Hasbro
Released July 2004
Reviewed by Adam Pawlus
Photography by Michael Sullenger
Reviewed on August 4, 2004
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While she isn't the awesomest of upgrades, Princess Leia Organa from the new Hasbro Vintage Original Trilogy Collection received numerous improvements and is the best jointed version of this figure yet. Plus, he head is hard to fault.

This figure is packaged with an Imperial blaster pistol, while the real vintage version had a standardized "Leia blaster" based loosely on the design in the movie.

Sculpt/Articulation/Gimmicks/Paint

Easily the second best Vintage figure of the first series in 2004, Leia brings a lot of articulation to the table with a good sculpt and has cloth where it counts. In short, she's got it where it counts.

While Han looks like a mishmash between the actor in the films and the vintage figure, Leia seems to basically look more like a doll than anything else.



Her ball-jointed head sits atop a ball much like every figure with this sort of articulation, which makes it easy to pop it off if one is so inclined. Her limited painted makeup brings out a lot of detail on the pale skinned figure that, more than anything, makes me think of the 12" figure released in the late 1970's. While she does look a lot more like the film version of the character than many previous figures, she's also, for lack of a better word, rather "cute." She still fits in with the rest of the line, but she's also a little more pleasant to look at.

While not the most posable figure ever, she's quite good and her arms were designed for her to hold weapons and gesture in various worthwhile positions. You can find ball joints at the neck, shoulders, and knees while standard joints populate the hips, waist, wrists, and elbows. The end result is a figure that, while not super-ultra-mondo-posable, can do pretty much anything you need her to do. She can sit, sort of, in the Falcon next to Luke. It'd be better if she had somewhere to sit, but that's the subject of another review. The overall skeleton allows for more movement than I would have hoped for, and this makes her a great little figure.

There's a lot of detail in her gown, which is immediately lost when you hit her belt. Above the belt, there's some folds, creases, and the usual hanging fabric. Below the belt is actual fabric, and beneath it, some fairly uninspired pants and legs.

At least you aren't meant to see these.

Since there's very little color needed for the costume, it's amazing that Hasbro decided to include some extra paint ops, like her makeup, and even more amazing, the bottom of her boots are black. Nice touch, Hasbro! (Too bad you forgot to work in some holes for her to use a stand, as she's a little topple-friendly.)

Accessories

This set includes the gun, and that be all.

It's black and she holds it well. Can I ask for more? Well, yeah, I kinda would have liked to have had a normal Leia blaster, but hey, this works too.

Packaging

This should look familliar.

The front of the cardback is, basically, just the same as the 1978 cardbacks. I don't much feel like combing over the part numbers and such to check for differences, but it's certainly close enough to be acceptable.

The back of the card is somewhat lame, using similar graphics to those used on other OTC products. It would be nice to have a vintage-esque lineup of the new VOTC figures instead of just the four from that movie. It's OK, but nothing too special.

The clamshell is nice, and it's taped shut to avoid people... I guess buying it and returning a 1978 figure in its place. There's an embossed Star Wars logo on the back, and you could probably cram any old vintage figure in here if you open your VOTC figures and happen to have other real vintage figures in need of star case type storage. The case is too shallow for anything but vintage figures, or perhaps thinner, early POTF2 and POTJ figures.

I especially like the embossed Imperial and Rebel logos on the top of the clamshell. All in all, it's good packaging, but the regular OTC style impressed me a little bit more.

Availability

As of today, this figure is just becoming available in the USA, but looking at future assortments he should be really easy to get and shipping for a good long time.

Fin

She's good, I'll give Hasbro that. While there is room for improvement, and we already had an all-cloth dress version of this Leia in 1998 that was pretty slick, this ain't bad. She looks good and can do some neat things, and as such, is worth your money. As far as articulation goes, Leia's never been better, and probably will never be better.

Our sample was obtained from some guy in July 2004.