 			_textField = new TextField();
 			setTextFieldProperties()
 			addChild(_textField);
-			
-			if(_format){
-				_textField.defaultTextFormat = _format;
+			if(!_format){
+				_format = new TextFormat("Arial", 12);
 			}
+			_textField.defaultTextFormat = _format;
 			if(_text){
 				_textField.text = _text
 			}

			// Set the _textField's text so that we can measure based on
			// the textWidths
			//
			if(!_textField) return;
			_textField.text = _text;
			if(isNaN(this._explicitWidth) && isNaN(this._percentWidth) && isNaN(_percentUnusedWidth))
			{

package org.openPyro.controls
{
	import flash.text.TextField;
	import flash.text.TextFormat;
	
	import org.openPyro.core.UIControl;
	import org.openPyro.utils.StringUtil;
	
	public class Label extends UIControl
	{
