Clone Emperor Palpatine - EU - Basic

Prepare to jump to lightspeed with Kenner's Expanded Universe, now offering the most memorable characters from Star Wars Dark Horse comics, Bantam novels, and LucasArts video games. Finally, the entire galaxy can be yours!

Six years after the destruction of the second Death Star, the galaxy is thrust into turmoil. A reborn evil threatens to enslave the galaxy, and the Republic's closest friend – Luke Skywalker – may become their greatest enemy...

With the power to transfer his consciousness to genetic clones, a younger, stronger Emperor Palpatine is perilously close to gaining total control of the galaxy forever.

After his unfortunate fate in Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi, it was probably a safe bet to believe none of us would see Emperor Palpatine again. That was wasn’t the case. We all got a revised “second chance” to see him thanks to a great Expanded Universe tale from Dark Horse Comics’ Star Wars: Dark Empire series. He appeared much younger, but Clone Emperor Palpatine was created from the DNA of the “real” Emperor Palpatine, but still wreaking havoc in the same fashion by conquering whatever parts of the galaxy he could. The first version of Emperor Palaptine without the hood, Clone Emperor Palpatine brings forth a fresh and new storyline to the Star Wars saga, and fans and collectors everywhere grabbed him as if there were no tomorrow. A decent action figure, Clone Emperor Palpatine comes with slightly more than standard articulation, a faithful likeness to the comics, and great packaging, which makes this release even more noteworthy than it already is. While the artwork of the Star Wars: Dark Empire comics was colorful, it wasn’t rich in detail. But Hasbro takes over where Dark Horse left off and gave the character dimension and specifics that just wasn’t culled from the comics. In short, the design is excellent.

While similarities indeed exist between the artwork in the comics and this action figure, it’s evident the designers at Kenner wanted to really do their own thing, and they succeeded in doing so. Clone Emperor Palpatine comes with seven points of articulation. The addition of a swivel left wrist puts this figure just a had ahead of most of its Expanded Universe counterparts. This extra joint is extremely helpful for lightsaber wielding. He comes with a clamshell like outer robes which are easily removable. Underneath is a detailed costume which highlights portions of the costume that just weren’t visible in the comics. Whatever liberties were taken with trying to create a believable character, we think it has worked beyond expectations. The detail in the head sculpt alone shows the sincerity the Kenner creators had to develop a high quality action figure that would hopefully stand the test of time. We think they’ve done a remarkable job. Aside from the simple articulation of the figure (which is really standard for Kenner figures now), we feel confident that this figure will hold up well throughout the ages.

One feature which Kenner missed is the blue “liver spots” detail. This was clearly seen in the comics, but then again, Clone Emperor Palpatine wasn’t wearing much in terms of clothing for these scenes. Obviously it’s hard to recreate that when the action figure is fully dressed. It may have been nice to perhaps design him without a shirt underneath of the robes just to prove they were fully paying attention. Aside from the removable outer robe shell, Clone Emperor Palpatine also comes with a fully lit blue lightsaber with black hilt. It's also nicely designed and complements the figure very well. The best part of the Expanded Universe figures however is the packaging. If you’re brave enough to take a pair of scissors to it, it opens up into a beautiful “pop-up” 3D diorama which displays a colorful and interesting scene from the comics. This pack-in premium is a blissful aspect of collecting this line, and shows that Kenner is committed to the collector. We couldn’t ask for a more special addition here than this. Clone Emperor Palpatine is a highlight in the Expanded Universe line. We’d love to see the Dark Empire line of figures continue indefinitely. There is a great deal of material to bring to the basic figure line.