VOTC Princess Leia (at least she's not "Monkey Face")

[JEDIpartner]

Okay here's the deal, short and sweet. This is about the most feminine looking Leia they have been able to produce thus far (aside from the doe-eyed Leia Collection figures).

The sculpt is decent but would probably be considered the weakest of the first three VOTC figures offered. Leia's neck is a tad too long for my tastes and her jaw is a bit lopsided when looking at her straight on. The face still doesn't look much like Carrie Fisher but it works for me. The soft goods could have used some "gathers" at the waist in order to give it a little more continuity with the plastic top.

There's ball-joint articulation at the shoulders and the head; bicep articulation and wrist articulation as well as the standard hip articulation.

It's a fine figure overall. If Han gets an A+ from me, this one gets a solid B.

I was taken aback by how thin the package is. It's been years since we had been treated to real "basic" figures without the extra-deep bubbles. VERY cool.

[plasticfetish]

Wouldn't it be just friggin' hilarious if this one came out and it did have the same "monkey face" after all this time?

Glad to hear that this one's nice -- and again, mildly jealous.

[Slicker]

These figures are just evolution at work. Remember when the POTF2 came out everyone said that the figures had the best likenesses ever and now if you look back you would think the sculpters were on crack when they made them what with beefcake Luke and the monkey Leia. Let's just hope that in a couple of years they reproduce all of these figures with totally life like faces.

[plasticfetish]

...and now if you look back you would think the sculpters were on crack when they made them what with beefcake Luke and the monkey Leia.
Honestly, I thought they were on crack then also.

[AmanaMatt]

Picked up the OTC Leia, and gotta say, she sucks pretty much.

The articulation is the highlight, of course, but this is another example of how cloth fails - the top shirt part and the cloth aren't even vaguely close in the color department - one is weathered looking, and the other will glow in the dark....great.

I don't know who they based the likeness on, cause it sure aint Carrie Fisher.

For my money, go buy the Commtech Leia - still my fav of the ANH Leias, and there, the cloth is better as is the likeness.

[JediTricks]

The first wave of the deluxe-pricepointed Vintage sub-line of the Original Trilogy Collection is hitting shelves now, and this wave is themed around A New Hope including Luke, Han, Obi-Wan, and Leia. The VOTC figures feature classic vintage packaging, better articulation, and an outer plastic card protector, but at twice the price of a basic figure. Forgive the long review, but this is a fairly major figure and my first VOTC.

Packaging: 4/5
This is one of the toy's main features, meant from the front to look exactly like the original Kenner card from 3 decades ago. Even though the VOTC share a lot of design elements with the basic OTC figures' cards, these VOTC definitely stand apart on the shelves. The outer, resealable, clear case isn't quite as strong as most aftermarket soft cases, but it does the job. The case has as a silver cardboard insert with the OTC logo and UPC, and separately a choke-hazard warning at the upper left; the rear panel of the case has an embossed SW logo and Rebel and Imperial insignia which look neat. The case halves are factory sealed by strips of tape at all 4 sides which may or may not prevent tampering, and I've seen some that came off already and left gummy material.

The figure's card itself is on fairly thin cardstock even compared to the basic OTC figs, but I guess that's why it has a protector case. The card has nifty nostalgic touches such as the giant Leia image, Kenner logo, and price box, and is even in classic "unpunched" condition. The back of the card's graphics are unfortunately like the basic cardbacks, which I find unattractive and incongruous with the vintage styling. There's no text about Leia, only generic blurb about SW and the VOTC packaging, but there is a photo of the original Kenner Leia on card (you can actually see a few differences from that card and this VOTC version such as the Kenner logo lettering and nearby text) and co-sell images for all 4 VOTC ANH figures.

The coffin blister thankfully contains a tray for the figure unlike those poor original figures who got shook around. The tray holds Leia in a rather odd arm position, but no twisties or clear-bands so that's a plus, and the blaster is taped into it's slot in the tray. In order to open the figure but preserve the look, I cut the blister near the base on only 3 sides, this way I can slide the tray back into the blister, put it in the case and you can barely see it's been opened.

I'm judging the packaging without taking into consideration the extra cost, which I'll review below, but as a major part of this item. Although I actually prefer the mini-diorama designs of the basic OTC cards, this is an interesting concept that mostly works though the UPC being part of the case rather than the card makes store-return shenanigans a little too easy.

Sculpt-Design: 3.5/5
Leia's outfit looks very nice from the neck to the belt, great details and folds and textures, but unfortunately Hasbro's soft-goods (aka cloth) skills seem to have diminished since '99. It'd be impossible to get cloth that matched the intricate folds of the plastic, but this cloth is shiny and has too large a fabric pattern - which on mine is on a slight angle - but it does allow her to fully sit. At least the belt and plastic hood glued to her back both look dandy. Under the soft goods are boots and leggings which have lots of detail, especially cool considering they're almost never going to be seen anyway, but the feet were too small for pegholes I guess. Leia's also really short just like in real life, though I suspect the figure is even shorter than it should be, it barely comes up to POTJ Lando's or Luke Hologram's head and they're fairly short figures.

