Holographic Emperor Palpatine - ROTS - Basic (Exclusive)

A scheming, cold and calculating Sith Lord, Emperor Palpatine rises to power and all but eliminates the Jedi Knights. His pupil, Darth Vader, communicates with his master via holographic image transmissions. Together, they strive to crush anyone who stands in the way of their new Galactic Empire.

Who can forget the moment in Revenge Of The Sith when Darth Sidious executes Order 66 and the Republic as we’d known it in Episode I and II becomes the Galactic Empire? It was a very exciting scene to say the very least. The clones became the Jedi’s enemy with one direct order and the fate of the universe was forever changed. We have seen Darth Sidious multiple times throughout the various Star Wars sources in holographic form. Our first glimpse of him was in Star Wars Episode V: The Empire Strikes Back. (Hasbro even developed an action figure of this particular iteration in The Original Trilogy Colleciton.) And then we continued to see more of him in this digital format in the Prequel Trilogy. In Episode III, Clone Commander Cody actually holds the hologram of Darth Sidious in his hand as he is given the direct command to execute Order 66. And then again we see Emperor Palpatine christen Anakin Skywalker as Darth Vader (in which they both appear in holographic format) when Obi-Wan Kenobi and Yoda look at the Jedi Temple recording to try to piece together why the clones attacked the Republic and its democracy.

So Hasbro thought it would make a great exclusive to release Holographic Emperor Palpatine as a Toys R Us exclusive to celebrate Revenge Of The Sith as the final Star Wars film of all time. Not too many people got that excited over it, but just like so many of the other “holographic” figures released throughout the years, it served a purpose to collections as a screen accurate presentation of Emperor Palpatine. And collectors always want screen accuracy portrayed in the basic figure line up. Holographic Emperor Palpatine isn’t certainly anything special. Hasbro took 2005’s ROTS Emperor Palpatine (III 12) and cast it in purple translucent plastic. What’s funny about this figure is that they even carried forward the action figure. There is a glaring spring in Emperor Palpatine’s right arm that just simply can’t be hidden due to the “see through” properties of translucent material. And it appears that Hasbro wanted the action figures here because they even included all of the projectiles with it, also cast in the same purple plastic. So with Emperor Palpatine you also get a Force lightning projectile, a Force push projectile and Darth Sidious’ lightsaber.

Just like the Holographic Yoda (Kashyyyk Transmission) figure released at the beginning of the Revenge Of The Sith line, Holographic Emperor Palpatine was also FREE with a $30 or more purchase on Hasbro related Star Wars toys. And again, once the promotion was over Holographic Emperor Palpatine was sold for $9.99 each. If you weren’t fortunate enough to get this figure for no cost, we have to admit it isn’t worth the $9.99 price tag. These particular holographic figures are boring and they pale in comparison to the new glittery versions cats in light blue plastic that started with Aayla Secura (III 67) and Plo Koon (III 66). It’s a shame that there isn’t a really fantastic sculpt of Emperor Palpatine in any Star Wars toy lineup to date because we really needed a solid sculpt to be utilized to make a great holographic version of him. Besides, we want to see Emperor Palpatine produced with the new convention Hasbro created since it looks so much more realistic and authentic. Holographic Emperor Palpatine is good in the sense that it celebrates a major event, the final Star Wars film, but be forewarned that it really will do nothing special for your Star Wars collection. It’s just too boring.