Coruscant Guard - POTJ - Basic

Protecting the Galactic Senate and the Chancellor, Coruscant guards represent the Senate's supreme authority and the long tradition of its wise and just rule. Each guard is a highly trained soldier ready to serve and protect.

Royal Guards are red, but Coruscant Guards are blue. As early as Episode I, longtime Star Wars fans immediately began seeing the ties to the Original Trilogy strongly, but these similar things were different enough to be unique. Let’s face it. There is no denying that Coruscant Guards, also known as Senate Guards, look pretty much the same as the Emperor’s Royal Guards from Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi. That much is true. In fact, they even protect the “same” person as the Emperor’s Royal Guards did too. Although he was Chancellor Palptine in the Prequel Trilogy, the former senator always ensured that he had adequate protection no matter where he went duplicitously exacting his will on the galaxy. The Coruscant Guard made its action figure debut in the Power Of The Jedi line. And most collectors were quite excited for it. The sad thing is that the figure didn’t meet many expectations. It wasn’t the worst action figure Hasbro ever made, but it needed a lot of help before most of us would find this character acceptable as an action figure.

He was too short for a Coruscant Guard. It’s unclear why this figure appears so small when compared to the other figures in the action figure line. Hasbro abandoned most soft-goods (with a few exceptions) in the Power Of The Jedi line, but if there was one figure that desperately needed it, it is the Coruscant Guard. Aside from the scale issues, the Coruscant Guard has an awkward forward lean. It is extremely pronounced when viewing the figure from the side. Because plastic molded robes inhibit any movement below the shoulders, there is not much you’re going to be able to “right” the action figure. You do get some decent upper body movement however including the swivel shoulders, a swivel right bicep and two swivel wrists. Because of these articulation points you can make him hold the included strapped blaster rifle in a believable manner and he looks pretty good holding it. What else is nice is that you can position the weapon over the shoulder just like how it appeared in Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace.

We just wish we could say that the Coruscant Guard is an admirable first effort. But you’re going to want a redo almost immediately. There is one last detail that we don’t like about this figure and we feel it’s a rather glaring issue. Coruscant Guards has visible human features through the mask/helmet. We know that technology is limited, but the Coruscant Guard’s face doesn’t look right behind the helmet. His face is too wide and almost doesn’t even look human. Hasbro didn’t do that great of a job sculpting a human face behind the helmet, sad to say. And this is one of the biggest problems we have this figure. Maybe a removable helmet would have been a better option, but then Hasbro may have encountered more difficulty with scale and likeness had they gone that route. We hate to say it, but Hasbro has a long way to go to make collectors happy with the Coruscant Guard character from Episode I. (Editor’s Note: Hasbro gave the collecting community a definitive update of this character with 2011’s TVC Senate Guard (VC36) figure.)