Towards a definitive Huttslayer Leia (updated with Part V)

This started as a review of the Mr Toys MT2021-08 head and clothing set; it ended up as a project to get to something like a definitive Huttslayer Leia (see Part V).




Part I (Mr Toys MT2021-08 head and clothing set for S12D body review)


(for Part II, with a different body and head, see here)

(for Part III, with the HT head modified, see here)

(for Part IV, with the TT head modified, see here)


(for Part V, Towards a definitive Huttslayer Leia (?), see here)

Mr Toys released its second take of Princess Leia in her Return of the Jedi slave Hutt-slayer outfit this year. The promotional photos looked so good, I ended up preordering the set. It arrived today, and I put it on the recommended TBLeague S12D body.



The whole set arrives in a long narrow plastic envelope, with the various items packed in plastic baggies atop a long cardboard black-background information card with a photo of the assembled set. The body is not included, but Mr Toys recommended S12D for its set. This is unfortunately quite tall for Carrie Fisher; S25B would have been more appropriate.



The set consists of the head sculpt (molded plastic with an attached "real hair" weaved braid, "metal" bikini top (made of soft plastic and string), bikini bottom (made of plastic, metal rings, and two pieces of cloth with wires for posing), boots (made of fabric and plastic), two bracelents (one for the upper left arm and another for the right wrist) and a vibro-ax as the sole weapon. This selection matches Mr Toys' earlier version of the set. The vibro-ax is very clean, and larger and more streamlined than Sideshow's version of the weapon that came with their Lando Skiff Guard set.



The clothing works reasonably well with the S12D body, although getting it properly attached presents some challenges: the neck strap of the bikini top is too long, other straps and laces are too short (to look right when tied, but very difficult to tie), and one needs to open and close a metal ring on the bikini bottom to put it on the figure body. All this could have been handled differently. In terms of function, the bikini bottom might have worked better with more metal parts and more rings, to allow it to hang more naturally; as it is, it often rides up or bends in unfortunate ways. It should have been reasonably easy to provide a sort of "underwear" portion by attaching (or pre-planning) a length of cloth connecting the fabric pieces on the bikini bottom.



Apart from the inaccurate choice of intended body, the real disappointment is the head sculpt. It was fairly obvious that the promotional images utilized a prototype based on (modified from) the Hot Toys Bespin or Endor Leia heads. In the end, Mr Toys created a somewhat different head sculpt that is still not quite right. It improved on their first attempt by giving the head a larger forehead and a finer hair sculpt. However, the hair is arguably too tight on the head and lacks sufficient volume to recreate Leia's onscreen appearance; the resulting head possibly looks too small. Moreover, perhaps influenced by the aforementioned Hot Toys head sculpts, Mr Toys gave this head "sideburns," but, unlike the Hot Toys versions and the prototype, made them line the sides of the face rather than stick out. They can be peeled off, but leave behind indentations (grooves) of the face surface, that would require filling-in and repainting. Finally, the facial features do not quite capture the actress' likeness, although it is closer from some angles than others.



Mr Toys has provided a fine head (and hair) sculpt, in itself, but has not captured the likeness entirely successfully, and has fallen far short of the advertised prototype imagery. One advantage of the present head sculpt is that it is a very close match (in most light) for the TBLeague suntan skin tone of the S12D body (at least of the older ones). That was not always the case (especially combining HT Leia heads with TBLeague bodies). An enterprising customizer could probably get a lot more out of this set.

For the sake of comparison, here are several other takes on the character's likeness, alongside this one. Note only two of them have the screen-accurate earrings (an omission perhaps easily solved).



I hope this was useful.

As always, what do you think?

(for Part II, with a different body and head, see here)

(for Part III, with the HT head modified, see here)

(for Part IV, with the TT head modified, see here)

(for Part V, Towards a definitive Huttslayer Leia (?), see here)

#productreview #starwars #princess #leia #rotj #jabba #slave #scifi #female

Another excellent review, GF! Leia the Hutt-slayer... nice ring to it.
Can't believe they changed the teased HT-based headsculpt, which to me was the whole point of this 2.0.
I've been wanting to change my ACPlay head after seeing Stryker's mod but i figured I'd wait and see how this set would turn out.

Btw, those black crates look nice, where are they from?

