Princess Leia Organa (Boushh) - TVC - Basic (VC134)

Celebrate the legacy of Star Wars, the action-and-adventure-packed space saga from a galaxy far, far away, with this collection of premium, highly-detailed 3.75-inch scale figures and vehicles. (Each sold separately. Subject to availability.)

As you might remember, despite the figure’s faults, we conceded that The Black Series [Phase II] Princess Leia Organa (Boushh) (#17) figure was about as perfect as we’d get to this character in the basic figure line. Well, Hasbro upped their game and had proved us wrong with The Vintage Collection Princess Leia Organa (Boushh) (VC134) release. It’s better thanks to “photorealistic” technology. And by better we mean it’s significantly better. Let’s face it. It took a VERY long time for us to get to this point. One release after the other by Hasbro brought the character further to definitive status, but we never fully go there. Now we’re pretty darn close. Hasbro crafted an excellent 3.75” representation of the popular character from Return Of The Jedi. And the final figure is something that will please most of us if not all of us. Of course, some of the final touches on the sculpt were rushed originally, so they’re still carried forward with The Vintage Collection release. The biggest offender here is the permanently molded thermal detonator in the figure’s left hand. It borders on unforgivable. The history of Princess Leia Organa (Boushh) is very, very interesting. After the 1983 vintage Kenner figure, there has only been three unique modern sculpts released between 1995 and this figure’s release. Except for the TVC release, that’s almost a full decade gap between each version. In 1996, Hasbro produced the Shadows Of The Empire Leia (In Boushh Disguise) figure that was well received. And then almost ten years after that we received 2005’s TSC Princess Leia (Boushh Disguise) (SAGA 001) which was a tremendous update up to that point. Although only a couple years apart and utilizing the same sculpt, the 2015 The Black Series [Phase II] release is obsolete now thanks to The Vintage Collection version.

“Photorealistic” technology has done wonders for this figure. The previous release had major paint operation issues. Aside from the obvious problems, Princess Leia Organa (Boushh) is a great action figure. The important thing here is that Hasbro finally got so many of the fine details right for the first time with this release. We’ll itemize them here. The nose of her helmet is finally silver (though they still could have added the darker color in between the grille). They achieved this detail with The Saga Collection version, but the mask portion of the helmet was such a wrong color “orange” that it was hard to appreciate that they captured this detail in the first place. You’ll notice some other paint operation detail changes, especially in the color of the bronze color used on her helmet. But other than that, Hasbro kept the paint jobs between the two figures nearly identical (aside from the obvious “photorealistic” technology). Small details aren’t something we take lightly. For example, Hasbro added green to the digital display above the visor. They also finally mastered the alternating tans and browns in the costume. The leggings are higher on the lower legs (as they should be) and Hasbro, for the first time, added a fitted and nicely draped soft-goods cape to this figure that is permanently sewn to the bandolier. Sadly, Hasbro still neglected to paint the “foot” portion of the boots tan. They’re still dark gray like they’re separate shoes or something. It’s a significant setback. With a little patience, this combination of parts that make up the bandolier and cape is removable too. In short, Hasbro ensured that this action figure is the best onscreen match for Princess Leia Organa (Boushh), minus the errors of course. Also of note, her scale is perfect too! She’s a needed and welcomed addition to The Vintage Collection line.

Princess Leia Organa (Boushh) has a wonderful articulation system, but its difficult to get her arms flush against her body. The design of her sleeves makes this impossible, and it affects the aesthetics of the figure. We believe the ball-jointed articulation may have been too small for these parts because you don’t get a wide range of motion here. You can diminish this wonkiness by bending in her arms at the elbows, but Hasbro should have noted this awkward aesthetic. However, Hasbro gave her a gloriously premium ball-jointed head that functions almost as nicely as a “rocker” point of articulation. You get a full range of movement and can point her head up or down as you desire. Not only can the head pivot up, down and all around, but it also looks like she can bend her neck down and back. This articulation is typically something we only see in 6” scale and larger. Princess Leia Organa (Boushh) also comes with ball-jointed shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles. They all work well, but do you want to know what the best part of all of this is? Aside from the ankles, which you really can’t see any way, Hasbro was able to match the joints to the sections in which they’ve been placed. As far as the figure’s accessories are concerned, her staff/gun has been cast in a stiff plastic that will not warp over time. She also comes with removable canisters. Because half of the experience with The Vintage Collection is the packaging, we’d be remiss if we didn’t mention some of its issues. Hasbro still doesn’t utilize Avant Garde font. They also don’t set the font properly if a figure has a subtitle. In this case “(Boussh)” is to the right of the “Princess Leia Organa” instead of below it in a smaller sized font. It’s disappointing.