Ornament Review: Emperor Palpatine - Star Wars #12 - 2008 Hallmark Ornament

Stars: 3 out of 5

Pros: Good design and balance

Cons: Overly black; don't quite get Palpatine as an ornament

The Bottom Line: 

A big character

But I don't see appeal

As an ornament

Hallmark's Star Wars Ornament Series Turns to the Dark Side

While Hallmark's official Star Wars ornament series has focused mainly on the heroes from the original trilogy, they have included two villains.  Early in the run, they did Darth Vader.  For the twelfth ornament in the line, they went even further into the dark side and gave us Emperor Palpatine.

This ornament is the largest in the series to date because it's not just Emperor Palpatine.  Since he spends most of his on screen time sitting in his massive chair, they've included that as well.  It's a big, black thing with a round stand.  The back circles up over his head, so his face is sitting in shadow.  He's got some controls by his right hand, and the padding for his back is brown.  But the rest of the chair is black.

The Emperor himself is mostly black as well.  (The movies aren't subtle in their symbolism, are they?)  That's because he's wearing a black robe and black shoes that pretty much covers his body.  You can see his hands sticking out fairly easily.  You have to really tip back the ornament to see his face, which is properly scarred and disfigured, although not quite as bad as it is in the film.

Frankly, this ornament doesn't really grab me.  It's not depicting any famous scene, although the Emperor himself is important enough that I understand why he is included in this series.  What bothers me more is just how black it is.  Yes, it does accurately depict him in his chair, but couldn't they have found some other pose to give us a little more color.

I don't think I'm geeky enough to like having this character on my tree.  Yes, I get Darth Vader, and love that ornament.  But the Emperor doesn't have quite the same appeal for me.  Not quite sure why that is, but there you have it.

Most of the base of this ornament is the round base of the chair.  That provides a nice platform, so the ornament sits flat if you chose to display it on a table or shelf.  That's also where the series marking and copyright information are located.

The top of the ornament has the hook you can use to hang it on your Christmas tree.  He hangs straight, which isn't a big surprise since they had so much room to play with on top that they could put the hook wherever they wanted it.

This isn't one of my favorites in the series.  I can understand why it was included, but I don't quite get the appeal of Emperor Palpatine on my Christmas tree.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Star Wars ornament series

Original Price: $15.00