Good review, GF. Though I have to say....I'm not overly impressed. I'm not sure that it's that much of an improvement from previous third party versions. Don't want to be downer, but I'm kind of glad I didn't PO it in the end.

I received two sets, and yeah, compared to the earlier version, this is a serious downgrade. The modified HT Endor Leia head that I have is the best option to use with any of these 3rd party Hutt-Slayer outfits.

rollotomasi wrote:Another excellent review, GF! Leia the Hutt-slayer... nice ring to it.
Can't believe they changed the teased HT-based headsculpt, which to me was the whole point of this 2.0.
I've been wanting to change my ACPlay head after seeing Stryker's mod but i figured I'd wait and see how this set would turn out.

Btw, those black crates look nice, where are they from?

Thank you very much, Rollo, glad you liked it (the review). I confess I ran across "Hutt-slayer" somewhere online, apparently it is a (tongue in cheek?) reaction to the woke attacks on this depiction of the character. I agree completely... although we all knew what we were looking at, we were hoping they would deliver something close to it, and this is not all that close. A few angles (mostly from the side) look better than others, but still just not good enough overall. I wish I had picked up an extra Endor Leia head to modify.

The black crates are the ones that housed my recent (and unusual) Super Duck purchase of SDH025-A/B/C. I like them (and the heads in question) a lot, without reservations.

skywalkersaga wrote:Good review, GF. Though I have to say....I'm not overly impressed. I'm not sure that it's that much of an improvement from previous third party versions. Don't want to be downer, but I'm kind of glad I didn't PO it in the end.  

Thank you very much. You don't need to apologize for "being a downer" -- this is a natural reaction to this product, which promised so much, and delivered rather less. For what it is worth, the quality of the head and weapon seems very nice, for what they are. I have yet to go back to trying the set on the S25B body (I gave up when I decided the bikini top's neck straps are going to be an insurmountable problem -- but then figured out how to surmount it with the intended S12D body), although the head sculpt itself does not seem worth it.

Stryker2011 wrote:I received two sets, and yeah, compared to the earlier version, this is a serious downgrade. The modified HT Endor Leia head that I have is the best option to use with any of these 3rd party Hutt-Slayer outfits.

Two sets? You must be rather pissed off. Your modified head is much better, no doubt.

Part II: Update with different body, S25B

(for Part III, with the HT head modified, see here)

(for Part IV, with the TT head modified, see here)

(for Part V, Towards a definitive Huttslayer Leia (?), see here)

As mentioned above, the recommended body for the Mr Toys set, S12D, is far too tall for Carrie Fisher, who portrayed Princess Leia. S25B is a considerably more appropriate height. When I first opened the Mr Toys set, I began to put it on S25B, but was discouraged by the way the bikini top neck strings seemed to fit. So I went on with S12D as was intended. In the process, these strings were still too long and I found a workaround, tying them together with the bottom part of the top's strings behind the back. This same approach allowed for placing the outfit on S25B. So I gave it a try. It worked reasonably well. In the first three photos below, I used the Mr Toys head (which appears to be an insufficiently modified copy of the HT Bespin Leia head, with a worse paint job) and swapped between the Mr Toys and Sideshow vibro-axes. Also, for Rollo, a better look at the crates.







I also decided to try it out with one of the other Hutt-slayer Leia heads, choosing the custom one I bought on eBay a long time ago, which was made using the HT ANH Leia head as a base; the sculpted hair is a bit rough, but otherwise it seems difficult to do much better with the likeness -- speaking of which, which of the illustrated heads (at the end of Part I above) do you like best? Of course, this custom head is a bit darker in skin tone than the S25B body, and in that the new Mr Toys head has a definite advantage. The custom head is a little bit larger, but mostly because it has thicker hair, which is actually film-accurate.







I hope this has been useful.

(for Part III, with the HT head modified, see here)

(for Part IV, with the TT head modified, see here)


(for Part V, Towards a definitive Huttslayer Leia (?), see here)

Ok, it looks much better on the s25b, imo. Thanks for taking the pics!

I feel like the issue with the side connectors on the bikini bottom could be easily fixed as well....just needs to be replaced with a different sort of chain that's a little more flexible.

In terms of which head looks best, I actually think the Mr. Toys head looks best with the s25b body, and not just because of the skintone either.

skywalkersaga wrote:Ok, it looks much better on the s25b, imo. Thanks for taking the pics!

