HOLOGRAPHIC PRINCESS LEIA Original Trilogy Collection Comic-Con 2005 Exclusive
Item No.: No. 85694
Number: n/a
Includes: n/a
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $12.99
Availability: July 2005
Appearances: Star Wars
Bio: In the Rebel Alliance's most desperate hour, Princess Leia hides the stolen Death Star plans in R2-D2's memory bank. She instructs the droid to find Obi-Wan Kenobi on the desert planet of Tatooine. It is at Kenobi's home that a holographic Princess Leia pleads with Kenobi to come to the aid of the Rebel Alliance. (Taken from the figure's cardback.)
Image: Adam Pawlus' TV tray. Darth Maul and Obi-Wan are in the background. The display base on which she stands actually comes with the Holographic Yoda.
Commentary: Take a figure from 1998. Now take away the paint. Now mold it in clear purple. Does this sound like another exciting exclusive yet? The somewhat baffling but oddly neat Holographic Princess Leia is just that-- an old mold being trotted out for one last sale. Don't get me wrong-- it was a good mold, but an odd choice for the holographic treatment as most of us remember Leia as having her hood up. So what you're getting here is a figure that originally cost $6, but was painted nicely and had accessories plus a Freeze Frame. (Except, of course, now it's lacking these perks.) If you think this is a good deal, you're delusional-- but as a collectible/one more plastic person in the collection, it's OK. Personally, I could take or leave the bulk of the holographic figures-- I like weird releases, so I feel obligated to buy these. But they're about as exciting as socks for Christmas, plus Hasbro has made an awful lot of these lately. Four meaningful points of articulation do not a good toy make, but what really made this one sting was the price-- it shouldn't have been a $14 figure, but Hasbro seems intent on proving that there's a sucker born every minute and I am indeed that sucker.
Back in 2005, holographic figures were still something of a novelty-- we had a couple for Episode I as Wal-Mart exclusives, a few rejected ones that never came out, a few mini-clear holographic figures, and that Holographic Emperor. Then came Yoda, Leia, Aayla Secura, and Plo Koon, making 2005 a holo-filled year. 2006 was pretty blue too-- we got Darth Maul, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Ki-_Adi-Mundi, Commander Cody-- plus 24 bonus holographic figures (in blue or red). This year, the only known holographic figure on deck is Darth Vader, and that hasn't been confirmed by Hasbro yet. While the novelty is certainly there, a light-up base would be nice, or perhaps just fewer releases. With just one holographic figure for 2007, I'm actually somewhat interested.
Collector's Notes: Early test shots of the figure included a clear blaster-- the final release had no weapons or accessories of any kind. The best thing about this figure being an exclusive is how it was sold-- sensibly. ShopStarWars.com allowed you to pre-order the item before Comic-Con in 2005, and you could just waltz up to the booth whenever you wanted to and claim your figures without being terrified of missing the exclusives. This is a smart move-- it lets the store take my money before I even go to the show, and guarantees that I'll buy it and not be distracted by other items at the show. This is a model of what should be done for all convention exclusives-- let me order the damn thing in advance, I'll pick it up when I have a minute or ten. I've got other stuff to do while I'm there (in my case, this is what we call "work") so help me out already.
Day 401: June 11, 2007
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