The hands are a nice sculpt, small yet still able to hold accessories and pretty realistic. The head is an oddity, the closer you stare at it the more you notice Carrie Fisher's details, but somehow while the right side actually looks like her, the left side looks like a generic doll. The hairline is once again way off, too low and the wrong shape, but the rest of the hair isn't too bad although the trademark buns are a little too small. The head and neck are a ball-jointed system and as such the neck is a little too long and gets too narrow, and the bottom of the head is unattractive from certain vantages.

The final rating would be higher but between the hairline and facial issues, as well as some paint issues, the likeness unfortunately is pretty off; and while the upper body is good even with the odd neck situation, the soft goods skirt looks kinda cheap.

Articulation: 5/5
In all, Leia has 12 points of articulation: ball-jointed head, universal shoulders, diagonal elbows, standard wrists, waist, hips, and universal knees; all of which work quite smartly. Leia has enough articulation to pull off a convincing "aren't you a little short for a stormtrooper?" pose thanks to the soft goods skirt allowing motion to the hips and waist, and boots that rotate at the knees. The knee articulation has minimal gapping and looks great.

Hasbro fooled me, it looked like the diagonal elbow articulation was going to be unable to straighten the arms like too many recent entries with this articulation, but someone there figured out a new trick and it works great! Leia's arms have the "falling" sleeve, so normal straightening like on Saga Luke Jabba's Palace just wouldn't work; instead, the universal-jointed shoulders are uniform on either side of the joint so you can rotate the arm all the way around and get the arms straightened out - it works a little better on the right than left arm, but both are good enough. Major kudos on this little gem.

Pose: 5/5
This Leia is supposed to represent a modernized version of the classic vintage figure, and since most vintage figures were basically stiff-armed robots, this Leia has a very neutral pose. Thanks to the articulation though, the figure has plenty of pose potential and is specifically designed to hold an Imperial stormtrooper blaster in her classic 2-handed pose. As such, the hands are fairly preposed but it's no major issue here. Though the figure has no pegholes in her feet, she doesn't need them to stand securely on her own. VOTC Leia may be able to cover every single pose, but there's a lot of potential.

Paint-Deco: 3/5
Leia's body from the neck down is mostly cast in white plastic which needs almost no applications, though the universal joints' hinges in the knees and shoulders are a slightly lighter shade of white than the rest. Of the paint she has there's the flesh of her neck, the silver elements of her belt, and the dark brown bottoms of her boots. The only complaint out of all that is the neck which is slightly too dark compared to her head, and the aforementioned shiny soft goods skirt.

Leia's head is really the make-or-break point of this figure though, and unfortunately things didn't come out that good. Leia's hands and head are both cast in a fair-skinned tone which looks ok but on the face is slightly too much in contrast with the paint details. The paint on the hair is a little uneven, thick in some areas and a little too bare in others, but stays within the lines pretty well. The eyebrows are a little too thick and too high, her eyes are just a smidge too big, but the real trouble is the massive amount of rouge paint on her cheeks. I can forgive the slight lipstick effect on the lips, but the cheeks are too much like gaudy makeup.

Accessories: 4/5
There isn't much room in the VOTC blister for accessories, so Leia only gets 1, an Imperial stormtrooper blaster. The blaster isn't as gummy as other recent accessories and has a new sculpt, Hasbro could just as easily have cranked out another of the POTJ version as it is pretty accurate, but close inspection suggests that even though this new one is the same size, it's a different sculpt. The gun is cast in shiny black plastic and Leia can definitely hold it properly. I would have preferred more accessories, and especially wish they had also included Leia's sporting blaster with the set, that's one accessory there could have been room for in the tray.

Value: 3/5
As a Star Wars toy, I see good work but nothing so outstanding that it should cost double the price, the figure is very short, has a weak head and just 1 accessory - this should have been a $5 basic figure (and hopefully will be eventually). As a commemorative, nostalgic, collectible figure, I still feel like I've been overcharged about $2.50. But I've seen (and bought) worse deals and this is a nice item for a Star Wars collector to have.

Overall: B+
This overall grade is really not reflecting the figure's price very much because I'm still taken by the quality of articulation. If this were a $5 figure it'd be an A- for sure, but at $10 if this were a carded-only figure it'd be a B- or possibly lower (that carded arm pose is too odd); the figure's only real aesthetic drawback is her face, but that could be a big deal for carded collectors who won't find comfort in the articulation.

[Kyle Katarn]

I think this figure is fine, the scuplt of the face is not so accurated but its good, the card is great and the points of articulation pass, I think this figure is not so cheap but its nice.

[TheDarthVader]

I like this figure. I believe this is a good sculpt of Leia. The only thing that bugs me is: NO PEG HOLES IN THE FEET? What in the world? :confused: Jeditricks pointed it out in his post (I know), but why wouldn't they put holes in her feet??

B.
TDV

[JediTricks]

I dunno, in my review I said I thought it was due to lack of foot size, but then I reviewed Cloud City Leia and she HAS peg holes even though her feet seem just as tiny! There's no articulation at the ankle, so the SA Clonetrooper excuse can't come into play, so I dunno, it is quite odd.

[TheDarthVader]

It is quite STUPID IMO. I just don't get it.

B.
TDV