The Black Series

TBSBASIC6

Princess Leia
(Slave Outfit)

Info and Stats
Number:  
#05
Year:  
2013
MSRP:  
$19.99
Review by: Chris
Review date: 02/14/2014

Oh how easy it is to undo a decent figure with a jarring head sculpt.  First, lets start off with the fact that you’ll probably look through 100 of these on the shelves before you find one that isn’t cross eyed.  These sloppy paint jobs in the Black Series are starting to invoke memories of the almost laughable paint applications from the short lived Indiana Jones figure line.  That line too suffered from horrible case assortments in addition to poor quality control and was ultimately cut short before ever getting to the figures we really wanted.  Hopefully the 6” Black Series line doesn’t get euthanized before getting to Darth Vader which doesn’t appear until five waves in for some God unknown reason.  In addition to the poor paint applications to the eyes, I keep thinking the head sculpt looks much more like a Swingers era Jon Favreau than Carrie Fisher:

While we are all forever in Mr. Favreau’s debt for being a big part of the reason why the super hero movie genre is no longer terrible, he’s not as cute as a 23 year old Fisher.  One of the benefits of being so far behind in the reviews is that I have the hindsight of how these figures are faring at retail as I write them.  This figure is not exactly setting the cash registers on fire with its ring through rate.  I can’t help but feel the issues with the paint and sculpting of the head play a large part in it.  It’s a case of failed execution and not a poor character selection.  I hope Hasbro makes the correct takeaway when looking at the poor sales of this figure and doesn’t conclude that we don’t want Princess Leia figures.  Hasbro has had a habit of spitting the bit on an item and then concluding there was an issue with the source and not the product.  It’s a bit maddening.

In addition to the head, the hips are as broad as a pudding fed Briton’s.  This may be the price of the ball jointed articulation.  If it is, it’s a price we’ll unfortunately have to pay, but I think Hasbro could do better.  The figure comes with both the vibrostaff and vibro ax accessories.  While I appreciate the extra accessory, I’m not sure Princess Leia wielded both in Return of the Jedi.  I only recall her using the staff.

The real shame about the iffy likeness of the figure is that the rest of the figure functions great.  The ornamentation on the boots limits the ankle articulation a tad, but a little elbow grease gets the foot into the correct positions.  The arms and hands, which are articulated with ball joints, work almost flawlessly with the accessories.  The legs achieve both neutral poses as well as action oriented crouches and stances.  But I just can’t get past whoever’s head sits upon this figure’s shoulders.  It’s not Carrie Fisher’s.  That’s for sure.  6 out of 10.


6/10 Bantha Skulls

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