Star Wars: The Black Series Elite Guards

It was extra hard to get a decent picture of the package. This was the best one....

 

 

In August, a package arrived containing the Black Series Imperial Guard. Pretty new at that time, the objective was to get a review of it posted as soon as was possible. Then time got scarce, and that obviously never happened. At the time, it was speculated that, with a little bit of repainting, the Imperial Guard could be turned into the blue Senate Guard from the Prequel Trilogy, and even better, the Shadow Guard from “The Force Unleashed” game. If you follow the Coffin, you know that these e-tail exclusive boxed sets are completely beloved around these parts, and never is an opportunity to purchase one missed. At various points in time, ideas for future ones have been floated, from a Clone Commander set (possibly less likely now that Cody, Gree, and Rex have all been released) to an ARC Trooper set, and probably a few others. In August, when the single Imperial Guard arrived, thoughts turned to a multipack of different colored guards. Then came Force Friday, and this set was announced, and it was clear that someone had sold out ol’ Moby Richards’ great idea. Either that, or ol’ Moby’s going to be getting a royalty check in the future. Maybe.

My cat was pretty excited when these figures arrived.

This year’s Black Series boxed set is a GameStop/Barnes & Noble/ThinkGeek exclusive, and it comes packaged in that very lame four across window box. Some of these sets over the last two years have come in truly excellent packaging, and then there have been these. A couple months ago when a purging of retained packaging was underway, the nicer of these boxes were kept, at least for now, but these flat side by sides were easily discarded. The set consists of an Imperial Guard from Return of the Jedi, a blue Senate Guard from the Prequels, a black Shadow Guard from “The Force Unleashed,” and a new Praetorian Guard, which will be seen for the first time in Decembers’ The Last Jedi. The first three are just recolors of the same figure, but the Praetorian is a totally new model. In a move that seems unusual for these sets, each figure comes with a different, unique accessory, and the Senate Guard has a completely new head.

Let’s start with the original. The red Imperial Guard is one of those figures that you don’t really know how much you want a 6” version of until you find out that one is coming. It is also one of those figures that makes you wonder, prior to experiencing one, just what they can do to it to make it a figure worth purchasing, considering it’s a person in a billowing red cloak. As it happens, there is a full body underneath, and man is it well detailed. Armor and bootstraps and all manner of details are molded into the body beneath the fabric, reminiscent of the Carnor Jax “Crimson Empire” comic book look. This is terrific, because it allows for a different display option: the cloak can remain draped over the figure, a la the traditional Episode VI look, or it can be pulled to the side, or possibly removed, for the armored, lithe look. It’s assumed the cloak can just be removed, but not confirmed: the cloak is basically held in place on the figure by the very good helmet sculpt, but surely if the head were popped off the cloth could be removed. Some assessments of the figure have been less than great because of this need to manipulate the cloak in order to get to the figure underneath, but it’s not all that big of a deal. The Guard has the standard range of Black Series movement, and there are no shoulder pads or anything that impede the range of motion, so if you get the cloth out of the way it is capable of some great poses. It comes with that staff the Guards carried in Return of the Jedi, as well as the tiny Scout Trooper pistol that the Scout Trooper came with. The pistol is still too small to really be held in hand, but it is cool to know that the Guards have a backup or secondary weapon aside from that pole. It makes them seem more competent and not as strictly ceremonial.

lol

The helmet sculpt is great. It has always been such a simple design, but it is ominous and intimidating in its stark simplicity. Like Maximillian from The Black Hole, always just staring with a literal blank expression with no trace of humanity underneath. Chilling.

The Shadow Guard is the exact same figure only in black. The only noticeable difference is the accessory it comes with, this time a lightsaber mounted on the end of a pike. Certainly there’s a better way to describe it, but that’s what it is. According to lore, these are a special segment of the Imperial Guards who are Force users, and so they can also employ Force Lightning. As soon as the single packaged Imperial Guard arrived in August, this was the figure that it made the Coffin lust after. Such a simple black repaint, but since this is a video game character, it seems fortunate that one was released at all. Sure, there have been game exclusive figures before in the Black Series, and yes, they have come in the form of exclusives, whether they be store or online, but this seemed like it was almost too easy of a repaint that it would be that kind that stares Hasbro in the face and they totally overlook it. Fortunately, they did not this time. The lightsaber pike is neat but feels really flimsy, although the staff is solid plastic. The blade disconnects and is in reality just a Darth Vader lightsaber blade repurposed, and the two pieces don’t connect very sturdily. The blade holds on, but any real pressure or contact and it falls off. In the game, the visor is a nice red, similar to the red of the regular Imperial Guard. But on the figure, the visor is a real dull color, something that honestly looks like brown, and it gets lost in the rest of the helmet unless you really squint at it. If there were anything wrong with the figure, or the set in general, it would be the lack of red or anything really to differentiate the visor here, and let it stand out. That would have made this version of the figure absolutely perfect.

