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Emporer Palpatine
Sideshow - Star Wars
"The
following is a guest review. The review
and photos do not necessarily reflect the opinions of Michael Crawford
or Michael's Review of the Week, and are the opinion and work of the
guest author."
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Ryan is taking a look at the
new Palpatine from Sideshow - take it away, Ryan!
Another big thanks to the Captain….
Tonight we head over to the dark side to have a look at one of its
all-time most powerful and sinister masters of the force. That’s right,
Palpatine himself. Sideshow gave him the special treatment awhile back,
treating fans to a prequel version of him in a two-figure set that did
him some serious justice. But I’d say that many were like me and still
waited with eager anticipation for Sideshow to give us a classic ROTJ
version of Vader’s boss. Finally, we were treated to one when preorders
for this guy opened up back in December. It’s been a long wait from
there, but he’s finally started shipping as of this past week.
Palpatine, though not everyone’s favorite SW saga character—or favorite
Sith Lord for that matter, with Vader and Maul hogging most of the fan
glory—certainly deserves mad props for being the mastermind that was
able to gain control over the entire universe through a process of
patient and clever manipulation that would make Satan himself jealous.
As usual, S.S. released a regular and exclusive version of this figure,
with the regular going at $90 and the exclusive at $95. Yeah, they’re
getting a bit greedy on us, charging more for the extra accessory
whereas it used to be the same price for both, giving the early birds a
special treat that the procrastinators lost out on. Here, I’d say the
extra five bucks is justified ‘cause Palps gets a whole extra head, but
I’ve noticed it’s starting to become that way with all exclusives
regardless of the size or significance of the extra item. Oh, well.
Anyways, I’ll be reviewing the exclusive tonight, which sold out at a
staggering 5-10 minutes after priority preorders opened. But if you
missed him the first time, don’t despair—he’s currently back in stock!
I’d go for it, since that extra head is really worth it, allowing you
to alternate between calm, manipulative Palpatine and
severely-pissed-off Palpatine. I’ve waited a long time for this figure
to show up; was it worth it? Let the scrutiny begin…
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Packaging
- ***1/2
We’ve seen it all before. Not an aesthetic phenomenon, but does the job
and does it well. The cover flap held closed by magnets, a single tray
for the figure/accessories, and plenty of info of the character. Worked
great before, and still does.
Sculpting
- ****
Beautifully grotesque. The regular head has a calm expression
that works for almost any pose. On the exclusive head, we get a more
extreme expression, as Palpatine is ready to make Luke pay the price
for his lack of vision (the goofy expression they put on Jedi Luke
actually kind of works here if you want to recreate the
death-by-Sith-lightning scene). Both heads capture Palpatine’s likeness
perfectly, not leaving out a single line or wrinkle. Sideshow’s head
sculpts—for the most part—are getting better and better, and Palpatine
is no exception. It’s hard to tell from the pictures—this guy is hard
to photograph—but the sculpting on both heads and pairs of hands really
do make him seem lifelike. The flash of the camera makes his face look
TOO white, whereas pics without flash tend to come out more blurry, but
I’m showing pictures both with and without flash to try and show as
best I can how real this thing looks.
Paint
-
***1/2
Of course, even perfect sculpting can’t make a figure appear lifelike
if it’s covered by a horrible paint job. Fortunately, that’s not the
case here. Like with the sculpting, the attention to detail here is
profound. There’s not a whole lot of paint needed on this figure, but
what little is needed was executed perfectly, with all the subtleties
in the hair and skin tone showing up on the head(s) and hands. The
right eye on the regular head looks *slightly* off-center to me (at
first I wondered if that was intentional, if maybe Palps really did
have a lazy eye, but I pulled up some photos of him and it doesn’t look
like he did, so I have to assume it wasn’t intentional), and both eyes
in general just don’t look as authentic as the face and hands. The eyes
on the exclusive head are better though, and they do look more real
than those on the regular head, probably due to the lack of the lazy
right eye. The eyes on the regular head would look better if they were
slightly narrower I think, but once again, that’s just a minor nit.
