The Good: Great sculpt, Wonderful accessories, Amazing articulation, Collectibility
The Bad: I'm not wild about the hologram figure.
The Basics: Princess Leia in her Boushh Disguise makes an early winner for the 2006 Saga Collection Star Wars line and is likely to please all Star Wars toy enthusiasts.
In the pantheon of Star Wars toys, odds are the most sought-after Princess Leia figures will always be the Slave Leia figures from Return Of The Jedi. And yet, Return Of The Jedi had more than just a scantily-clad Princess Leia to recommend it. It had Princess Leia disguised as the bounty hunter Boushh. The Boushh disguise might well be one of the most cool costume designs for something other than just obvious sex appeal. Boushh is a character who has been made into several action figures, but none were quite as well-done as the 2006 Saga Collection Star Wars figure from Hasbro.
For those who might be unfamiliar with Princess Leia as Boushh, Boushh was her bounty hunter person used to get Leia into the court of Jabba The Hutt at the beginning of Return Of The Jedi (click here for that review!). There, Princess Leia sought to rescue Han Solo from his carbonite prison but she fell afoul of Jabba. But for a few minutes, Princess Leia was an inscrutable helmeted bounty hunter who held Jabba's Palace in her grip with the thermal detonator she carried.
The 4" Boushh figure is pretty impressive and because it is so well-detailed, it easily supersedes the earlier Boushh figure Kenner had made. In fact, with the articulation on this figure, there is nothing left to improve: this is a perfect toy.
Basics
The Boushh action figure is a great sculpting of the obscure bounty hunter from Return Of The Jedi. The figure stands 3 1/4" tall and she is dressed in the tan and orange outfit she wore while in Jabba's Palace. That Boushh looks very clean is a little unrealistic as Tatooine is a dusty, dirty planet, but this is easily excusable as Boushh looked pretty clean in the film. The figure is made almost entirely of soft plastic, so it is surprising how sturdy a toy this is.
This toy is an impressive sculpt, looking exactly like the human rebel with the armor, hair down and concealing folds that prevent others from realizing she is not a man! Boushh's face looks like Carrie Fisher, though the skin is somewhat monotonally colored. Her lips are appropriately red and the hair includes the bangs that frame her jawline, so the detailing is exceptional.
The figure is perfectly recognizable as Boushh and includes such details as the hanging skirt and the small backpack airtank. In fact, the only coloring detail that is off are the eyes, which are not big enough to include colored irises and thus just include the pupils. Rather coolly, the belt is so detailed it includes a hole that may hold Boushh's thermal detonator!
Accessories
Boushh is realistically prepared to extort Jabba the Hutt as she includes her helmet, staff weapon and thermal detonator. Like most figures in the 2006 series of Star Wars figures, this Boushh includes a stand, so this figure may be appropriately used for display as well as play.
The helmet is a perfectly detailed and colored helmet that looks precisely like the one worn by Boushh in the film. It has the same snout-like face and the visor with the attachment that could be a scanning device or a weapon. Rather extraordinarily, one of the details Hasbro got right on this sculpting was that the top of the helmet has an almost pizza-box shape and the helmet fits perfectly on Leia's head. One of the cool details of this Boushh figure is that the pony tail from Leia hangs outside the helmet!
Boushh also comes with the staff weapon she carried when she brought Chewbacca to Jabba. The weapon might be a long rifle or a polearm, but it is unclear. What is clear is that it fits in either of Leia's hands or may be held in a two-handed grip and it is precisely cast to look just like the one in the film. Despite being monotonally cast in a gunmetal-colored plastic, the weapon looks wonderfully like the one from the film.
The thermal detonator is a tiny (1/8" in diameter) sphere with a peg in it. It is textured to look like the thermal detonator, though it is monotonally colored. At this scale, though, it is hard to ask for better than this. What makes it so incredible is that this accessory may be stuck on Boushh's belt or in her left hand where there are holes of an appropriate size to allow the detonator to be held!
There is also a non-posable hologram figurine of Queen Amidala, but that's thrown in as a bonus.
The Saga Collection figures come with stands, including the Princess Leia as Boushh. The stand is a two inch long by one and a half inch wide by one-eighth inch tall gunmetal colored plastic stand. It features the name of the film and the name of the figure on it, which is a nice touch for those displaying the figure. There is also a peg which fits the hole in either of the Boushh's feet. On the stand, the figure is completely stable and posable. The stands make these figures into display pieces and this Boushh is a worthy one!
Playability
The four inch toy line was designed for play and Boushh is great in that regard. The figure is exceptionally articulated and has excellent balance when off her stand. This Boushh figure comes with twelve points of articulation and Hasbro makes excellent use of them! She has joints at the knees, groin socket, elbows, shoulders, wrists, neck, and waist. Unlike most Star Wars figures, these are not all just simple swivel joints: the elbows, knees and head are ball and socket joints. As a result, the head of Boushh turns from side to side and can nod as well. Boushh may be posed in elaborate running poses or sit in appropriate accessories!
This is a great figure for posing or for play. As well, it does have decent balance on or off her stand. This might well be the most posable Leia figure and fans are likely to find this is a great investment as a result!
Collectibility
Boushh is part of the 2006 Saga Collection four-inch series, a series of Star Wars action figures that was not very common at all, but largely recast figures that had been previously released by Kenner. Hasbro sought to improve the old figures by having a greater attention to detail, coloring and accessory detail and proportion. As such, this Boushh is a distinct improvement as far as balance, detailing and accessories from the earlier Princess Leia as Boushh. Released as Saga Collection (2006) figure #001, this figure is a good idea for those creating an ultimate collection of each major character. It is hard to imagine how this figure might be improved upon. In fact, the Boushh figure released in 2010 as part of the Saga Legends Collection is simply this figure put on a new card!
Overview
The Saga Princess Leia - Boushh Disguise is an amazing sculpt of a figure that has been done only fairly before and Hasbro made the perfect version of the character for this scale!
For other Star Wars Original Trilogy Collection figures, please check out my reviews of:
003 Bib Fortuna
005 Luke Skywalker X-Wing Pilot
01 Momaw Nadon
10/10
For other toy reviews, please visit my index page by clicking here!
© 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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