Lili Ledy Removable Rocket Boba Fett

Made in Mexico by Lili Ledy back on the 80's this variant or this factory mistake it's one of the most popular figures from the Star Wars toy line made by Lili Ledy. The first information available on this figure was a technical card inside the 'Universo Starwars' Mexican magazine back on 2003:

http://theswca.com/index.php?action=disp_item&item_id=48167

Since then this figure became one of the more sought after LL items on the hobby, for that same reason it became one of the most faked ones too. Some LL Boba Fetts where assembled and sonic welded without the rocket inside, (that's why it could be called a factory mistake), after that the rocket was added and locked in with a turn, in order to take the rocket out and depending on the position of the tab inside Boba you have to turn in right or left, then pull it up, if you want to insert the rocket back you have to push it down and turn it (depending on the position of the tab), right or left, you will hear a clicking sound that indicates that the rocket is locked.
LL RR Clicking sound:



The big difference between a regular LL Boba Fett and a Removable Rocket Boba Fett is; the rocket.
On a Regular LL Boba Fett, the tab on the rocket is inserted on a hole and another tab holds firmly the rocket inside the figure, after the welding process everything melts a bit so there's no way to take it out without damaging the figure and the rocket, that's why an original LL RR Boba Fett has a complete, clean, undamaged rocket with complete, undamaged tab, even if the rocket was inserted and taken out several times.

Rocket must be complete and have no melt marks at all, especially on the opposite side of the tab:


Lili Ledy Rocket:
 

On a regular LL Boba Fett, mold line on rocket is horizontally aligned to the shoulders but on a LL RR Boba Fett, mold line on the rocket it's not horizontally aligned to the shoulders:


As the rocket on a LL RR Boba Fett was inserted after the welding process, Rocket should not have any signs of melting or blue marks on it. The blue mark comes from the contact between the rocket and this inner tab on the front torso:
 

This is the position of the rocket with the tab inserted correctly:

As you can see the inner tab on the front torso holds the rocket on its place and that's why after the welding process that inner tab leaves a melt mark on the rocket, right on the opposite side of the rocket's tab. So a LL Rocket with a blue mark, or blue residues on the opposite side of the tab on the rocket comes from a regular LL Boba Fett.

Here's a picture of that mark on the rocket:

If you find this mark on the opposite side of the tab you have a Rocket that was removed from a 'regular' LL Boba Fett.

The rocket hole on the back of Boba Fett must look clean with no melting marks inside:
 

Factory Mistake Lili Ledy Removable Rocket Boba Fett
On some examples, rocket was wrongly inserted on Boba's torso BEFORE welding process, the tab on the rocket was not inserted on the hole on the back of the torso, this LL Fetts share the same characteristic that the RR Fett, the mold line on the rocket it's not horizontally aligned to the shoulders but it won't come out easily, why? Because it's melted inside on some parts, remember the tab on the rocket is not on its place so if you turn it it will eventually turn, you just have to be very careful or you will brake it, don't use tweezers.

A LL rocket that was wrongly inserted on a LL Boba Fett before welding process has a melt mark or blue mark to the side of the tab:


A Factory Mistake LL RR Boba Fett has a blue mark on one side of the tab on the rocket, any side, left, right, but never on the opposite side of the tab and you will find red residues on the rocket's hole:


AFA WOULD NOT GRADE any LL 'Factory Mistake' RR Boba Fett.

So... if you're buying a RR Boba Fett, remember, use your common sense, of course marks are possible on rocket and inside rocket hole but there's a big differences between a played figure and a figure with tool marks, some sellers refer to melt marks, blue residues, etc as playing marks, not true, I don't know not even one guy in Mexico that knew about this variant before 2003 when the technical card came out, even with the figures inside their collections. Of course probably some Mexican kid did found out about the rocket but there was no Internet in the 80's to brag about it

An overview of the regular Lili Ledy Boba Fett (with fixed rocket) can be found here:

Boba Fett