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Emperor Palpatine - Star Wars
Sideshow Collectibles
"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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Last week, I had guest reviews
of the Palpatine figure and the throne from Sideshow Collectibles from
two different reviewes. Michael Padgett checked out the throne, and
tonight he's dong his own take on the figure. And yes, I know I already
used the final photo in his previous review, but I love it so much that
I used it again. Take it away, Michael!
Sideshow continues to have great success with their Star Wars
line. During the 30th Anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back,
we’re reviewing the figure of Emperor Palpatine, who was introduced in
ESB, but really fleshed out and came into his own in Return of the
Jedi. Emperor Palpatine is Darth Vader’s boss, the only guy
in the universe who gets to push the Man in Black around, so he gets
major badass points for that. In Episode III, he also went
toe to toe with Master Yoda and came out shiny, so we give His Majesty
double props for that feat. This is Sideshow’s third foray
into this character, previously seen in the Chancellor Palpatine /
Darth Sidious 2-Pack, which was very well-received. This
release is the classic ROTJ version. Let’s see how he stacks
up! I’m reviewing the exclusive version tonight, which came
with an extra “grimacing” head, which really makes the figure.
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Packaging
- ***
Emperor Palpatine comes in the standard, Lucasfilm-approved packaging
that has been seen for the past several years now. It’s a
solid, collector-friendly release, with well-rendered, if a bit dull,
graphics, and a good window-display for the figure and all his
accessories. Unlike previous releases, there is only one
window displaying everything in one section, instead of two windows,
one for the figure and one for the accessories. A second
window would have been a bit silly, considering how light he is on
extras. More on that later.
Sculpting
- ****
The standard “relaxed” head is very well sculpted and looks like the
character. All the requisite wrinkles and bumps are there,
and there’s a good bit of personality there, too. The Emperor
looks confident and very chill. At some angles, he does look
a bit kindly and a bit pensive, but we can see the effect they were
going for. It’s a perfectly good sculpt, and stands
shoulder-to-shoulder with some of the best sculpts Sideshow has
produced for this line.
The hands, likewise, are very well sculpted and unique to this
figure. He comes with two splayed out hands, presumably for
shooting some of his signature Sith Lightning, a right hand for holding
his cane, and a left “pointing” hand, which is a gesture The Emperor
used several times in ROTJ. If I have any complaints, it is
that the hands seem slightly over-sized.
The exclusive “grimacing” head is a real treasure, though.
Sideshow has a long tradition of throwing in exclusives that aren’t
absolutely integral to the figure, but are cool additions
nonetheless. However, occasionally they really go the extra
mile and throw something in that no figure should be without.
The extra head that comes with the exclusive edition of this figure is
absolutely vital, in my opinion.
While the regular head is well-sculpted and perfectly acceptable, the
grimacing head flares with personality! The enraged Emperor
is perfectly captured, with bared teeth and furrowed brow. As
of now, the excusive is still available via Sideshow’s site.
It is also worth noting that the neck, which is a separate piece, is
fully sculpted and painted as well, and really adds to the realism of
the figure.
Paint
-
***
The paintwork on The Emperor is even and clean, with a good wash to
bring out detail, and very well delineated eyes. No doll dot,
which many collectors will appreciate, as well.
However, I had to knock off a star for a couple of bad
decisions. First, the lips are painted a lot darker than what
is seen on screen. In fact, the Emperor does not appear to
have any lip color in the film, so the lipstick on the figure
definitely throws off the look. Second, Sideshow’s factory
has decided to add liver spots to the Emperor’s face and
hands. The spots look more like beauty marks, and also were
not part of the make-up seen on film.
The hands have excellent paint apps, with a good wash over the details,
and even a bit of paint applied to the veins to make them pop a
bit. That sounds gross, doesn’t it?
Outfit
- ***1/2
The Emperor is dressed very simply, in a style meant to mimic the
Jedi. He has a robe, sash, and hooded cloak. He
also has short black boots, the same ones as the ROTS 2-Pack.
The robe and sash are grey and well-tailored. The sleeves on
the robe go all the way to the wrists, a relief to those of us who did
not enjoy Darth Sidious’s sleeveless “frilly dress.”
The hooded cloak is likewise very well made, with an excellent choice
of material that reproduces the ribbed quality of the onscreen
counterpart. Both the hood and the long sleeves are lined as
well, which helps with the heft of the material and keeps backlight out.
The hood and sleeves are also wired for extra positioning, which is
very important to this character, as the shape of his hood absolutely
affects the realism of the likeness on this figure.
I knocked off ½ a star because, like the Darth Sidious figure, Emperor
Palpatine seems to be missing his trousers. While it does not
affect the presentation of the figure, in a collectible market where
many figures are starting to have undergarments as well as full
costumes, the missing trousers are even more of a glaring
omission.
The costume hangs very well from the Prometheus body.
Accessories
- *
Unfortunately, this is where
His Majesty really falls short. And I mean that
literally. Whereas the Darth Sidious 2-pack treated us to two
lightsabers (both lit and unlit versions), a Sith Holocron, a Cam
Droid, and (in the exclusive version), a miniature Sith Statue, The
Emperor comes with…. A cane.
The cane, in and of itself, is well sculpted and looks very much like
the movie version. However, it is far too short to be useful
to the figure. In the film, Palpatine’s cane was tall enough
that he could stand erect and still be bending his elbow to set the
cane on the floor. The Sideshow version is much too short for
this, and a lot of people will be swapping it out for the
less-accurate, but appropriately sized, Hasbro version.
Sideshow could have included The Emperor’s major weapon, Sith
Lightning, in this set. I fail to see how it looks any more
ridiculous than the plastic ignited lightsabers. Hasbor has
pulled off Sith Lightning well enough, and even Hot Toys managed to
make plastic electricity look good on their Whiplash figure, so there’s
no excuse for missing the boat there.
On a figure pushing $100, a too-short cane does NOT cut it.
Sideshow also released the Emperor’s Throne as a separate piece, and I
think it should have been the exclusive (akin to what they did with
Grand Admiral Thrawn) instead of the extra head, which many collectors
will be clamoring for.
Articulation
- ***
Sideshow is still battling the market with their Prometheus
body. It’s the second best body on the market, several steps
behind Hot Toys’ True-Type. Sideshow has shown pictures of an
improved Prometheus, but that was not used for this release.
He poses well enough, though the hips and ankles are still very loose,
and I worry about those wrist pegs. I try to just swap out
the hands onto the same two pegs, so that the second set of pegs can be
held in reserve should these pegs break, as they seem really close to
doing!
Value
- **1/2
As much as I’m enjoying him, I cannot ignore the price point versus
what’s in the box. And while what is in the box is of very
high quality, what is missing from the box (accessories, trousers) is
glaring enough for me to dock 1 ½ stars.
Things
to Watch Out For -
Be careful of the wrist pegs when switching out hands.
Overall
- ***
I’d love to give the Emperor 4 stars. He’s been my most
anticipated figure since Sideshow announced the line, and I am
definitely happy with him. The lack of accessories loses him
a star overall, but fans of The Dark Side and Star Wars in general
should be very happy with this very solid release.
Score Recap:
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - ****
Paint - ***
Costume – *** 1/2
Accessories - *
Articulation - ***
Value - ** 1/2
Overall - ***
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This product was purchased for the review by the reviewer.
Photos and text by Michael Padgett.
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