Boba Fett Underoos Flashback

I can picture it now. It was 1982. I was a kid and I was consumed by one pursuit in life... Underoos. I couldn't be cool unless I had them.  If you went to a sleepover with some lame button-down pajamas with trains or dogs or something on them, then you might as well save everyone the trouble, go ahead and give yourself a wedgie. Underoos were the coolest pj's known to men... er, boys.  But why? You get to be a superhero or movie character or robot or whatever, that's why. Sure my Spider-Man Underoos were awesome, but let's be serious... I didn't really look like Spider-man. I mean, he doesn't just wear a t-shirt and underwear when he's fighting crime.  You had to use imagination for the real effect.

But first I have to backtrack a bit.  I started off with Superman Underoos.  But, why did my Superman Underoos set come with a picture of Superman on the shirt instead of a giant "S" logo.   That's just stupid.  I wanted to safety pin a bath towel around my neck and pretend to be Superman, instead I just got a lame t-shirt that made me look like a sad six year-old groupie.  What's even more sad is that it took me like two months of over-stressed childhood anticipation to get the real damned things.  

The obsession all started after I went to a friend's house for a sleep over.  He had an Incredible Hulk set... it wasn't that cool, but that spun my mind.  It was a Halloween costume you wore to bed... everynight!  You can act out cool stuff with your costume... that you wear every frick'n night of the week!  It was the coolest thing my six year old mind could wrap around.  I asked for a Star Wars Underoos set for Christmas that year.  When do kids ever ask for clothes for Christmas?!?  That's right, never.  So I was guaranteed to get them.

So that year I asked for and received Underoos, but not exactly.  I got Superman... and when I opened the package the underoos were a faded blue color... and it had E.T. on them.  WTF?  That's right, I didn't get Star Wars... then I didn't get Superman either... I got E-f'ng-T.  Lame.  Someone had pilfered the package and stuffed the wrong item back in.  So my grandmother returned the set and brought back Superman, which was the before mentioned set that didn't have the "S" suit but just a picture of Superman flying on it.  To add insult to injury, when my grandmother went back to the store the regular Superman was sold out, so I got some kind of dumb "Thermal Underwear" Underoos set that came with long warm style pants and long sleeves - it was itchy and stupid.  Uncomfortable and didn't look like Superman, that's was me that year for Christmas.  Double lame.

Luckily I was growing fast and asked to get a Star Wars set for my birthday.   This time my grandmother took me to TG&Y (wow just typing that makes me feel old) and I got to pick my own pair of Underoos.  This time I wasn't going to be duped, I had it all worked out in my mind.  I'd seen the commercials - "you transform into your favorite heroes" - it literally said that right in the commercial.  I was going to get the Boba Fett pair, then I would be Boba Fett... in my 6 year-old mind it was that simple.  And just in case, my fall back would either be Darth Vader or possibly Luke in X-Wing Pilot outfit or maybe if I get desperate - Han Solo, if and only if, Boba Fett was not available.  I wasn't even entertaining the possibility of going beyond those choices.

Better prepare my six year-old memories for a tragic flashback.  I got there and the only Star Wars Underoos they had were C-3PO and they were all girls' sets.  What?  Only C-3PO... and only for girls!?!?  He's a droid, not a girl... is he?  I was dumbfounded and my view of an emasculated C-3PO has haunted me ever since.  But all the same, I still had to get new Underoos.  And that's the story of how I got my Spider-Man Underoos.  This story was very misleading, wasn't it?

And now that I think about it, who really wants to pretend to be Spider-man without the mask?  I guess we had to use our imagination a lot in the 70's and 80's.  I still feel a little ripped-off by this whole thing.  I really wanted to dress up as Boba Fett every night.

Well here's my chance.  My birthday is coming up in a few weeks and I would like this -

This is the Ecko Limited Edition Boba Fett sweatshirt zip hoodie - found here

This is a birthday 27 years in the making (I'll be thirty'ish) , like the "make a wish foundation"... don't let me down.  I'd prefer an XL to keep it comfortably loose... unlike "Thermal Underwear" Superman.  Sure this Fett hoodie doesn't come with underwear or even pants for that matter, but I'll use my circa 1970's imagination to fill in the gaps.