Overall, the paint job is near perfect, and if not for the minor issues
on the eyes, would have nailed a full score.
Articulation
- ***1/2
The articulation is near-perfect on this figure, with smooth, tight
joints and great poseability. Palpatine isn’t really an active or agile
guy in his older ROTJ days, so you’re probably not gonna try to display
him doing cartwheels or anything, but it’s nice to have a
well-articulated body nevertheless, and at this price point, we have a
right to expect it. The Buck days are long gone, and with Palps, we get
the Pro (good thing too…if I paid $95 bucks for a figure that was on
that old body, I’d be pissed). This is another area where Sideshow has
come a long way in recent years. On many of my older SS-SW figures,
I’ve had to get a knife or file and hollow out the holes in the hands
so they would fit on those stupid little pegs at the wrists. Not a
problem here, as we get wrist pegs (not unlike those used by Hot Toys)
that actually come attached to the hands, and so all you have to do is
insert the pegs into little holes at the end of the arms, making the
hands incredibly easy to remove and replace. Unlike the Buck body, the
Pro gives us rotatable wrists rather than cut ones, so you can move the
hands in virtually any position. Replacing the head on the
exclusive can be a little more tricky than replacing the hands, since
the first time I took the regular head off, the neck peg popped out
with it, making me have to place it back in the hole and try ‘er again,
trying to work the head loose while leaving the peg in place. It was
easy once I got used to it.
Ok, so why not a perfect score? Welp, I’ve got two issues: the range of
motion on the head/neck, and the loose ankles. The head moves up and
down a little bit (moving further down than up), but not as much as it
could or should. If you want Palps to look up at Vader, you’re out of
luck. The head on the Vader doesn’t really look down either, so visual
contact is out of the question, I reckon. My bigger problem is the
loose ankles. Because of this, I had a semi-difficult time getting
Palps to stand on his own, and at $95, I shouldn’t have a
semi-difficult time with anything on this figure. I kept having to make
the feet point forward because they kept wanting to spin around in the
other direction, and with the feet being covered up by the robes, you
can imagine how fun that is to deal with. Fortunately, my Jedi reflexes
enabled me to catch Palpatine once as he started to plummet to the
floor while I was trying to photograph him. For the most part, however,
I’m not too worried about him standing on his own since I prefer to
display him sitting in his chair, but if you want to display him
standing up, you might need that display stand if you plan on placing
him at a high altitude.
Accessories
- Exclusive ** ½; Regular **
As far as this section goes,
I’m not a happy camper. Palps gets his cane, an extra pair of
hands, and a display stand. And of course, the exclusive gets the extra
head. I hate to say it, but if you got the regular version,
you pretty much got stiffed. The cane, the only real “accessory” that
he gets, is about a half inch too short. If you put it in his hand, it
doesn’t reach the floor, not even with his arm fully extended downward.
It comes down to about his ankle. The extra hands, a gripping hand for
the cane and a hand with a pointing index finger, are well painted and
sculpted, and are pretty much all he needs, though I would have loved
to have seen a pair of hands with lightning bolts sculpted onto the
fingertips. They could have also given him Luke’s unlit lightsaber that
he holds on to at the beginning of their little discussion (I included
the Jedi Luke figure’s unlit saber in the photo), or the handcuffs that
he makes fall off Luke’s hands. The exclusive head is certainly a big
plus even at $5 extra, but I’d have been much happier if both versions
came with it while the exclusive version had an extra pair of hands
with lightning bolts. Heck, even if the cane had been longer, I could
possibly see my way to giving a half star more in this category. But at
this kind of price, we ought to expect more than we’re getting here.