It seems that, with these boxed sets that are all the same figure in different looks, one ends up being the exciting one. The blue Senate Guard is the exciting one this time around, but it’s not real clear as to why. The Imperial Guard in blue with a different helmet and a different accessory, but man does it look exciting. The accessory is a long silver rifle, seen in the Prequels slung over the shoulder of the Guards, but doing so with the figure is slightly impeded by the cloak. The blaster can also be held in hand, but not very well as the trigger is solid plastic, so the trigger finger can’t get inside. The Guard just kind of holds the handle and it works fine, but is not very secure. The helmet is that cool gladiator or Roman style, but in the movies, a face can be seen underneath it. On the figure, the opening in the helmet is just filled in in black. It looks really cool this way, and it seems like there’s a vague memory rolling around of the Guards in The Clone Wars TV show having this type of blacked out helmet. This Senate Guard ends up being a little bit out of place in a Black Series collection, as there aren’t many Prequel figures, and this is a total background guy anyway, so what to do with it? It looks good by itself, but if you try to organize your collection by types or movie, this one is a bit of an anomaly. At least for now; we’ll have to wait to see what the future of the line holds.

All three of these variations on the Imperial Guard have soft goods cloaks, and that is really appreciated. If this figure came with a plastic garment, it would truly be a brick figure, seeing as the garment envelopes the entire figure underneath. Also, the right leg on all three of these is loose, something that does not afflict the original, single release version. It could be from wear on the mold, but is that really something that should be happening with the second and third uses? Maybe. This looseness does not serious hamper any of the three toys, but it is curious that it is the same leg on all three in the same set. But the Imperial Guard figure, in any of its guises, is a real nice Black Series addition. Whether in this set or on its own, it is a recommended figure.

The only actual new figure in the set is the Praetorian Guard from the upcoming The Last Jedi. This is an entirely different figure from the other Guards, and is going to see release at least two other times in the near future: once as a regular retail Black Series figure, and once as an Amazon exclusive, both of which will come with different weapons and helmets than this one. So, apparently, the effort is to produce several different looking Praetorian Guards, rather than three or four of the same one. That’s a cool idea, and a cool approach to the inevitable army building impulse by at least offering variants.

This version has a plate over the top of its helmet and a pair of bladed weapons that can connect in the center to form a longer, double bladed weapon. The figure is pretty slender, unlike the much larger looking Imperial Guard, although part of the size of the Imperial Guard comes from the cloak making it appear that much more billowy. Anyway, the Praetorian is slimmer looking, and has a cool arm armor design. Unfortunately, the armor on the arms keeps the arms from being able to bend at the elbow. You can feel that there is an elbow joint underneath all of those plates, because it does bend just slightly, but attempting to fully bend it is pretty frightening, and so has never really been attempted. Because the figure can’t bend at the elbows, it is reduced to holding the weapons out directly in front of it or straight down at its sides.

 

The arm covering is a real let down, but aside from that the figure has the standard articulation for the line. Its robes are also soft goods, yet nowhere near as thick or extensive as those of the other Guards. It’s a nice design, one which we will again get several more chances at. The weapons are pretty unsatisfying, as held individually they remind of windshield ice scrappers that you’d have in your car, and they might be cool combined, if the figure were able to hold them in both hands, across the chest. But since that’s not possible due to the arms, the combined form of the weapon is just kind of lame. The shoulder pads are separate from the rest of the body armor, so they can be moved out of the way to move the arms more. That is a cool thing.

Widdly-waaaahhhh!

As a set, this one seems more superfluous than those of previous years. All of those four packs at least contained four figures that were otherwise unavailable; but here, we get one that we already either have or had the chance to get. The Imperial Guard is currently the only Black Series figure in my collection that I have more than one of. While I have several Vaders and Troopers, they are all different ones; the Imperial Guard in this set is no different than the individual one. The other figures are of value only if you’ve got a place for them in your collection, something that was not an issue at the Coffin. But, as has been written so many times, these figures are another great use of the boxed set of this caliber, as it is nothing essential, no character or anything that really should be released at retail or en mass. The Shadow Guard could have ended up being a store exclusive or something, and that would have made sense. The Praetorian Guard may not have made retail sense, especially if there are going to be several versions released, as “same toy, different accessories” doesn’t appeal to a real wide array of the buying public. So making it something that could only be gotten this way makes some sense. But there is nothing in this set that is totally vital, nor anything that you’d feel really got away from you if you didn’t go in on the set. But some very nice figures, and ones worthy of inclusion on your shelves if you decide they belong there.