Princess Leia Organa - TVC - Basic (VC316)

Princess Leia Organa was one of the greatest leaders of the Rebel Alliance, fearless on the battlefield and dedicated to ending the Empire's tyranny.

It feels nearly unforgivable that Hasbro made us wait two decades to update 2004’s The “Vintage” Original Trilogy Collection Princess Leia Organa figure. At the time, the 2004 VOTC Princess Leia Organa figure was an exciting release. Unfortunately, it became obsolete quickly thanks to its swivel elbows and poorly articulated lower body. The wonky incorporation of soft goods didn’t help the figure either. Then, a few short years after its release, Hasbro began producing the most essential figures with super-articulation, so Princess Leia Organa was obsolete by 2008. So, why did they wait a full 20 years before updating the main heroine of the Star Wars saga? Hasbro had no problem producing sexless and unattractive Disney Star Wars female figures. Still, Hasbro placed the most revered female of the Original Trilogy on the back burner for nearly a quarter of a century. Thankfully, with the release of The Vintage Collection’s Princess Leia Organa (VC316) figure, we have reason to celebrate despite the figure’s minor imperfections. The action figure sports an admirable likeness of the on-screen character, and there is a lovely interchangeable feature here that allows us to capture all iterations of the character from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, from the beginning of the film through the Battle of Yavin. Her rotund facial shaping might put you off, and the inhibited movement of the figure’s lower body, but overall, this is a gem, a treasure, and something we waited much too long to add to our collections.

Despite erroneous reporting, Princess Leia Organa is an all-new figure with super-articulation. Many believed the figure would be a saltshaker from the waist down; functionally, perhaps it is. The lower gown has a slit to about the height of the boots, but you need more flexibility than it offers to pose the figure’s lower body. If you like “cutting” your action figures, you can continue to slice the slit higher to allow the legs to move, but we’re action figure purists and do not like to permanently disfigure our action figures to make them a little more mobile. Princess Leia Organa’s outfit is pure white throughout, without any discoloration in sections that make the figure look yellowed. The likeness is excellent, but she looks a little too plump, and Hasbro admits difficulty recreating Carrie Fisher’s cherubic facial structure with swollenness or fatness. They’ve yet to master this effect. We feel they should create an ordinary likeness without worrying about adding fullness in the face as we think they overcompensate this and go too far. That said, the hairpiece is perfect and fits the head sculpting nicely, and the coloring from head to boot is on par with what we see in the film. What’s more, Hasbro tooled a removable hood so we can recreate dioramas based on the introduction to the character in A New Hope. It fits perfectly. Hasbro also worked a beautiful amount of smoothness in the upper body’s joints. Princess Leia Organa looks stunning, and aside from a slightly too-tall frame, we’re pretty thrilled with how everything turned out here.

Additionally, Hasbro included both blasters that Princess Leia Organa used in Star Wars. They added an E-11 blaster and then the character’s signature defender, who was sporting a blaster pistol, the same one Luke Skywalker had during the ceremony at the film’s conclusion. We are so encouraged that Hasbro decided to do an all-new version of Princess Leia Organa for the 3.75-inch super-articulated action figure line. They made us wait painfully too long for this update, but while it’s an adage, we have to admit it was worth the wait. The card art looks fantastic for this figure, too. As one of the original 12-Backs, Hasbro is closing in on finishing them up for us, which is an exciting chain of events. The most recent pipeline reveals, including Luke Skywalker, Han Solo, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Chewbacca, will help us finish up this critical cast of characters from the first Star Wars film. But with a thick cardstock, the correct font in the nameplate, and an updated backside showing off the figure inside, Princess Leia Organa is an excellent release for The Vintage Collection. If you look back on the long line of Star Wars action figures and see how many times Hasbro produced a version of Princess Leia Organa from Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, you can see how far off they were, never coming nearly as close as they should have. We no longer have those concerns because of this fantastic release. And we’re sure it will remain a highlight of The Vintage Collection.