I’ve been saying “Fire at will, kah-mander” for two days now.

Since I’m reviewing this item four years after its release, I had to purchase it from the secondary market at secondary market prices.  Simply paying the MSRP was not an option.  When it arrived, my wife said, “I can’t believe we paid $200 for a chair!”  The only defense I could muster was, “Yeah, but it’s a sweet chair.” It will take the passage of time to truly determine who won that debate.  I refuse to comment on the immediate returns.  I should also note that I did not pay $200 for this item, but my wife chooses to exercise the spousal privilege of rounding up all my purchases to the nearest one hundred dollars.

I know this has taken a familiar Bantha Skull turn and aside from declaring the aforementioned sweetness, I’m into the second paragraph without mentioning the item itself.  But to my wife’s point, it’s a chair.  More accurately, it’s the Imperial Throne.  It’s role is to receive the Emperor’s posterior and obviously a simple picture says more about that function than this unnecessarily long Prequel Trilogy-like exposition.  The 1:6 scale Emperor fits onto the Throne.  End of review.

Nah, I’m gonna keep talking.  I do have one gripe about this item.  When seated back into the Throne, the feet of the 1:6 Emperor Palpatine figure are too far off the ground.  It gives the impression of a little kid spinning in a rotating chair.  You will notice that in the pictures of the seated Emperor, I moved the feet off frame like Rob Liefeld to avoid the inevitable “weeee” comment.  Fortunately you can use the copious amounts of robing Palpatine was given to obscure his feet when such editorial cheats are not available in real life.

So back to the original “chair” comment, aside from the “science fictiony” switches added to the arms, this is perhaps one of the more mundane items Sideshow will ever tackle.  Furniture isn’t exactly a compelling subject matter, but given the fact that an Episode VI Palpatine and his throne are inextricable to most collectors, Sideshow was compelled to tackle the Emperor’s La-Z-Boy.  What I’m rapidly learning is Sideshow has great capacity for realism with their fit and finish.  The luster on the padding of the seat gives is a completely realistic appearance and what looks like metal-flake paint to the rest of the throne give it the appearance of a futuristic graphite construction.  That finish also gives the throne the appropriate light play.  I’m fairly certain a good Photoshop could fool the viewer into thinking this is a full sized prop. 

Aside from perhaps a slight scaling issue with respect to the companion figure, I don’t see any room for improvement.  Another 9 out of 10 for Sideshow Collectibles.

This item is no longer available for purchase directly from Sideshow.  Click the following link to check Ebay for availability, but be warned that the results get commingled with 1:4 Premium Format Emperor Palpatine.

Sideshow Imperial Throne on Ebay

9/10 Bantha Skulls