The Good: Generally decent sculpt, Generally good accessories
The Bad: Accessory coloring issues, Balance issues, Low poseability/articulation
The Basics: Only for the die-hard fans of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, the Leeta action figure is still a mixed bag.
When it comes to great characters in the Star Trek universe that would likely be made into an action figure, Leeta the Dabo Girl is probably not high on many people's lists. I suppose that's what separates Trekkers from the rest of the population: the willingness to spend money on swag of even the obscure characters. Playmates made a Leeta action figure as part of its 1997 Warp Factor Wave 2 line, which also featured the Sisko as a Klingon action figure.
For those unfamiliar with the character, Leeta appeared in the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "Explorers" (reviewed here!), where she began to flirt with Dr. Bashir. She was one of Quark's Dabo Girls, which are essentially the attractive female pit bosses at the gambling game dabo who Quark uses to distract the players from how much money they are losing. Leeta appeared several times after that, eventually marrying Rom and becoming a spy when the Dominion took over the station. Almost every appearance of Leeta found her in the gray and pink outfit that Playmates cast her in.
Basics
The Star Trek Warp Factor Wave 2 Collection of action figures contained seven figures from Star Trek, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, and Star Trek: Voyager and Leeta rivaled the Swarm Alien as most popular of the line. This figure was seldom a pegwarmer because it is one of the few Star Trek franchise figures of a woman and she's a pretty busty one at that!
The Leeta the Dabo Girl figure is the freespirited Bajoran woman as she appeared almost each time she was on Deep Space Nine, wearing a gray and pink bodysuit and sporting a spiky hairdo that might look butch if it weren't for the way she's showing off her bosom. The Leeta figure is all new and she looks appropriately sexy, which the outfit was supposed to. The outfit is colored more or less appropriately, though the sleeves of the outfit lack the swirled pattern that the actual costume for Leeta the Dabo Girl had.
Standing four and five-eighths inches tall in her high heels, this is a decent likeness of Leeta immortalized in plastic. The character is molded with her right hand ready to grasp her accessories and her left hand molded flat, as if she were waving. Her legs have a very neutral stance, though she is slightly slouching as if to stand provocatively. Leeta the Dabo Girl has problematic balance off her stand and most fans displaying this Leeta will find the stand helps dramatically. The costume detailing is minimal on this figure, and while the ribbing over Leeta's tummy is appropriately detailed, her sleeves are not. The sculpting details lessen, however, are quite good and Leeta has defined knuckles and fingernails.
Leeta's face is molded in a neutral, fairly pleasant expression that does not capture Leeta's initial emotional resonance. Leeta was pretty chipper on the show and this figure does not capture that well. Her hair is molded appropriately with the part, but lacks highlights so it does look a little helmet-like.
The paint job is fair, especially for the face. The skin tones are monotonal white with no shading or subtlety, save on the cheeks where there is a little blush. The figure's lips are painted an appropriately deep red and her nose ridges are well defined to make her distinctly a Bajoran. Strangely, Leeta's eyes are pink with white pupils, which is disturbing. Either the paint job was rushed or it chips off the figure, as mine has paint blobs around the earrings that looks unsightly.
Accessories
Leeta the Dabo Girl comes with only four accessories, including the base, most of which were recycled from other figures. Leeta comes with a Dabo wheel, latinum bars, and the base. The Action base is a Bajoran Communicator symbol with no distinguishing markings on it. On the end opposite the ball on the symbol, there is a peg which fits into the hole in either of Leeta's feet! When Leeta stands flatfooted on the stand, she is stable for balance and has a decent, neutral display appearance. The base is also enough to support Leeta in more outlandish poses, though her low poesability precludes getting too wild with this figure.
The Dabo Wheel is a 1 1/2" in diameter, 1 1/2" tall replica of the giant table game seen in Quark's Bar. Completely out of scale with the rest of the figure, the wheel is non-functional and has only light surface details molded into it. Only in ridiculous poses and with both hands may Leeta hope to balance this accessory in her arms. This is cast in an unrealistic brass/gold color which looks nothing like the actual Dabo wheel and it is not accented to improve its appearance any.
The latinum pieces are essentially the same pieces that came with the first Quark figure. There is a strip and a slip and they are basically little rectangles with irregular sides and an alien script stamped into them. These look wonderful for what they are. Leeta may hold one or the other at a time in her right hand.
Playability
Leeta the Dabo Girl continued the degradation of the Star Trek line at Playmates and she was good at the time, but fans knew she could have been better, especially in the poseability department. Leeta is sadly stiff with very few joints to pose from. Leeta is endowed with only six points of articulation: groin socket, shoulders, neck, and waist. All of the joints are simple swivel joints. As a result, the neck turns left to right, but the head cannot nod. As well, the shoulders are not ball and socket joints and only rotate. Leeta's bent elbow lessens the "straight arm" effect, but it is still disappointing.
On her base, Leeta is exceptionally stable, even in the most ridiculous poses. And her mudflaps may be removed from her backside; they are made of a soft plastic which does not inhibit the figure's limited leg movement.
Collectibility
Playmates seemed to gauge about the right amount of interest for Warp Factor wave of Star Trek figures and Leeta was never a pegwarmer. Even so, she has not appreciated much since her initial release, though at conventions she tends to be a little pricier because Chase Masterson does so many shows.
Playmates tried to make the figures collectible, but by this point, they were getting lazy. Each Leeta figure has an individual number on the package, not even on the figure anymore! In the attempt to make them appear limited, they had numbers stamped on a sticker on the card, so it was easier to find than on some of the prior figure releases.
Overview
The Leeta the Dabo Girl figure is a good concept executed poorly. There is just enough to recommend her on the virtue that on her stand she stands up and she is one of the more obscure characters being rendered recognizably. Hopefully, Diamond Select will remake this one right!
For other Star Trek: Deep Space Nine action figures, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Rom And Nog
Grand Nagus Zek
Gul Dukat
6/10
For other toy reviews, please be sure to visit my index page on the subject by clicking here!
© 2012, 2010 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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