Princess Leia (Endor) - R - Saga Legends (SL28)

What’s good for the gander is good for the goose we suppose. Just like case mate Luke Skywalker (Endor), Princess Leia (Endor) gets approached in the same exact fashion, but perhaps in a slightly elevated way as well. Both have non-removable ponchos and helmets. Both have good to just “alright” paint operations. But Princess Leia (Endor) comes with a functioning holster to stow her long-barreled blaster pistol when not in use. Sigh. We once again feel the need to clarify that we’re not completely against the simple sculpts and articulation in the Saga Legends and Mission Series figures. But Hasbro MUST be more generous with accessories and primarily with the paint operations. Luke Skywalker (Endor) certainly looks OK, but Princess Leia (Endor) has pretty terrible paint operations. While we know this error won’t be commonplace on all samples, our sample looks like Elaine Benes as she appeared in The Couch episode of Seinfeld when Jerry suggested that her good-looking boyfriend might be pro-life. What is up with that lipstick smear running off to the side of her face? Sheesh! The paint job on the head sculpt in general is atrocious. They had to use multiple colors in a tiny workspace that makes for a very messy final look, especially since paint operations aren’t anywhere near the place they should be. It looks like she has pancake batter for a face, beady little eyes and a helmet that literally looks like a toddler paint it. Just look at the inconsistently terrible alternating brown and green colors bleeding into one another. It’s a sad, sad figure.

Another thing about Princess Leia (Endor) that sticks in our craw in the downward angle her head is pointing. Why does Hasbro do this? If you’re looking at the figure at eye level this effect isn’t terribly noticeable. However, if you look downward at it all you’re going to see is the brim of her helmet. Again, this is annoying. Although not nearly as bad as the paint operations on her head, Princess Leia (Endor)’s poncho has issues of its own. Hasbro made good use of the two color pattern they created, but our sample has black splotches here and there which look exactly like drippings from sprayers that accidentally fell onto the figure. That being said, we must acknowledge Hasbro capturing the details in the poncho that soft-goods are simply unable to do. For example, Princess Leia Organa had two tears by her left shoulder in her poncho in Return Of The Jedi. Hasbro actually worked them into this sculpt. We actually find that to be impressive. What hurts so much is that, like so many other characters based on the Battle of Endor in the past, these figures are no longer a “two for the price of one” super deal. In the past, you could disrobe any of the main characters from the Battle of Endor and recreate every phase of their many distinct outfits. With this figure you’re locked in only for the scenes in which they appear this exact way. To us that discounts the play value of the figure. And when we were growing up how much did we thrive on the removable helmets, soft-goods and multiple accessories we received with our figures? It’s quite melancholy to ponder this.

One of the biggest deco issues we have with Princess Leia (Endor) however is that she is missing her signature yellow blood stripe running down the out-seams of her pants. For us this was a key detail in her uniform and we find the lack of this inclusion disturbing. Contrary to popular belief, Princess Leia (Endor) does not have a good center of gravity. In fact, her boots roll upwards like a cast member from the Munchkins in The Wizard of Oz. If you slightly bump the figure or cause too big of a vibration those boots are going to serve her like de facto wheels and make her fall down. If you can position her by leaning her backwards a bit more it will help with her center of gravity issue. Some of the good points of this figure include scale. It looks like Hasbro did a fantastic job at ensuring the proper scale. She is about the same height as 2007’s VTSC Princess Leia Organa (In Combat Poncho) figure, but keep in mind the latter was standing with her legs spread open a bit. (This would imply that she might be a tad taller than the Saga Legends figure.) But they do stand at almost an identical height as is. We also believe that the sculpt of Princess Leia (Endor)’s face is pretty spot on because it really looks like the character. If they are ever able to find a way to do deco that doesn’t negatively impact the aesthetics of a sculpt then more power to them. Because right now they’re making it impossible to appreciate the good to excellent sculpts. As you can tell we’re torn with this release, but overall we think it’s going to disappoint a whole lot more than impressing.