With the arrival of the Figuarts Princess Leia, the gangs all here! I really wasn’t going to buy her. I had a Black Series body with an OldBoy head sculpt that was good enough. Then I accidentally bought R2 and C3PO one weekend night. At that point, the only one I WOULDN’T have had would have been Leia. Frankly, that’s unacceptable.
You know who she is and you know her story. Let’s take a look at the S.H. Figuarts Princess Leia from A New Hope.
What’s in the Figuarts Princess Leia box?
The Figuarts Princess Leia comes with three sets of hands.
Smack-hand 
Choke hand 
Sassy hand/trigger hand/pointy hand
She has an alternate face and a “hood up” option.
Hood up with side-eye.
Finally, she has two weapons, a Stormtrooper blaster (I know they have an in-cannon name, I just don’t know it) and her personal, slender pistol we only see in the start of A New Hope.
As far as Bandai figures go, the Figuarts Princess Leia seems to be fairly middle of the road in terms of pack-ins.
What doesn’t work with the Figuarts Princess Leia?
The Figuarts Princess Leia is not a great figure, though I am loath to say it is a direct result of incompetence on Bandai’s part, but rather their dedication to an articulation scheme that just doesn’t work.
This is as much of an elbow bend as you’ll get.
Another trend I am seeing more and more of in Figuarts figures is the lack of ability to hold the weapons they ship with. Both the rifle and the pistol fall out of her hand with nothing more than a breeze.
Finally, her bottom half’s articulation is severely impeded by the skirt.
An argument could be made for softgoods here, yes?
What works with the Figuarts Princess Leia?
When I mentioned earlier that the Figuarts Princess Leia has an articulation scheme that is standard, that also means the rest of her quality is the full of the strong Figuarts contributions we have come to expect. The joints are solid. Her sculpt/print is top notch and the details on an otherwise boring white dress/gown/robe come to life with their attention to the little things.
Also, she is the last of the OT crew and as such, you can now close the door on that set.
The gang is all here!
Should you buy the Figuarts Princess Leia?
If you’re a completionist, yes. If you’re a Star Wars fan, yes. She’s “ok.” But in 2019, should we expect more than “ok” from an adult collectors line? I suppose that’s something we should discuss at another time.
For me, she’s an average figure in an otherwise stellar line.
She can be found here:
“Here are the Imperial plans, ma’am.” 
“Artoo, you must get these plans to General Kenobi.” 
“I heard a noise over there, check it out.” 
The group shot after Obi-Wan assumed his final form.