I feel like the issue with the side connectors on the bikini bottom could be easily fixed as well....just needs to be replaced with a different sort of chain that's a little more flexible.

In terms of which head looks best, I actually think the Mr. Toys head looks best with the s25b body, and not just because of the skintone either.

Thank you, I'm glad your comment spurred me to retry the set with S25B. I think the head is small enough to work well with this body, even if the set was designed for S12D. I also agree that the second Mr Toys head works better with this body in and of itself, although I think the likeness of the custom head is more accurate.

The bikini bottom keeps annoying me. Perhaps the main front and back plates are slightly oversized. Perhaps an extra small ring added to the connections between the front and back plates and side portions would make it hang more naturally -- but it might make it too loose on hips. Apparently this outfit was trouble on the set too.

By the way, after some more looking into it, it seems to me that all these third party Leias are recasts or attempts at recreating and modifying HT heads -- except of course for the Barbie-esque FAO Schwarz one from 1998. The AC Play head and the first Mr Toys head (2016) appear to be based on the HT ANH Leia head, although somewhere in the process (casting, painting) they fell short of the HT original (the base for the custom head). The second Mr Toys head (2021, although it really came out this year) is a reworking of the HT Bespin Leia head. Obviously, they changed the bun's shape, added the ornament and the "real hair" braid. They also changed the shape and placement of the "sideburns" -- for the worse -- instead of simply removing them, which is what they should have done. The tightly pulled back hair at the front and top of the head is all HT, which might account for the excellent fine stranding. But it is actually the wrong shape for Hutt-slayer Leia, where the hair is not tightly pulled back, and has some volume over the forehead.

Indeed excellent review, I think she looks great.

BAD WOLF-787 wrote:Indeed excellent review, I think she looks great.

Thank you very much. I'm glad you liked both the review and the figure.

The place I got her recommended the S21B body, I don't own any bodies yet and was wondering if that would look worst then the bodies you showed off with the kit?

Nil wrote:The place I got her recommended the S21B body, I don't own any bodies yet and was wondering if that would look worst then the bodies you showed off with the kit?

That body is quite muscular, and the shoulder width is pretty much comparable with that of the s12d. So I don't think it would look any better, in fact it would look worse, but that's just my personal opinion. I think an s17b might be ok, though. That one is slender and has a small/medium bust size. It's taller than the petite s25b (pictured above), but would probably work better than the s12d or s21b.

What about skin tone of the S17B to the head sculpt? Because I liked how the S12D matched the head a bit, but I don't know if it was lighting but the S25B looked a bit lighter tone then the head sculpt.

The difference in skintone is due to when the bodies are made, unfortunately. It's not about the model number, it's just that tbleague tends to change up their batches periodically, and the resulting skintones are not always 100% consistent. So my guess is that the s12d is a slightly older model while the s25b might be a slightly newer one (the current batch is quite pale, from what I can tell). GubernatorFan can answer better of course, since they are his bodies.


ETA: If you ended up with a model that is slightly too pale, this tutorial might be able to help remedy that:

https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t5224-kayla-s-experiments-with-phicen-tbleague-coloring-body-hands-and-feet

Did not know newer ones were less pale, that link you posted is that a permanent solution or would you still have to apply it, and won't that stain clothes? Also, that won't cause some issues I've seen people post here about bodies getting discolored based on chemical reactions?

Nil, I wonder if the recommendation for using S21B is not a result of confusion -- perhaps even a mistyping of S12D -- especially if the letter at the end was omitted at some point and then added back later, to match the number. As in, someone typed 21 instead of 12. In terms of height, S12D and S21B would be nearly the same. Both are large-breasted and have removable feet. S21B seems a little heftier, which might make it a less desirable option for this character, who was quite thin. As you can see, the more petite S25B also works, so going bigger is not likely to be an improvement.

There has been plenty of inconsistency in TBLeague naming, but the bodies we are discussing (S12D, S21B, S25B) are all "suntan," which is supposed to be darker than "pale" but lighter than "tan" (which stopped being produced a long time ago). Over time, the precise hue and lightness of the "suntan" color has changed slightly (becoming lighter). This has affected newer releases of older bodies. My S12D, from its original run, is probably ever so slightly darker than an S12D produced last year. It should not make a huge difference. S25B above is already an example of the lighter "suntan," and the skin tone match with the Mr Toys head is still very good. (The custom head, with the face part from Hot Toys, is another matter -- it would be too dark even for the original "suntan.")

