Princess Leia - LC - Basic (BD17)

Made a slave by Jabba the Hutt, Princess Leia bides her time as the plan to free Han Solo comes together. The resourceful and courageous princess uses the very chains enslaving her to put an end to Jabba’s corrupt reign as the crime lord of Tatooine.

The scantily clad Princess Leia gets a long overdue update in the Legacy Collection and simply put, it is well worth the wait! For the 2009 version, Hasbro has cleverly designed two display options that we are particularly thankful for because it gives Princess Leia the versatility we had always wished she had. She detaches in half at the hips and her upper body can be attached to the "display base" lower half of her frame and we have to admit that it looks better than we ever had suspected or imagined. Sometimes pre-production samples look better than actual product and we think the converse is true here. You also have the option of displaying her the way she came packaged, in all of her super-articulated [standing] glory. You may still be doubting how good the molded lower half piece truly looks, but let us reiterate how awesome it is. It draws our attention every time we check it out. While the skin color is a shade off (darker) from the rest of her body, it has been designed so well we can definitely overlook the barely noticeable difference. We actually would love to have additional or forthcoming action figures use this method to create additional poses. The accuracy this optional method creates amazes us. It is a very effective alternative way to pose a figure that for the most part cannot contort to the exact way that a molded piece can. As one of the anchor figures in the Legacy Collection Return Of The Jedi wave, Princess Leia is everything we could ask for in a female action figure, especially for our favorite princess in [probably] our favorite outfit. It is perfectly in scale, beautifully painted and flawlessly sculpted with a gimmick (the molded lower half of her body) that has turned out to be almost as exciting as the super-articulated figure itself.

Another nice thing about the "real" figure is that it has been designed with soft-goods. And it is wonderful that nothing encumbers her hip movement. We actually prefer soft-goods to be used whenever possible and we think that it makes this Princess Leia action figure a pure delight here. Sadly, this incarnation of "Slave Leia" eliminates the real metal neck chain and soft-goods hair we have seen on 2001's POTJ Princess Leia (With Sail Barge Cannon) Deluxe figure and 2004's OTC Princess Leia basic figure. We tend to like the multimedia efforts included in our action figures, but again, let us emphasize that this in no way detracts from the figure. Princess Leia comes with Jabba's goblet in addition to a force pike. Both accessories are beautifully sculpted and are brand new. Princess Leia also has a removable metal bikini and while not technically an accessory, we did want to itemize it separately since it is removable. Also removable is her neck collar/chain. This little detail excites us tremendously because it is so tiny and fits her neck without issue. (As much as we would have loved to have a real metal chain, this little accessory does the trick!) The burgundy color of her loincloth is spot on and although it is a bit too shiny, it certainly does the job and looks good enough on her. As we mentioned earlier, Leia is super-articulated with 23 points and she has a few surprises in her too! You may liek to know that the point where she separates in half is not a true point of articulation, but she can indeed be moved a bit at this separation point. Regardless, Leia is loaded with articulation and the joints are hidden as best as they can. Since she is a character who is mostly bare skin, the spots where there is "flesh" may not look perfect, but they all do the job very well. The extra articulation makes her arms look a tad too chunky, so some may prefer earlier iterations of her. However, we're just so thrilled with all of this articulation that we have to claim this version is the greatest of them all.

Princess Leia's likeness is stunning. The action figure is very "attractive" with a pretty face and has a feminine and sexy body. Her hair has been molded perfectly and is the right dark brown color. Her ponytail falls down her right front and while it has the slightest bit of an awkward drape, it is surprisingly not too thick and has all the clips and decorations making it extremely authentic to her appearance in Episode VI. It looks fantastic. Every detail on her head has been recreated with exacting standards. Hasbro even included her earrings. They are petite enough and look proportionate on her head and Hasbro did a great job painting them. Her abdomen looks as 'killer' on the action figure as it did in the film and Hasbro didn't try to "over cover" her private areas. The metal bikini has colors that match the film including gray boots with a suede-like texture outlined in brass or bronze metal details. This figure (like many other before it) suffers from mismatched ankle joints. This time the ankle joints have been cast in a flesh tone when it should have been cast in gray to match the boots. We have said it before and will say it again: we don't know why Hasbro doesn't get this right. It seems like it should be a relatively simple fix (or avoidable issue). But all of these points of criticism are not enough to warrant passing on this figure. But even if you are concerned, we are sure that Princess Leia will undoubtedly be a fantastic seller. We do not expect her presence on the pegs to last for any great length of time and deservedly so, because Princess Leia must have been painstakingly perfected by the creators at Hasbro. They got it right, unquestionably. If you see her in the wild, don't delay. Even if she does get shipped heavily down the road, she is worthy of being added to your collections now. And she will likely never see the same production numbers of the 1997 POTF2 [FF/TKC] Princess Leia Organa (As Jabba's Prisoner) figure.