Princess Leia (40th ANH) — Star Wars The Black Series 40th Anniversary

Overview

Princess Leia Organa at #03 in the 40th Anniversary lineup is the Black Series tribute release of Carrie Fisher’s iconic Rebel Alliance leader — the Senator-and-rebel-spy character configuration as she appears in A New Hope across her Tantive IV capture, Death Star imprisonment, and Yavin Base ceremony scenes. Released February 2017 in Kenner vintage-inspired packaging that replicated the original 1977 cardback art design. Mainline non-exclusive at $19.99. 23-joint articulation — tied with Luke Skywalker at #01 for the highest joint count in the entire 40th Anniversary line. Four accessories: a blaster, a blaster rifle, a removable belt, and a removable soft-goods dress. The head was re-worked from the previous Black Series Princess Leia figure (figure id=4840) with new paint — not a straight repack like most other 40th Anniversary releases. Detailed reviewers’ direct verdict: as of this review, this is the best representation of ANH Leia in Hasbro’s 6-inch line so far and it will likely be the best version for a long time to come.

The Reworked Head Sculpt

Most 40th Anniversary figures are straight re-releases of prior Black Series sculpts with only packaging changes (the Han Solo at #04, the Chewbacca at #05, the C-3PO at #06, the R2-D2 at #07 are all functional re-issues). The Princess Leia at #03 is structurally different — Hasbro re-worked Princess Leia’s head from the previous Black Series Princess Leia figure and gave it a new paint application.

This is meaningfully significant for Leia collectors. The prior Black Series Leia release (figure id=4840) carried a head sculpt that detailed reviewers had specifically critiqued as undershooting Carrie Fisher’s likeness. The 40th Anniversary release addresses this directly through deliberate head-sculpt rework — sharper facial features, improved paint application, and adjustment to capture the actor’s specific facial structure more accurately at the ANH-era character configuration.

For collectors comparing the two releases side by side, the head sculpt difference is the single most meaningful improvement across the figure pair. The 40th Anniversary version’s head reads as recognisably Carrie Fisher; the prior release’s head reads as more generic. For collectors who own the earlier version and skipped the 40th Anniversary release because they assumed it was a straight re-pack, the head improvement is worth re-evaluating the duplicate purchase.

The Four-Accessory Loadout

Hasbro included Leia’s basic blaster, an Imperial Stormtrooper blaster, a removable belt, and a removable soft-goods dress with the figure. Four accessories total — substantially more generous than the line’s typical 2-3 accessory baseline.

The dual-blaster configuration supports two distinct combat-display scenarios:

• Rebel-issue blaster — Leia’s standard sidearm for the Yavin Base and Tantive IV configurations
• Stormtrooper blaster — captured Imperial weapon she uses during the Death Star detention block escape sequence

For collectors building Death Star prison rescue dioramas alongside Han Solo at #04 (with his Stormtrooper-disguise loadout) and Luke Skywalker at #01, the captured-weapon configuration captures the specific narrative moment when Leia takes command of her own rescue.

The figure is able to hold both weapons, but they fit only loosely into the hands. The hand-grip engineering doesn’t quite match the weapon proportions cleanly — collectors will need to handle weapon placement carefully to keep the blasters from drifting during display. This is the figure’s most defensible engineering limitation.

The Soft-Goods Dress and Belt

The soft-goods dress looks good and works overall quite well. The fabric drape captures the screen-accurate flowing-robe configuration that defines Leia’s ANH visual identity. The dress is structurally removable but with caveats covered below.

Leia’s belt can be unplugged in the back — a clean engineering solution that supports belt removal without forcing modifications elsewhere. Once the belt is unplugged, it’s possible to pull the dress off the figure — but this is not recommended. Detailed reviewers’ direct warning: it’s quite difficult to put it back on properly and make it look good without too many wrinkles. The dress-removal process is structurally possible but practically challenging; once the dress is off, getting it back to the screen-accurate clean-drape configuration is meaningfully difficult.

For collectors who plan to display Leia in the standard with-dress configuration, the figure ships ready for that display. For collectors who want costume kitbashing flexibility, the dress-removal warning means the kitbashing path is harder than it looks.

The Hood Engineering Issue

A specific engineering inconsistency worth flagging: sometimes the hood stays on perfectly while other times it seems impossible to place over Leia’s head just right. The soft-goods hood configuration has reliability issues — the hood may sit cleanly in some positioning attempts and refuse to seat properly in others, with no clear reason for the variation.

Detailed reviewers’ direct assessment: a plastic hood / soft-goods dress combination would have probably worked better in this case. The all-fabric approach creates the hood-fitting reliability problem; a hybrid configuration with rigid hood structure would have solved the issue without compromising the dress’s drape characteristics.

For collectors who plan to display Leia with the hood up, the structural inconsistency means some figures will work cleanly while others will require fiddling. For collectors who plan to display Leia with the hood down (the more common A New Hope configuration after her capture), the hood-fitting issue doesn’t matter.

