STAR WARS Hot Toys Princess Leia (Bespin) (updated with Part II: Kitbash Potential)

blackpool wrote:Awesome Gub, that's the ultimate Leia!!! Even if all three are beautiful, I prefer your custom mix! (great review btw!)

Thank you very much, Alex, I'm glad you liked it. That Leia definitely "kicked ass," and I'm happy my attempt to recreate her by mixing and matching from the three sets resonated with you.

Ok, I went and bit the bullet and ordered the Bespin Leia -- directly from Sideshow, since the only way I could afford it at this time was via payment plan. ;p Means she probably won't get shipped to me til sometime in April, but I thought I'd rather wait a few extra months to have her in-hand than miss out on her completely. 

Now hoping they will eventually make a Bespin Han -- if it were to end up anything like the one teased in the promo pics of the Bespin Leia, I'd be all over that. ;D 




I'd probably pose them exactly like that, too.

skywalkersaga wrote:Ok, I went and bit the bullet and ordered the Bespin Leia -- directly from Sideshow, since the only way I could afford it at this time was via payment plan. ;p Means she probably won't get shipped to me til sometime in April, but I thought I'd rather wait a few extra months to have her in-hand than miss out on her completely. 

Now hoping they will eventually make a Bespin Han -- if it were to end up anything like the one teased in the promo pics of the Bespin Leia, I'd be all over that. ;D 

Congratulations, and I hope you love her. Yes, a Bespin Han would be a welcome thing, not so much because he would be so different (eh, collar, long sleeves, no pockets on back of jacket, different color stripes on pants), but because they will get another chance of getting the face right -- and if they do, it would have the Hot Toys treatment which is still more often than not a very good thing. Looking at the photo, I do think they must have made a prototype, because the clothing does look better than the Sideshow version (which you see in my photos).

GubernatorFan wrote:

skywalkersaga wrote:Ok, I went and bit the bullet and ordered the Bespin Leia -- directly from Sideshow, since the only way I could afford it at this time was via payment plan. ;p Means she probably won't get shipped to me til sometime in April, but I thought I'd rather wait a few extra months to have her in-hand than miss out on her completely. 

Now hoping they will eventually make a Bespin Han -- if it were to end up anything like the one teased in the promo pics of the Bespin Leia, I'd be all over that. ;D 

Congratulations, and I hope you love her. Yes, a Bespin Han would be a welcome thing, not so much because he would be so different (eh, collar, long sleeves, no pockets on back of jacket, different color stripes on pants), but because they will get another chance of getting the face right -- and if they do, it would have the Hot Toys treatment which is still more often than not a very good thing. Looking at the photo, I do think they must have made a prototype, because the clothing does look better than the Sideshow version (which you see in my photos).

Thanks! This will be my first 1/6 Leia, and I'm glad it's this one that will have the honour. I really would have liked Hoth Leia as well, but I came too late to 1/6 scale and missed out on her, so I didn't want the same thing to happen on this one. 

I very much hope that HT Bespin Han will indeed materialize -- as you say, it looks like there is at least a prototype done for the body and the outfit, but I'm guessing the head is still being worked on. I could be wrong, but I don't really recall them showing figures so prominently in another figure's promo pics without having the plan of eventually releasing said figures. So... fingers crossed?

Totally forgot she was wearing the Hoth jumpsuit during the chase, in my mind she wore this red outfit I also had forgotten about. But it seemed wrong somehow. Now I remember, good job.

Ovy wrote:Totally forgot she was wearing the Hoth jumpsuit during the chase, in my mind she wore this red outfit I also had forgotten about. But it seemed wrong somehow. Now I remember, good job.

Thank you very much, glad you liked it.

Mine finally arrived this past week, and I unboxed it straight away. Outfit is bit wrinkled straight out of the box, but overall I'm happy with it. From reading this thread and watching pretty much every single youtube review of it prior to purchasing, I was already well aware of any nitpicks I might have prior to purchasing. I wanted this figure since I'm sorely lacking in Leia figures other than a few tiny 3.75" ones, and because I actually really like this particular look for the character and want to encourage HT to make more female figures in pretty, non-action-y outfits.

Some quick phone pics in natural daylight:










Under artificial lighting in my still-in-progress display area:






And here she is next to my RotJ Luke:




Eventually, I hope to have either a Boushh Leia or Ewok village Leia figure next to this Luke, but for now this one will do. Fingers crossed there will likewise someday be a Bespin Han to go with the Leia.... :'D

Nice grab, S. She does look nice.

Glad you got it and like it. And the photos look great!

Nice review,

However, I will NEVER understand why, with every iteration of Leia they've done, they've insisted on giving her a tan. Right till Jedi, when she'd seen a little sun, evidence of which can be seen in that pic of her with Tracy Eddon, Carrie's skin was porcelain. No matter how good or bad the likeness is it's this that always detracts from the figures' overall look. They got it right with Harley, so they can do pale skin when they want to.

I agree that her skin should ideally be paler, but in-hand it's not too bad. In my photos that I just posted, I'd say that the natural lighting pics are the more accurate representation -- the artificial lighting seems to make the skintone look more tanned.

Yeah, I can see what you mean in the last batch of pics.

Wow! those Leia figures are terrific! great detailing!

Rogerbee wrote:Nice review, However, I will NEVER understand why, with every iteration of Leia they've done, they've insisted on giving her a tan. Right till Jedi, when she'd seen a little sun, evidence of which can be seen in that pic of her with Tracy Eddon, Carrie's skin was porcelain. No matter how good or bad the likeness is it's this that always detracts from the figures' overall look. They got it right with Harley, so they can do pale skin when they want to.

Sorry I missed this completely. I have a similar feeling about it, and now that I've experimented enough on male head sculpts I might give the light repaint technique a try, to slightly lighten the skin tone.

skywalkersaga wrote:I agree that her skin should ideally be paler, but in-hand it's not too bad. In my photos that I just posted, I'd say that the natural lighting pics are the more accurate representation -- the artificial lighting seems to make the skintone look more tanned.

It is a strange balance of both close enough and (at least seemingly) slightly darker, perhaps especially the ANH Leia they made. But I agree, it is better in natural light.

BAMComix wrote:Wow! those Leia figures are terrific! great detailing!

I'm glad you liked them.

I missed this earlier, and I usually am not that interested in reviews, but Leia is, well, Leia, so I checked this one out, and whoa! This is an awesome review! You are giving Michael Crawford a run for his money, it's so thorough. Very engaging review.

tankgirlfuzzy wrote:I missed this earlier, and I usually am not that interested in reviews, but Leia is, well, Leia, so I checked this one out, and whoa! This is an awesome review! You are giving Michael Crawford a run for his money, it's so thorough. Very engaging review.

Thank you very much, I'm glad you liked it. Considering I used to collaborate with Michael (well, submitted guest reviews for his site), I'm not trying to compete. But I will take this as the great compliment it is!