|
|
Yodasnews Review: Princess Leia Organa (Jabba’s Slave Girl)
Review and Photography by Jeffrey A. Gouse (SithLord0498)
Review Date: January 11, 2010
FIGURE SPECIFICATIONS
When Hasbro/Kenner debuted their Power of the Force 2 line 15 years ago, the figures were far from the quality seen today and certainly had their flaws such as the overly-muscular “He-Man” male characters. The most notorious and often-ridiculed misstep in this resurgence of Star Wars toys, however, was “Monkey-Face Leia”. Throughout POTF2’s life span, capturing an appropriately feminine likeness of the princess was an elusive challenge for Hasbro with misfire after misfire polluting store pegs. Many of them, quite honestly, made her look like a 1980s drag queen. Naturally, any new and improved version of Leia is a welcome entry—even today.
However, one version escaped this cycle of shoddy sculpting. It looked nothing like Carrie Fisher, but at least it was a decidedly feminine portrait. It was Hasbro’s second POTF2 Leia figure—the famous “Jabba’s Slave” version. While it still suffered a bit from a static wide-stance pose, minimal articulation, and questionable proportions, the figure was still good enough to earn a copious amount of praise. Hasbro revisited this version of Leia several years later in the Power of the Jedi line, sculpting a new version for inclusion with the Sail Barge cannon. There were some improvements such as a more slender figure and a soft goods skirt, but the articulation and likeness still left much to be desired.
Nearly fifteen years after their first attempt, Hasbro has again taken a crack at this version of Princess Leia, and it is clearly an attempt to create an all-inclusive version of the Slave Girl outfit. Still, the question we face is this: after 15 years of experience and technological advancements, can this figure be considered a success and redemption for their earlier attempts?
SCULPTING: Above Average
There are some actors and actresses whose likenesses pose a frustrating challenge for sculptors. The original trilogy managed to have three of them portray its core characters: Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, and Carrie Fisher. With regards to Fisher, very few collectibles have managed to successfully capture her look (Gentle Giant’s sculptors being the most consistent). If high-end licensees have such difficulty, then it’d be insane to expect a mass-market toy company to do better. Hasbro, for their part, did a decent job here and earned redemption for “Monkey Leia”. This portrait is very feminine yet has an air of dignity—the key emotion necessary to accurately portray Leia in this costume. Jabba wanted to break and humiliate her, but Leia’s resolve and poise never wavered. Considering the scale, the hair—specifically the braid—is overly thick and clunky, but it is as good as can be expected for an action figure and has a nice amount of detail on the braid as well.
In terms of Leia’s body, the most impressive aspect is the subtlety with which the sculptors replicated her youthful and toned abdomen. When Carrie Fisher first learned exactly what she’d be wearing on-screen, she quickly whipped herself into peak condition, and this figure beautifully pays respect to that figure. The bikini is an excellent approximation of the screen costume. Again, scale, materials, and product type need to be considered. All of the major and most of the minor details have been accurately translated to the figure. The standout feature here is a small, likely-overlooked detail: the crinkling on the backs of her boots nicely simulates a leathery appearance.
Still, not everything is outstanding. The soft goods draped between her legs are grossly oversized. While the scale may be correspond to the screen costume, the material Hasbro used does not hang as loosely, so the look ends up completely wrong. After so many years in the business, one would think Hasbro could have made better choices in executing the soft goods element. Yet the most unforgiveable flaws are the slave collar and severed chain. The unnecessarily thick plastic hangs like an ugly paperweight around the petite and slender figure. It looks no better than the collar and chain used in 1996. 2002’s Padme Amidala (Arena Escape) figure included a real metal chain, and there is no reason why a shortened piece of the same chain could not be recycled here. Yes, it may still have been slightly oversized, but the authenticity would negate that.
As for whether or not to count the obviously aesthetic-dampening appearance of Leia’s articulation in the sculpting’s score took a great amount of consideration. In the end, I decided that it will have neither a negative nor positive effect on the grading in this category. It will merely be mentioned. There really was no better way Hasbro could have implemented articulation on a half-naked young woman. There are no places to conceal the joints except for Leia’s metal bikini top, and Hasbro did a fantastic job blending the mid-torso ball joint into the bottom of the garment.
PAINT APPLICATIONS: Average
Slave Girl Leia has the kind of applications that look good enough from a distance but fail to hold up as well under closer observation, and the major problem is sloppiness. Surprisingly though, the cleanest areas are those where one would expect the sloppiness to run rampant—the outer trim and straps of her bikini top and her golden arm bands. Instead, the problems exist elsewhere. The gold accents on the bikini top are muddled with both gold and gray paint seeping into each other’s territories, and the same can be said for sporadic portions of her boots. Leia’s brown hair bleeds onto the claw-like berets in multiple locations. Sometimes, it’s so bad that it actually looks like the gold paint has been scraped off the figure. This can be seen in the top middle of the image composite below. Granted, this is a mass-market figure, but these criticisms are measured against the bar Hasbro set for themselves with their stellar work on past figures.
