Princess Leia Organa - OTC - Vintage

Celebrate the legendary Star Wars trilogy that changed the universe forever, with The Original Trilogy Collection. This collection brings to life the incredible story of good versus evil that captured our imagination and took us to a galaxy far, far away. The finest recreations of the iconic Star Wars heroes and villains are back with incredible detail and premium features to commemorate each epic tale in the Original Trilogy: A New Hope, The Empire Strikes Back, and Return of the Jedi. And, as a tribute to the dedication of Star Wars fans everywhere, we are re-releasing elements of the original packaging that harken back to the creation of Star Wars action figures, which began over 25 years ago with the Original Trilogy. May the Force be with you!

We know it wasn’t intentional, but Hasbro was not kind to Princess Leia Organa in the modern action figure line. If you go back to this character’s history in action figure form from 1995 to current times, you’ll see that major issues plagued the various iterations. Whether considering the “monkey-faced” 1995 POTF2 [R/G] Princess Leia Organa figure, or the significantly improved 1998 POTF2 [FF/TKC] Princess Leia Organa figure with an all-new likeness, limited articulation improper scale, and portraits that didn’t resemble Carrie Fisher often plagued these various action figures. And Hasbro utilized the 1998 version of the figure for too many years after its original release. It overstayed its welcome. We feel Hasbro admitted defeat and waved the white flag with the earlier versions of Princess Leia Organa. The time came to pull out all of the stops and produce a version that would impress the Star Wars collecting community, thankfully. To everyone’s benefit, 2004 brings collectors The Original Trilogy Collection. With a distinct focus on the Star Wars films of the late seventies and early eighties, Hasbro also brought back the classic vintage-styled Kenner packaging and placed significantly updated action figures on the cards for a limited run. We appreciate the update to Princess Leia Organa, but it has a few setbacks that will assuredly disappoint Star Wars collectors. Please don’t misunderstand us. 2004’s VOTC Princess Leia Organa figure is a tremendous leap forward for the character in action figure form. However, we would like to know why Hasbro didn’t take a few small steps ahead to perfect it.

Although we saw original The Power Of The Force “2” action figures repacked and repainted for The Original Trilogy Collection basic figure line (the figures with the OTC #), Hasbro ensured that the vintage-styled line would contain all-new sculpts. They also ensured wherever possible that the line provided premium super-articulated action figures. Hasbro packed these collector-focused “vintage-styled” The Original Trilogy Collection figures in clamshells for extra protection. The all-new Princess Leia Organa action figure isn’t entirely perfect, but it is undoubtedly the best version of the character on the market to date. The best way to describe this action figure is that Hasbro took it so far, and then lost the energy to finish it. Slightly frustrating, we wish that a few more bells and whistles made it into the budget so that collectors could have a definitive version of Princess Leia Organa in their collections for years to come. As a result, we’re all going to need another update before collectors deem this an ultimate Princess Leia Organa action figure. However, Princess Leia Organa is not without merit. It is now the best version of the character in 3.75” scale on the market to date, and it has a refreshing likeness, although, it doesn’t necessarily look like Carrie Fisher as much as it does Princess Leia Organa if that makes sense. We would have loved to see a few other things added to give the figure a little more versatility. Perhaps another weapon, specifically the long-barreled gun from the 1978 SW Princess Leia Organa figure, would have greatly increased its value to collectors. Again, we don’t understand all of the shortcuts made to this classic character.

Princess Leia Organa comes with sixteen points of articulation. The figure does not come with any ankle articulation, but that’s not the figure’s biggest issue. Although missing ankle articulation, the major concern is the swivel elbows. No matter what you do, you cannot get any meaningful movement out of them. They’re not wholly dysfunctional, but they severely limit how you can position Princess Leia Organa. Generally speaking, elbows require a full array of motion to attain all of the necessary poses that action figure collectors want to see. They designed the swivel elbows cleverly so that the figure points the included E-11 blaster as needed, but ball-jointed elbows would have saved the day. Princess Leia Organa has excellent proportions. The figure has a rounded face, along with simple makeup, both of which are traits of Carrie Fisher’s character in Episode V. The “star puffs” of the hairstyle look perfectly sculpted, and the hood of the gown lies flatly down the back. Lastly, the lower half of the figure has soft-goods. This skirt is close-fitting, but you’re able to pose Princess Leia Organa in multiple ways, thanks to the way Hasbro cut it. The hands are delicate, yet can hold the included blaster without issue. This action figure has a lot going for it, but we wish that we could dub it the ultimate modern replacement for 1978’s SW Princess Leia Organa Kenner action figure. We still have short ways to go before we can all say that. Like so many other action figures in The “Vintage” Original Trilogy Collection premium line, the most exciting aspect is the packaging. Princess Leia Organa appears to look better within the plastic clamshell packaging. The figure loses some luster outside of it. The power of vintage-styled Kenner packaging is impressive.