Vintage Kenner Princess Leia 1978 Action Figure
Princess Leia was born alongside her twin brother (Luke Skywalker) on the asteroid colony of Polis Massa, where their mother had escaped to, in order to protect them from the evil Darth Vader.
Their mother, who was of noble blood, died shortly after childbirth, so Leia and Luke were separated by Senator Bail Organa and Jedi master Obi-Wan Kenobi, in order to ensure their protection and survival.
The senator took Leia to his home planet of Alderran where together with his wife, they raised Leia into a very brilliant and resourceful young woman. Leia excelled greatly in politics and she became a senator herself – the youngest ever in the entire galaxy However, her strong advocacy for the Rebel Alliance meant she would be targeted by the government.
The Best + Biggest Action Figure Database in the World!!
- 60,000+ Action Figures
- Release Dates
- Checklists
- Video Library
- eBooks + Guides
- Historical $$ Values
Recent updates
A Collapsible Table:
Kenner Princess Leia 1978 Review
Princess Leia was one of the first four figures to be released in the Early Bird Certificate Package, and like the other three, her cape was made of vinyl, unlike the subsequent figures that had real cloth capes.
The 3.75-inches figure came on classic style card with a picture of the real Princess Leia on the front right side and the figure itself on the left. At the top of the card was a big Star Wars logo. She was originally released on a 12-back card and then later on a 21-back card as well as The Empire Strikes Back, Return of the Jedi, Tri-Logo and Power of the Force cards.
The sculpting of this figure is quite decent, considering in the late 70’s there was no real body scan technology and the sculpts had to be man-made, also Kenner must have been under a lot of pressure to get these released. They also had to reduce a lot of detail into a 3.75-inches figure, so one could say they did a pretty good under the circumstances.
Leia’s entire body was covered in her outfit, except for her face and bare hands. Her face was brilliantly sculpted for this time period, and looked very similar to the character (a feat in itself for these toys!).
The hair on her head had bonds on either side and her long-sleeved suit was very well sculpted as were her chest region and legs, which were covered by her trousers and were perfectly sculpted into her hips.
She had a pair of boots sculpted onto her legs, with the usual holes on the bottom of her feet for the stand pegs to be inserted.
She also wore a belt around her waist and her hands were sculpted so her weapon could fit into her right hand. There were two holes on her Vinyl cape, which was removable; one for each arm to fit into. The back of the vinyl cape extended up over her neck almost completely covering her head when looking from behind, and reached down as far as her feet.
The paintwork for this figure was very simple as Princess Leia was sculpted wearing her white robe and gown, so the only parts that were not white were her face and hands which were brown and her hair and belt which were black.
The painting was not done in completely pure white, with the cape being a bit whiter than the figure itself. Her black hair was not painted perfectly as there was some evidence of smudging and overlapping, even to the naked eye. Lastly, the figure’s accessory, a blaster, was completely molded in black.
For articulation she had the usual five joints, all ball, and sockets. The ball and socket on her neck permitted complete rotation and the joints linking each of her arms to her shoulders and her legs to her hips allowed her to raise her arms and legs in and rotate them.
Kenner Princess Leia Variants
A couple of common variations of the Kenner figure are that she either had black hair with a black belt, or brown hair with a brown belt, with the brown one being the rarer of the two. There were also two variations of her blaster, one a dark blue and the other black.
Glasslite started manufacturing and distributing Star Wars figures in Brazil in 1988 and their Princess Leia figure was the most relevant variants as the Glasslite variant had a poorly sculpted face and came with a different blaster.
This variant also had a completely different cape. Although it was also made from Vinyl, it was much shorter than Kenner’s. It did not extend above her head and it also did not cover her feet. When viewed from the sides, it could be seen that it had a unique crescent-shaped cut on the edges, compared to Kenner’s straight edge.
Parts of the painting such as the belt and hands were painted by hand and they looked really unimpressive. Lastly, the Kenner’s Princess Leia’s figure came in a light shade of red while Glasslite’s came in a light shade of Yellow.
DIFFERENCES:
Compared to its Kenner counterpart, the Glasslite Princess Leia had:
- Moulded in harder plastic
- A scarred COO (2 distinct versions)
- Pale face, neck and hands
- Black hair
- Black eyes and eyebrows
- Manufacturing flaw so heads are typically angled
- Hand painted hands and belt
- Black belt with hand painted large white circle detail
- Packaged with a silver Jawa blaster and a unique cape
ACCESSORIES:
The Glasslite Princess came with a v5 silver Jawa blaster compared to the blue rebel blaster which came with the Kenner figure. Note that the v5 Jawa blaster mould is identical to the solid black version which came with the Han Solo action figure.
Kenner Princess Leia Values (May 2022)
- MOC 12-back $2000-$4000 20-back $450-$2000
- MLC $45-$220 (Slabbed) $25-$50 Un-slabbed
- Loose $5-$25
Vintage and Modern Action Figures for Sale
- The AFR Action Figure Store
- Worldwide Delivery
- Multiple Currencies
- Special offers
- Monthly Sales
- Customer Loyalty Prog
BUY VINTAGE STAR WARS ACTION FIGURES
More Star Wars Pages
R2-D2 A New Hope Review
Kenner Princess Leia 1978 Review
This guide is a complete guide to the Vintage Kenner Star Wars Action Figures from the New Hope line to the Power of the Force line.
This guide includes a full gallery of ALL the figures as well as tips on how to spot fake and repro figures.
The listing also includes information on all the variants and the rarest figures and how to spot them.
This guide also includes FREE LIFETIME UPDATES!
ONLY $7.99
Even More Star Wars Pages .....
Star Wars Resource Pages
Recent Articles
-
Mego Star Trek Action Figures: A Look Back at the Iconic Toy Line
Feb 01, 23 12:37 AM
Mego’s first Star Trek Action Figures were released as far back as 1974, pre-Star Wars, and were based primarily on the live-action TV series [ read more ] -
Baseball Action Figures: A History of Sports Figures
Jan 23, 23 11:08 PM
The very first baseball action figures were similar in design and look to Hasbro's popular GI Joe figure with interchangeable uniforms and a generic look -
NHL Action Figures Guide
Jan 15, 23 10:53 PM
NHL Action Figures: A Look at the History and Evolution of These Collectible Miniature Hockey Players -
NBA Basketball Action Figures Guide
Jan 15, 23 09:07 PM
In 1986 Pat McInally, while browsing through the toy aisles of a local store saw rows of toys featuring super-heroes, but none based on sports heroes -
NFL Action Figures Guide
Jan 15, 23 09:06 PM
As sales of sport trading cards continue to drop alarmingly sales of NFL action figures continues to grow despite the current economic crisis [Read more] -
The Mattel Toy Company Story
Dec 26, 22 02:58 AM
Mattel is one of the biggest toy manufacturers in the world and was founded in 1945 by -
The Justice League of America
Dec 20, 22 01:17 AM
The Justice League of America or JLA is a fictional superhero team that, as well as striking fear into villains around the world [ READ MORE ] -
The NECA Toy Company
Dec 13, 22 02:41 AM
The NECA Toy Company or the National Entertainment Collectables Association are a toy manufacturer based in New Jersey...[read more]
PLEASE NOTE: All prices and values quoted on this site were correct at the time of publication based on the average value across several online and offline auction sites etc. The prices quoted ARE NOT an offer or solicitation to buy any figures at these prices.