Gary Collinson reviews Hasbro’s Star Wars: Forces of Destiny Rey of Jakku & BB-8 Adventure and Princess Leia Organa & Wicket the Ewok Endor Adventure dolls…
One of the major criticisms aimed at the original Star Wars movies was the lack of diversity in the galaxy far, far away, and this is something that Lucasfilm has striven to improve since Disney’s acquisition of the company, particularly with regards to female representation.
With characters like Star Wars: The Force Awakens and Star Wars: The Last Jedi’s Rey and Rogue One: A Star Wars Story’s Jyn Erso, Lucasfilm has sought to introduce strong, heroic characters in the vein of Princess Leia, opening the franchise to a new generation of young female fans.
Adding to this, earlier this year saw the release of the new Star Wars: Forces of Destiny initiative, which spotlights the female heroes of the saga, including the aforementioned Rey, Jyn and Leia, along with the likes of Sabine Wren, Ahsoka Tano and Maz Kanata. Beginning with a series of animated shorts [which you can watch here], Forces of Destiny will also include an upcoming comic book series, and of course a selection of tie-in merchandise, including some rather fantastic Hasbro dolls / action figure hybrids.
First up we have Rey of Jakku & BB-8, based on Daisy Ridley’s character 2015’s The Force Awakens, complete with her costume from the climax of the film – and of course, Anakin Skywalker’s lightsaber. The 11-inch figure comes with rooted hair (with very intricate styling), and her costume consists of both molded plastic for her pants, skirt, vest, belt and boots, along with fabric for her jacket and arm wraps. The figure is highly poseable, with articulation in her knees, hips, waist, wrist, elbows, shoulder and neck, and also includes an action feature, where you can squeeze Rey’s legs together in order to have her swing her lightsaber. Her droid companion BB-8 meanwhile measures around 3 inches in height, and features a rotatable head.
And next up we have the Princess Leia Organa & Wicket the Ewok Endor Adventure set, which features everyone’s favourite Rebel princess along with two fully removable fabric costumes – the Combat Poncho (as fans of the Kenner action figure line will know it) and Ewok village dress. As with Rey, Leia has realistic rooted hair (which once again is very well done), helmet and blaster, while Wicket also looks superb with his flocked body, removable hood and spear, bow and arrow accessories. If I have one complaint, it’s that Wicket looks a little too small next to Leia and could have done with being a couple of inches bigger; nevertheless, both figures look great
Hasbro has certainly done a fantastic job with these Star Wars Forces of Destiny dolls. There’s a great level of detail, and they truly capture the likeness of the characters from the animated series. While the line is targeted at young girls, I’m sure boys will get just as much enjoyment from them, and they also make great display pieces for any adult collectors out there. In addition to the above, the Forces of Destiny line also includes Rey in her original Jakku costume, Jyn Erso from Rogue One, Sabine Wren from Star Wars Rebels, and Princess Leia and R2-D2 from The Empire Strikes Back, and I’ll definitely be picking them up to add to my collection.
Gary Collinson is a writer and lecturer from the North East of England. He is the editor-in-chief of FlickeringMyth.com and the author of Holy Franchise, Batman! Bringing the Caped Crusader to the Screen.
