Princess Leia Organa (In Hoth Gear) - POTF2 [FF/TKC] - Basic (Exclusive)

Imperial snowtroopers have been spotted inside Hoth's Rebel base. Little time remains for Princess Leia and Han Solo to make it to the Millennium Falcon and escape with their lives.

It is often difficult to figure out why Hasbro released modern updates to figures when they do. But when it came to Princess Leia Organa (In Hoth Gear), to their defense, they tried getting this figure out MULTIPLE times all with tragic results. Granted, the a version of this character was released as part of the 1998 POTF2 [FF/TKC] Mynock Hunt Cinema Scenes set, but collectors want all characters, especially the main ones, released as basic figures whenever possible. Kenner/Hasbro was trying to oblige. After four Complete Galaxy sets, this figure was meant to be the fifth release in that series. The line got canceled. Remember the 3-D Display Diorama Jabba’s Palace and Mos Eisley Cantina set? There was supposed to be one based on Hoth. And then that line was canceled. It was finally released as part of an unofficial four-pack via the Fan Club. But between the elevated MSRP and not-so-perfect character selection, they didn’t sell that well and were ultimately sent to Toys R Us (and other retail outlets) for pennies on the dollar. In fact, they became part of the “great purge of 1998” when Hasbro opened the floodgates and reduced old product at prices that were well below the original retail.

Princess Leia Organa (In Hoth Gear), although she looks to borrow many parts from the Cinema Scenes figure, is an all-new sculpt. The figure isn’t great at all. She has been posed in an very awkward manner. She is also too tall and doesn’t have a wonderful likeness to actress Carrie Fisher. You can obviously “tell” this is Princess Leia Organa, but you will definitely have some buyer’s remorse. The figure does however have excellent paint operations. Her egg shell colored uniform has some staining here and there and she also comes with a removable vest (which shows her ranking badge) and it allows you see what the character would look like as a “Bespin escape” version (if a new head sculpt showing her Bespin gown hairstyle was tooled as well). We wish we could say that Princess Leia Organa (In Hoth Gear) would look good standing in the background in a diorama somewhere, but between the height issues, quasi-manly facial structure and terrible center of gravity, there isn’t that much this figure offers collectors. It ticks of a mark on your modern checklist, but that’s about it. You’ll likely be buying this figure because you “have to” and that’s a sad sentiment.

We really have to point out a detail that really bugs us with this figure. Kenner/Hasbro has not retooled smaller scaled guns for the new basic figures despite the scaled-back proportions of the figures themselves. As a result, Princess Leia Organa (In Hoth Gear) is holding a ridiculously large blaster pistol and in fact it’s a gun she didn’t even utilize in the film at all. It’s basically a useless inclusion here. We definitely need an all-new Princess Leia Organa (In Hoth Gear) action figure from the ground up with enhanced articulation and better accessories. Because right now this release is a true disappointment. One detail we do like about the packaging of the figure is that Princess Leia Organa (In Hoth Gear) includes a beautiful Freeze Frame action slide as the collector pack-in premium. The attitude from the collecting community regarding these slides is all over the place, but it does appear that many of us are enjoying them. We certainly are. Anyway, if you’re collecting these items, it’s pretty cool to have one based on this character too. From an original $9.99 MSRP to going on clearance for about $1.99 (and even less), Princess Leia Organa (In Hoth Gear) wasn’t one of Hasbro’s greatest successes. Better will definitely come in the future.