Thank you to Hasbro and Litzky PR for providing this free sample.

When it was revealed that Hasbro would be using a fourteen year old sculpt to cross “Princess Leia (Endor)” off the “Original 96” list, fans were not happy.  Not happy in the least.  While I fully acknowledged that re-using the Vintage The Saga Collection sculpt was suboptimal, my initial reaction was that making a stink about it wasn’t a hill I wanted to die on.  The figure ostensibly passes for “modern” with twelve points of articulation including ball joints at the shoulders, elbows, knees and ankles.  The only point of articulation (POA) that is missing is either a wrist swivel or hinge.  That POA was probably dropped from the original release for aesthetic / durability reasons.  The thin wrists on this release likely would not support a durable articulation point.  The alternative would be to thicken the forearm, but that would result in a jarring aesthetic for the diminutive Ms. Fisher.  If I could get a redo on that initial take, while I still wouldn’t wish to die on that hill, I would have gladly sacrificed a foot in the fight.  This figure is not a lot of fun to interact with.

While most of the modern points of articulation are there, the effectiveness of those joints is decidedly from the two thousand aughts.  The elbows don’t even bend to a full ninety degrees.  Combine that with the missing wrist joints, and getting the figure to interact with the Speeder Bike is an exercise in futility.  You can get there, but you’re not going to be thrilled with the results.  While the elbows don’t have great range of motion, the knee joints make this a study in extremes.  The knees, with their jarring exposed discs, move too much.  The legs will hyper extend forward like a flamingo.  The neck is the standard “pre Jedi Level articulation” ball and socket.  It lacks meaningful range of motion up and down.  As mentioned, Ms. Fisher was diminutive, and usually needed to look up to her fellow actors.  This figure cannot do that, so when interacting with other figures, Princess Leia is doing some pensive navel gazing.

Rounding out the complaints is the new head sculpt.  It does look markedly better than the previous release, but it’s also utterly expressionless.  It almost looks soulless.  This betrays Carrie Fisher as an actor.  She could convey amazing emotion with her facial expressions.  Whether lovingly looking at Luke on Home One, or staring at him with mournful eyes when he insists on confronting Vader, or her childlike wonder staring at Wicket, it was a master class in non-verbal communication.  The vacant stare just isn’t Princess Leia to me. But it bears repeating that the expression aside, the head sculpt is a marked improvement over the original.

That head isn’t the end of the upgrades.  The poncho is much more screen accurate and vibrant with a clearly defined camouflage pattern.  The 2007 release looks like it’s wearing an olive drab tarp.  The holster belt goes form being cast in solid brown on the original figure to a green belt with the holster and ammo pouch painted black. This is a small, but noticeable, upgrade.  The pants are now a more accurate powder blue.  The previous version had a bit of a greenish tint.  Finally the deco to the upper torso is entirely different to include painting the belt black, which is a nice detail.

So there you have it.  This is a definite and noticeable upgrade over the 2007 version, but at the same time, it’s not a great figure overall.  It’s yet another reminder that “better” is a relative term.  Getting punched in the gut is better than being punched in the groin, but neither is good.  This figure needs retooling, at a minimum, to become a “definitive” Endor Princes Leia.  That is never going to happen.  It’s worth picking this figure up because it will definitely look better in your display.  Just don’t push the “action” in “action figure” too far.  It’s a 7 out of 10 mostly because I feel like 6 it too low.