PRINCESS LEIA & R2-D2

STAR WARS: POWER OF THE FORCE II (KENNER)

“Moments before being captured by the evil Darth Vader, Princess Leia inserts secret plans for a new Imperial battle station into her loyal astromech droid, R2-D2”

Waaaaaaaaaaaaay back in 2016 (which was almost a decade ago, and also falls into my view of the site being in the full swing of things; that doesn’t make me feel old *at all*), I did a couple of reviews of “The Princess Leia Collection,” an off-shoot of Power of the Force from 1997.  I didn’t talk much about what it actually was, though, so I guess I’ll do that now.  In 1997, Kenner brought in the “girls division” for some fresh Star Wars products with a slightly different approach than what they’d been doing.  One of the two notable projects was the Princess Leia Collection, which was a series of two-packs, centering on Leia, and bringing some more doll-like sensibilities to figures that could otherwise interact with the main line.  Here’s Leia and R2 from that line.

THE FIGURES THEMSELVES

Princess Leia & R2-D2 were one of the four two-packs that made up 1997’s “Princess Leia Collection” assortment of Star Wars: Power of the Force.  They were from A New Hope, which was granted two different sets, in contrast to the single set for each of the other movies.  While both the Luke and Han sets were made up of totally new figures, this set features a straight re-pack of the standard R2-D2, reviewed here.

Leia is the main selling point here, which is sensible.  This was one of four figures based on her standard A New Hope design.  It’s certainly better than the first one, but most things are.  The figure stands 3 1/2 inches tall and she has 6 points of articulation.  All of the Leia figures in this line were heavy on their use of soft-goods, with minimal sculpting visible.  The head is a unique piece, and it’s much better than the prior one; it looks distinctly not monkey-ish in its depiction, so that’s a win.  She also gets a sculpted belt piece, which is good for keeping the general shaping of the design down.  The underlying body is basic and rudimentary, but it does what it needs to, and it’s not meant to be seen.  Covering it up is a cloth robe piece.  It’s nothing crazy, but it’s pretty decently implemented.  My biggest complaint is that the hood it tailored more like a cape, so she can’t actually put it up, which is a bummer.  But, she looks good when it’s all just left the way it is.  Leia’s paint is largely limited to the head.  Again, pretty good work.  Application is clean, and the sculpt is well-served by how the paint accents it.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The Luke and Han sets are the flashier pairings from this line, and also the most frequent to show up.  I had them back in 2015, but took my time finding the other half of the line.  This one wound up being the scarcest of the bunch, but all things said, that doesn’t make it especially rare or anything.  I ended up snagging a sealed one that got traded in through work a couple of years ago.  As with so many things Power of the Force related, I opened it just prior to writing this.  R2 is the same figure from before, which is fine, but not new.  Leia’s actually quite a nice figure, and probably the best standard Leia the line had to offer.

Shoutout to All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review.  If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.