The paint applications fare a little better on Leia’s portrait. The eyes are not plagued by the intrusive laziness found in other figures, and Hasbro made the silver earrings as clean as possible when considering their miniscule scale. Her eyebrows do suffer from what looks to have been a “stuttering” in the application. Her one eyebrow is a solid line, but the other has small vertical dashes dissecting the line. Take a look at the composite image in the Sculpting section, and it’s clearly visible. The red lips are clearly too saturated, but it’s obvious that Hasbro’s intention was to simulate lipstick (even though Leia didn’t wear any). The portrait’s overall palette lacks subtlety and would benefit from a wide range of shades, but it succeeds in looking very delicate and feminine. Best of all, it successfully avoided the “drag queen” face paint look found on the earlier Slave Girl Leia packaged with the Sail Barge Cannon.
ARTICULATION: Excellent
This is about as good as it gets for this particular version of Princess Leia. Despite the slenderness of the body, Hasbro still managed to include a multitude of ball-hinged joints, which gives consumers an enormous amount of control and freedom with regards to posing the figure. The joints’ tightness also allows for subtle shifts in position that can hold indefinitely. Hasbro’s decision to include the cleverly hidden mid-torso ball joint is a welcome one because it gives the figure a more athletic and limber quality. Unfortunately, such poseability with that joint is difficult, which leads into the next category…
.
STABILITY AND DURABILITY: Below Average
Here is where we find the truly major and consequential flaws in “Slave Girl ‘09”.
Despite the incredible flexibility in balancing the figure’s center of gravity, Leia has a very difficult time remaining in any free-standing pose other than a neutral standing one. The biggest hindrance to achieving such balance is the mid-torso ball joint. Whereas the arms and legs have tight joints that nicely hold their positions, the mid-torso is floppy and shifts at the slightest touch. That shifting results in an immediate destabilization that topples the figure. An action figure stand will be required to keep this figure displayed on a shelf.
Even more disheartening is the ease with which the figure falls apart. Yes, that’s what I said—the figure falls apart.
In order to accommodate the interchangeable leg feature (which will be assessed in the next section), the figure separates at the waist and splits into four pieces: lower body, soft goods, belt, and upper body. Hasbro neglected to use a mushroom-head style peg, which would have resulted in a tighter grip. Instead, the “mushroom” portion of the peg is a right-angled cylinder, and that results in a looser grip while the figure is being manipulated. Oftentimes, the upper body pops off while one is trying to adjust the lower body and mid-torso, and it quickly becomes frustrating.
INTERCHANGEABLE “SEATED” LEGS
Concept: Excellent
Aesthetics (Paint/Sculpt): Average
Execution: Addressed in above section
A major shortcoming in plastic figures is that many are incapable of achieving realistic seated poses beyond the right-angle “perfect posture” chair pose. When looking at how Carrie Fisher sat on her pillow seat with her legs pulled close to her body, there is no way Hasbro could ever make their action figure do that unless they made a little statue. Instead, they found a way to have their cake and eat it too: interchangeable legs. It’s an excellent concept that has potential for future figures.
Because this is technically an accessory, these alternate legs did not factor into any of the prior aesthetics categories, which proves to be a good thing because much less care and attention was paid to the seated legs. The sculpting is soft and muddled in several areas although the crumpling of Leia’s skirt does look phenomenal. The most serious detrimental issue for this accessory is the paint. Colors chronically bleed over edges, and the skin tone has an ashen tone because Hasbro neglected to apply enough flesh-tone paint to cover the gray molded plastic. Even from an average viewing distance, one can see the carelessness in the craftsmanship, and that is quite disappointing.
Despite the subpar aesthetics, this accessory remains a good idea and has one last benefit: Hasbro pretty much required themselves to finally release a modern version of Jabba’s throne. They’ve given us modern versions of Jabba’s denizens. They’ve given us Jabba himself with his railing. Now, they’ve produced a Slave Leia properly seated on her pillow.
Hasbro, finish it already and give us the big stone slab!
ACCESSORIES: Excellent
If the previous two sections were akin to crater-like potholes on a highway, then consider this a cruise down a beautiful stretch of road.
Leia’s stolen Skiff Guard staff has some of the crispest details I’ve ever seen on a Hasbro accessory. The pictures will speak for themselves, but it should be noted that the staff did not warp at all when removed from the packaging. After years of bent lightsaber blades and twisted-up blasters, that is probably the best accolade it can receive. The only roadblock is that Leia’s left hand is too wide to allow for a two-handed grip, but that’s an issue with the figure not the weapon.
What can really be said about a beverage glass? Not much to be honest. Again, looking at the pictures better conveys its quality than the written word can. Notable here is how well Hasbro simulated a frosted look to the upper portion—even if it is crooked. The etched lines are also well-integrated.
OVERALL RATING: Average (Bordering on Above Average)
Clearly, this figure has more than a few stumbling blocks. The most significant one is the disheartening ease with which the figure falls apart at the waist. Other demerits include the sloppy gold paint, the oversized collar and soft goods, and the looseness of the mid-torso joint. Still, this figure is far from a train wreck, and there remain many positive aspects as well such as the beautifully crafted portrait (even if it’s not a Fisher facsimile), the excellent poseability, and the fantastic Skiff Guard staff. If you’re looking for the definitive Slave Girl Leia figure, this isn’t quite what you’ve been expecting, but it’s pretty darn close and worth picking up. Additionally, the figure’s sudden inclusion in Target’s two-figure “Value Packs” (it comes packaged with the new Jedi Knight Luke Skywalker figure) basically turns this into a $4 figure, and that makes purchasing it a no-brainer.
