The Empire Strikes Back. However, Boba Fett made his on-screen debut two years earlier in a television special that links the iconic bounty hunter with The Mandalorian's Din Djarin.
One of the most intimidating characteristics of Mandalorian bounty hunter Din Djarin is his Amban phase-pulse blaster, also known as an Amban sniper rifle, a dual-threat weapon that is capable of electrocuting and completely disintegrating targets. The modified weapon is a type disruptor sniper rifle with a brown stock, specially-calibrated visual scope, and long barrel tipped with a fork-shaped resonator. At close range, the phase-pulse blaster can deliver a paralyzing electrical pulse, and at long range, it can disintegrate organic matter on . Bounty hunter Din Djarin relies on both functions throughout his missions, but he isn’t the first bounty hunter to wield such a weapon.
Din Djarin’s distinctive weapon is based on the rifle Boba Fett uses during his on-screen debut. The character known as Boba Fett made his first public appearance at the San Anselmo Country Fair parade on September 24, 1978, and two months later, he debuted on television in an animated segment of the 1978 Boba Fett makes his on-screen debut wielding a similar-looking rifle to Din Djarin’s Amban phase-pulse blaster. In addition to sharing many design features with Boba Fett’s rifle, including the brown stock and long barrel tipped with a bident resonator, Djarin’s phase-pulse blaster is introduced in a scene that pays homage to Boba Fett’s origins.
In the animated segment of the Star Wars Holiday Special, the Millenium Falcon crash lands on the water moon of Panna with Han and Chewbacca aboard. When Luke, R2-D2, and C-3PO arrive shortly after on a rescue mission, their starship is nearly devoured by a Panna dragon. Luckily, Boba Fett arrives just in time and uses his rifle to electrocute the subterranean beast and save the protagonists. In the first episode of The Mandalorian, Din Djarin similarly frees his ship from the jaws of a subterranean beast when he electrocutes a ravinak with his Amban phase-pulse blaster.
Din Djarin and Boba Fett’s connection runs deeper than their Mandalorian armor or bounty hunter profession, a fact proven by the Amban phase-pulse blaster. In The Mandalorian season 1, episode 2, Din Djarin remarks, “I’m a Mandalorian. Weapons are part of my religion.” It's a perfect connection. There's no better way to link two Mandalorians than with the one thing that perhaps best summarizes their existence: a weapon.
