Princess Leia/Luke Skywalker (Stormtrooper Disguise) - R - Mission Series (MS20)

Luke disguises himself as a Stormtrooper on the Death Star to rescue the imprisoned Princess Leia.

There are probably just as many things right as there are wrong with the Princess Leia/Luke Skywalker (Stormtrooper Disguise) Mission Series set. Both figures have their pluses and minuses, but it is likely the lack of articulation that is going to have collectors enraged out of their minds. Princess Leia Organa, as she appeared in Episode IV, may be the most requested version of Princess Leia collectors have asked Hasbro to pull out all of the stops for to date. Yet Hasbro has turned a deaf ear upon this request and instead added her to the Mission Series range.... with minimal articulation. What is going to be hard for most to accept however is that the sculpt of Princess Leia is quite good. It is the paint operations that once again sacrifice the efforts that went into the tooling, and as a result, collectors will not be willing to see anything past this. The silhouette of the action figure is the most perfect shape we have received of the princess to date. Had a more careful approach (not just neatness of applications but appropriate color palette) been made, this may have been one of the few figures to make super-articulation "junkies" forget about their primary focus. That is the potential of her. As you can see, the results are tragic. Sloppy applications and a lack of facial makeup make this version of Princess Leia another disappointment, but we’re not content with throwing out the baby with the bathwater. We’re hoping that Hasbro will see that a running change will be required to remedy her issues.

To forsake this sculpt based on the merits of the poor paint operations would be very wrong. We’re quite taken with the head sculpt in particular. Hasbro obviously paid careful (and clever) attention to her hairstyle. It seems they took some small liberties with the shape of her “star puffs” (only original Kenner collectors will understand what we mean by the use of this term). But they imitated her slight asymmetrical part (yes – her hairline is not dead-centered like assumed by many) quite well which really works to capture the style of Princess Leia perfectly. With five points of articulation, there is very little Hasbro can do to make her long flowing gown possess a believable drape, but Hasbro has done admirably here. The range of movement of the given swivel articulation in the hips is limited. Expect to have very limited mobility in the lower body. But you may not care as this will be a very nice version of Princess Leia Organa for dioramas that don’t require too much action. Save for her head sculpt, the simple white color used to decorate most of her outfit is nicely accomplished. And the drape has been achieved ever more nicely thanks to the excellent sculpting given to it by Hasbro. Princess Leia won’t win any awards, but she is a contender for one of the best versions of this character in this outfit we have been given for all time right now. Maybe that isn’t saying much, but we truly believe this figure has great potential. She comes with an E-11 blaster which is fitting as it is odd.

The bigger issue in this set is Luke Skywalker (Stormtrooper Disguise). As you might imagine, Hasbro just utilized 2013’s SW [DV/ROTS] Stormtrooper (SL11) figure and gave it a new head sculpt. That in and of itself impales this figure with issues. We all know that Luke is a little short for a Stormtrooper. But using the original Stormtrooper (SL11) sculpt makes that fact an impossibility. We have ALWAYS been irritated and bothered by the high shoulder armor the Stormtrooper figure has. Well, guess who has this same issue now. And it looks even more ridiculous on Luke. Like Princess Leia, Luke Skywalker (Stormtrooper Disguise) has a potentially excellent head sculpt. But the paint operations are horrifying. They’re horrifying. With our sample, Luke’s eyes have been hideously misapplied. He is looking in different directions, and the paint couldn’t be more sloppily applied. And once again Hasbro has decided that Luke has auburn hair instead of the dirty blonde that all of us have witnessed seeing in the Original Trilogy. How hard is it to choose the correct hair color? We’re floored that this is such a major issue for Hasbro. They’ve had the license for 20 years. It’s high time they get this right. Luke Skywalker (Stormtrooper Disguise) has one other “issue” that may or may not bother you. His head is looking a bit upward. It’s hard to make him look at eye level to other action figures. In fact, the only way this is possible is if you bend him forward a little bit so he can meet others at the same eye level. Don’t get us wrong. we like parts of this set, but it needs fine tuning before we will be satisfied with it.