Black Series 6″ Slave Leia Figure by Hasbro

When I heard that Hasbro was releasing a Slave Leia figure as part of their new series of 6″ scale figures, I was intrigued. The prototype looked really good. But as is so often the case, a fair amount changed with the production figure. But I’m getting a bit ahead of myself. First, let’s look at the box. All of the 6″ Black Series figures have similar boxes, but I hadn’t looked at them closely until getting this one (my first in the series). I had the impression that they were all pretty much identical, but in reality there is a fair amount of custom artwork on both the front and back. (Technically the back is a photo but the point is that the box is more individualized for this figure than I first thought.) You also get a nice view of the figure itself.

She comes with a vibro-axe and (for some reason) the staff she used when in her Boushh disguise. There’s a plastic chain around her neck and she wears a cloth skirt. While on the prototype this was made of thinner material that had actually been sewn, this is just a flat piece of satiny cloth that doesn’t look all that great (mine was fraying at the edges right out of the package).

The head sculpt is really quite good, with a very good resemblance to Carrie Fisher. The paint is another matter though.  I actually think the production paint job makes the figure looks more like Fisher than the prototype, but it’s pretty sloppily done. Mine has a paint rub on the nose from the packaging, and the eyes seem very subtly cross-eyed. Of course you have to keep in mind that it looks a LOT better in person at a distance of 2-3 feet than it does blown up on a screen. But I think this is one of those figures that could really benefit from a good repaint.

Articulation is always a problem with figures that are not wearing many clothes, and here it does look a little ugly to see all these joints. Most of the previous Slave Leia figures have eschewed super-articulated bodies for ones that look more attractive, but of course that means that Leia isn’t even able to sit down. Since one of the main uses for a Slave Leia figure is sitting by Jabba, that’s a problem. The Saga Collection Slave Leia solved this by including two pairs of legs — one for standing or other poses, and one for sitting. In this case, the figure is well articulated enough that you can in fact get her to sit down next to Jabba, although it’s still a little tricky. (TheFwoosh has posted a gallery with a lot of action shots of this figure to give you an idea of what’s possible.)

I’ve used the Gentle Giant statue for the photo above, which is in a similar scale to this figure. But I really hope that Hasbro will bring out a Jabba in scale with these new figures.