The Vintage Collection
Wave 2
#12
Darth Sidious

Accessories
Darth Sidious is packaged with his lightsaber, Force lightning, and removable hood.

Look and Feel
This figure really delivers in some aspects and absolutely fails in others. Let me start with the likes. Sidious' head sculpt is really fantastic. It truly gives a great representation of Ian McDiarmid. Many people online are wishing his mouth was closed, but for me most of Sidious' lines in the senate were of him laughing which this sculpt fully fits. Going right along with the head I love the hood. This is probably the best hood that we have gotten for Sidious / Emperor in a long time. The only issue with the hood is that the felt vest pops it up now and again. It especially does this when you are moving his arms around. When I first got the figure I was ticked that the felt vest didn't completely cover the arms, but upon reviewing the scenes it is very clear that the vest almost never does this. So where does this figure fail? First of all the soft good cloak under the vest should be full length and it isn't. It is a skirt. On top of that if is supposed to separate in the center and it doesn't. This should have easily been seen and designed correctly. It kills the look for me and I might even create my own slit. The most epic fail of this figure is the Force lightning. I spent easily 10 to 15 minutes trying to get that thing to attach. The best I manage was a slight balancing act that you see in the photo above. If you want my honest opinion about this feature... throw it out when you get it and save yourself the aggravation. The only other issue I have with this figure is what I call the Michael test. My four year old son Michael rates figures on if they can hold a light saber with two hands. I spent several minutes trying to do this with no success.

Articulation
Darth Sidious has ball-hinged joints in the neck, shoulders, elbows, knees, and ankles. He has swivel joints in the wrists, waist, and hips.

Overall Reaction
I have given this figure some praise and I have also slammed this figure so what is my overall thought about buying him? All and all, I would buy him. He definitely has flaws, but compared to the other Darth Sidious figures he is a huge upgrade and Hasbro made a good attempt at the outfit. If you need to have movie accurate figures you might want to wait as I am sure this figure will see and upgrade in a couple of years.