It does seem like there are quite a few Black Series exclusives lately, which is fine with me as long as they are readily available. Today we are going to look at the shared Gamestop and Barnes and Noble Exclusive featuring four guards from different eras of Star Wars. The guards include a Shadow Guard from The Force Unleashed video game, a Imperial Guard from the original trilogy, a Senate Guard from the prequel trilogy and an Elite Praetorian Guard from the new trilogy. Let’s take a look!
The 4-pack comes in a wide box in the now familiar black and red color scheme. It shows off the figures well and I don’t feel the least bit bad chucking it out. The packaging seems to have wrinkled the robes less than the regular Black Series packaging, so I’m grateful for that. The Imperial Guard is the same figure that was recently released and reviewed here and here so we aren’t going to be talking about that one here.
First up is the Elite Praetorian Guard with Double Blades. It appears to be mostly a reuse of the Praetorian Guard released with The Last Jedi wave 2 but with a new weapon, a new helmet, and different lower torso and soft-goods skirt.
The soft good skirt allows for a little more lower torso movement, but it’s a little bit messy on my figure. The figure has typical Black Series articulation:
- Swivel/hinge neck, shoulders, elbows, wrists, hips, and ankles
- Double-hinged knees
- Ball-and-socket torso and head
- Swivel thigh
A cool feature is that the shoulder pads are attached with a ball-and-socket joint, so it moves naturally.
The sculpt looks like a decent match for the promo artwork I’ve seen, but it’s a little hard to judge since I haven’t seen the movie. The head is one of the oddest of the unusual Praetorian Guard helmets as he has a bit of a visor that reminds me of an old-style nun’s habit. The figure comes with a double-bladed weapon that can split in two weapons for extra slicing and dicing.
The armor is mostly a gloss red and is pretty striking. Overall I like this design and the variants so far. I do hope they actually so something cool in the film.
The Shadow Guard is basically a black repaint of the classic Return of the Jedi Royal Guard with a new weapon. The guard has a pike with a light saber on the end and the saber blade is removable.
The weapon is actually pretty fun. I haven’t played the game, but I still enjoyed this figure quite a bit. I’m not quite sure where he’s going on the shelf, but I’ll find a spot.
The visor in the game is red, and they paint the visor a bit of different color, but it doesn’t quite have the bright red that you see in the game or the old 3.75-inch figure.
Like the Imperial Guard, the Shadow Guard has a full body armor under the robe and the tiny biker scout pistol, and I’m really enjoying this armor laid out in different colors.
The downside is that plastic is a little soft and the ankles are a little loose, so that makes posing a little tougher than it needs to be.
The Senate Guard is basically the Imperial Guard in blue with a new head and rifle. The rifle is designed to be worn over the shoulder and is cast in fairly stiff plastic, so the strap doesn’t look quite right in rifle holding poses.
The helmet looks pretty cool, though I’m a little surprised they would choose this helmet as the senate guard who gets the most screen time doesn’t have the black visor and his face can be seen through the T-frame of the helmet.
Still, it’s a cool-looking figure and I really wish I had at least two. Like I said before, I’m really enjoying the Imperial Guard armor in different colors.
He’s another one where I’m not sure where he goes on the shelf. I put him with Leia in these pics because she’s the only senator I have besides half-dressed Padme.
Overall, I’d say this is a pretty great set. The only real downside for me is that I don’t really need any more of the Imperial Guards and I want another Senate and Shadow Guard, so I’ll have to do some trading or selling to get my Guard armies where I want them.
