Princess Leia is one of the most popular female characters in the science fiction genre. Certainly, the late, truly great Carrie Fisher lit up the screen as the tough as nails heroine who ended up saving Luke Skywalker and Han Solo's skins during their rescue mission on the Death Star. Since Leia's first appearance in Star Wars: A New Hope, the hair buns and the long white dress have been staples of the cosplay scene at comic cons and nerd conventions. These days, you can't walk through the halls of any comic-con without running into at least three or four people in different versions of Princess Leia's outfit.

RELATED: 15 Star Wars Character Cosplays That Shouldn’t Be Titillating (But Totally Are)

While the New Hope version of Leia is perhaps the most popular cosplay choice, Return of the Jedi introduced the controversial Slave Leia costume that Fisher wore after being captured by crime lord Jabba the Hutt on Tatooine. As you'll see from the list below, any cosplayer looking to dress up as a steamier version of Princess Leia will find much inspiration in the slave costume, from steampunk takes to mashups with Disney princesses. The Slave Leia cosplay is quite versatile.

15 STRIPPED DOWN LEIA

Cosmic-Empress modded the original Leia costume quite a bit for this steamy cosplay inspired by A New Hope. As explained in her description of the costume, Cosmic-Empress also took inspiration from Leia pinup art that she found when deciding her take on the classic look. The big stars of the ensemble are the knee-high, lace-up, high-heeled boots and the latex corset. The white dress, meanwhile, is free-flowing and doesn't cover up much skin. Cosmic-Empress also did her hair up in the classic twin buns.

Besides Leia, Cosmic-Empress has also dressed up as Queen Amidala from The Phantom Menace, a cosplay that is much more true to the movie version than the one shown above, with the exotic red robes, the face paint and the remarkable hair piece that has to be much harder to pull off than Leia's.

14 CLASSIC SLAVE LEIA

Maitland Ward took the classic approach to the Slave Leia costume, a big fan favorite among cosplayers at comic cons and other nerd conventions. What makes an even better touch is that Maitland posed next to a Jabba the Hutt display for this picture, recreating the scenes from Return of the Jedi. The only variations from Carrie Fisher's original costume, really, is the red hair.

On top of her cosplay work, Maitland is best known for her acting roles as Rachel McGuire in Boy Meets World and Jessica Forrester in The Bold and the Beautiful. Since her acting days, she's entered the cosplay scene and dressed up as several popular characters, including Silk Spectre, Red Sonja and Leeloo from The Fifth Element.

13 ANIMATED LEIA

Virchan didn't use the movie version of Leia at all for this revealing take on the Princess. She was actually inspired by the limited edition Star Wars Animated line of statues that were released a while back. The series reimagines all of the Original Trilogy's characters as animated characters for statues that now go for a LOT of money on the internet. Virchan's Leia is a perfect recreation of her statue. Interestingly enough, Leia has appeared in the Rebels animated series since then.

This cosplayer has also dressed up as plenty of other well-known characters over the years. Her Alice from Alice in Wonderland is particularly memorable, as well as her Daphne from Scooby Doo. In fact, she teamed up with a few other cosplayers to recreate the entire Mystery Gang.

12 ELSA LEIA

There are a surprising amount of Slave Leia/Disney mashup cosplays that combine the Star Wars character with fan-favorite Disney princesses. In this case, Maid of Might created a mashup of Princess Leia and Elsa from Frozen. The cosplayer took Elsa's blue dress and stripped it down to the Slave Leia metal bikini. The artistry of the cosplay is remarkable, as Maid of Might captures the important elements of both of the characters. Maid of Might also lets us imagine what Leia might look like blonde.

Maid of Might has tackled several other Leia/Disney mashups with her cosplays, as you'll see from the next few entries. One of her most impressive cosplays is her recent homage to Darren Aronofsky's movie Mother! Her cosplay of Jennifer Lawrence's character is just fantastic.

