The Emperor — Star Wars The Black Series 40th Anniversary

Overview

Emperor Palpatine at the ROTJ 40th Anniversary lineup captures the Sith Master at his Death Star II throne room configuration — Ian McDiarmid’s character at the moment he attempts to corrupt Luke Skywalker into killing Darth Vader and replacing his father as the Emperor’s apprentice during Return of the Jedi’s redemption-arc climax. Released May 2023 single-carded in Hasbro’s Return Of The Jedi 40th anniversary celebration in special Kenner-inspired tribute packaging. Mainline non-exclusive at $24.99 — slightly elevated above the standard $19.99 mainline baseline. 18-joint articulation with high-end double swivel-hinged elbows and double swivel-hinged knees. Three accessories: a soft-goods robe, a clasp, and a walking cane.

The Multi-Generation Re-Release

The figure is a repack of the 2022 Black Series Palpatine (figure id=28150), which has its origin in the 2015 Black Series Emperor (figure id=2395). The 2023 ROTJ 40th version uses the same body sculpt and accessory loadout that has shipped across at least three different packaging configurations dating back to the original 2015 Black Series tooling.

For collectors who own either of the prior source releases, the 2023 ROTJ 40th version is functionally a duplicate body sculpt with commemorative packaging. For collectors building the complete ROTJ 40th Anniversary commemorative set, this Palpatine is essential despite duplicating the 2015-and-2022 sculpts. The packaging for this figure is new and the Kenner-inspired card looks nice — for collectors who specifically want the commemorative cardback, this 2023 version delivers it without the body-sculpt revision that more meaningful upgrades would require.

The multi-generation re-release pattern across 2015 → 2022 → 2023 reflects Hasbro’s confidence in the 2015 Palpatine body sculpt’s continued accuracy — the figure has remained the canonical Black Series Emperor configuration for nearly a decade without requiring fresh tooling. For collectors evaluating engineering progression, this is a meaningful note about the Phase 1-era Emperor body sculpt’s enduring quality.

The Three-Accessory Loadout

The figure came with a walking cane and a removable soft-goods robe with clasp. The accessory configuration captures the canonical Emperor equipment loadout — the walking cane that defines Palpatine’s frail-elderly-physical presentation despite his Sith Master power, and the soft-goods robe with separable clasp that delivers the iconic dark-cloaked silhouette.

The cane fits well into the right hand, and when the figure is placed into a leaning-forward pose the cane will reach the floor well. Standard cane-grip engineering supports the canonical leaning-on-cane display configuration that captures the Emperor’s specific physical-frailty-as-deception visual reading. For collectors who want the canonical at-rest Palpatine display, the cane-leaned configuration reads cleanly.

The walking cane is structurally meaningful as a narrative-specific accessory — Palpatine uses the cane to reinforce the public deception of his physical frailty, which his actual Force-lightning-wielding Sith Master power directly contradicts. The accessory inclusion captures both the physical configuration and the deceptive character-class reading correctly.

A specific accessory limitation worth flagging: the figure does not ship with Force lightning effect accessories despite the canonical throne room sequence depicting Palpatine’s Force-lightning attack on Luke as the moment that triggers Vader’s redemption. For collectors who want narrative-completion display configurations of the Force-lightning attack pose, the figure doesn’t support that display state without aftermarket effects accessories.

The Soft-Goods Robe Engineering

The soft-goods robe is easily removable. Standard removable-fabric-robe engineering supports both the with-robe (canonical fully-cloaked) and without-robe (alternative undersuit) display configurations. The clasp is a separate sculpt component that secures the robe’s front-closure configuration, supporting clean robe-attached display without floating-fabric drape problems.

This Black Series Emperor Palpatine figure has a soft-goods skirt which allows for a bigger range of movement for the legs. Specific engineering touch worth flagging — most Black Series robed-character figures use either fully-rigid hard-plastic robe configurations (which restrict leg articulation entirely) or fully-fabric soft-goods configurations (which compromise silhouette accuracy). The Palpatine figure uses a hybrid approach where the upper-body robe is hard-plastic for silhouette accuracy while the lower-body skirt component is soft-goods for leg-articulation flexibility.

For collectors who want display flexibility across multiple Palpatine pose configurations (standing-with-cane at-rest, hunched-attack pose, seated-on-throne configurations), the soft-goods skirt supports the leg-bending positions that fully-rigid robes wouldn’t accommodate.

The Photo-Real Face Printing

The included neutral face expression with the photo-real print looks good. Standard photo-real face printing technology applied to Ian McDiarmid’s likeness — captures the canonical hooded-eyes-and-aged-features Palpatine facial reading appropriately. The neutral expression specifically reads as the canonical at-rest Emperor configuration; the figure doesn’t ship with the alternative malevolent-grin or Force-lightning-attack facial expressions that some Palpatine releases include.

