“Boba Fett Launch Lab” by Uncle Milton (Star Wars Science)

Like the “Anti-Gravity Balls” I posted about a little while ago, this is from Uncle Milton’s “Star Wars Science” line. It takes real balls (so to speak) to market ordinary super balls as “anti-gravity balls,” so my hopes weren’t too high regarding the educational characteristics of this product. It comes with a base in the form of one of Jabba’s skiffs, which is connected to a large pump (complete with Mandalorian crest) by means of a clear rubber hose. The rocket is decorated as Boba Fett, but it’s really just some clear plastic wrapping over a foam rocket. There’s a rocket pack that attaches to its back, which is also made of foam. The idea is that you’re recreating the scene in Return of the Jedi where Boba Fett uses his rocket pack to fly from one of Jabba’s skiffs to the other.

You stomp on the pump part, which sends air through the hose and up into the rocket, sending it up into the air. Pretty simple, but it works. You can use the Fett rocket with the rocket pack attached, or use either the Fett rocket or the rocket pack on their own. My son and I tried it a number of times, and it seems that using Fett rocket alone yielded the best results (highest flight), followed by the rocket pack alone, and then the two together.

I did find that the legs of the skiff came off very easily, although you may not even need them if you’re using it in the grass. We actually found it to be surprisingly fun. I would have preferred it if the rocket bore more of a resemblance to Boba Fett (if they had molded a real figure of some kind out of foam, for example), but maybe that’s asking too much. I’m not sure how much we learned about “rocket design, trajectories and aerodynamics”, but it was a fun diversion for part of an afternoon, and I suppose that’s about all you can really expect.