Packaging - ***
I’ve got a love/hate thing going on with the new packaging. While I absolutely dig the design of the card and bubble, as well as the excellent backer-card art, I find the taped blister edges a bit sloppy. You still have to rip the blister off of the card to open them, so why not just stamp the entire thing on like all previous carded figures, as opposed to just the top? The die-cut design while visually striking also seems to attract stress damage more, compared to the rectangular cards. For those of us who collect carded figures this is going to be a pain in the butt. For you variation collectors out there, some of the Vader helmet artwork is tinted purple, the rest blue. No word on whether one is rarer than the other. 

There’s also good news for MOC collectors, now that the Protech Star Case 3 is out –specifically designed for ROTS cards. There are a few eBayers selling these things at a little over a buck each in wholesale lots. They do look really striking on display nest to the previous designs. Target is also selling 5-packs of ROTS Protech cases, however according to some buyers, the card backs do not fit to well in these, and the tops get folded.

Sculpting - Emperor Palpatine: *** ½; General Grievous, Darth Vader: ***
Palpy is quite an improvement over the Wicked Witch version in the Saga line. While I really liked the withered face and hands on that figure, I had problems with the sculpted robes. This guy is a hell of a lot more in proportion all around; no ridiculously huge hood or skinny arms here. The head sculpt looks a lot closer to Ian McDiarmid in his Emperor make-up than the Saga figure did and has some very nicely detailed wrinkles and creases. The hands also look pretty good but the grip on his left one seems a tad weak. His lightsaber pops out pretty easily. The robes work pretty well –the outer robe allows for easy adjustments and all the creases appear to be in the right place. The action feature on this figure doesn’t impact his looks other than the hole in his right sleeve. The one drawback is the facial expression. Palpatine just looks so indifferent, even mellow. A nice scowl or angrier eyes would have really added to this figure.

Other than the extra pair of arms, Grievous has a few other differences from the preview figure’s sculpt. The details on his torso and thighs are not as angular and are smoothed down to make a little more room for the inner workings of the action feature. The legs appear to be a bit narrower and his knees are much more knobby –which actually looks pretty good. The head and neck design are also slightly different, but nicely detailed –especially the back of the skull. The split arms look pretty cool, but I would have changed some of the elbow angles a bit. If the torso detailing hadn’t been “softened”, I probably would have bumped him up another half star since he looks pretty dramatic on the shelf. Looking at him posing with those four limbs really makes me think about Ray Harryhausen’s multi-armed statue in the Golden Voyage of Sinbad (I know, it had six arms not four, but you get the idea.). Almost the entire Star Wars Visual Effects team has gone on record as being inspired by Harryhausen’s amazing work, so maybe this guy’s design is some sort of homage.
The sculpt on Vader is certainly a serviceable job, but nothing special. The over-all body sculpt is pretty decent but has less detailing than the VOTC version. The torso and upper limbs are also more robust –probably because of the action feature. The right shoulder looks like Vader has some sort of infection that’s swelling up underneath his armor. The helmet is probably the largest-looking one out of all the Vader sculpts. I think it looks pretty good from the front. From the side it looks like the helmet flares out too far in the back. Hasbro’s still more miss than hit on cloth accessories, especially here. Vader’s cape is really thin and see-through. The thing is so light it’s difficult to arrange; it doesn’t help that the thing is also pretty huge to boot. The inner cape has some fraying on the edge. The neck chain looks pretty ridiculous as well. The left hand sculpt is open wide enough to accommodate Captain Antilles’ neck. In fact this Vader has the best build for holding the Saga figure up one-handed, provided he’s on a stand.

Paint - ***
The paint ops are pretty clean all around, but these guys are almost all one color to begin with. Grievous has a nice dirty wash to his armor, giving him a groovy “aged-bone” color. Vader’s ops are simple, but all the buttons and silver highlights are in the right places with no bleeding. The Emperor has a nice wash to his skin and the red around his eyes isn’t over done. However the sculpted hair is unpainted and just shares the same wash as the rest of the head, but I’ll assume that most people will be leaving his hood on for display so it’s not that big of a deal.

Articulation - General Grievous: *** ½; Emperor Palpatine: ***; Darth Vader: **
None of these figures really shines in this category. While Grievous certainly has the most points of movement, they’re more because of his specialized design. The General has ten points: ball-joints at the knees and head, pegs at the waist and shoulders, as well as split ball-joints at the shoulder. The legs are great, especially due to the quad-arm configuration. The ball-jointed knees really help balance out his various poses. Similar joints at the hips or ankles would have helped even more. His arms are truly unique in the Star Wars line, and other than the deluxe version out there, this is the only figure currently produced with this configuration. You can basically pose each individual limb as you want it. I would have loved elbow joints as well, but it would have been kind of hard with the thinness of the sculpt. The action feature barely affects the articulation either. Push down on Grievous’s head and the pegged joints on his shoulders rotate. It looks okay and is certainly one of the least obtrusive action features produced by Hasbro.

The Emperor comes in second here with eight points: a ball-jointed neck and shoulders, as well as cuts at the waist, wrists, and boot tops. The neck joint is great, allowing him to hunch over a bit, or look down at Yoda while delivering a severe Sith smack down. It also works well for ROTJ poses, all you need to do is borrow the Saga Emperor’s cane. The ball-jointed shoulders work well, but some sort of elbow joints would have made him a lot better in the poseability department. The leg articulation is unnecessary but nice to have. I’m still waiting for an Emperor with a ball-jointed waist and knees so he can actually sit in a chair, but maybe we’ll see that in the upcoming Sith Evolution multi-pack. 