You can make your choice based on the bodies illustrated in this topic, or check out the general TBLeague body catalog here:
https://onesixthfigures.forumotion.com/t3013-tbleague-phicen-seamless-bodies-with-steel-skeleton-catalog-updated-continually

Thanks for the info, a lot to look at, because I really just want to get one body per kit and really want to get a good one and not feel like I would need another. The recommended S21B was from the shop I wrote down awhile ago, but that shop page is gone now since they removed it once it sold out, so could have been an error or maybe the shop just wanted a bustier Leia. Just wondering though, someone mentioned S17B since it would be taller but smaller bust; would a smaller bust make putting the top piece worst to stay on since you said it was too long?

It’s a very good looking set.  The likeness still seems a bit off, but I think it’s easily the best of all the others you’ve shown.  The outfit itself looks well made.  I think the set works equally as well on the S12D as it does the S25A, but I agree that the S25A is probably a better match for Leia in terms of height.  Overall, a very nice figure, and as always, a great review!

(For those who enjoy positive, upbeat posts, that concludes our program.   Please go directly to the next  reply.   Thank you, and good night.  For the more cantankerous among you, please feel free to stay with us for further commentary below.)

That first paragraph is what I would have written had I never seen the promotional pictures.   It’s my honest, unprejudiced opinion of the figure.  Unfortunately, I did see the promotional pics, I am prejudiced because of them, and this is a huge disappointment compared to what was originally shown.  I’m not a Slave Leia guy, but I still did double takes every time I saw those promotional pictures.  They were incredible.  Like “too good to be true” incredible…and I guess they were.

This is by far my biggest issue with 1/6 and the reason why I no longer preorder as a general rule.  Sure, final production figures sometimes fall a bit short of the promotional versions in the 1/12 world of Hasbro, SHFiguarts, Mafex, etc. but it’s not as rampant as it is in 1/6 and not by nearly as wide a margin.  I just find that so frustrating, because what those high expectations lead to is disappointment  in what is actually a pretty nice set or figure.   Somehow these companies need to bridge the gap between the best possible sculpt and portrait they can create by hand and what they can realistically reproduce in a factory.

Nil wrote:Did not know newer ones were less pale, that link you posted is that a permanent solution or would you still have to apply it, and won't that stain clothes? Also, that won't cause some issues I've seen people post here about bodies getting discolored based on chemical reactions?

Regarding the link to the tutorial I posted, if you have a read through , you'll see that Kayla did an extensive (two-year long!) experiment with that technique before making her report on it. According to her findings, there was no staining on clothing, and no detrimental effects from the makeup used on the tbleague body.

Regarding the smaller bust size, I imagine you could just tie the bikini on a bit tighter in the back if need be.

Thanks for the comprehensive review! further glimpses of your impressive collection of multitudes of characters

somehow... I am not impressed... but then again, I have never been interested in this outfit (whatever brand).
but still, when watching other folks' pics I am frequently tempted to buy stuff I had never seen nor thought about before, but this: not for me. It should serve reasonably well when you need a Leia Hutt Slayer though.

Nil wrote:Thanks for the info, a lot to look at, because I really just want to get one body per kit and really want to get a good one and not feel like I would need another. The recommended S21B was from the shop I wrote down awhile ago, but that shop page is gone now since they removed it once it sold out, so could have been an error or maybe the shop just wanted a bustier Leia. Just wondering though, someone mentioned S17B since it would be taller but smaller bust; would a smaller bust make putting the top piece worst to stay on since you said it was too long?

Like Sky wrote, you would probably be able to adjust as needed depending on how you tie the straps. The neck strap (which comes pre-attached) of the bikini top is too long to sit normally around the back of the neck on either S12D or S25B; I tied it to the other straps of the top behind her back -- see the middle of the second photo in the first post.

Xavion2004 wrote:It’s a very good looking set.  The likeness still seems a bit off, but I think it’s easily the best of all the others you’ve shown.  The outfit itself looks well made.  I think the set works equally as well on the S12D as it does the S25A, but I agree that the S25A is probably a better match for Leia in terms of height.  Overall, a very nice figure, and as always, a great review!

