Now that you’ve had an entire weekend to catch The Last Jedi, we will no longer be concerned with spoilers.  At this point onward, please read at your own risk!

We already reviewed the new Luke and Rey figures, prior to the premiere of The Last Jedi. This is the first figure in the line we are reviewing at Bantha Skull following the release of the film.  As such, we can discuss the pros and cons with some certainty, since we don’t have to guess what the character might do on screen.  I chose to do this figure after the premiere, as a bit of an honor to Carrie Fisher, knowing that Princess Leia will no longer be on screen in future films (unless there’s some CGI or re-purposed footage in IX).  Leia had a much more important role in The Last Jedi than she did in The Force Awakens.  As I had understood it, the plan for the trilogy was for each original character to have their starring moment in each film.  Han was the “star” of The Force Awakens, and Luke was the star of The Last Jedi.  It was believed that Leia was supposed to be the star of Episode IX, but that will clearly have to change.  Rian Johnson stated that the didn’t change a frame of film to account for Fisher’s death, so it will be up to J.J. Abrams to handle Leia’s departure on screen.  In this film.  Leia was her usual self:  composed, compassionate, sharp, and charismatic.  While I wasn’t thrilled with the scene in which she survived the vacuum of space, it was great that she shared a moment with Luke.  That was one of the more emotional scenes in the saga.

When General Leia Organa was first shown at HASCON, the images revealed a remarkable likeness to Carrie Fisher.  Chris saw it in person and commented, “This is the greatest figure in the history of Star Wars, at any scale, produced by any licensee.”  Actually, he may not have said those words, but he’s not here to confirm or deny, so I’m going with it.  In any case, the sentiment was that the figure looked great.  The only concern was if the figure actually shown was a pre-production sample, and not the final product.

Well, it seems that Hasbro came through here.  This is a beautiful figure.  While it lacks super-articulation, I have no issue with this whatsoever.  I had complained that the articulation was a complete waste on the Walmart Black Series TFA figure, and that we could have handled the “salt shaker” approach, as Leia’s gown had rendered lower body articulation moot.  The same logic can be applied to this figure, so I am fine with Hasbro’s choice to release it in the basic budget line.  The sculpt is excellent.  The robes are nicely designed, with plenty of fabric textures.  The arms are not bothered by the long sleeves of the robe.  In fact, the robe itself is removable, giving you an alternative display option.  The figure comes with a pistol (no holster).  Leia does draw a weapon when in the Crait hangar, but I couldn’t tell if it was the one that comes with this figure.

The real standout feature here is the head sculpt.  It really is amazing.  The likeness is fantastic, and the paint application, at least on my sample, was about as good as it gets on a figure of this scale.  It elevates this figure’s appearance beyond what would be normal for the budget line.

Finally, the figure is equipped with the Force Link chip.  You can read the lines in the gallery image above.  I believe these lines are not spoken by Carrie Fisher - maybe I’m wrong.  I had heard that although she filmed all of her scenes as planned prior to her death, Fisher didn’t to the post-production audio work in which the actors often re-record their lines.  I suspect (although I don’t know for sure) that this is why the film’s lines were not available for this toy feature, and another voice actress filled in.  Again, I could be completely off base with this, and maybe the audio is Fisher, and it just didn’t sound like her.

This is a really nice looking figure.  There is nothing groundbreaking, but it is perfectly executed in this format, and I tip my hat to Hasbro on the likeness and paint applications on the face.  I give this an enthusiastic 6.  Upper body articulation and a nice accessory would make it worthy of the collector line.

We miss you, Carrie.