I watched L8wrtr’s Ep. 3 “Dawn of the Empire” fan edit a few days ago, and in it he made Palpatine to “reveal” his “true form” (ie. white and wrinkly) instead of having his appearance change as a result of his force lightning rebounding on himself.

Now, I have an older version of Stankpac’s edit (v3.1) which I considered as definitive except for the stupid Yoda-Dance DVD menu. This edit had Palpatine change appearance as a result of the lightning. When I got Stankpac’s 3.2 version, the menu had changed but he had also changed Palpatine to “reveal” himself similar to L8wrtr. In his changelog, he gives credit to Kerr for it.

I think I like the force-lightning-rebound better because the movies (nevermind the extended universe) never discuss how being a Sith changes your appearance, nor do they allude to that Palpatine’s appearance is false. As a result, his “reveal” is rather a WTF moment in my opinion. Why do so many people like a “reveal” better than a backfire?

What do you prefer and why?