For collectors who care about how figures translate live-action character likenesses to plastic form, the Palpatine head is contemporary-acceptable rather than best-in-class — the 2015-source body sculpt origin means the photo-real implementation isn’t as advanced as the more recent contemporary Black Series releases (Han Solo Endor at #P4-40A-HE5, Lando Skiff Guard at #P4-40A-LSG5, Princess Leia Hoth at #P4-40A-LH3).

Articulation

18 joints. Ball-jointed neck, swivel neck, ball-jointed shoulders, swivel biceps, double swivel-hinged elbows, swivel-hinged wrists, ball-jointed waist, barbell-jointed hip, swivel-jointed thighs, double swivel-hinged knees, rocker ankles. High joint count for a Phase 1-source mainline release — substantially above the 17-joint baseline. The double swivel-hinged engineering on both elbows and knees supports deep bending configurations that simpler articulation wouldn’t accommodate.

For collectors who want display flexibility across multiple Palpatine pose configurations, the high-end articulation supports both standing-display and seated-throne display states (when paired with appropriate aftermarket throne accessories or diorama scenery).

Emperor Palpatine keeps his balance well when on display — appropriate standing-stability engineering despite the soft-goods skirt’s weight distribution and the cane’s leaning-pose configuration.

Distribution and the Death Star Throne Room Lineup

Standard mainline ROTJ 40th Anniversary release at $24.99 through wide retail channels — Target, Walmart, Amazon, hobby shops. The mainline distribution and the slightly-elevated-above-baseline pricing make this Palpatine accessible. Aftermarket pricing on the secondary market has remained reasonable due to broad initial availability.

For collectors building the complete ROTJ 40th Anniversary Death Star II throne room sequence diorama, this Palpatine pairs specifically with Darth Vader (ROTJ) at #P4-40A-DV7 (the apprentice-in-redemption), Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight) at #P4-40A-LJ7 (the corrupting target), and the Emperor’s Royal Guard at #P4-40A-RG7 (ceremonial throne room protection) for the canonical throne room confrontation ensemble. The Sith Master at the centre of the ROTJ climactic sequence is a structural anchor for the entire diorama configuration.

Other Palpatine (Darth Sidious) Figures

Palpatine has been a recurring Hasbro release subject across multiple lines. Other notable releases include the Comic 2-Pack #12 (figure id=97), the Episode I Hologram version (figure id=119), the Revenge of the Sith Supreme Chancellor version (figure id=162), the Power of the Force 2 ROTJ-era release (figure id=216), the Legacy Collection With Mechno Chair (figure id=285), and the Clone Wars version (figure id=400). The ROTJ 40th Anniversary release joins this multi-decade catalogue as the dedicated 6-inch Black Series anniversary-tribute version.

Secondary Market

Single-carded mainline release on Kenner-style commemorative cardback, May 2023. Available at MSRP through standard retail and the secondary market with broad availability. Verify the soft-goods robe, the clasp, and the walking cane are all included. The smaller clasp is the most easily lost component during transit. No production variants documented beyond the packaging variation vs the 2015 and 2022 source releases.

Verdict

Emperor Palpatine at the 2023 ROTJ 40th Anniversary line is a competent multi-generation re-release of the 2015-source body sculpt with the commemorative Kenner-style cardback as the primary value proposition. The high-end articulation (double swivel-hinged elbows and knees) supports deep bending configurations beyond the standard ball-joint baseline, the hybrid hard-plastic-upper-and-soft-goods-skirt robe approach delivers both silhouette accuracy and leg-articulation flexibility, the leaning-cane display configuration captures the canonical at-rest Emperor reading correctly, the photo-real face printing delivers contemporary-acceptable Ian McDiarmid likeness, and the figure stands reliably across multiple pose configurations.

The duplicate body sculpt vs the 2015 and 2022 source releases means collectors with prior Black Series Palpatine figures are buying repeat tooling for the commemorative cardback variation. The missing Force-lightning-effect accessories limit narrative-completion display configurations. The Phase 1-era source means the photo-real implementation isn’t as advanced as the more recent contemporary releases.

Buy this figure if you collect the ROTJ 40th Anniversary line as a complete set, if you build Death Star II throne room sequence dioramas requiring the canonical Sith Master configuration, if you missed the 2015 or 2022 source releases at original retail, or if you appreciate the hybrid hard-plastic-and-soft-goods robe engineering for display flexibility. All in all this is a great version of Palpatine — if you don’t own previous versions, make sure to pick this one up.

The Sith Master with the soft-goods robe and walking cane. The figure with the hybrid-construction robe supporting leg articulation. The Emperor that anchors Death Star II throne room sequence dioramas alongside Vader, Luke, and the Royal Guards. Mainline distribution, May 2023.

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Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Phase 4 40th Anniversary Collection. Related: Darth Vader (ROTJ) P4-40A-DV7 | Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight) P4-40A-LJ7 | Emperor’s Royal Guard P4-40A-RG7.