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1996 Star Wars Topps • LEIA PREPARES FOR XIZOR #47 • Shadows Of The Empire
"Leia Prepares for Xizor":It's the infamous card showing Leia changing clothes before meeting Prince Xizor. Because of the artwork, it's become the unofficial "chase" base card in the set.
The scene comes from Shadows of the Empire, the huge 1996 Lucasfilm multimedia project set between The Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi. Han is still frozen in carbonite, and Leia is trying to uncover who is targeting Luke. That brings her into contact with Prince Xizor, head of the Black Sun criminal organization and one of the most powerful figures in the galaxy. Xizor is also a Falleen, whose physiology in the old Expanded Universe includes extremely potent pheromones. Leia realizes that the attraction she is experiencing toward him is not normal, but she nevertheless has to keep dealing with him because of the threat to Luke.
And that is precisely where the card lands. The reverse tells the story of Leia wrestling with her attraction, bathing, dressing and preparing to meet Xizor again while rationalizing that staying close to him might help save Luke. Even Chewbacca is portrayed as disapproving of what is happening. The card therefore captures one of the strangest and most overtly sensual Leia storylines ever officially licensed by Lucasfilm.
The artwork itself is a major part of the appeal. Greg and Tim Hildebrandt painted the entire 100-card set rather than Topps simply using film stills. On #47, Leia is shown sitting in a towel, applying makeup, with bare shoulders and legs — essentially a Star Wars pin-up painting, but one that was released as an official Topps product in the mid-'90s.
That isn't just collector interpretation. When the original Hildebrandt painting for this exact card came up through Propstore, their catalog specifically called it “one of the few, or possibly the only, licensed consumer products pieces” to portray Leia in such a risqué way.
Card is in excellent condition
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