(For those who enjoy positive, upbeat posts, that concludes our program.   Please go directly to the next  reply.   Thank you, and good night.  For the more cantankerous among you, please feel free to stay with us for further commentary below.)

That first paragraph is what I would have written had I never seen the promotional pictures.   It’s my honest, unprejudiced opinion of the figure.  Unfortunately, I did see the promotional pics, I am prejudiced because of them, and this is a huge disappointment compared to what was originally shown.  I’m not a Slave Leia guy, but I still did double takes every time I saw those promotional pictures.  They were incredible.  Like “too good to be true” incredible…and I guess they were.

This is by far my biggest issue with 1/6 and the reason why I no longer preorder as a general rule.  Sure, final production figures sometimes fall a bit short of the promotional versions in the 1/12 world of Hasbro, SHFiguarts, Mafex, etc. but it’s not as rampant as it is in 1/6 and not by nearly as wide a margin.  I just find that so frustrating, because what those high expectations lead to is disappointment  in what is actually a pretty nice set or figure.   Somehow these companies need to bridge the gap between the best possible sculpt and portrait they can create by hand and what they can realistically reproduce in a factory.

Indeed, the disparity between the extremely promising promotional images and this coparatively lackluster result is startling. Some curious choices apart (sideburns retained and done differently), forgetting to fix the volume of the hair, it may be significantly due to the paint application, since they appear to have recast or recreated the HT Bespin Leia head. Except that whatever was least Leia-like in that, has carried over here, somehow amplified. Difficult to say exactly (or exhaustively) what happened.

Illusion wrote:Thanks for the comprehensive review! further glimpses of your impressive collection of multitudes of characters

somehow... I am not impressed... but then again, I have never been interested in this outfit (whatever brand).
but still, when watching other folks' pics I am frequently tempted to buy stuff I had never seen nor thought about before, but this: not for me. It should serve reasonably well when you need a Leia Hutt Slayer though.

You are very welcome, and thank you for the kind words. Well, just one character this time. Didn't have the time or patience to try something more interactive. And, of course, it would have helped if I had a sixth-scale Jabba the Hutt, but I don't, and I have only a couple of his henchmen. The costume is a little cliche, but it has become iconic and a cultural reference. Even if the head were perfect, it probably would never be my go-to Leia, but good to have. I already had something very close to it, in-between pieces from the FAO, AC Play, and first Mr Toys sets (I never owned the complete sets), but I suppose I was seduced by the promising look of the head in the promotional photos.

Xavion2004 wrote:This is by far my biggest issue with 1/6 and the reason why I no longer preorder as a general rule.  Sure, final production figures sometimes fall a bit short of the promotional versions in the 1/12 world of Hasbro, SHFiguarts, Mafex, etc. but it’s not as rampant as it is in 1/6 and not by nearly as wide a margin.  I just find that so frustrating, because what those high expectations lead to is disappointment  in what is actually a pretty nice set or figure.   Somehow these companies need to bridge the gap between the best possible sculpt and portrait they can create by hand and what they can realistically reproduce in a factory.

Well, I agree with you that this is a huge problem with 1/6 scale -- or at least, with these types of third party sets and headsculpts. Not everything is this bad, of course... I think Hot Toys tends to lose far less between promo pics and final product (I vaguely recall Stryker saying it's only like 5% loss or something like that), while others tend to have a much greater disparity. I learned early on that you can't trust the promo pics, especially for headsculpts.  I think GF is right that most of the time, what lets things down is the final paintjob. I have seen firsthand some sculpts that appeared lackluster but after a professional repaint were absolutely stunning, which proves that for many , the underlying sculpt isn't the issue. My guess is that they rely on factory printing for the final products, but perhaps show a hand-painted figure for the promo.

That being said, this is something I decided to take in stride, and work around. Like you, I very rarely preorder anything these days, especially not these types of sets or headsculpts. I almost always wait for in-hand photos before deciding. I think the only 1/6 items I've actually preordered in the last few years were Hot Toys figures and Mr. Z horses.

Whether or not this issue is a dealbreaker for people probably depends on what they are doing with their 1/6 figures and collection. Other than a few select Hot Toys Star Wars figures, I don't actually collect a lot of full figures or sets, so I tend to view most 1/6 output as just potential fodder for customisation. I therefore tend to be somewhat forgiving with stuff that doesn't turn out exactly like promos, since sometimes they can still prove useful.

