I’m a Hasbro Star Wars collector.  I dabble in a few other Star Wars items, which happen to be almost exclusively anything related to 501st Clone Troopers.  But on very rare occasions, I will pick up the random item that appeals to me which is outside my wheelhouse.  One of those items was the Sideshow Collectibles 12” Holographic Darth Sidious with Mechno-Chair.  It had a light-up feature, and was awesome.  I had wanted Hasbro to make this into a figure since 1999, and ended up getting the Sideshow version on a whim.  About 2 years later, boom goes the dynamite.  Hasbro released their 3.75” version in The Legacy Collection (Red) line.  Sadly, my Sideshow mechno-chair broke due to some carelessness on my part.  I could probably fix it, but why bother?  I have the Hasbro version now!

In The Phantom Menace, the chair is actually exactly that, and is used in at least one scene by Nute Gunray as he taunts Sio Bibble about dying sooner than his people.  The chair itself is gone later, when we see the mechno-legs walking in front of Gunray, Rune Haako, and Darth Maul as it projects a hologram of Darth Sidious, who tells Gunray to “wipe them out.”  And to be clear, he’s not just suggesting wiping out one or two of them, or a bunch of them, or even most of them.  He’s definitely insisting on it being all of them that get wiped out. So of course, we wonder, what happened to the chair?  I guess the legs can detach somehow and operate separately.  Does the chair just kind of get tossed to the side so the legs can travel separately?  Does the chair have some kind of repulsorlift that allows it to hover when the legs leave?  I guess it really begs the question, “Why is this even called a mechno-chair?”  It’s really just a set of multi-purpose mechno-legs.  The chair itself would seem to be a separate attachment, like the brush for your vacuum cleaner.  This should probably have been called “Darth Sidious Hologram with Mecho-legs.”  It would have been cool if it also included the chair.  Of course, our existing horrible Episode I Nute Gunray figure is unable to sit in it, so we probably should get the chair as an accessory to an updated Nute Gunray figure.  And it could be designed in such a way that it connects with the existing mechno-legs in place of the hologram.  That would be good stuff.  Accessories released a decade apart being interactive with each other would be pretty awesome.

Anyway, this happens to be the final new “figure” from the red phase of the Legacy Collection that we had to add to our photo galleries (we will eventually address the repacks).  I put “figure” in quotes in that last sentence as a shout out to a brief conversation we had in the comments section of a recent figure review.  There would seem to be some debate about whether or not this is actually correctly categorized as a true figure.  The Sidious Hologram has zero articulation.  It’s just a mini-statue.  It is the perfect toy for those of you fiends that would eschew articulation for characters that “just stand there.”  I call you people “Figuriners.”  You’re almost as dirty as those Filthy Sixers, but you probably at least use some kind of deoderant to help mask the smell.  Figuriners are happy with limited articulation for figures of characters that don’t participate in action sequences in any of the films.  They are content with owning 3.75” scale chess pieces, and then use their imaginations to envision the character posed as if it is moving in some way.  Figuriners are probably satisfied with the aforementioned EP1 Nute Gunray, because all he does is just stand there.  Except it isn’t all he does.  He also just sits there.  IN HIS MECHNO-CHAIR!

The hologram is about half the height of a typical figure, which is pretty accurate as the whole shebang, including the legs, was about as tall as the other characters on screen.  It’s a nice sculpt, with a purplish-blue color.  Hasbro has been somewhat inconsistent over the years in the coloring of its hologram figures.  I guess we could blame that on the color settings of each particular projector seen throughout the films.  In essence, this is a small figurine, rather than an action figure, so it supports those in the “not a figure” camp. 

However the articulation that is lacking from the hologram is instead passed on to the accessory, which is the mechno-legschair itself.  Each of the 4 legs sports 2 points of articulation at the “shoulders/hips” (which swivel up and down) and “elbows” (which swivel up and down) and the “knees” (which swivel outward and inward).  The odd combo allows for some decent movement, but to be fair, other than a slightly lifted limb to capture the legs in a mid-stride pose, none of this is particularly useful.  The hinges themselves are pretty tight, so the figure will not easily fall over.  The sculpt is pretty excellent, with a lot of artful detailing carved into the limbs.  The coloring of the chair is also very well done.  It’s a bronze finish with a few silver details.  There is a peg in the middle of the projector platform which fits snugly into the peghole at the bottom of the Sidious hologram, which holds it securely in place.  When together, it makes for a striking toy.

It’s definitely a figure.  The articulation exists in the accessory, which is really meant to be one unit with the Sidious Hologram.  I assume the main reason for being sculpted separately was to allow for the hologram to be cast in the translucent plastic, while the chair could be solid plastic and colored in a metallic bronze.  Otherwise, it could very well just be one piece, and it might be more readily accepted as an actual action figure.  Also, it’s in the basic line.  That alone pretty much seals the deal, even you want to parse the details in an attempt to denigrate this excellent figure.  I give it an 8.  It’s not the most exciting toy ever made, but it’s extremely well done and serves its purpose with class and dignity.  If it ever becomes retroactively compatible with a future super-articulated Nute Gunray with Theed Chair, I might see fit to bump it to a 9 or 10.  The existence of this figure allows you to go ahead and wipe them out.  But remember, you have to wipe them all out, not just some of them.  Only complete annihilation is acceptable.

Build-A-Droid 

Darth Sidious Hologram contains the left leg of L8-L9.  This prototype combat droid participated in a multi-gladiator fight-to-the-death in the arena pits of the planet Rattatak.  L8-L9 was destroyed by another gladiator named Asajj Ventress.  Source:  Clone Wars (non canon).