Emperor Palpatine - Ultimate Quarter Scale

Name: Emperor Palpatine

Homeworld: Naboo

Born: 82 BBY

Species: Human

Height: 1.78 meters

Affiliation: Galactic Empire

Perhaps the most powerful Sith Lord to ever exist, Emperor Palpatine used the dark side of the Force to manipulate an entire galaxy into serving him. Already the Chancellor of the Republic, Palpatine secretly manipulated the Confederacy of Independent Systems and used both groups to further expand his executive power and initiate the devastating Clone Wars. The resulting formation of the Galactic Empire provided Palpatine with all the power and military forces needed to rule the galaxy.

Highly skilled in the ways of the dark side, Palpatine adopted the name Darth Sidious and trained a number of apprentices including both Darth Maul and Darth Vader. His Force powers included the devastating Force lightning attack, hypnotic persuasion and the near unstoppable Force storm. Only Mace Windu was ever able to match Palpatine's extreme skill with a lightsaber, with Jedi Master Yoda managing to bring the Sith Lord to a draw.

With all of the Star Wars collectibles released to date, patterns have consistently shown that it’s easier to develop an better and more accurate likeness of a Star Wars character when it doesn’t have a human face. There are obviously exceptions to rules, but usually an alien or helmeted character typically ends up looking a whole lot better than those whose faces are not covered up or by nature alien. But even “human” characters can look pretty darn good if their onscreen counterpart is wearing a ton of makeup. Take Emperor Palpatine for instance. Diamond Select Toys developed and excellent version of the evil Sith Lord Emperor Palpatine based on his appearance in Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi. Always seeming to struggle with human likenesses, the Ultimate Quarter Scale line releases a most impressive version of Emperor Palpatine and we’re very happy to see the turnaround with this much success. If you love the evil Emperor Palpatine, then this large collectible is definitely for you. Coming with his walking cane and large robe with clasp, it’s one of the finest representations of this character to date. But we suppose you really need to like “big” collectibles otherwise this UQS figure won’t be of much good to you. Emperor Palpatine is the sixth release in this line and admittedly one of the finest.

The Ultimate Quarter Scale line has what we refer to as “awkward uniformity”. What we mean by this is that all characters regardless of true height in the films are the same exact height in the Ultimate Quarter Scale line. Obviously not true to scale, the figures in this line are more or less meant to be considered “one-offs” in the sense that they’re not meant to really interact with each other in a display setting. We really don’t mind this inconsistency. Developing different body heights would not be cost effective by any means and the $79.99 firm price tag would have been thrown out the window almost instantly. Emperor Palpatine can probably escape the scale issues easily since he isn’t noticeably too short or too tall when compared to the average height of most Star Wars characters. What Diamond Select Toys created is really a very nice interpretation of Emperor Palpatine. The costume is beautifully woven and has many layers (as this line is now famous for) and while the accessories are light, it’s just enough for us. The body buck DST developed isn’t the most perfect regarding its bodily proportions, but the sculpt has very tight joints and makes posing figures in this line relatively simple. Should you have trouble however, Emperor Palpatine comes with a display stand as well.

Now let’s talk about his head sculpt in detail. The sculptors at DST did a phenomenal job ensuring an accurate portrayal of Emperor Palpatine. It’s loaded with wrinkles and burn damage from his Force lightning that was deflected by Mace Windu (from Revenge Of The Sith). Diamond Select Toys didn’t hold back on the paint operations at all either. They used multiple colors to bring life into the excellent head sculpt and gave his eyes a stupendous paint job that locks in the coldness, anger and overt evilness that we witnessed in Episode VI. Upon careful inspection you’ll be able to see some gashes on the crown of his head. That’s what is so wonderful about owning Star Wars collectibles with removable layers. You wouldn’t be made aware of such details without something like this. Overall, it’s one of the nicest Emperor Palpatine likenesses we have ever seen. Original Trilogy purists will be happy to know that this is purely an Episode VI version of Emperor Palpatine. There are no Prequel Trilogy crossover accessories (like his lightsaber from Episode III) or anything else similar to that. This, quite frankly, is very nice to see since Hasbro has muddled the figures in their basic figure line to the point that it’s nearly impossible to source them anymore. Emperor Palpatine is one of the nicest Ultimate Quarter Scale figures yet. If you love the Sith, this one is for you!