Princess Leia And Luke Skywalker - POTF2 [FF/TKC] - Princess Leia Collection

The beautiful Princess Leia, Senator and Cell Leader for the Rebel Alliance, rewards the young Luke Skywalker for his heroic role in the destruction of the Imperial Death Star.

It is hard for most collectors to grasp the fact that the very first version of Princess Leia based on her appearance at the Yavin ceremony was part of a girls’ focused action figure line. But that’s what happened. The Princess Leia Collection was all about engaging a new female audience, and it did this with a focus on action figures and related counterparts that focused on the beautiful Princess Leia Organa. The line wasn’t perfect however. In order to make things more “girly” the action figures had over-exaggerated makeup applications and bright soft-goods. But Kenner more importantly abandoned the superhero sized frames and made a female form that was delicate, feminine and Princess Leia inspired. We’re not sure what prompted Kenner to discover they needed to capture an audience that they’d overlooked for so long, but this bittersweet collection got enough of the collecting community to pay attention, and those fans were just thrilled to see so many Princess Leia action figures at once.

The Princess Leia And Luke Skywalker duo is inspired from the events that took place at the Yavin ceremony at the conclusion of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope. Both figures in the set are all-new, and collectors are going to be very happy about the Luke Skywalker figure, if not ecstatic for the Princess Leia figure. Let’s start with Luke Skywalker. For the first time, we received Luke Skywalker (In Ceremonial Outfit) with a soft-goods jacket. This means that when you remove it his entire upper body is wearing the black shirt underneath. This is awesome because publicity stills exist where Luke is wearing this outfit without the jacket as well (while holding a lightsaber). With The Power Of The Force “2” always approaching figures with a removable center shell (while the sleeves remain mismatched because of that removable shell), here the fluidity maintains its integrity very nicely. It almost makes us wish that Kenner would approach all action figures with removable coats in this manner. Because the figures have more alternative options.... and look a whole lot better anyway.

Princess Leia is really the gem in this set however. Sure, she borders on looking like a fairytale princess instead of the Princess of Alderaan, but we love the figure all the same. She has layers of soft-goods, all of which are removable, as well as a removable belt. She even comes with soft-goods hair. The soft-goods braided hair is a bit much (and appears much too long for us) but it surprisingly works and looks surprisingly better than you might imagine. When you fully remove her ensemble, she appears to be wearing some sort of space underwear or bathing suit, but whatever it is it has been tastefully executed. If Kenner just decided to back off on the makeup applications a bit, we think this figure would easily stand the test of time for years to come. There is one last accessory which could either be Luke’s or Leia’s and that is the medal of honor. It fits well around Luke’s neck, but admittedly the bunching up of the soft-goods jacket prevents it from laying as flatly as you might want to see. Other than that, this set is a blast.