Have the deluxe pre-ordered, but thinking about dropping it for just a regular. Chair looks nice, but he looks better standing
Yeah, tbh I have actually given up on the throne as a display for the figure. Part of the problem I think is that in the movie Palps is very specifically lit to separate him out from the throne and "highlight" him (bright light from side/above, special "face light".)
With the HT throne, I find that the figure kind of disappears into this big grey mass, especially under Detolf type top lighting (the throne's "roof" is problem in multiple ways, for posing and visibility.) The HT throne light above his head is very dim and only lights the top of the hood anyway. No matter what I did, he becomes this dimly lit little smiley-grandpa face amidst this huge lump of black/gunmetal (I would also say that I like the color on the Sideshow throne better than the HT one - the SSC is a bit more silvery, making it look more appealing and metallic.)
The throne is really nicely detailed (love the lights) but I also realized that it's a major commitment to display space, both size and depth, for something that isn't anywhere near as cool/iconic as - for example - the Probot or the Speeder Bike, which to me are easily worth the display space.
There's also the feet-dangling issue, which really isn't able to be covered other than moving him forward a lot and pulling the robe tight, and how seated he always seems to take on the watching-the-game or getting-lap-dance look, which combined with his smiley face looks funny.
I also think the figure itself has shortcomings and most of those shortcomings can be taken care of with a cool standing pose, so the figure actually NEEDS to be posed standing to make it work. I also find the standing pose helps the "big hands" issue too, because seated the hands are in foreground and face further back which makes the hands seem even bigger.
So the throne goes back in the box for me - I tried for nearly a week to make it work -
. Even as a backdrop I couldn't find a way to use it without the display space commitment issue coming into play again. Tarkin's chair can be nice accent to the standing figure - the throne is just too large/deep for a background accent.
And I think the figure is really elevated greatly in a standing pose with (very) careful futzing - it goes from kind of "just okay" to something that pretty much delivers on the promise of a HT Emperor.
