I've never quite understood either, really. He doesn't do anything in the OT to really deserve any respect.

I guess it's because his armor looked cool?

Cause I mean... there's nothing more UN-cool than dying because a BLIND MAN accidentally hit your Jetpack and sent you flying into a wall, then comically sliding into the mouth of a stationary monster.

Boba Fett really takes flesh on Television through the Clone Wars animation series. (or was it Jango?).

He is able to outsmart, outmanouvre and trap Jedis where others fail.

As others have mentioned, I think the reason he seemed so cool was:

 

A. Bounty Hunters are a cool idea in themselves, and he seemed to be the best one in the galaxy (assuming that the Empire hired the best ones they could find) Also, Vader said specifically to Boba Fett "NO DISINTEGRATIONS" which leads us to believe that Boba Fett is the kind of guy who DISINTEGRATES PEOPLE AT WILL.

 

B. He was one of the few people who Darth Vader didn't talk down to. Any subordinate who did anything but grovel at Vader got choked, but Boba Fett never seemed to be under Vader's (or the Empire's) feet. He speaks to Vader as an equal business partner, and not his superior, and instead of being some lackey of Jabba the Hutt's, he's just the cool guy invited to the party.

 

Boba Fett was one step ahead of Han (unlike every other hunter) and he gave off an air of coldhearted business.

 

Anyway, we read into it a lot now, when maybe he was originally a minor character

+1 This pretty much tells why Fett is the **** !!!!!!

He's the epitome of a noob.

 

Great gear, max level, but still dies to a static AOE.

I actually lol'd hard... xD

+1 Internet to you.

People liked him and thought he was cool even before Episode V was released because he was designed that way (he was featured and marketed prior to the movie's release to build hype about the film). The art designers, costume designers, writers, Lucas, all designed him as a the secondary villain in Empire who carried with him an aura of mystery, power, and menace with cool armor and a bad attitude. His shortened screen time was due to script rewrites, but ultimately I think keeping him as more of a secondary/minor character adds to the power of his presence when he is on-screen.

What GL never predicted was just how popular a figure Boba would be become and has stated that had he known how big a cult following Boba would gain following the OT he would've given him a better on-screen death scene. (Yes I know the EU says otherwise, but GL's position for a long time was Boba died in the Sarlacc).

To analyze the films and summarize what others have stated:

1) He is apparently top of his game to be singled out by Vader when they hire the hunters.

2) He is the only one who finds Han.

3) He stands up to Vader when few else have with the exception of Tarkin, Solo, Leia, Luke, and Obi-Wan (Boba is in the company of the main players in this regard). Who else who had worked for Vader, given him lip, and lived? Heck, Boba even had Vader bending to his demands about payment for Solo.

4) The look and the attitude - As I said before he was designed to look cool and he was written to appeal to rebellious youths who disregard authority. Cool helmet, cool carbine, he has a jetpack AND a cape, he has all sorts of nifty gadgets on his armor, he wears wookiee scalps as trophies (yes go look at a picture of him on the net, look on his right shoulder and you will the braided scalps there).

5) Finally, the voice acting in the original films was great (the redux with Temura was crap and necessary; Boba had years to lose his accent as he was only a child when Jango died), and John Williams produced a menacing score for him.

And to those you who say he died like a chump in the Sarlacc remember that history is full of flukes. Look at General George S. Patton for instance. He was one hell of a commander, he kicked some major nazi butt, but he died before the war even ended in an automobile accident when he was hit by a US Army supply truck while on his way to hunt pheasants in the German country-side (not joking).

Look at Thomas J. "Stonewall" Jackson. A very successful and talented general during the Civil War who was shot on accident by his own men in the dark as he returned to his own camp. They had mistaken him and his staff for a Union cavalryman wounding him and killing some of the others. The wound led to the amputation of his arm, which when combined with his pneumonia led to his death.

There are certainly more stories like this, but these are the two that come to mind immediately.

So sometimes major players in history die in less-than-glorious ways. So it was for Boba Fett (at least until the expanded universe came to be).

Because of this:

 

 

Somebody get me a sock.

Yes. Yes. Yes.

Vader (the ultimate bad ***) respected him - a non force user.

Plus the whole idea of an intergalatic bounty hunter was and is very cool.

Plus the whole idea of an intergalatic bounty hunter was and is very cool.

What other galaxies did he visit?

Hello,

I agree with those who say that Fett seemed cool primarily because Vader respected him.

He was cool by proxy. If Vader treated him well, then we feel free to assume his awesomeness even without other evidence. I firmly believe if we had seen Vader respecting any of the other bounty hunters in the same way, those hunters would have borrowed a level of badarse too.

This is something that I have never figured out. Why do people think Boba Fett was so great and that he's the coolest? What did he really do in the movies? He flew out with the trash and followed the Millennium Falcon to Bespin. That's pretty much it besides getting eaten by the Sarlaac.

 

I know there's books and comics but Fett was popular even before all those came out.

 

I just don't get it.

If you don't understand then you aren't kewl. In fact, I wouldn't expect a Twilek to understand Boba Fett's greatness. Eeeeeeeeee <- (squeals like a skewlgirl ^_^ )

Because I had to send away for him to Kenner with my proofs of purchase

This. He looked cool with the armor and jet pack. He really became above cool after reading tales of the bounty hunters where you learn what a genious he was.

This. He looked cool with the armor and jet pack. He really became above cool after reading tales of the bounty hunters where you learn what a genious he was.

Don't forget his kewl scruffy voice!