The simplified head without the backpiece from the concept art was indeed much more menacingly imposing than the final design. Not that the backpiece didn't, it just reminded me uncontrollably of lunahod's redesign of C3P0 as an african totem and the only way that C3P0 inform could be frightening is if his idol had a tribe of bloodthirsty ewok cargo cultists trying to sacrifice people to it.The organically skeletal shape of the elongated metal chin and exposed teeth juxtaposed wonderfully with the utterly inhuman shape of the white metal sphere, entirely featureless aside from the mechanical cyclopean eye and decorative wreath which made up the top of the head. Adding decorative lines around the eye and an unnecessary crest/backpiece just distracted from the design.Going back to the concept art again could also suggest a function for the decorative metal laurel wreath shape. Specifically the little rectangular panel on the top of the Emperor's metal skull. Have the horseshoe-shape of the wreath cover all but the frontward-facing edge of the panel and make the panel transparent. Visible beneath the panel lies the last remnant of Palpatine's long-discarded biological body, a living human brain in a vat of preservative chemicals.....Backstory-wise, seems to me like this would be what would've happened if Vader's redemption-motivated attempt at killing his master had failed. Palpatine killed Vader and Luke and survived his wounds with the same technologies already tested in restoring Grievous and Vader.That was generations ago.Any kind of organized rebellion was long since obliterated. The Empire now runs with the mindless precision of a machine, increasingly literally as the Eternal Emperor increasingly takes advantage of cybernetic technologies. The new stormtroopers were mindlessly obedient decraniated or technobeasts made from captive rebels, Shadow Droids had replaced TIE fighters, etc.Free of the more pressing need for resources caused by fighting off an insurgency, the Empire was able to ditch their used future aesthetic in favor of the whole techno-roman feel, but just that's just surface detail. Remove a stormtrooper's art deco shiny and ornate white armor and you'll find it was concealing something disturbing.