11 JASMINE LEIA

Momo Kurumi's combination of Leia and Princess Jasmine is both very impressive and a steamy twist on both characters. Once again, the big staple of the cosplay is the metal bikini from Return of the Jedi. Interestingly enough, Momo didn't use Jasmine's blue dress as the main color scheme for this cosplay. Instead, she took inspiration from the red outfit Jasmine is forced to wear by the evil Jafar after he's taken control of Agrabah. "I also added the snake bracelet since both Jasmine and Leia wear one in their slave versions," said Momo in her description of the cosplay.

Other cosplays by Momo include all of the Sailor Scouts, a "Park Ranger" pin-up version of Jessica Rabbit, Moana and several of the other Disney princesses. Her comic book cosplays include Psylocke, Black Widow and Black Cat.

10 RAPUNZEL LEIA

Here's another Maid of Might cosplay. This time it's an incredible mashup of Slave Leia and Rapunzel. The most impressive part of the costume is definitely the long blonde wig, which is braided in sections and has flowers running down the length of it. The purple and gold color scheme is also reminiscent of the Disney character. Overall, this is a gorgeous cosplay. Maid of Might wore this number at WonderCon 2014 and took this photo at the Marriott Hotel in Anaheim.

If you're looking for other cosplays by Maid of Might that don't involve Princess Leia or Disney characters, look no further than her excellent Tracer from the video game Overwatch. It is so wonderfully detailed that you'll have a hard time telling the difference between Maid of Might and the video game character.

9 ARIEL LEIA

One last Disney Leia cosplay from Maid of Might. This time it's Ariel Leia. This Slave Leia mod isn't as much of a reach as the other mashups since Ariel wears a purple bikini top in the animated film. That said, Maid of Might adds the metallic bits to the bikini that represent the Leia portion to the ensemble. She also added Ariel's very red hair as a final touch to the cosplay.

Maid of Might has dressed up as other Star Wars characters before. One of her coolest is her pink Rapunzel Fett mashup. It's a truly insane combination of the bounty hunter's signature armor with the fairy tale character's long blonde hair. She used the same wig from the Rapunzel Leia mashup for her Boba Fett.

8 LEOTARD LEIA

We take our leave from Slave Leia cosplays for a bit. Next up is Zombie Bit Me's take on the A New Hope version of Leia. While you might remember the veil and the blaster from the movie, the leotard is certainly a bit of a modification from Zombie Bit Me. The tweak certainly makes the classic look a tad more steamy than what George Lucas probably intended when he wrote the character.

Zombie Bit Me has also dressed up as a few video game characters. Her Lightning from Final Fantasy is downright impressive, as is her Lara Croft from Tomb Raider. Her most noteworthy video game cosplay by far is her take on the playable character from The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The Viking helmet really suits her.

7 ZELDA LEIA

Speaking of video cosplay, here's one mashup you might not have expected to see on this list. Princess Zelda meets Leia in this fusion of two of the toughest princesses in pop culture. Ryuu Lavitz took the Slave Leia gimmick and added the iconography of The Legend of Zelda franchise. If you've ever wondered what it would be like to see Leia wearing an outfit with the Triforce on it, look no further than Ryuu's excellent cosplay (not to mention the shiny tiara).

Ryuu's other cosplays include Kim Possible, Harley Quinn, Black Cat, Zero Suit Samus Aran from the Metroid series and Kerrigan Queen of Blades from StarCraft. She also really likes dressing up as different characters from Pokemon. She's cosplayed as Misty, Pikachu, Raichu, Umbreon and others.

6 A NEW HOPE LEIA

This steamy Leia cosplay was created as part of a digital art project by Lukasz Liszko, a photographer from Poland. The model in the picture is named Cristina Romanyk. As Lukasz explains in the brief description of the art, the hallway, R2-D2 and Leia's belt and blaster were created from 3D models by the artist. Then he took the pictures of Cristina in this modded Leia dress, which is a combination of a shawl and a leotard.

