Princess Leia/Tobbi Dala - TLC - Comic Packs (7)

Princess Leia is captured by slavers while searching for Dengar, a bounty hunter with information that can help her save Han Solo. It looks like all is lost for Leia, until her new Mandalorian friend Fenn Shysa launches a daring raid to rescue her and his boyhood friend Tobbi Dala, who is also a prisoner of the slavers. But before the day is done, there will be death and destruction in the city of bones.

Ah, Marvel Comics' Star Wars were some of the most intriguing (and sometimes the silliest) storylines Star Wars fans have ever seen. But when a story focuses on tracking down by whatever means necessary the location of the frozen Han Solo, the story becomes exciting on a whole new level. This was one popular comic story that drew more fans into the tales that took place after the cliffhanging events of The Empire Strikes Back and provided fans with interactions between familiar and brand new characters. So anything that focuses on this linear storyline is going to be of interest to hardcore fans. Princess Leia (in her very popular Hoth gear) is paired with a brand new character, Tobbi Dala, to find the frozen Captain Solo. We don't know much about the latter in advance and his role is very shortlived in the comic, but any Boba Fett type of character is sure to be a hit. As alluded to, Tobbi Dala unfortunately has a very tragic end, but he served a very important purpose in the comics. One of the more modern Mandalorians in Star Wars folklore, he is one of the closer ones that is tied indirectly to Boba Fett. Fenn Shysa works out a barter deal with Princess Leia and will help her find Dengar (who may have information on the location of the frozen Han Solo) if she in return helps him free his friend Tobbi Dala. Short and sweet, simple and to the point, it was a great story that many fans adore. Some poked many holes in this plot since Dengar was one of the bounty hunters commissioned to find Han Solo (and he ends up welcomed into Jabba's palace), but others just went with it.

The love didn't transfer that well over into the figures contained within this Comic Packs set. Princess Leia is a vigorous repaint of the figure that came in the 1998 POTF2 [FF/TKC] Mynock Hunt Cinema Scenes multipack. Looking almost nothing like her ancestor, Princess Leia has been repainted in a brilliant and clean white color and has been given a new belt accessory to match her pristine comics appearance. Most noticeable is the new deco used to paint her face. We challenge you to dig out your old Princess Leia figure and compare it to this one. The changes are extremely significant. Princess Leia is, of course, out of scale in the Comic Packs line because of her old sculpt. While not terrible, she hasn't aged well and we think Hasbro could have kit-bashed a little bit better figure for us, instead of re-releasing this one. This by default makes Tobbi Dala the better figure in the set. A dramatic repaint of the Boba Fett figure that was part of 2007's TAC The Fett Legacy Evolutions set, he has also been given a new head to complement the new paint job. Finished in solid and bold color, Tobbi Dala is a bit to hard to take seriously due to the nature of his primary color outerwear. Even so, the articulation on him is top notch. The character has a high forehead and a rounded face and Hasbro ensured that a great likeness was given to the action figure. He is an OK action figure. Nothing special but definitely not a poor figure by any means, you will likely have to be a fan of the Marvel comics in order to fully appreciate this figure. But if you're buying the Comic Packs sets just to get them all, this set should still interest you in some way.

Obviously this was a lazy set for Hasbro to cobble together for collectors to help save on new tooling costs, but we stil feel that it's successful in delivering what it needs to for the fans the Marvel Comics story. Hasbro provides a great mix of old and new with these sets, so it is inevitable to see some repacks and repaints here and there. Generally speaking, the Comic Packs sets are overall a pretty fantastic value for collectors. Not only do these two-packs come with an original comic book replica from which sources the included (and exclusive) action figures, the action figures themselves come very well accessorized and painted. There are of course a few exceptions to this rule. You may feel that paint applications are lacking a bit and we would probably have to agree with you sometimes. But remember that these are Marvel Comics based figures. Hasbro loves giving these figures very funny paint applications to match their even funnier appearances in the comic books. If you can get past these paint jobs, we believe you may want to take stake in this sub-line of figures. Some Comic Packs sets will be better than others of course. The realistic style of the modern comics seems to be favored by collectors the most. But there are quite a few collectors totally digging the Marvel styled ones as well. Our opinions lie somewhere in the middle. We think the Marvel-styled bold colors work well for what it is, but the figures are being hurt more by the sculpts Hasbro is using than by the way they are being painted. But that is just our two cents. The decision is in your court! Regardless, the Princess Leia/Tobbi Dala set is nice and relevant. We hope more come soon.