So.... Where Is Slave Leia?
The recently revealed The Vintage Collection Jabba and throne set has brought a question to the forefront again: where are modern and actually good looking 1/12 scale and 1/18 scale figures of Slave Leia or Oola? If you remember Return of the Jedi you will certainly recall that Jabba had Leia dressed in a metal bikini on a metal chain sitting (more like reclining) on his throne. The Black Series got a really horrible looking Slave Leia early on… and ever since then. Nothing. So let’s talk about that!
Carrie in that famous Rolling Stone beach photo shoot from 1983
It is moot to speculate why exactly Hasbro won’t apparently touch figures like Slave Leia or Oola with a ten foot pole anymore. Some people claim it’s a Lucasfilm mandate, similar to how more recently Boba Fett’s “Slave I” was rebranded as “Boba Fett’s Spaceship” for marketing purposes and toys.
Which is ironic given how slaves are basically everywhere in Star Wars, to the point that Qui-Gon could not even be bothered to free Anakin’s mom in the prequels. And let’s not forget that we’ll get a little Ani The Black Series figure in the future, and he’s very much a slave.
So one might suspect Lucasfilm does not like Slave Leia and Oola because they are both victimized (and sexually abused) females and thus the very opposite of “strong female character”, even though Leia gets her comeuppance by strangling Jabba to death with her metal chain. But poor Oola is Rancor fodder and never has a chance to put the patriarchy in its place.
But whatever the reason may be…. and before you think it’s Hasbro, they are most certainly not responsible, they license their My Little Pony, GI Joe and Transformers IP to Kotobukiya who make anthromorphized sexy human female versions of the ponies or Transformers as statues in their Bishoujo series and Hasbro has no issues with releasing almost naked Marvel Legends figures either. But Lucasfilm ended their cooperation with Kotobukiya’s Bishoujo line years ago and while they did make sexy Star Wars statues before they no longer can make them, but they still release sexy female statues of Marvel characters to this day, so it’s neither a general Disney problem nor is it a Hasbro issue, therefore Lucasfilm must almost certainly be the guilty party here…
Recent or upcoming Bishoujo statues of Bumblebee (Transformers), Dawn Moreno (GI Joe) and Kate Bishop (Marvel)
Whatever the reasons for no more Star Wars Bishoujo statues and Slave Leia or Oola figures are, the question is what are your options in 2023 to get a decent looking Metal Bikini Leia?
The horrible, awful looking Black Series version can cost about $100 on ebay, the not much better looking 3.75 inch option can be even more expensive, especially when carded. And at this point both figures are about a decade old or so. And not up to modern standards.
Unfortunately, the custom figure market only really has options for the 1/6 scale.
Here is a Slave Leia from JTA regular “Gary’s Laser Sword”, who was kind enough to send me a photo of his figure:
What you see here is a custom head, hand painted, an outfit set with actual metal chain and a Phicen 1/6 scale seamless female body.
Here are some glamour shots from sellers on the internet:
What you see here is the 2nd, updated and improved version of the custom head, it has an actual braid (the first version also has a braid). “Mr Toys” only sells you the custom head, the outfit and the accessories in an all-in-one package. You still need to buy the 1/6 scale Phicen seamless female body. But you can do so easily.
One word of caution about Phicen bodies… they are anatomically very accurate. Or in modern internet vernacular “NSFW” if in a state of undress. They include ALL details. So if you have a problem with that you may want to avoid them. They are not Barbie dolls intended for little kids.
Since there are several Phicen female body variants and even several skin tones you need to pick the right one, but sellers like Mr Toys will usually tell you what Phicen body type and skin tone to get so it matches its skin tone with the head. Also, Phicen bodies come in curvier/bustier variants and even more athletic options, this is the version with the smaller (still ample) bust.
In case you don’t know about Phicen yet, Hasbro tried to tap into the market for seamless action figures with internal metal skeletons with their failed and bad looking hyperreal line a few years ago. The Phicen figures have plastic hand, feet and head… but the skin is soft rubber and this allows you to achieve very natural looking poses.
Here is a perfect example of a natural pose:
The Phicen custom outfit Slave Leia can effortlessly recreate the throne room scene from Return of the Jedi. There are no visible joints, only the gap between the hands/head and body, which is unavoidable if you want to have exchangeable hands/feet/head.
A custom head with outfit can cost about $100 (in the ballpark of $100), a Phicen body about the same, a little less maybe even, a quick ebay search or google search would quickly get you results. So 1/6 scale collectors can at least rely on the customizer scene to get an excellent looking Slave Leia that rivals anything Hot Toys could make (and certainly would make if they could).
Unfortunately 1/12 scale and 1/18 scale collectors are out of luck.
There are excellent looking 1/12 scale Phicen female action figures! Have a look at this:
What you see here are Phicen 1/12 scale female figures, they come in a complete set with generic head, a few hands and the bikini (you can remove the bikini and other bits). You get different body types in 1/12 scale as well, that is, “normal” (still quite busty), curvy and athletic (with a toned body). And yes, there are also male options in both the 1/6 and 1/12 scale. As you can see the 1/12 scale figures can be posed extremely lifelike as well, just like their 1/6 scale counterparts.
You can find those 1/12 scale sets on Amazon for about $50 or so.
However, there seem to be no custom made metal bikini outfit sets for the 1/12 scale. So while collectors would have access to excellent looking female figures, you’d have to create Slave Leia all by yourself, not impossible in the age of 3D printing, but you’d still need the skill to make the cloth/skirt part and you also need the painted head of course and you’d have to own a 3D printer. It would be more convenient if customizers offered complete conversion kits for 1/12 scale Phicen figures just as we get them for 1/6 scale figures.
And 1/18 scale is entirely out of luck. No 1/18 scale seamless Phicen bodies exist… my guess is the scale is simply too small to make a figure with rubber skin and internal metal skeleton, since the limbs are very thin at 1/18 scale.
But what we’d really need is an officially licensed figure from Hasbro. Or by anyone. How is it that Carrie proudly wore her metal bikini in 1983 and is still a very popular cosplay outfit to this day… and in 2023 it’s (apparently) a big no no for Lucasfilm to release merchandise based on that version of her character? In a franchise that had Ahsoka running around with a crop top for early seasons of The Clone Wars and even had episodes with her becoming a slave too? Slaves are such a common element in Star Wars that the decision (apparently) not to release updated and actually good looking figures of the character seems a bit strange or maybe even sanctimonious.
Darth Vader was on the beach as well, to get a nice tan… and Carrie aka Leia had lots of fun with her dad
Or customizers need to come to the rescue… the 1/6 scale market has everything, but I think 1/12 scale collectors would buy similar 1/12 scale sets to make it worth their while. And while 1/18 scale collectors may not be able to get Phicen bodies, a normal (custom) super articulated plastic figure with custom parts would certainly do the trick as well.
What do you think? Would you like to have a Slave Leia figure using one of the Phicen bodies with a custom add-on set including the head and outfit (and weapon)? Do you think Hasbro will ever release a Slave Leia (or Oola) again?
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