Hasbro Star Wars - The Power of the Force Princess Leia Organa (with Blaster Rifle and Long-Barreled Pistol) Review

 If you had been able to travel back in time to when I was nine years old and told me that I'd be collecting action figures (boy-geared dolls, in other words) from my teens well into my adult years, you'd probably have gotten an incredulous reply along the lines of "You're kidding me, right?"

Back in the early 1970s, my favorite toys were cap guns, Mattel-made M-16s, armies of toy soldiers, and, above all else, toy planes and ships.  I had some Hot Wheels and Matchbox cars as well, but because I was, even at that young age, into all things military, most of my toys were olive-drab in color and not very pacifist in theme.

So if you had told me that a movie set "a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away" would capture my imagination at age 14 and transform me into a collector of little plastic dolls, I'd have thought you were mad as the Mad Hatter and sent you on your way.

Of course, when Star Wars became a huge hit and bona fide cultural Force, I was caught up (albeit after some resistance) in the whole "Darth Vader Lives" craze and started spending my allowance on figures, vehicles and playsets based on the characters, spaceships and locations of George Lucas' space fantasy tale.

And because Princess Leia Organa was a major character, I ended up getting her action figure in 1978 as part of the first 12-figure wave, thus beginning a trend that continues to this very day. 

 Princess Leia Organa (with Blaster Rifle and Long-Barreled Pistol)

Held captive in the Death Star, the Princess is interrogated by Darth Vader and Grand Moff Tarkin. Leia was ordered to reveal the location of the secret Rebel base or see her homeplanet of Alderaan destroyed.

Produced and first sold in 1997 - the same year that Lucasfilm and 20th Century Fox released the Special Edition re-edited Classic Trilogy in time for Star Wars' 20th Anniversary - this figure is one of a batch sold in the "Freeze Frame" line which, in addition to the figure and its weapons/accessories, featured a cel slide of a particular scene the character was in. (The slide could either be viewed with a regular slide projector or a Kenner-made viewer that resembled Luke Skywalker's macrobinoculars from Episode IV: A New Hope) The slide for this figure - which is also reproduced on the back of the figure's card - shows Grand Moff Tarkin, Leia, and Darth Vader in the main control room of the first Death Star.

The figure itself depicts Princess Leia in the simple white outfit she wears throughout most of Episode IV, with only that metallic belt at the waist to break up the monochrome look of her robe and matching white boots. Better proprortioned and much-nicer looking than the 1978 Leia, Kenner/Hasbro's sculptors tried to give her face and head a bit more detailing (hence Hasbro's added-on blurb of All New Likeness!)

Unlike the somewhat gimmicky Princess Leia Collection figures, this version of the feisty, straight-shooting Rebel cell leader (and unsuspecting twin sister to Luke Skywalker) is rendered, as in most figures, all in plastic. The stiffness of the "dress" - which is molded in a very convincing simulacrum of cloth, complete with creases, wrinkles, and folds - makes it difficult to pose Leia in any position besides a fighting stance or a stiff walk, but it still looks nice nonetheless.

The detailing of Leia's head and face earns my usual comment about Kenner/Hasbro's figures based on either Leia or her mother Padme Amidala. The physical proportions, body-wise, are essentially correct, and hairstyles are often perfectly rendered, but facial details - especially in figures of this scale, often suffer.

This 1997 figure really doesn't resemble Carrie Fisher much, at least not in the face. The body is fine and the famous - or infamous - "cinnamon bun" 'do is well-done, but I think the face is a bit too chubby and the small details - lips, eyes, eyebrows - are just okay. Not great, but at least not as bad as the infamous "Monkey Face Leia" figure from an earlier batch of figures.

Weapons and Accessories:

Blaster Rifle
Long-Barreled Pistol
Freeze Frame Cel Slide

The big improvement, though, is in the figure's articulation points and some nod to the film's "reality" by the inclusion of an Imperial blaster rifle in addition to an improved version of Leia's long-barreled pistol.

In the green-carded POTF package, Leia is already shown in an action stance, gripping in two hands the aforementioned E-11 blaster rifle. Because Kenner/Hasbro placed elbow joints on both arms, the pose looks natural and realistic, perfect for collectors who might want to use the figure in a Death Star Escape diorama.

Conversely, Leia can also grab her "traditional" long-barreled pistol in one hand, even though - in my view, anyway, the barrel could have been a bit shorter; I'm not sure if it's a goof on Kenner/Hasbro's behalf or if I don't watch A New Hope closely enough, but that darned pistol looks a bit too long, if you ask me.

She can even wield both weapons at once, blaster rifle in one hand, pistol in the other. Personally, I wouldn't, but that's just my opinion.

My Viewpoint:  All in all, while Hasbro has released nicer renditions of Leia in the post-Kenner era, Freeze Frame Princess Leia Organa (with Blaster Rifle and Long-Barreled Pistol) is a nice little collectible. made even more so by the added accessory of the Freeze Frame Action Slide that many collectors seem to have liked.

Finally, considering that this figure is no longer in production, it's better to keep it in its bubble-pack "card" as a collectible keepsake rather than to take it out of the package to pose for display or, if you are buying this for a kid, pretend Star Wars adventures. The two blasters are small and can easily get lost; without those accessories, the figure simply looks a bit useless.

As with all the Star Wars action figures, Hasbro recommends this toy for children 4 and up since the small parts pose a clear and present choking hazard, especially for children under