The Paint Application

The paint application on the clothing feels simple — white boots, white dress, white and silver belt — but it’s true to the outfit seen in A New Hope. The screen-accurate clean white configuration is structurally appropriate to Leia’s source material; the character’s iconic look is the deliberately simple white robes that define her Senatorial-and-Rebel-leader visual identity. Adding deployment grime would have been screen-inaccurate.

The base paint application is competent across the figure’s components. The reworked head’s paint application specifically captures the actor’s facial features more cleanly than the prior release.

Articulation

23 joints. Ball-jointed neck, lower swivel neck (up and down movement), ball-jointed shoulders, swivel upper-shoulders, swivel joints above the elbows, swivel joints below the elbows, ball-jointed wrists, ball-jointed upper body, ball-jointed hips, swivel thighs, swivel joints above the knees, swivel joints below the knees, ball-jointed ankles. Highest joint count in the 40th Anniversary line (tied with Luke at #01), substantially above the standard 17-joint Phase 3 baseline.

The dual-axis arm articulation (swivel upper-shoulders + swivel above-elbows + swivel below-elbows) provides extensive arm-positioning flexibility — supporting both the holding-multiple-weapons combat configurations and the diplomatic-gesture display poses that Leia’s character class requires across multiple scenes. We didn’t encounter any balancing issues with the figure during photography testing.

Distribution and Mural Position

Standard mainline 40th Anniversary release at $19.99 through wide retail channels — Target, Walmart, Toys R Us (still operating in February 2017), Amazon, hobby shops. The mainline distribution and the standard pricing make this Leia historically the most accessible Black Series ANH-era Princess Leia at the 6-inch scale. Aftermarket pricing on the secondary market has remained reasonable due to broad initial availability.

Princess Leia sits at the third position in the 40th Anniversary 12-figure mural display. For loose display, the figure works best alongside the other 40th Anniversary releases (Luke at #01, Vader at #02, Han at #04, Chewbacca at #05, C-3PO at #06, R2-D2 at #07, Obi-Wan at #08) for the A New Hope ensemble configuration. The figure pairs specifically with Han Solo at #04 and Luke Skywalker at #01 for the Death Star prison rescue scene that anchors so much of the film’s character-pairing dynamic.

Other Princess Leia Figures

Princess Leia has been a consistent Hasbro release subject across multiple lines. Other notable releases include the 1996 POTF2 Sporting Blaster version (figure id=45), the Boushh disguise (figure id=138), Jabba’s Prisoner (figure id=139), the Ewok Celebration Outfit (figure id=150), the Princess Leia Collection POTF2 release (figure id=155), and the Medical Frigate Legacy Collection figure (figure id=177). The 40th Anniversary release joins this multi-decade catalogue as the dedicated 6-inch Black Series ANH-era flagship release.

Secondary Market

Single-carded mainline release on Kenner vintage cardback, February 2017. Available at MSRP through standard retail and the secondary market with broad availability. Verify the blaster, the blaster rifle, the removable belt, and the soft-goods dress are all included. The blaster rifle is the small component most likely to be lost during transit. For collectors comparing against the prior Black Series Leia release, examine the boots — the foot sculpts have minor differences distinguishing the two production runs.

Verdict

Princess Leia at #03 in the 2017 40th Anniversary line is structurally distinct from most other releases in the commemorative set — the reworked head sculpt with new paint application addresses a specific weakness in the prior Black Series Leia figure, making this version meaningfully better for character-likeness display rather than just a packaging variant. Detailed reviewers’ direct verdict positions this as the best representation of ANH Leia in Hasbro’s 6-inch line, and the assessment has held up across the years since release.

The 23-joint articulation count is tied for highest in the line, the dual-blaster accessory configuration supports both Rebel-issue and captured-Stormtrooper combat display options, the soft-goods dress captures the screen-accurate flowing-robe visual reading, the unpluggable belt provides clean accessory engineering, and the standard white-on-white paint application is screen-accurate to the source material.

The hand-grip looseness on both weapons is the figure’s most defensible engineering limitation. The hood-fitting reliability inconsistency makes hood-up display unpredictable. The dress-removal-and-replacement difficulty means costume kitbashing isn’t practical despite the technical removable design.

Buy this figure if you collect the 40th Anniversary line as a complete set, if you want the best 6-inch ANH Leia available, if you missed the prior Black Series Leia and want the improved head sculpt, or if you build Death Star prison rescue dioramas. The reworked head alone justifies the purchase for Leia completionists who skipped the original release based on the prior likeness critique.

The reworked-head ANH Leia. The figure with the dual-blaster loadout and the screen-accurate white robes. The best 6-inch Princess Leia in the Black Series line. Mainline distribution, February 2017.

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Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Phase 3 40th Anniversary Collection. Related: Luke Skywalker (40th ANH) P3-40A-01 | Han Solo (40th ANH) P3-40A-04 | Darth Vader Legacy Pack P4-40A-00.