Outfit
- ***1/2
Adjustable hood: good idea. Adjustable sleeves: bad idea. The edges of
both hood and sleeves have the small wire running through them,
allowing you to adjust them however need be. For the hood, this works
great, and looks better than many of the robes on past Sideshow SW
figures. The hood is the right size and easy to adjust, which
hasn’t always been the case with this line. The sleeve ends, however,
are a pain, and do not hang well. They look big and awkward, and while
you can eventually adjust them to a position that looks good, it takes
awhile to do. It would have been better, I think, if they kept the
wires out, allowing the sleeves to hang naturally.
Aside from this issue, the outfit is spectacular. The robe looks great
and—with the exception of the sleeves, hangs well on the
body. The robe is held by a clasp that works and looks great,
and underneath the robe is a tunic held in place with a loosely-tied
sash. The boots, hidden by the robe, are made with a soft
rubbery material and look fine, though I’m not sure that matters since
you can’t really see them.
Value
- Exclusive **; Regular -* ½
At $95 for the exclusive and $90 for the regular, this is not a cheap
figure. I gave the exclusive a better value score because,
while I wish they wouldn’t start charging more for figures with
exclusive items, the extra head is actually worth the $5 difference,
and then some. It’s still below an average value, though, and
while you (probably) won’t feel ripped off getting the exclusive,
you’ll still feel the pinch, and you certainly won’t come out of the
transaction feeling like Donald Trump.
$90 for the regular, however, is straight-up ridiculous. Without that
extra head as an accessory, this is a $60 figure tops. People seem to
realize this, though, since as far as I know the regular version never
sold out. There are probably other places you can get it cheaper, and I
can see this guy going down to $60 or $70 (or less) on ebay before
long. If you’re gonna get the regular version, I’d go that route.
Throne
Environment - ***
I’m giving the imperial throne environment its own little category
instead of a full-on review (I don’t think it warrants one), and this
will not affect Palpatine’s overall score one way or the other.
This is well-sculpted and painted, and is scaled in the perfect size,
but will cost you anywhere from $120 to $140. Sideshow has it at $140,
but I cancelled my preorder when I found it at another site for
preorder at $126. $140 is beyond ridiculous, and anything $120 or above
is still pushing it. At less than $120, I’d give this thing a half star
extra. One thing that surprised me was how heavy it is, and I can
assure you that it feels just as authentic as it looks. My only
problem—aside from the price—is that mine wobbles a bit at the swivel.
The swivel works fine—Palpatine can easily spin himself around and
around with complete ease when he gets bored—but it wobbles just enough
to get on my nerves, especially when I’m reminded of how much it
cost. Furthermore, truth be told, this is simply a chair, not
an “environment.” A cardboard picture of the window and view of space
behind the throne in the film to place behind the chair (like the
background that came with the Hot Toys Godfather) would have made it an
environment, and a good one at that. Yeah, the chair’s great to have,
but it’s not an “environment,” and it’s not $140 worth of quality.
Fun
Factor - ***
Kids wouldn’t have as much fun playing with a wrinkly old guy with a
short cane as they would with Vader, but I assume that you’ll utilize
some common sense and not let them play with either one. He’s
still agile and durable enough to make a good toy, given that you’re
mentally destitute and saw fit to allow them to play with a $90/$95
toy.
Overall
- Exclusive *** ½; Regular ***
This is a great figure, but overpriced. Sure, you get your money’s
worth as far as the sculpt and paint, creating a staggering likeness to
the hideous and deformed Emperor. But that alone does not justify the
price. At this price range, I’d definitely like to see more
accessories, or at least see them not screw up the main accessory that
the figure DOES have. I’m scoring the exclusive a half star
higher because the exclusive head is simply wonderful, and will make
you feel not nearly as bad about the money you’re spending. Palpatine
and his chair together make a wonderful display that’s sure
to trip out any Star Wars fan, but the minor issues with the outfit,
articulation, and eye paint on the regular head combined with the
jacked up price are enough to hold this figure back from perfection.
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This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer.
Photos and text by Ryan Kelly.
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