Here's another very necessary custom. The Emperor! Hard to believe I had to resort to this, but I have just never been satisfied by any of the commercially available Emperor figures. In fact the closest thing to a fantastic toy he has had is actually the Hallmark ornament of him in his chair. I display that proudly amongst his many cronies. But as far as a standing emperor I had to customize to get what I wanted.
Starting with the VC79 Vintage Collection Darth Sidious as a base I proceeded to ditch his Palpatine head and replace it with something a little more withered. The best ROTJ sculpt I have seen is actually the SAGA release of the Emperor from 2003. Usually this sculpt is marred by a godawful paint job but underneath all that is is incredibly faithful to his onscreen look. Nice and crisp. The only real problem is that it is an incomplete head. But once placed under the hood, it makes no difference.
Further alterations to the VC79 Sidious included trimming and shaping the plastic cowl around his head. Also adding his cane from the SAGA Figure. Finally his cloak was soaked in warm water then shaped and left to dry. Lastly all the flesh parts were painted to match his onscreen look. My favorite thing about him is the dry papery look that I achieved with his skin. I hated the way the prequels made him look rubbery and lumpy rather than ancient and dessicated.
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