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Boba Fett’s armor was good, but it could have been better. There are gaping holes on his chest, arms and thighs where a single shot could do some serious damage. His jetpack is so useless it couldn’t handle being hit by a blind guy with a stick. Jango Fett had less gaps in his, but his jetpack failed him as well; not to mention the neck part. Pre Viszla  had somewhat better armor, but it wasn’t very refined. Maul beat him. While Rebels season 3 gave it some nice upgrades, Sabine’s armor is also full of gaps.

So what does the perfect Mando armor have to be?

• It needs have full protection. Commanding it all from a capitol ship sounds like fun, but you can’t lead ground troops on the frontline if one enemy round pierces your armor.
• It needs plenty of weapons and firepower. Flamethrowers, projectile buzzsaws, conc missile launchers, grappling hooks…walking around with a blaster just isn’t that effective.
• The jetpack has to work. A powerful, reliable jetpack that can actually fly can come in handy.
• It needs to be accurate. Whatever built in weapon you use, there has to be some kind of targeting system.
• It has to be comfortable. Temp control, for example, comes in handy on planets like Hoth or Tatooine.
• It absolutely MUST be lightweight. You can’t fight in a heavy armor. Sacrifices will have to be made.

It also has to look cool. That’s kinda the point.

Here’s what I came up with:

V1.0, made with a  Mandalorian armor designer program (http://mandalorianmercs.org/downloadables/MANDOMAKER23.swf):

Fun to make, but it doesn’t solve any of the problems Boba’s armor had.

V2.0, a sketch I just finished:

Of course this isn’t perfect. There are still issues. There isn’t space under the armor for temperature control, and the sniper rifle might not fit over the jetpack. But it’s a start.

To be continued with V3…