Most expensive Star Wars action figure sold at auction

The most expensive Star Wars action figure sold at auction is a 1979 Kenner Star Wars Rocket-Firing Boba Fett, which sold for $1,342,000 (£1,036,887) including premium, auctioned by Goldin Auctions, on 18 Aug 2024.

Only around 100 examples of the Star Wars Rocket-Firing Boba Fett were ever made. The action figure was a pre-production prototype made by official Star Wars licensee Kenner, based on materials released to the company ahead of 1980's The Empire Strikes Back.

The action figure depicted the Mandalorian bounty hunter Boba Fett, and was named for its key feature – a spring-loaded mechanism that fired a small plastic "rocket". This feature became a liability, however, following the much-publicised death of Robert Warren, a 4-year-old from Lilburn, Georgia, who choked on a similar plastic missile fired by one of Mattel's Battlestar Galactica toys in Dec 1978.

This particular example is what's called a "J-Slot" Boba Fett – these were made as a small 30-piece test run in spring 1979 to test a safer version of the rocket-firing mechanism. These tests were not particularly promising, however, and Kenner decided to abandon the design. The prototypes were either destroyed or taken home by staff.