Review: Palpatine

[ResIpsaLoquitur]

I just got my copy of DK's Lego Star Wars: The Dark Side and noticed that there hasn't been much commentary here on the figure. So, here's Palpatine.

Ta-da! Lego Star Wars: The Dark Side retails for $16.99 US, but you can get it for $10.70 on Amazon USA. I'm not going to spend any time on the book--it's written for kids and has lots of little factoids on the Sith, including profiles on notable darksiders including Palpatine, Maul, Dooku, Ventress, Jek-14, Galen Marek, and Vader. I'd say a third of the book is spent on Vader, and there's many "silly" bits like Vader's personal photo album. I don't think it's a worthwhile read for an AFOL--more "serious" books would be the Visual Dictionary or the Character Encyclopedia. However, I have a kid, so she's more than happy to read the silly bits in the book. Anyway, you bought this book for the figure, so let's get back to that.

Palpatine comes in five pieces: legs, torso, head, cape, and hood. There's no accessories included, such as a lightsaber or staff. It's just Palpy. It's a little disappointing that an accessory can't be included. Notable features: this is the first Palpatine with tan skin, probably trying to get a closer approximation to his appearance in Return of the Jedi. It's also the first ROTJ Palpatine with leg printing.

Palpy actually has the same skin tone as LOTR's Grima Wormtongue, so this isn't the first. And hey, their appearances are actually a little similar. Could Palpatine be an older relative, or even an older version of the same guy? ...nah. (Although Dooku and Saruman have a striking similarity, don't they?)

There's nothing special on the back, which makes sense since Palpy was always robed in ROTJ. However, he does come with a two-sided head. One side is grunting, while the other is a little more smiley. I'm not sure that either really captures Ian McDiarmid's expressions from the films (a sarcastic "Oh, I'm afraid the deflector shield will be quite operational..." version would have been fun). But hey, it's Lego--they're obviously going for cute rather than film-accurate.

I actually would have liked to have seen Palpy in a printed skirt piece since it's done so often with female figures. To the best of my knowledge, only Saruman has gotten the male-skirt feature. Here's what Palpatine would look like on a sloped piece, though obviously, this lacks the leg printing. I get why it's done this way--a skirt seriously reduces the figure's playability. Still, I wish we'd have the option.

Overall, I like this figure, minus the shortcomings of no accessory and no skirt (which people may want to debate). I think the tan looks better than the grey Palpatines we've been getting since 2005. The robe details are a little different than the prior two ROTJ Palpatines--not better or worse, just different. I think his neck clasp is a little more visible on this figure.

Is this the right figure to include in this book? Obviously, you want a darksider to go in here, and one unique from what appears in the playsets. I saw some grumbling that the robed Palpatine from Revenge of the Sith isn't in here, and that is annoying since we've never gotten him in a set (unless Lego ever gets around to doing a Senate Duel set with him, Yoda, and a Senate pod.) The only other figure that could have worked would be a Vader with Luke's head under the helmet, but wouldn't we want a unique mold of Vader's helmet cracked open? Lego wouldn't waste a mold on a book-exclusive figure. I guess this version of Palpy is the best we could hope for. He's really not bad, and if you can get the book on sale, then it's not a bad price for the figure.

For fun, here's all the book-exclusive figures we've gotten so far (except for the one from The Yoda Chronicles, which I never got). For fun, I'm throwing in the two movie-exclusive figures.

From left to right, top to bottom: "Employee of the Month" Vader (The Empire Strikes Out film); Young Han Solo (The Padawan Menace film), Stormtrooper (Minifigures Year by Year), Ceremonial Han Solo (Character Encyclopedia), Palpatine (The Dark Side), Classic Luke Skywalker (2014 Visual Dictionary), Ceremonial Luke Skywalker (2008 Visual Dictionary).

Verdict: Buy it, but supply your own staff or lightsaber.

Edited September 25, 2014 by ResIpsaLoquitur

[Gremer]

Huh, I thought it was supposed to represent post-transformation in ROTS.

Nice review, anyway. I've already decided to get the book.

[HawkLord]

Great review and pics! Definitely worth grabbing at that price on amazon.

[Godtshep]

Great review! Must get this at some point.

[AndyRiley8]

If you're in the UK, the book people are selling this for just £5. It's worth that for the figure alone in my opinion