Boba Fett may be a clone of Jango Fett, but the two have their differences, with Boba changing his father’s armor and vessel, the Slave I, during his bounty hunter career in the effective Mandalorian armor and vambraces, but it was ultimately their tactical minds and well-honed fighting and tracking skills that made them the best. Boba Fett honored his father in both the canon and Legends continuities, but his fighting style necessitated differences from his father’s bounty hunting gear, and technological advancements allowed Boba to further improve the Slave I, even after Jango’s extensive modifications.
In both Star Wars continuities, Jango Fett was a Mandalorian warrior and veteran of the Mandalorian Civil War before he became a bounty hunter. Though canon doesn’t delve into his backstory too deeply, the Legends continuity tells the full story of Jango Fett in the comic, Jango Fett: Open Seasons, and the video game Star Wars: Bounty Hunter. Open Seasons shows how Jango ed the Mandalorians as a child, eventually leading them as the Mand'alor in his young adulthood, earning his iconic armor. Bounty Hunter focuses on how Jango was chosen to be the Clone Army’s template, but also includes the origin of Jango and Boba’s most famous ship, the Slave I.
While Boba Fett is the rightful heir to Jango Fett’s armor in both continuities, he’s not technically a true Mandalorian in canon. As shown in Boba became a Mandalorian Journeyman Protector shortly after the Empire rose to power, and he embraced his Mandalorian heritage once more in his old age, having retired from his bounty hunter profession to become the Mand'alor as Jango had once been. Both continuities show that Boba respected his father and continued his legacy, but he did so distinctively, using different weaponry and making modifications to Jango’s armor.
Armor
Jango’s Mandalorian armor is made of beskar, a rare and highly durable metal that can resist blaster bolts and even block lightsaber blades. As shown in Open Seasons, Jango’s armor was taken from him after his defeat at the Battle of Galidraan and refurbished for the world’s Governor to keep on display. To exact his revenge on the Death Watch terrorist group, Jango reacquired the armor and kept its minimalist paint job of a simple blue trim on the helmet. Legends-era Mandalorian armor gave different colors meanings, and blue symbolized reliability, which is fitting, given that Jango was the last of Jaster Mereel’s military unit, and even as a bounty hunter, the weight of the Mand'alor title rested on Jango’s shoulders.
The clearest change that Boba made to his father’s armor was painting it green and changing the helmet’s blue trim to red. In Legends, green symbolized duty, and red honored one’s parent. As a former Journeyman Protector (Mandalorian law enforcement) who perpetually mourns his father, Boba’s new color scheme also made sense. Boba also removed the beskar plating on his shins and thighs, making room for additional pouches for tools and weapons. This included a survival knife, a sonic beam weapon, and an anti-security blade. Boba tended to have a subtler approach to bounty hunting than Jango, and thus sacrificed some protection for a larger arsenal.
Weaponry
Jango and Boba used the same weaponry on their armor sets. Their vambraces contained numerous weapons, such as darts, rockets, a capture cable, a flamethrower, and a blaster. Both Fetts also used a signature weapon aside from their armor’s onboard weaponry. Jango preferred a pair of Westar-34 blaster pistols. The weapons were extremely powerful, with bolts that would melt most other blasters and were capable of burning through beskar, as shown in Open Seasons and Bounty Hunter. Jango also used two varieties of jet packs, the Merr-Sonn JT-12 (which was frequently used by Clone Troopers in both continuities) and the Mitrinomon Z-6, which included an anti-vehicle rocket.
In addition to carrying additional tools at the cost of leg protection, Boba also had a different signature weapon from Jango. While Boba used Westar-34 blasters as a teenager, he preferred an EE-3 blaster carbine, a longer-range weapon with comparable power to Jango’s blasters. Jango often fought in close-quarters combat, so a pair of shorter-range blasters allowed him to attack multiple opponents at once. The more methodical Boba Fett could attack his bounties from afar with his blaster carbine. As shown in The Mandalorian and various Legends-era comic books, Boba did occasionally use hold-out blasters in close-quarters scenarios.
Slave I
The Slave I’s origin was shown in Bounty Hunter. While on a mission to the Republic prison on Oovo IV, Jango’s original ship (which once belonged to Jaster Mereel) was destroyed, so he stole one of six prototype Firespray Pursuit Specials and used it to destroy the rest. Naming it the Slave I (possibly in reference to Jango’s years as a slave after the Battle of Galidraan), Jango gradually modified the vessel after becoming Dooku’s chosen clone template. While it continued to outwardly resemble an unmodified Firespray, the ship became one of a kind. Outfitted with as much weaponry as the Fetts themselves, the Slave I was a flying arsenal, which Jango famously added a rear-mounted mine layer to, loaded with seismic charges, which have become iconic among viewers.
Boba Fett continued to modify Slave I as Jango did, constantly upgrading it and ensuring that its systems never became obsolete. One of Boba’s most notable modifications allowed the cockpit to rotate 90 degrees after takeoff, keeping Boba in a relatively upright position. The Slave I had an unfortunate tendency to crash under Boba’s ownership in both continuities, however. In canon’s to Ahsoka Tano’s lightsaber causing an explosive crash landing, though Hondo Ohnaka repaired the vessel. In the Legends Dark Empire comics, Han Solo’s Millennium Falcon and Boba’s Slave I engaged in a dogfight, with Solo shooting down Fett’s vessel. Though Fett gradually repaired his ship, he used three other ships (Slave II, III, and IV) in the following years. Once restored, Boba Fett resumed use of the Slave I in further Star Wars Legends properties, continuing to change and upgrade the late Jango Fett’s vessel.
