Darth Sidious - TVC - Basic (VC79)

Added: January 2nd 2012
Category: Vintage Collection, The
Reviewer: Paul Harrison
Score:

Name: Darth Sidious
Collection: The Vintage Collection
Number: VC79
Source: The Phantom Menace
Availability: January 2012
License: Hasbro

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Don’t you just love it when Hasbro kit-bashes a figure so well that it looks altogether like a brand new figure? That’s totally what can be said of The Vintage Collection’s Darth Sidious (VC79) figure, a figure that led us to initially believe was all-new but come to find out is mostly rehashed.... but in a good way. This interpretation of Darth Sidious is absolutely incredible. All of the mystery surrounding his character is well-protected thanks to excellent tailoring of his soft-goods robe and a hood that hides his face except for his unmistakable profile. But most importantly, it’s a figure that satisfies the definitive requirement for our Episode I Darth Sidious. As a bonus, it also gives an entirely new Expanded Universe take on the character when you remove the hood and robe. Think “Count Dooku meets Jedi Knight” and this is what you’ll find underneath his soft-goods robe. It opens a new and very large can of worms about the background of Darth Sidious while still incorporating the elements necessary to source him from Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace. By now you’re probably wondering about the specifics of how this action figure was kit-bashed. We’ll get there, but does it really matter? This figure proves that when a great sculpt is created, it can be slightly altered and used again and again without tiring repetition. And this is a wonderful thing since it saves money for Hasbro and still brings the collector premium articulation and sculpting at the same time. Darth Sidious is the definitive Episode I take of this character. But we’ll bet that most of you are going to have more fun with this figure when he’s not wearing his hood or robe.

As stated, Darth Sidious is a kit-bashed figure. His legs and cod section come from a not too distant relative, 2010’s TVC Darth Sidious (VC12) figure. He also utilizes the arms from the figure in 2005’s ROTS The Sith Evolutions set. His head sculpt is all-new and we’re pretty certain that his torso is all-new too, but something about it looks a little too familiar to us. (We’ll update this if we find it was borrowed from another figure.) Darth Sidious’ head sculpt is perfection. It is done so well that we hope that Hasbro uses it for multiple Chancellor Palpatine action figures (from across all of the Prequel Trilogy). His skirt is a combination of plastic and soft-goods, and the same soft-goods used in the skirt has been used to make the outer robe. The outer robe is receiving some early criticism, but we think it looks fantastic. It may be slightly bulky looking, but it still looks fitted against the figure’s body and creates a clean silhouette. And the hood is the icing on the cake and does wonders for the actual posturing of the head and puts it at that perfect angle as to not give away his true identity. It’s as perfect as we’ll get. Hasbro has etched a ribbed texture into it and it looks just like what was seen in the film. Darth Sidious also comes with a fully lit lightsaber in addition to a lightsaber hilt, something that has become a mainstay for figures in the basic figure line that carry this civilized weapon. As a whole, Darth Sidious rocks the house big time and we don’t think it will ever need a revisit again. (Just pull out that 1999 figure and compare the two. It’s almost laughable what we thought was “good” for the time.)

So what about that “dark Jedi” look for Darth Sidious once he’s all disrobed? It’s definitely a neat take on Darth Sidious. There is a hole in his belt to attach the included lightsaber hilt and the overall dark color of his costume looks smooth and even, just like how a Jedi-gone-bad costume should look. For some strange reason, our sample has an oddly positioned left leg and the ball-joints in both ankles are pretty much rendered useless because of the way the areas above the ankles have been designed. It’s difficult to get both feet flush against a flat surface and as a result, Darth Sidious want to fall backwards. We’re sure there is a way in which to minimize this aggravating “defect” but we haven’t been too successful in this process to find the ideal pose that prevents him from falling over. But we can tell you that the more aggressive action stances you choose to pose him in will alleviate this problem. (Strange, isn’t it.) Plus, we’re really not sure how widespread this problem is. We have only one sample of this figure and we’re not sure if others suffer from this problem. But this is just a very, very small setback when you consider just how incredibly awesome this action figure is. It’s hard to believe it has taken this long in the basic figure line, but Hasbro is finally giving Palpatine/Sidious proper respect. And we sincerely hope they don’t stop their progress and find ways to bring him out once a year until the main versions are all completed. Clearly there have been a ton of action figures made of Darth Sidious, but so few are of the standard that collectors deem as acceptable. So, we’d like to see this trend continue until we have them all. For now, enjoy this version of Darth Sidious. He’s an amazing action figure!

Collector Notes

Darth Sidious

Status: Darth Sidious is a kit-bashed figure that utilizes the legs and cod section from 2010's TVC Darth Sidious (VC12) figure, the arms from the Darth Sidious figure in 2005's ROTS The Sith Evolutions set with an all-new head sculpt and torso.

Articulation Count: 14 points

Articulation Details: ball-socket head, 2 ball-jointed shoulders, 2 ball-jointed elbows, 2 swivel wrists, swivel waist, 2 swivel hips, 2 ball-jointed knees, 2 ball-jointed ankles

Accessory Count: 4

Accessory Details: soft-goods robe, lightsaber, lightsaber hilt, removable hood

Date Stamp: 2010

Assortment Number: 30791/37499

UPC: 653569723967

Retail: $8.99 USD

Market Value: Click here to check the latest prices based on Click here to check the market value on eBay! listings.





The Vintage Collection Wave 10
Qui-Gon Jinn (VC75)
Obi-Wan Kenobi (VC76)
Ratts Tyerell & Pit Droid (VC77)
Battle Droid (VC78)
Darth Sidious (VC79)
Anakin Skywalker (VC80)
Ben Quadinaros & Otoga-222 (VC81)
Daultay Dofine (VC82)
Naboo Royal Guard (VC83)
Queen Amidala (VC84)
Quinlan Vos (VC85)
Darth Maul (VC86)



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