Ball and socket head connection and when they fail...

[JEDIpartner]

I know that generally more articulation is better. Sadly, this doesn't seem to be the case with the ball and socket head/neck joints.

I MEAN, REALLY, FOLKS!!!!!

While I like those types of joints on some figures. They just don't work on all of them. Maybe they could try putting the ball-end on the part where the neck connects into the body?

[Qui-Long Gone]

For the record I have never like the ball and socket head feature on anything other than a trooper....as much as I love red piolot Obi Wan, even that figure is made less with the feature.

[Lord Malakite]

Hehe, Leia has an E.T. thing going on in that picture. Maybe she wants to phone home.

[bigbarada]

Like any piece of articulation, it can be done well and not so well. That Leia looks horrible and that problem exists on the VTSC Luke also. However, I don't think the VOTC Han Solo looks bad at all, the same with VOTC Leia and about 90% of the other human figures will balljoint heads.

I personally like the balljoints because it makes headswaps so much easier; but Hasbro seems to blow it every once in a while.

Plus, putting the balljoint at the bottom of the neck would not replicate natural human movement at all. When we move our heads, we tend to rotate them at the base of the skull and the rest of the neck just follows.

So, I don't think this is proof that all balljoint heads are bad, it's just proof that Hasbro's quality control must be sleeping on the job.

[darthvyn]

Plus, putting the balljoint at the bottom of the neck would not replicate natural human movement at all. When we move our heads, we tend to rotate them at the base of the skull and the rest of the neck just follows.

while that's true, a swivel peg at the bottom of the neck can replicate the natural side-to-side turning of the head, and a hinge at the base of the skull can get the up and down motion well replicated, but a ball-joint is the most natural-looking head/neck joint for some of the more complex movements. in that essence, it's a question of when to do a peg/hinge and suffer a slight lack of mobility in lieu of a more natural sculpt, or to have the mobility and attempt to execute it in a well-conceived way. obviously in this case, they've made the wrong decision, or at least executed it badly.

[darko666]

that is hideous looking. that poncho does more than just keep her hidden on Endor, it protects us from having to see her chicken neck.

[El Chuxter]

That's what you get when you overpay by $3-5 for these stupid Vintage figures.

[bigbarada]

That's what you get when you overpay by $3-5 for these stupid Vintage figures.

The problem exists in the regular line too.

I think the mistake Hasbro is making here is they are trying to retain the full range of motion of the balljoint neck while the helmet is on (both vintage Endor Leia and X-Wing Luke have removable helmets), thus they have to make the neck too thin.

Again, quality control should have caught this.

[Devo]

I go on about this in virtually every post I ever type. And this Leia is the single most horrific example I can imagine seeing. Please Hasbro stop this and stop it now!! GO BACK TO SWIVEL NECKS FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS SACRED IN 3 3"4 FIGURES!!! When they're good they're only alright (and barely operable I might add- ROTS Evolutions Anakin) but when balljointed heads are bad they destroy the entire figure. End it now.

[Devo]

However, I don't think the VOTC Han Solo looks bad at all, the same with VOTC Leia and about 90% of the other human figures will balljoint heads.

I personally like the balljoints because it makes headswaps so much easier;.

Well I disagree about VOTC han and Leia. Theirs aren't the worst ball-joint heads but they still look inferior to head sculpts of the POTJ era such as Death star escape Han and Swing to Freedom Leia. VOTC Han's hair is made too short to facilitate the extra motion and is thus innaccurate to his appearance in the film. His head also seems to lean forward in a neanderthalesque fashion due to the angle of the neck stalk. Leia's neck stalk is too long, her hairline is affected badly at the back of her head and the face sculpt just winds up being poor (not directly as a result of the ball-joint I'll grant you). It just saddens me that as time goes on headsculpts are disimproving when we've had head sculpts in the past which are as good as they could possibly get in this scale. Quite how the 25th anniversary Leia headsculpt hasn't been used again continues to baffle me. It is the definitive ANH Leia headsculpt. It seems these superior old sculpts are now going to be ignored in favour of new and increasingly poorer sculpts with ill-advised attempts at articulation.

And also - how do ball-joint necks make headswaps easier? The Balls and sockets as well as the neck lengths differ from figure to figure - its rare to find 2 ball-joint head figures who are compatible in all these categories - exactly how are people swapping heads between these figures and having them look right?