Disney has chosen to move away from the name "Slave I" for the release of the new LEGO Star Wars set, "Boba Fett's Starship."
The starship first appeared on screen in The Empire Strikes Back in 1980. It is the ship that squared off against Obi-Wan Kenobi more than once, delivered Han Solo to Jabba the Hutt and helped the Mandalorian save Grogu from the clutches of Moff Gideon. However, the Slave I name is something that Disney has chosen to phase out and remove from its merchandise.
This change was revealed during the LEGO Fan Media Days last month, when the new set was unveiled by LEGO Star Wars Lead Designer Michael Lee Stockwell. "Yes, I built another," Stockwell said speaking to Jedi News. "We're not calling it Slave I anymore. This is Boba Fett's Starship."
There have been a series of large and small-scale LEGO sets issued with the Slave I title over the years. The first, set 7144, dropped back in 2000 and had only 166 pieces, while the most recent, set 75243 or the "Slave I - 20th Anniversary Edition," included over 1,000 pieces. When asked about the sudden change, LEGO Star Wars Design Director Jens Kronvold Frederiksen claimed that LEGO was not the only company implementing the ship's rebrand.
"Everybody is," Frederiksen said. "It's probably not something which has been announced publicly but it is just something that Disney doesn't want to use anymore."
In the last year following the Black Lives Matter protests, many companies have been working to remove terminology such as "slave" from their work. In the tech industry, companies have been removing words like "master" and "slave" from computer coding. Even though recent Star Wars merchandise used the moniker, it seems Disney may be altering its path for the future.
Although, this is not the first time now that LEGO has decided to do without a ship's given name. The recent Guardians of the Galaxy set enables you to construct the team's ship, the "Benatar," however, the official name for the product is simply "The Guardians' Ship." With the release of The Book of Boba Fett this winter and more Star Wars projects on the horizon, labeling the set with the bounty hunter's name would be more synonymous with the character that fans will recognize.
The new LEGO set will be available for purchase on Aug. 1, 2021.