Review : Leia as Boushh, Wave 9 (2015) Star Wars Black Series

Princess Leia has had a pretty raw deal in the 6" scale so far. In her one outing to date she was presented in the Return of the Jedi "Slave" outfit, and ended up not only peg warming, but ruffling a few feathers with parents in the US. This 2nd release of Leia has gone with one of her more "action" orientated scenes and again is Return of the Jedi based.

Leia as Boushh was one of my favourite figures in the 1980's. Not only was it a "cool" outfit for Leia, it also doubled as another bounty hunter or bad guy for Jabba's palace. Boushh arrives in the blue phase 2 Black Series packaging, and is number 16 in the reset numbering system for phase 2. As we saw with wave 8, the box retains the grey line artwork but has lost any blurb or character bio on the reverse. In fact Boushh gets a bit of a raw deal as the rear of her box see's you focus in on the image of Bib Fortuna, rather than the Boushh who is slotted in at the base of the image.

Out of the box, and Boushh looks to have come with the largest number of accessories since perhaps Han or the Sand Trooper in 2013. As well as a Force Pike, Leia is also packing a Thermal Detonator as well as the Boushh helmet and the backpack.

The white elephant in the room is the height of the figure, which is significantly larger than the Slave Leia figure - despite representing the same character. Hasbro have said that this was a choice based on the fan fury at "how small" Slave Leia looked in wave 2. Hasbro have therefore listened and produced Leia in a more acceptable size vs the rest of the figures.

I really like the head sculpt on this figure, capturing a determined Leia and the head is only let down by a bit of a heavy handed paint job at the factory with thick black lines of mascara around the eyes and overly red lipstick. The hair is a tad soft without the detail I have seen recently in Rey from TFA, it is also a very flat brown paint job and could have been improved with a second or third paint application to bring out more detail.

Down into the body and I am very happy with what Hasbro has given us. The sculpt is exactly what my 10 year old self remembers and includes some decent detail across the bandoleer and belt. The skirt is a softer rubber which does help the articulation as we will discover a little later on. On the reverse of the body is a peg hole into which the two cylinder back pack slots. Also on the back is a soft good cape, very similar to Boba Fett, which looks "ok" but isnt perhaps as neat as Fett's with some clumsy folding and a dodgy looking joint into the body which I am sure will fray if I look at it too long. Paint apps let down the body as they do with the head. It is a lot neater than we have seen from Hasbro in a long time, although I do have a stray streak of silver on the chest piece. But the issue is that like the hair it is missing one more coat of perhaps a darker wash or some highlights. The outfit looks like Boushh has just been steam cleaned rather than stepping in from the dust storms of Tatooine into Jabba's grimy dungeon. That being said there are some nice touches in the decor, particularly the Aurebesh symbols on he backpack.

The helmet in hand looks a tad too big, but is nicely designed and thank fully shows some evidence of paint detail with some dry brushing to reflect weathering. The helmet is a tight fit over the head, but once on looks fine and no over-sized at all. The issue is getting it back off again as the first time I tried the head came off with it. I suspect that too much helmet swapping will result in some ugly paint wear on Leia's face.

Articulation on Leia is pretty standard. The head is on a ball joint and can rotate fully and achieve a bit of movement to look up and down. The shoulders are jointed very well and almost invisible, yet they allow the arms to move out to a full 90 degree to the body and then up above the head. The elbows, also hidden well in the folds of the tunic, give another 90 degree bend and the wrists then also rotate and bend up and down. There is still not enough movement to allow for a natural two handed weapon pose which these figures are still crying out for.

Leia's torso has a joint which gives a bit of upper body swivel to either side. The legs are then jointed under the flexible skirt at the hips. The skirt isn't quite flexible enough to put Leia into a crouching position so the hip articulation is more or less wasted. The double jointed knees however allow Leia to kneel down and the ankles are on rockers to get a good foot plant and hold her stable on display.

The Force Pike is what it is, case in grey plastic with no real sculpt or paint detail. The Thermal Detonator is a nice piece which can be held on the belt via a peg hole, or in the hand. I would have preferred a similar peg in the hand to hold it steady but you can't have everything.

Leia as Boushh is certainly a massive step on from the Slave Leia. It ticks many boxes in terms of a display piece and sits particularly nicely into a Jabba's Palace theme and alongside the Han Carbonite if you are lucky enough to own that. It does lack a bit of weathering, but it is certainly a lot neater than we have had recently. The helmet could be an issue if you were playing with this regularly, but I think many collectors will simply go with one look or the other - or buy 2.

Leia lets the Black Series finish on a high with phase 2 and as we move into TFA and phase 3 packaging and I give her a solid 4 out of 5.