I figured that this blog probably needs an action figure review back at some point so I'm gonna dig into a Star Wars 3.75" figure set I received some months back. The set in question is the Celebrate The Saga: Sith pack which came out as part of the 6-pack celebratory/commemorative editions of the...err....Celebrate The Saga (CTS) line.
When I say "line", it actually meant that Hasbro was done with the 5-POAs and the CTS packs were meant to be the swansong of the limited articulation figure line. So we're probably gonna see MORE of The Vintage Collection figures from now on...right? Maybe. That's a question for another day.
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So let's back to the Sith pack. For the record I only wanted this set for that sweet as pie Emperor Palpatine figure. I previously missed out on the Emperor from The Last Jedi line (red fonts logo) so this one was a must for my diorama scenes.
Price wise, this one is a no brainer considering that the five figures costs me no higher than one Black Series figure. For the uninitiated, I've recently pulled the handbrakes on Black Series, but I do get sucked into getting the ones I really really want from time to time.
I've been religiously using the previously released TVC versions but neither was good enough in my books because I constantly have to meddle with their soft goods for the perfect pose. Having said that, I don't mind getting TC-4, that red protocol droid belonging to the Supreme Chancellor and later the Emperor himself. I have also failed to get him when he was first released in the early 2000s.
The other three (3) figures weren't too shabby either. In fact Darth Vader here has made an appearance in some of my recent Star Wars photography. I needed him to stand still and that's just what he did.
Palpy came with two sets of interchangeable hands, his trusty walking stick and two force lightning effects which came attached to the second set of hands. Not sure if that TLJ version has this much accessories. All I know now (courtesy of a close up done by a fellow toy photographer) is that the TLJ version's face sculpt isn't as realistic as this new one. You'll soon see why afterwards.
That face sculpt...man. This one was also a product of the face scanning method used by Hasbro as of late for all/most of its action figures. It is now eerily looking like a shrunken Ian McDarmid. This figure is totally a near perfect rendition of the character but he'll soon have problems if you're thinking of sitting him down on that POTF Death Star Throne Room chair....
But wait, Hasbro has heard ya and soon youse wanting a sitting down Emperor Palpatine can get him through Pulsecon (sometime later September). For non-US/Canada collectors such as myself, we'd be resorting to collector toy stores to bring this over to our shores. Fingers crossed that it won't balloon over (much) from that $31.99 price tag.
This upcoming Emperor figure has soft goods (ugh!) and his mug is a wee bit different from the Sith pack version (he's seen as smiling so you can replicate that "gooooood.....gooooood" moment from Return of the Jedi. I'd want this for that throne room chair! What an improvement from the POTF version.
I suspect that most 'box collectors' would want this solely for the vintage packaging. Who doesn't?
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