Emperor, The - TVC - Basic (VC200)

It’s nearly impossible to process that Hasbro took shy of four decades to give The Vintage Collection collecting community a modern counterpart of 1983’s ROTJ The Emperor figure in Kenner-styled packaging. But that’s what transpired. And after the final film in the Disney Star Wars Sequel Trilogy featured the return of Sheev Palpatine, We harped on Hasbro to get out multiple figures in The Vintage Collection, both from the Original Trilogy and Sequel Trilogy, out to collectors since the iron strike was still hot. They didn’t come through for us in a timely fashion, but they did help us all out. The Emperor, NOT Emperor Palpatine, is now officially VC200 in the long-running The Vintage Collection problem. Dare we start with the critique that it’s a slight disappointment while being the most significant addition to the line to date? We know that is an oxymoron wrapped in a paradox, but it might be the perfect description of this action figure. We were confident that Hasbro would go all out for an all-new The Emperor 3.75-inch action figure. But would you believe that it’s 90% of 2012’s TVC Darth Sidious (VC79) figure? We expected some reuse of parts, but indeed not the “entire” figure. The fact is that the 2021 TVC The Emperor (VC200) figure is a 2012 figure, and 50% of the 2012 tooling dates back to the 2005 Revenge Of The Sith line. And Hasbro made us wait almost 40 years for this? It’s ironic.

That said, the old tooling works exceptionally well for The Emperor Hasbro action figure. Yes, this is a figure Hasbro should have created for the community, minimally, a decade and a half ago, but this figure is better arriving late than not at all. And the final figure looks glorious, both in and out of its packaging. We doubt you’ll find room to complain about it. And if you do, we’d accuse you of being a little too petty. If Hasbro masters tooling, no matter how old it is, there is technically nothing wrong with using it again. If they’re reissuing The Vintage Collection’s greatest hits in its second run, then there is no reason they can’t modify tooling to create never-before-released action figures either. The Emperor, despite its limitations, is a triumph in The Vintage Collection lineup. We can’t express what joy it elicits in your soul to have this character part of The Vintage Collection lineup finally and be able to check it off of our The Ninety Six checklist. Hasbro did a fine job converting a Prequel Trilogy version of Darth Sidious into an Original Trilogy version of Emperor Palpatine. They tooled a new lower robe and outer robe and then tooled an all-new head sculpt and belt. They also reused the two interchangeable hands with Force lightning from the Star Wars [The Last Jedi] figure. But as far as articulation is concerned, don’t look for any swivel hips or ball-jointed hips or ball-joints wrists or “rocker” ankles. They aren’t here.

We’re a bit disappointed that Hasbro didn’t opt for a more agnostic expression on the figure’s face. Based on the open mouth and sneering eyes, this represents The Emperor as he decides to kill Luke Skywalker with Sith lightning before Darth Vader saves Luke and throws The Emperor down the Death Star’s shaft. The wide, gaping mouth is borderline distracting. And it’s challenging to consider how you will use this figure in all of your displays when it’s so scene-specific. It’s an excellent portrait, and the Photo Real looks fantastic, but it leaves limited options for collectors. One last area we’d like to critique is the color of The Emperor. The on-screen character has gray and ashen skin. By comparison, this figure has a nice suntan. It’s noticeable and distracting, unfortunately. But, the sculpting is excellent, so you might be able to overlook the miscolored skin tone. The Emperor also comes with the signature cane. It is well-designed and fits the figure’s hands well, albeit a little too loosely, but it’s a required addition for an Original trilogy Emperor Palpatine action figure, so we’re glad to see it included here. When we look back at Kenner and Hasbro’s quarter of a century run with the modern Star Wars action figure line, they gave us more than a half-dozen versions throughout the years. Each figure came with its unique set of problems. The 2021 TVC The Emperor (VC200) isn’t perfect, but you won’t care, and you’ll consider it an ideal addition to your modern Star Wars collection. We guarantee this.