My review of the Palpatine/Sidious two pack

It's a late one tonight, but I wasn't about to miss an update. My Sideshow Senator Palpatine/Darth Sidious two pack hit the doorstop today, and I spent as much time as I could tonight putting together my review. I'm extremely happy with how these turned out, even if they aren't everyone's favorite characters. They might be prequel, but you can't overlook the excellent quality of the sculpt, paint, outfits and accessories.

You can find all the reviews at the usual:

https://www.mwctoys.com

Thanks for reading!

Michael
MWC

I agree with pretty much everything you said. This is a great set!

I don't think you can get much closer to the real thing than they have done with Palpatine.

Great review as always.! Thanks!

"I don't ever recall seeing Palpatine with a lightsaber (that would have given away his hidden Sith personality), but it's nice to have them for display purposes, and I'm assuming we saw it at some point and I'm just blanking on it."

palpy held a lightsaber when Mace and the gang arrived to arrest him. pulled it out of his sleeve.

typo:

The Sidious sculpt is great as well, although there are a few issues that make it not quite as dead on for me. I think it's the hair, which we didn't get a terrific look at in the film, but which seems too full and thick here. That's probably because we say his full head better in the OT, when he was much older. He also doesn't seem quite as pruned up as he seemed in the film particularly in the face.

I felt the same way about his face,it just doesn't seem pruned up enough.

Great review as always Micheal. Sideshow's head sculpt does seems to be improving with every new figure coming out. Make sure to maintain the paint apps quality tho as that's one of the main killer for the sculpt Keep up the good work Sideshow.

Wow, I just love the hooded palpatine pic in Micheal's review great stuff

Great review and I actually feel the same way, Palps is just a bit better than Sidious. And starting out from the prototypes Sidious looked like the stronger figure?!?

I did notice a typo (I know you were rushed today) that has the exclusive edition size at 200, should be 2000.

Also, check you Palpatine hands... I thought they were the same on mine, but after a lot of scrutiny I noticed one hand had the pointer finger higher than the others, and the other it was the index finger. Hardly worth the trouble, but there you have it

Good review Michael, I agree with most of the points. I think the only bad thing on this figure set is the gold paint on Palpatine's sabers bleeding the silver through.

darthCipan said:

Great review as always Micheal. Sideshow's head sculpt does seems to be improving with every new figure coming out. Make sure to maintain the paint apps quality tho as that's one of the main killer for the sculpt Keep up the good work Sideshow.

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I wouldn't say SS headsculpts are improving. They've put out some killer sculpts in other figures lines even before SW. Their Universal Monster ones are untouchable and same for all the F13 Jason. Like all companies, some are hit out of the park, some don't.

EVILFACE said:

I wouldn't say SS headsculpts are improving. They've put out some killer sculpts in other figures lines even before SW. Their Universal Monster ones are untouchable and same for all the F13 Jason. Like all companies, some are hit out of the park, some don't.

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I haven't seen the universal monsters and F13 in hand yet, but I'll take your word for it Evilface

I believe the paint really does kill a good sculpt as what happen to Anakin IMO. After sending for a repaint, It does brings out more of hayden's look on that figure. With paint apps like the new ANH obi wan and palpatine, I'm for one will not complain :chew

I do think for the most part its the paint that has been inconsistent. A lot of even the most complained about figures have looked pretty awesome with a talented customizers work. I've seen some great Han and Aragorn figures, but of which had bad paint work.

Not to mention faramir and his shiny paint

Yeah, there have been some stellar repaints of him.

Great review as usual

and just to be piccy theres a typo

says dad instead of add

Well Michael you did your job, I was gonna pass on these but now I HAVE to get them. Palps looks great, very strong sculpt, and Sidious with the hood up is great, those last two pics make him look amazing.

great review !!!!

Great review and pictures as usual!

My only nit? It's not "Senator Palpatine". It's "Chancellor Palpatine".

galactiboy said:

Great review and I actually feel the same way, Palps is just a bit better than Sidious. And starting out from the prototypes Sidious looked like the stronger figure?!?

I did notice a typo (I know you were rushed today) that has the exclusive edition size at 200, should be 2000.

Also, check you Palpatine hands... I thought they were the same on mine, but after a lot of scrutiny I noticed one hand had the pointer finger higher than the others, and the other it was the index finger. Hardly worth the trouble, but there you have it

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Yea, I bet there are quite a few typos. Thanks for letting me know though, as I'll go in and correct it today.

Some folks here have done reviews like this, and they can appreciate that from the time I opened the box from the PO to the time that review was finished was about 90 minutes. Writing it, editing it, shooting the photos, editing the photos, putting it together...90 minutes. I don't like doing reviews that fast, but sometimes the constraints of life require it. I think it still turned out pretty accurate, albeit with a tad more typos than I like.

EVILFACE said:

Good review Michael, I agree with most of the points. I think the only bad thing on this figure set is the gold paint on Palpatine's sabers bleeding the silver through.



I wouldn't say SS headsculpts are improving. They've put out some killer sculpts in other figures lines even before SW. Their Universal Monster ones are untouchable and same for all the F13 Jason. Like all companies, some are hit out of the park, some don't.

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My personal point isn't that they are improving, but that the consistency is getting better. It's one thing to have an outstanding head sculpt once every third figure, and another to have one 80 or 90% of the time. With three in a row for 2008 that are excellent, I have high hopes that SS will give us more consistent winners all year.

Michael Crawford said:

Some folks here have done reviews like this, and they can appreciate that from the time I opened the box from the PO to the time that review was finished was about 90 minutes. Writing it, editing it, shooting the photos, editing the photos, putting it together...90 minutes. I don't like doing reviews that fast, but sometimes the constraints of life require it. I think it still turned out pretty accurate, albeit with a tad fewer typos than I like.

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I've said it before and I'll say it again, any one who has a family, day-job and still manages FOUR reviews a week, well, they get my vote!

Great review, as always! I particularly love the picture of Sidious hooded in the background behind Palpatine in the foreground. This might make for a cool display idea!

Good review, Michael.