Bespin Leia review

I don't buy a ton of Hot Toys Star Wars figures, holding out for those I really want to add to the collection. Bespin Leia has a terrific costume, and was one I simply couldn't pass up - my review is here:

https://www.mwctoys.com/REVIEW-021720a.htm

or you can find the review with the rest:

https://www.mwctoys.com

Thanks for reading!

Michael

Excellent review, Michael! Always love the close-up pics.

FYI, the Bespin sculpt is the same as the Hoth Leia just with a different insert hair piece on the back half of the head, the seam on the head is where they insert the different styles.

Hmmm - I suppose it[s possible, but the noses look nothing alike to me.

Great review and pics as always!

Michael Crawford said:

Hmmm - I suppose it[s possible, but the noses look nothing alike to me.

Click to expand...

While there are variances in narrowness from fig to fig and between the releases, you can see that all the finer sculpting details line up. The Endor figure will be the same, and likely even the Bespin Escape version if they do it.



I mentioned this a week or two ago - that the announced V.2 Luke Bespin and new V.2 (DX) Luke Jedi seem to show that HT is taking a "set and forget" approach to particular characters where they will do multiple releases utilizing the same headsculpt, just with adjustments.

Even the at-the-dentist toothy second sculpt that comes with the new ROTJ DX Luke is the same sculpt, just with a new lower half to the sculpt (plus new and old hair pieces.)

So you pay the same $$ for the new figure, but you're not getting an all-new sculpt. While HT has always been a V.2 and V.3 of the same character type company, and they've done this with figs like the ANH Han regular vs smirking (which had a new hairpiece as well as a major sculpt tweak) it often feels like you're slightly being ripped off, especially given HT has struggled with likeness in their SW releases, certainly more so than on other ranges, so would be great to see an all-new attempt.

Luke Bespin surely deserved an all-new sculpt, not the older Jedi Luke (which is a slightly older Hamill) used for the third time.

The facial tweak always looks odd to me because in the cases of both Han stormtrooper and Tooth Skywalker they did a somewhat extreme expression but didn't tweak the upper sculpt like eyebrows etc. so you have a neutral upper face with a strong mouth expression and it ends up looking slightly odd versus if they had done an all-new sculpt.

While I agree they're from the same base sculpt, the Bespin Leia does not look like it's literally the same front half of the head mold as the Hoth sculpt. To me it looks slightly off, like the same offness you might find on a recast head, which I know it isn't, but it just doesn't look as good.

dukefett said:

While I agree they're from the same base sculpt, the Bespin Leia does not look like it's literally the same front half of the head mold as the Hoth sculpt. To me it looks slightly off, like the same offness you might find on a recast head, which I know it isn't, but it just doesn't look as good.

Click to expand...

If you look closely you can see there are the same stipling patterns in the skin on the cheeks and elsewhere. That coupled with the exact matches on the hair line sculpt means it's the same, but obviously it's a different run done a year or so apart (and with a different back mold) so there will be minor proportion/distortion issues based on how it came out of the mold. The paint will also be subtly different just like with the Luke Jedi V.1 and DX.

The key issue with this base production Leia sculpt vs the proto always seems to be a narrowing of the face that occurs. Maybe it can be remedied with a hair dryer and squeezing it to look wider.