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Whereas Kenner opted for extra cloth to robe the Emperor's Royal Guards, when it came to the Emperor they opted for more plastic which made for a very chunky figure with legs as thick as tree trunks. Aside from this he's as grey, ashen and as creepy as you'd want Emperor Palpatine the Dark Lord of the Sith to be. The Emperor is a very tactile figure because of his chunkiness, but he's not very well articulated and crouched over his walking stick he is best suited to the procession with Vader when he lands on the Death Star. You need an awful lot of Stormtroopers, Imperial Commanders, Biker Scouts and Royal Guards etc. in order to pull off this scene with action figures though; something which was outside of most of our budgets back in 1983.

Palpatine spends much of his screen time seated on his throne and this figure is just not meant for sitting down. We had to wait for the Final Jedi Duel playset which came out as part of the Power of the Force series before we had a seated emperor with a throne.

Seen close up the facial detail on Palpatine is spectacular for such an old figure. It's just really hard to get a good photo of him as the hood shrouds his face. In particular the yellow of his eyes is very well done and when we compare this figure for instance to the 'teddy bear' button eyes of the Luke Skywalker X-Wing Pilot figure we can see just how far things had advanced over 6 years of Star Wars action figure production.

Find Vintage Palpatine (The Emperor) action figure on eBay

The cane shown in the photos is a reproduction (I will eventually get around to picking up an original one but it doesn’t feel like a priority).

After having spent the duration of Episodes IV and V in the shadows and barely even on our radar, the Emperor finally shows his face in The Return of the Jedi for the final showdown. Prior to this Darth Vader pretty much represents the might of the Empire and serves a role perhaps not dissimilar to the King's Hand in The Game of Thrones. In some ways the Prequel movies continue to represent Palpatine as a shadowy presence. Firstly, by hiding behind the benevolent, avuncular guise of the Senator for Naboo and secondly when (as Sidious) manipulating events as part of his master plan, using others to do his dirty work. To his disciples he usually only appears in holographic form, with the exception of the secret meeting with Dooku in a dark (and again shadowy) building at the end of The Attack of the Clones, or taking a short stroll with Darth Maul in The Phantom Menace. Then again, at the end of the third movie in the trilogy we get the big reveal when Palpatine having effectively gained control can come out as Sidious and unleash his full power and venom on his enemies in a throne room confrontation as he had done (will do) in The Return of the Jedi.

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All Star Wars action figures, vehicles, collectibles and Star Wars toys shown on this website are the 3.75 inch scale and from my own private Star Wars collection unless otherwise stated. Where possible original vintage accessories have been used but in some instances I have placed Kenner Star Wars figures with either reproduction weapons and accessories or for Hasbro figures close approximations have been used. This is mostly the case for modern Star Wars lightsabers where the correct item can be very difficult to identify on some ocassions. Vintage Star Wars action figures are shown with their original weapon or accessory when I have them. When a vintage Kenner action figure is shown with an accessory which is not original I have tried to point this out where possible.

All of the Star Wars action figures shown were purchased second hand, usually incomplete, and in bulk. They have been reunited with their original weapons and accessories where we could get hold of them.

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