Leia Organa/Prince Xizor - TLC - Comic Packs (8)

As Leia struggles to save the Alliance from being crushed by the Empire, she learns that bounty hunters are after Luke. She infiltrates Black Sun to find out why that crime syndicate wants Luke dead. The leader of Black Sun is Prince Xizor, who sees Luke as a way to get his revenge upon Vader and, at the same time, gain favor with the Emperor. Her mission is in jeaopardy when she meets Xizor and finds herself unable to resist the prince's strange power.

Oh man did we really want to like this set a lot more than we did! Excited to get an update to a character that we haven't seen at retail since 1996, the set just didn't deliver the way it should have, but that's really because of one huge misstep with one of the figures contained in this set. The Shadows Of The Empire multimedia event was arguably one of the most exciting ones we had seen as long term fans in quite some time if not in the entire EU history of Star Wars. It bridged the events of The Empire Strikes Back and Return Of The Jedi by answering a lot of questions, enhancing further character development and providing great plot lines. And most fans adored the new characters that were introduced within this very brief period of the Star Wars timeline. And it gave us some of our favorite heroes in all-new disguises, and you know how much we love heroes in "bad guy" disguises! More than a decade has passed since the last Prince Xizor hit the shelves and it was long overdue to get an updated version with modern technology. It isn't the best figure we have ever seen, but we wish it had a much better upgrade than what it got. But we will get to the harsh criticism in a moment. The Leia Organa/Prince Xizor Comic Packs set was executed in the wrong fashion in many ways and it is a shame because it had the potential to be a remarkable set. Now we will hopelessly wait for an ever better upgrade to these two characters. We won't hold our breath because we think this is it for a very long time.

Prince Xizor is not half that bad. Because his combination of soft-goods and molded robes do not work in conjunction with each other too well, Prince Xizor has issues standing up straight. The molded robes dip below his feet and the figure wants to stand and balance itself on the robes instead of his feet. Is this really still happening Hasbro? Please stop making action figures that have their robes inhibit their standing abilities, please! We do like the touch of the draping purple soft-goods from his forearms, but it is designed from a very cheap material and looks very fake and not authentic. Xizor's face sculpt is not bad, but there is something about the 1996 portrait that we like a bit better. We think we attribute it to the meaner expression the older figure has. We must give credit where credit is due of course too. Prince Xizor is beautifully sculpted. His outfit, hands, legs and pretty much everything else about him is spot on and we think he would have been much better if Hasbro engineered the molded robes better. Right now as is, they severely inhibit how much movement you get out of his articulation system. Why waste tooling dollars on joints you cannot utilize? This seems like an ongoing problem with Hasbro and not just the Comic Packs line, but their action figures in general. Prince Xizor is still a great figure. He possesses great height and towers over Leia as he should. And something about his presence is captivating. But in all honesty, we don't necessarily see him having any potential love interest in Leia if she were to look anything like the action figure contained in this Comic Packs set. And this friends is where we reach what makes this set a debacle.

Leia Organa is a rather depressing disappointment. We had such high hopes for her but she doesn't deliver. Leia is a perfect example of why super-articulation is a bad thing for some figures. There is no way to say this and we are sure you have heard it countless times before but she has "cankles." There was absolutely no reason to give her ankle joints, which are the cause of her distressing aesthetics. It has completely destroyed what could have been an excellent action figure. Oh, and Hasbro would also have to redo the head sculpt. Another portrait that has been painted in a flesh tone, the detail is not crisp and the final result is an inferior looking action figure. And depending upon your sample, the paint jobs go from bad to worse. We passed on many Comic Packs sets before we found one that was halfway passable and even our sample looks wonky. Does Leia Organa have some good points? Absolutely! We love the execution of her soft-goods. Two gold bracelets attach to each wrist and drape the fishnet material behind her making a beautiful drape. It is sheer, so you can see her form through it and it is a very nice touch to the figure. Leia's body is rather lean and athletic (save for her ankles of course) and she has great movement in her other joints. We don't expect figures from Shadows Of The Empire to get much love in the future. It seems Hasbro released this set out of obligation rather than desire, and it seems that we may not be fortunate enough to get another helping of action figures from this source. So for now, this is the best we are going to get.