Princess Leia - OTC - Basic (OTC #33)

The Rebel hero Princess Leia pretends to be a bounty hunter to get inside Jabba the Hutt's criminal palace. Once inside, she frees Han Solo but is captured and made one of the Hutt's slaves. She endures this humiliation until Luke Skywalker rescues them at the Great Pit of Carkoon, where Leia strangles the crime lord with the chains keeping her prisoner.

Is any basic figure collection complete without Princess Leia in her slave outfit? She may just be the quintessential character from the Original Trilogy. So what better Princess Leia Organa choice is there to release in The Original Trilogy Collection, a greatest hits collection, so to speak, of the most popular characters from the first three Star Wars films. The Original Trilogy Collection has an affectionately inordinate number of personalities thanks to the rich history of figures Hasbro has made for us throughout the years. They truly culled the best choices possible and put together a conglomeration of older figures (with some new ones) and made them better by adding them into packaging that tugged on our vintage Kenner heart-of-hearts. Princess Leia is just one of many figures that makes you recall why you’re in this hobby.

Hasbro pulled this Princess Leia figure from 2001’s POTJ Princess Leia With Sail Barge Cannon Deluxe set. She is limited in articulation, but you probably won’t care at all because her pose, proportions, sculpt and aesthetics are relatively flawless. While it goes without saying that any Princess Leia action figure in a slave outfit should have the option of a sitting pose, we will guarantee that you really won’t care about this important detail because of how well this version of her is made. Princess Leia obviously isn’t perfect, but between the seamless addition of soft-goods, a real metal chain and a “real” ponytail, you have an amazingly well developed action figure that will prove difficult to age. With daintily thin extremities, Princess Leia has been built to scale with the rest of the figures in the lineup. She won’t look out of place next to Chewbacca, Darth Vader or even Jabba The Hutt himself.

Princess Leia also comes with a force pike. Unfortunately it has been cast from one of the flimsiest plastics we have yet to encounter in the basic figure lineup to date. It’s actually quite maddening how it’s unable to maintain its shape. Even if you decide to pose her holding it, gravity will force it to bend or bow while in her hands. More is less for Princess Leia and you’ll find her limited articulation will become less and less important the more you appreciate the action figure for what positivity it does bring forward to your collection. But with most figures in The Original Trilogy Collection, the best part is the packaging. Behind her is an image of Jabba The Hutt and then that image is encased in a revised imitation of the original vintage Kenner packaging. You’ll find favor with Princess Leia. She still looks better than many of the figures made in 2004 (and she has three years of age on them). Appreciate this figure. Hasbro did a great job on her.