Pros : The parts of the outfit that exist are sculpted neatly
Cons : Looks under-scale. Head sculpt is not great. Articulation is lacking. Soft goods don't sit or flow naturally.
One of the most contentious figures of Wave 1 was the first Princess Leia figure in the Black Series. While there were plenty of safer choices of outfit, Hasbro went bold and brave with the iconic Slave outfit from Jabba's Palace in Return of the Jedi. The outfit and the fact this figure did have the word "Slave Outfit" on the packaging did cause some offense among some parents, with campaigns to have it removed from toy store shelves.
While some of the Phase 1 figures still hold their own some 5 years later, the Leia figure hasn't aged as well. In fact it looked out of place to the other releases when it arrived with a pretty generic likeness to Leia, made worse with some basic paint apps.
The skin tone across the figure, and there is a lot, is quite glossy and one tone. The outfit is then sculpted on top and is pretty intricate, but not painted sufficiently to pick out the detailed scroll work on the belt for example. The figure has a soft good skirt. This is quite a thick material than hangs a touch too straight. It also has some frayed edges out of the pack and suffers from threading.
Leia comes fitted with a short chain and neck ring. This can be removed if you wish by popping off the head. The head is ball jointed and moves really well in all directions. The long braid of hair is flexible enough to move with the head, but doesn't sit too well against the body and in most poses ends up looking like it is sticking out of its own accord.
Leia has just 14 points of articulation, starting with that ball jointed head. There is a chest ball joint hidden neatly under the bikini top but it only really allows some side to side rotation and not much in the way of forward or backward lean. The arms are ball jointed at the shoulder, and with such a slim arm the movement is extensive. The elbows are a single joint that rotate and these bend to 90 degrees. The wrists are pivoted and also rotate.
The legs start with ball jointed hips, a thigh swivel and double jointed knees. There are no ankle joints but there is no impact on getting Leia to stand perfectly well. With a bit of work she can also be sat down with her legs out to the side, a la her position on Jabba's throne. Doing this is messy though and throws out a lot of the joints and that thick cut cloth still doesn't sit well.
Leia comes with two weapons, the first of which is the electrostaff that she uses in the Boushh disguise. This is cast in a soft grey plastic with the detail being quite soft in the sculpt, and the whole thing being too short. It is also misshapen out of the pack.
It fits in either hand, with the elbow and shoulder articulation doing enough to let Leia grip this elctrostaff with both hands. When Leia is released later in the series in her Boushh outfit, this staff gets a full overhaul to a more substantial piece.
The other weapon is the vibroblade. This is a more contemporary piece to the outfit as its the weapon she grabs on the deck of the sail barge as our heroes make their escape. Like the electrostaff this arrives in a softer plastic with soft sculpting - none of the lines are crisp or too well defined. There is a bit of paint apps applied here with a silver blade painted onto of the metallic grey base plastic.
Again this fits into either hand, or into both in a fighting position.
The final issue with Leia is her size and scale. She stands just 5" tall and while this is an accurate conversion in 1/12 scale to Carrie Fishers height of 1.5m the figure just looks and feels out of scale alongside anyone else in the line. Future Leia's have moved away from the actor's height and made taller to fit the other figures - and from visual perspective that is probably for the best.
Leia was the first "miss" in the fledgling Star Wars Black Series 6" line. It wasn't so much it was a terrible figure, but it didn't stand up to the standards of articulation, paint and sculpting we'd seen on other releases like Maul, X-Wing Luke and the Sandtrooper. While it may have been sculpted to Carrie Fisher's height, it still looks undersized against the other figures.
With all the controversy of the figure I doubt we will see this figure ever again either as a re-release or a "do-over". While it does the job on a Jabba the Hutt palace display, it is lacking and for me I score it a sub-par 2 out of 5.
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