Saturday, January 12, 2013

Battle of the Planets PRINCESS (and Variant)!

June the Swan Princess - Battle of the Planets Series 1 - Diamond 2002

Battle of the Planets goes by many names.  Suffering a similar fate as other imported Anime (Voltron and Robotech come to mind), the original Japanese Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (1972) was re-edited to become the 1978 US series Battle of the Planets and once again re-edited to become G-Force: Guardians of Space in 1986.  There were a lot of changes between the versions.  Most obvious is the setting.  In Gatchaman, the G-Force team was on Earth (fighting a transgendered/hermaphroditic foe).  In BotP, the adventures took place in space and the main villain was split into two characters (Zoltar: Male; Latroz: Female).  But the consistent heroics of a five-member bird-themed superteam fighting a villainous baddie is what made all iterations successful.  Battle of the Planets had a major nostalgia resurgence in the early 2000s.   They had new comics, DVD releases, and of course, a series of action figures.  Luckily the characters' looks have never changed, so whichever edit you love, these toys will fit the bill.


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
 Princess came with two accessories:  A Yo-Yo Bomb and a miniature replica of her Galacticycle.






 
 
 
Also in 2002, there were numerous retailer exclusive variants released.  The unhelmeted "Civilian Princess" was a ToyFare Exclusive (Also, there seems to be a Tower Records logo on the box so perhaps it was sold there as well).
 
 
 
 
 


 
 
As much as I enjoy this variant, something about the size of the head (and the size of her eyes) seems off.  I much prefer the standard release.



 
This version of Princess came with the same Yo-Yo Bomb, but had a miniature Motorcycle instead.
 
 
 
 
 
 
In researching this blog post, I was overwhelmed by the cool images I kept finding for Princess.  I'll start with some screencaps from the review, followed by modern fan (and professional) illustrations, and lastly a series of comic covers.
  




 


 
 
 
 
 
 

 


 



 
 
 
 
Back to some final shots of this beautiful figure.
 

 
 
Beak-on isn't her most flattering angle, but it still looks pretty cool.
 

 
 
 
 
Time for some Comparison Pics!
 
 



 
 
Cheers!
 
 
 

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