However, there are some situations where the difference is just too egregious, and think this Leia set is of those circumstances. The problem is that the headsculpt was the main selling point for this one, since sets like this had already existed previously, but not with a head that looked so (seemingly) good. (The only reason I'd even considered it at all myself was because I thought it would be nice to finally have a Leia head that matched the tbleague skintone.) I think it's one thing to show a slightly better-painted headsculpt in a promo, and another thing entirely to use a Hot Toys head for what basically amounts to false advertising.

skywalkersaga wrote:Well, I agree with you that this is a huge problem with 1/6 scale -- or at least, with these types of third party sets and headsculpts. Not everything is this bad, of course... I think Hot Toys tends to lose far less between promo pics and final product (I vaguely recall Stryker saying it's only like 5% loss or something like that), while others tend to have a much greater disparity. I learned early on that you can't trust the promo pics, especially for headsculpts.  I think GF is right that most of the time, what lets things down is the final paintjob. I have seen firsthand some sculpts that appeared lackluster but after a professional repaint were absolutely stunning, which proves that for many , the underlying sculpt isn't the issue. My guess is that they rely on factory printing for the final products, but perhaps show a hand-painted figure for the promo.

That being said, this is something I decided to take in stride, and work around. Like you, I very rarely preorder anything these days, especially not these types of sets or headsculpts. I almost always wait for in-hand photos before deciding. I think the only 1/6 items I've actually preordered in the last few years were Hot Toys figures and Mr. Z horses.

Whether or not this issue is a dealbreaker for people probably depends on what they are doing with their 1/6 figures and collection. Other than a few select Hot Toys Star Wars figures, I don't actually collect a lot of full figures or sets, so I tend to view most 1/6 output as just potential fodder for customisation. I therefore tend to be somewhat forgiving with stuff that doesn't turn out exactly like promos, since sometimes they can still prove useful.

However, there are some situations where the difference is just too egregious, and think this Leia set is of those circumstances. The problem is that the headsculpt was the main selling point for this one, since sets like this had already existed previously, but not with a head that looked so (seemingly) good. (The only reason I'd even considered it at all myself was because I thought it would be nice to finally have a Leia head that matched the tbleague skintone.) I think it's one thing to show a slightly better-painted headsculpt in a promo, and another thing entirely to use a Hot Toys head for what basically amounts to false advertising.

I think this is very well put, and agree wholeheartedly. I, too, knew better than to expect the final product to be exactly like the promotional image, but the disparity was just too much; and my main motivation at this point -- precisely because I had most of the other items from such sets -- was to have a Leia head that would match a TBLeague body. At any rate, this experience is a nice illustration of why I'm usually unwilling to preorder and hate that business model. But it is the reality we live in, and given scarcity of supply and height of demand, sometimes we don't want to take the chance of missing out.

Since I also buy mostly loose pieces for planned or potential customs, I also tend to be somewhat more forgiving when it comes to absolute accuracy. But like you said, this seems like essentially false advertising by the producer. In a sense, it is not. My comment about the paint job making most of the difference was echoing what I have heard from others time and again, and have been able to observe, although my own painting skills are usually too remedial to make much of an improvement, except in trying to make more stylized heads a little more realistic. In this instance, there is enough of the HT Bespin Leia head here for me to think that this is exactly what happened. The prototype was apparently a modified actual HT head sculpt, whereas the product was their recreation (recasting and repainting) of it -- falling short at the very least with the paint.

Yeah, I realise it's a recasted head, but there still seems to be some quality loss there, too. Sometimes that can happen with recasts. Such as , elongation in certain areas, for example. The recasting probably explains why it's a bit on the smaller side, as well.

I suppose the other thing I need to bear in mind is that most of what I’ve collected over the years is made by large companies like Hasbro, Mattel, McFarlane, Bandai, Medicom, etc. Even my first foray into 1/6 was heavily focused on Cy/Cool Girls which were made by Takara. Hot Toys is probably the largest 1/6 company, so it makes sense that their production figures are pretty close to the promotional pics.

Most of these 1/6 companies are probably small boutiques started by fans and collectors who don’t always have the resources to make the jump between hand made prototypes and factory production figures without losing something along the way.