Palpatine’s action feature doesn’t limit his existing articulation, but might have compromised any chance at elbows. There’s a spring-loaded hole in his sleeve under the right hand. Pull the force blast effect back, then let go. It’s simple enough and with a couple of practice rounds, you can target and knock figures over rather well. This actually looks pretty cool with the Exploding Body Grievous figure out there. The lightning effect has no grooves, so it doesn’t work with the spring. Flick the back with your finger to watch it fly. While these are a tad cheesy they don’t compromise the figure, unlike Vader’s feature.

Vader also has eight points of articulation, but they are no where near as good as the Emperor’s. He has cuts at the neck, right shoulder, wrists, waist, and hips, and has a ball-jointed left shoulder. The entire right arm is devoted to Vader’s slashing action. Basically, you squeeze his legs together and watch his elbow turn a bit. The gap between the upper and lower arm at this join is pretty big, and the connecting peg looks a tad fragile. This feature just looks stupid and could have been done much better –like the Slashing Anakin figure.

The legs need some knee or ankle joints badly. Because of the sculpt, Vader has a hell of a time standing on his own. A stand would have been nice, even though I’ve already got dozens of empty ones to choose from. 

Accessories - General Grievous: *** ½; Emperor Palpatine: ***; Darth Vader: * ½
Vader comes only with his solid-sculpt saber. The hilt and blade are slightly shorter than the one that comes with the Deluxe Anakin figure and its shot in solid red as opposed to translucent red. The detailing seems fine, but not as sharp as on the deluxe version’s. Neither of those sculpts are the traditional sculpt, but a new one that reflects Vader’s ROTS hilt design. This same hilt design can basically be found on all ROTS Vaders, including the “Frankenstein” deluxe figure.

Unfortunately the paint ops are a tad shoddy. The solid saber’s fine since one with a removable blade wouldn’t work as well with the action feature, but Vader’s bubble is pretty empty. Out of all the figures released in the basic ROTS line, this is the one that needed a stand more than any other. He has big problems standing on his own.

The Emperor comes with his lightsaber, a force projectile, lightning, and a removable hood. The saber hilt appears to be pretty close in design to the movie’s and the paint ops aren’t bad –some of the black is rubbing off a bit at the edges. The lightning is supposed to work with the action feature, but doesn’t look that great. A bigger, stationary effect like the one that came with the Darth Tyranus Saga figure would have looked better. The force projectile looks similar to some of the ones we’ve seen in the past. The removable hood is sculpted rather well and is a heck of a lot more accurate than the over-sized one seen in the Saga Emperor.
Grievous comes with four lightsabers and his blaster pistol. The lightsabers are all molded in one piece and have no paint ops other than the silver hilts. He comes with two blue sabers and two green ones, despite some photos out there showing him with two red ones. The green-bladed hilts are the same ones found with Shaak Ti and Luminara Unduli, while the blue ones come from Saesee Tiin and Ki-Adi Mundi. The blaster is the same one found with the other Grievous releases. If you don’t want the General using all his sabers at once, they’re great for customizing other figures. Start a Jedi army. 

Durability/Quality - Emperor: ***; Grievous: ** ½; Vader: **
Palpatine is a pretty solid figure, so I don’t see any problems coming his way. Grievous’ arms are pretty thin so you’ll want to be careful when handling him. Vader’s flimsy cape is bad enough, but the fragile-looking elbow joint on his right arm doesn’t look like it’ll stand up to one too many dives from the shelf.

Value - Vader: **; The rest: ***
For the $5.29 I paid for these guys at TRU, I felt like I got a decent deal overall. Grievous is unique enough in looks and has a ton of lightsabers, so what’s not to like? The Emperor works for both ROTS and ROTJ poses. Vader is the real let down for me here: the action feature strikes back folks. That and the single accessory packaged with Vader don’t really bring him up to par with the other two figures. You can find most basic ROTS figure for under $6.00 at TRU’s, Targets, and Walmarts. K.B. Toys and K-Mart will cost you a buck or two extra, so be sure to shop around. They’ll be a tad higher online, especially at the beginning of their run.

omgcnfo.com has all three of these figures in for $7.50 each. Amazon.com has these figures in at $6.99 or less. Walmart is the cheapest at $5.24 a pop, plus they have several vehicles in at low prices as well. K.B.’s stuff may be a buck or two higher all around (basic figures are $6.99) but they currently have free shipping on all Star Wars items for a limited time.

Overall - Emperor Palpatine; General Grievous: *** ¼; Darth Vader: **
Palpatine and Grievous are two pretty solid figures. They were easily over three-stars, but I didn’t feel that either of them stood out enough to go up a full half-star, hence the *** ¼ rating. Both have decent sculpting, good accessories, and a nice paint job. However the sculpt on Grievous is a notch down from the excellent work on the preview figure, and the Emperor could have used some elbow joints and some facial expressions.

Vader’s got the looks, but not the moves. The single accessory, dumbed-down articulation, super-thin cape, and weak action feature just drag him down in the end. We’ll be getting more versions of Vader to be sure, including the special 500th figure in his meditation chamber. There’s still a chance for the Uber-Vader to pop up in the future. The VOTC version came close, but this guy is a few steps back. We’ll also be seeing Vader and the Emperor again in the Star Wars Evolutions multi-packs. Judging from the preview at C3, there’s still hope for improvements.

Score recap
Packaging - ***
Sculpting - Emperor Palpatine: *** ½; General Grievous, Darth Vader: ***
Paint - ***
Articulation - General Grievous: *** ½; Emperor Palpatine: ***; Darth Vader: **
Accessories - General Grievous: *** ½; Emperor Palpatine: ***; Darth Vader: * ½
Durability/Quality - Emperor: ***; Grievous: ** ½; Vader: **
Value - Vader: **; The rest: ***
Overall - Emperor Palpatine; General Grievous: *** ¼; Darth Vader: **