dented/integrity compromised and it was beskar. Physical damage can indeed damage it.
Someone did a whole of writing and not a lick of research. Boba Fett’s armor is made of durasteel, not beskar. Supposedly he upgraded to Beskar at some point but he clearly has the same helmet.
A young Boba Fett had to hit it with something hard to knock his father Jago Fett head out of it😁
Actually if you watch Attack of the Clones again pay attention to the shadow after suck ass Mace Windy lops off Jango’s head. You can see the shadow of the airborne head as well as the shadow of the helmet…
Boba armor is older and looks lighter. And also, Bane probably has more dangerous blasters, for Bounty hunting. Better models or modified,while stormtroopers have probably cheap made blasters.
This right here.
Han Solo’s DL-44 pistol was modified to deliver a more powerful Blaster Bolt. It is illegal to modify a weapon for a more lethal blow. People in more dangerous trades i.e. smugglers and bounty hunting did modify weapons, severe penalties if caught.
A lot of blaster bolts are survivable, storm trooper armor is not impervious, it’s made to survive hits not stop it. The armor absorbs the hit then a secondary suit dissipates it. It’s not perfect, and you’ll be unconscious but survivable.
So modifying your weapon was illegal because of this.
I’m sorry I can’t source this but it’s exactly what I read from some star wars reading decades ago.
George Lucas himself said back in the late 70s that the Storm troopers aren’t wearing armor. They are wearing uniforms that are supposed to invoke the image of a skeleton because they were originally supposed to be Vader’s “shock troopers”
Boba Fett’s armor is made of durasteel, not beskar.
It was never confirmed the armor is pure beskar…Also Boba’s helmet did not come from Jango as Boba blew up Jango’s helmet in an attempt to kill Mace Windu so his helmet could just be durasteel. Also Din’s armor is much more new so there are many reasons that could explain the dent
When did Boba “blow up” Jango’s helmet in an attempt to kill Mace “SLJ sucks” Windy?
In The Clone Wars Season 2 Episode 21: R2 Come Home.
The dent makes perfect sense since bobas armor wasn’t made of beskar it was made of durasteel. Of course who knows what it’s made of now that disney threw away a massive amount of star wars history.
I feel like I’m one of the very few who realize that in ROTJ his targeting rangefinder was on his left side and blaster mark was on the right.
Now, in The Mandalorian, the rangefinder is on the right side and blaster bolt is on the left. All it takes is a few minutes worth of research. Im not complaining, Starbucks got a cameo in GOT. I’m just saying, sure it could have been through a number of things from the Sarlacc to the Jawas, or Cobb Vanth, or even Boba himself. Its not the end of the world, I just don’t see many editors or other publishers just ignore it, unless I’m mistaken. Please let me know if I am but I’m 99.9 % I’m correct. I love the details heh!
Apologies. Near the end I meant to say, “I just don’t see many editors or other publishers just realize it, write it down, unless I’m mistaken. I have seen a few articles on his armor, but none on the lazy, overlooked mistake that was just automatically past-over. Random rant, sorry! Happy Holidays!
You are mistaken. His antenna/viewfinder was always on the right. HOWEVER, in some scenes in ROTJ, they mirrored him in post-production, so this shows his antenna on the left – which is not consistent with other scenes in the same movie!
https://www.reddit.com/r/StarWars/comments/arzxg3/i_only_just_noticed_boba_fetts_antenna_switches/
“Beskar Slug” could be effective….
Slugthrowers, also referred to as firearms, were any projectile weapon that fired solid projectiles (known as slugs), as opposed to the energy bolts of a blaster.[1] Slugs could be fired by weapons such as the scatter gun, or the Cycler rifle[2] which was sometimes used by the Tusken Raiders of Tatooine.[3][4]
Did Cad Bane have a Slug Thower?
Most warriors would leave the dent as a reminder whether they repainted or not. It is a sign of battle one would wear proudly.
It looks like a solar receptor to power his suit.
You do know there are different guns in star wars, couldn’t Cad Bane, a feared and powerful bounty hunter who went toe and toe with jedi, have some sweet fire power, plus could a point blank shot to the armor cause a dent?
It was dented in attack of the clones when he got ran over by the beast in the end battle before he was decapitated by mace
That helmet got blown up this is only the case if just the dented portion survived and he remade the helmet from the that part
One thing no one seems to be including here is that cad bane is a seriously bad mofo. As far as combat and bounty hunting experience he easily outclasses boba. In a duel with boba he would have done plenty of damage even to a jango clone in beskar armor.
It’s nit Beskar go do research before writing a stupid article for clickbait—
Maybe you should do some research, because the most commonly sourced Star Wars site says it’s beskar.
His armor is beskar but his helmet most likely is not 100% beskar. He took his father’s armor from his father on Geonosis and used Jangos helmet to lure Mace Windy into a trap with a massive amount of explosives. The right half of the helmet was vaporized in the blast. (This all happened on the clone wars guys, you can even look this stuff up on wookiepedia if you don’t wanna watch it)
The helmet was likely recovered and the left side later remade with what was most likely durasteel, and dented by a blaster bolt….
Season 1 Din (Mando) was shot through his helmet. So Cad having a weapon that could dent Beskar is perfectly plausible. Just need the right weapon and the right distance. Mando even feared the sniper, Fennec Shand in season 1, as her weapon could penetrate his armor if he get close enough.
Molding Process? No. The dents were added later after he was turned from Super Commando Storm Trooper to Bounty Hunter by prop maker Joe Johnston.
We don’t know how the dents got there, possibly against other weapons made of Beskar that could dent the armor, that Din has not encountered.
So in the Clone Wars Boba blow up Jango Fett’s helmet (or a replica) attempt to kill Mace Windu.
How do we know that it Boba’s helmet is the same helmet as Jango’s helmet?
He definitely made a helmet go boom and from what I have read that was intfact jangos and after that we see an older boba using a black and red armor aswell as a non mandalorian helmet so he probably had the rest of his armor stored somewhere and later made or obtained helmet that was probably less beskar that the one befor hence the dent that’s my headcannon
Jango was given 20 million credits to be cloned. His armor was obtained from the leader of Mandalore. Boba went on to become the most known bounty hunter in the galaxy. Working directly for Jabba and with Darth Vader. His armor is Beskar regardless of what it was in comics etc.
Different type of weapon? Closer range? I mean there are many reasons but I get it, it is does seem to be a bit of a gap. From what i can tell The Mandalorian set up that distance plays a key role (like he said after getting hit with sniper fire in the episode “The Gunslinger”),
Hi. Your “real life” dent origin story does not make sense, since Boba first appeared in the Faithful Wookiee cartoon and he had the dent already.
Traditionally Mandolorian armor is made of beskar but it’s rare and very expensive so some mangos opt for a little less durable armor like Jango and Boba did. I believe it’s called Durasteel (????)