The blaster says that Leia is ready to kick butt and take names, though. Lukasz has created plenty of other pieces. They include a steamy take on Furiosa from Mad Max, the Halle Berry version of Catwoman and Lara Croft in the middle of an adventure. All of his work is really cool and worth checking out!

5 REBEL SCUM LEIA

November created this punk Leia from a design by artist Julian Callos. "Rebel Scum" as November calls this cosplay might be the most unique take on the character in this entire list. Other than the hair buns, everything else about this outfit is modded, down to the Rebel tattoo on November's arm. The spiked vest, collar, fingerless gloves and fishnet stockings add a real edge to this version of Leia. Add to that a wicked nose piercing.

She's also cosplayed as the traditional Slave Leia on top of many other costumes. Her Hades from the animated Hercules movie is spectacular, as is her steampunk version of Batgirl. She's tackled plenty of other Marvel and DC heroes and villains, too. If you're looking for some great nerdy cosplay, there aren't many characters November hasn't addressed or dressed as!

4 PRINCESS PEACH LEIA

Out of all the mashups, this one might be our favorite. Would the family-friendly Nintendo approve of this steamy Princess Peach equipped with a pink metal bikini top and long stockings? The answer is probably not, but MicroKitty's cosplay definitely works as a great mashup between Leia and Mario's favorite princess. In fact, if Peach ever combined with Leia, she probably wouldn't need so much rescuing from Bowser. She might even have to save Mario and Luigi's skins.

MicroKitty has cosplayed as tons of other characters in the past. Her Cammy from Street Fighter and Raven from Teen Titans are particularly great. She's also dressed up as a pretty stripped-down Mega Man that's not much more than hand cannon and lingerie. MicroKitty definitely enjoys adding adult twists to our childhood favorites.

3 FANCY SLAVE LEIA

This cosplay is brought to you by Fancy Dress Queen, an online costume marketplace working out of the UK. One of their most recognizable costumes is this "fancy" version of the Slave Leia outfit. Perhaps if it weren't so low cut, you could even call this a Slave Leia cocktail dress. This outfit does away with the exposed belly of the usual metal bikini and adds heels to the ensemble. The dark brown color is also a bit more elegant (but just a bit).

Part of the reason this costume is different from the traditional metal bikini is because FDQ doesn't have the license to sell the Slave Leia outfit. This might have been a blessing in disguise though, since it made the company get creative and design its own take.

2 WONDER LEIA

You knew this mashup was coming, right? Two of the greatest heroines in science fiction come together to form the spectacular Wonder Leia. This cosplay comes courtesy of Hakuchan, who created this costume based on a design drawn by artist Jay Fife. The Slave Leia costume has never been put to better use than to showcase the Wonder Woman colors, combined with the golden tiara and the bulletproof bracelets.

The eagle design of the belt is the cherry on top of this cosplay. There's also a picture of Wonder Leia posing next to R2-D2 that makes this nerd fantasy all the more real. Hakuchan also cosplayed as Beetlejuice, Black Canary and Bella Swan from the Twilight series. But none of those outfits come close to topping the ultimate woman in science fiction.

1 STEAMPUNK LEIA

Last but definitely not least is this awesome steampunk version of Slave Leia. This cosplay comes courtesy of Eiraina Ladell, who specializes in creating steamy takes on Princess Leia, including a more traditional version from A New Hope. This steampunk Leia is by far the coolest, though. Just look at the detailed metal goggles with the wing-like design, bikini top with gears attached and the corset. It's so incredibly creative that we wish Disney would produce a steampunk Star Wars movie or animated series. Eiraina's cosplay makes a great case for it.

Eiraina has many other favorite cosplays. Her Daenerys Targaryen is spectacular, as are her Psylocke and Rey. She's also dressed up in several Star Trek outfits inspired by The Original Series, including an undoubtedly ill-fated red shirt and a science officer.

Which Leia cosplays have you seen that blew your mind? Let us know in the comments!