Imperial Royal Guard - SW [S] - Basic

We said from the start that the TARGET exclusive Emperor Palpatine/Luke Skywalker/Emperor’s Royal Guard three-pack from the Star Wars [The Last Jedi] line was one of the greatest 3.75” scaled products Hasbro made in a long time. Sure, super-articulation wasn’t a focus for the figure included in the set, but the sculpts were fantastic. Between the smart gathering of three pivotal characters from Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi and sculpts that would make any Star Wars collector happy, the Emperor Palpatine/Luke Skywalker/Emperor’s Royal Guard three-pack had more going for it than against it. Love them or hate them, the 5POA figures included in the set represent some of the best/finest likenesses of these three core Original Trilogy characters. Hasbro has now officially released all three figures from this set separately. The first basic carded release was Emperor Palpatine, then came Luke Skywalker. And now the renamed Imperial Royal Guard is part of the fourth wave of Star Wars [The Last Jedi] Force Link 2.0 wave. Now collectors have a chance to army-build this character easily, as he is two per case.

For those of you not aware, the Imperial Royal Guard was originally intended for release in the Rebels toy line, part of the Saga Legends lineup, but Hasbro canceled the figure for reasons unknown. It’s difficult to imagine why this sculpt has taken so many years to materialize, but it’s great to see him finally as a standard basic figure. There is something about single-carded action figures that go over so well with collectors. The Imperial Royal Guard is a straightforward action figure. Although it only comes with only five points of articulation, the Imperial Royal Guard has swivel shoulders and swivel hips along with a ball-socket head that makes up this figure's movement. The helmet is attached to the long crimson robes and separates from the armored body underneath in one piece. So, when you attempt to move the figure’s head (which is very inhibited), the entire robes will move too. See our photo gallery for specifics on this. Swivel wrists would have been welcomed additional articulation here, but because these figures do nothing more than standing around, articulation isn’t a point of focus for us here.

In our opinion, his force pike is much too thick. But he can hold it in a screen-accurate fashion thanks to a well-sculpted right hand that accommodates it without any issues at all. The sculpt of the figure is pretty standard. The Imperial Royal Guard is standing at attention, and the figure is without any action-oriented sculpting. If you’re looking for the ideal background Imperial Royal Guard to round out your collection, this is the figure you want to have as he is what we need for an “at attention” iteration. In the TARGET exclusive set, we all wished that Hasbro added two of these figures to the set. But now we don’t have to worry about that. The only thing that differentiates the Emperor’s Royal Guard from the Imperial Royal Guard is the color of the Force Link symbol on the foot and one uses Force Link technology while the other uses Force Link 2.0 technology. This release of the Imperial Royal Guard is one of those repacks that collectors won’t mind seeing at retail. We’re not sure if “two per case” was the wisest decision, but it certainly isn’t one of Hasbro’s worsts. They have been known to boggle the mind with case assortments.