Here is Princess Leia in-hand. Now we know that Black Series figures occasionally give their characters cloth goods to make them feel more premium or whatever, and sometimes it works, like on the Jedi Knights and their robes. With Leia, Hasbro comes off as going overboard with her gown. Yes, it was not something practical for combat and does look rather soft compared to the harsher details on Luke or Han's outfits, but this makes her look like a barbie doll by comparison! It looks and feels too amateur. Of the upper body was replaced with a plastic torso and arms while the lower part of the gown would be a skirt, then I wouldn't mind. Also, the hood looks too oversized. I know Hasbro doesn't do alternate heads for Black Series like with Marvel Legends or Lightning Collection, but can we at least have a PVC hood that can flex over her head if the hooded head and folded-away hood options aren't acceptable?
Head sculpt does have a fairly good likeness to Carrie Fisher back in 1977, and we can also say her hairdo is spot-on as it is iconic, though it may turn out the eyes appear to be slightly misaligned. Don't you love it when that happens? Anyways, Leia can turn left and right as well as look up and down, while her shoulders move front and back and in and out, her biceps swivel, elbows bend at double joints instead of single elbows (a rarity for this line). Her wrists can swivel and her hands can hinge. The sleeves do make some of the points a little difficult to work with. She had a diaphragm joint, hips that move front and back, in and out, swivel at the thighs, bend at the knees, and hinge as well as pivot at the ankles. She comes with both her normal blaster and Stormtrooper blaster courtesy of Luke during the Death Star Escape.
And here we have Darth Vader. This is yet another reuse of the figure as we've seen on numerous different occasions, from the original version with the removable helmet and big eyes to a version based on ROTJ with a clear helmet (that I painted black), and both 40th anniversary and ESB versions of the character. Darth Vader has had plenty of releases, but he should be frequent since he's one of the most iconic characters in the franchise. You can also tell that compared to the EW version, this new one uses the same ESB helmet mold as well as having a different cape, which is a smaller version of the ESB one. His right hand is articulated with an additional hinge since it can move in and out and is not removable, and the lightsaber can stay on the belt when not in use. I think I like the new guy more since he doesn't have any loose joints and can hold his lightsaber better. He still has single-jointed elbows, though. And apparently, the ESB version had butterfly joints? And while this new one has the green chest button like in Revenge of the Sith and not blue like on ESB and ROTJ, I don't mind since the suit looks fine if the button was either green or blue. Oh, and the lightsaber blade may be a richer red, though that could be the background it's in.
And here we have the father and daughter. Darth Vader is pretty cool as always, and you may be happy with this one even if you may run into the minor paint nicks like on my copy. I do at least value the helmet and the joints being better done this time around, and his cloth goods feel better integrated than with Princess Leia, who makes me want to replace her with a version that has better face paint apps and possibly give her an upper body that isn't cloth...
Final ranking: ⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Princess Leia)
⭐⭐⭐⭐ out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (Darth Vader)
No comments:
Post a Comment