Jabba’s Palace Archway Environment by Sideshow Collectibles

I think there were a lot of confused reactions when Sideshow announced this piece alongside their “Gartogg the Gamorrean Guard” figure in late 2010. I know I was a bit underwhelmed, which explains why it took me so long to get one. There’s so much potential for “environment” pieces in Jabba’s palace. They could do the steps on the sides of Jabba’s throne, the barbecue behind it, or even the archway going over the throne if you want to get ambitious. So at first glance it’s hard to understand why they went with this broken archway. I don’t think there’s anything like this in the palace. If someone showed me a picture of it, I wouldn’t have known it was supposed to be from Jabba’s palace, or even from Star Wars overall, although I guess it does have a bit of a “Tatooine” feel to it.

The archway has a light-up feature which is activated by a hidden button on the top and takes 3 AA batteries. Honestly, I think it looks better with the lights off, so I just removed the batteries after taking these pictures. The buttons on the bottom look pastel in color when lit up, and the light at the top just blinks on and off. I’m not sure if it’s supposed to look like a malfunctioning light that flickers, but having it blink on and off with such regularity doesn’t really give it that effect. See the video below.

One of my favorite parts of the piece is actually one that you’ll almost never see.  On the bottom of the base is a cool illustration of Jabba’s Palace, similar to the one on the bottom of the “You’re Going To Regret This” diorama.

As you can see below, the archway does work pretty well as a base for the Gamorrean Guard figure.

And I also think that it gives my Sideshow 1/6 scale Jabba’s Palace display some symmetry when paired with the Han Solo in Carbonite environment, so I’m glad that I got it even though I’m not in love with it.