Princess Leia (Bespin Escape)

When this girl decides to get her head out of the clouds, she doesn't mess around! Princess Leia Organa was one of the Rebel Alliance's greatest leaders, fearless on the battlefield and dedicated to ending the tyranny of the Empire. With her quick-thinking and inspired leadership, Leia ranks among the the galaxy's great heroes. The first Black Series Leia Hasbro released was a total pegwarmer (that would have been of truly historic proportions, if not for the fact that she was out at the same time as Han and Greedo), and the second was like a foot too tall, but now they seem to have hit their groove. Sure, the plain Episode 4 Leia had a pretty bad face, but the "40th Anniversary" release fixed that, and now we've got this Target-exclusive "Bespin Escape" Leia - meaning, if nothing else, that we now have at least one Leia from every installment of the original trilogy! This outfit is basically the same thing she wore when escaping Hoth, because that it's literally the only thing she had - remember, they had to evacuate fast, and there's no reason she'd be storing extra clothes on the Millennium Falcon; plus, once Lando betrayed them, she wasn't about to keep wearing the clothes he'd provided now was she? Of course not. So she, at some point, got back into this jumper, but took off the outer vest and the winter boots because they would have been too hot on Cloud City. The level of detailing in the sculpt is impressive, covering her with all the tiny wrinkles you'd expect from a vinyl snowsuit. Imagine the "shoop shoop shoop" sound she'd make as she walked around. There are pads on the thighs and uppser arms, and a flap covers the zipper that would close the suit. Of course, since the outfit is white on white on white, you'll be hard-pressed to see any of those details under normal conditions. The face is very good. The glossy finish on the eyes says that she uses the new digital painting style, which typically looks blurry in photos but amazing in person. As you'd expect, she's got the hairdo she picked up on Bespin: a bun in the back with two braided hair-loopies hanging from it. In other words, expect a proper Bespin Leia to be announced any day now. Her articulation holds no surprises: a balljointed head, hinged neck, swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows and wrists, a balljointed waist behind the belt (which looks like it sits higher on this toy than it did on the actual movie, but no: that's just an illusion based on the way the hips are made), balljointed hips, swivel thighs, double-hinge knees, and swivel/hinge ankles. Since her biggest action moments in this outfit are (eventually) stopping Chewbacca from pulling Lando's head off and then shooting her way to the Falcon, she's got all she'll ever need. More than. Enough to be a fun toy and kick all the butt you'd want! The toy's only accessory is a BlasTech E-11 blaster she liberated from some Stormtooper, though of course it looks larger in her tiny hands than it would in his. Target has really been swimming in Star Wars Black Series exclusives lately, suggesting they picked up some that were originally intended to go somewhere else. Bespin Escape Leia is nice enough exclusive, but we'll be more interested in a legit Bespin outfit (and a Hoth Leia, too). -- 11/04/18

Tweet