Royal Guard [Senate Guard] - ROTS - Basic (III 23)

The Royal Guard is Coruscant's most elite security force. During his rise to power, Palpatine seized control of all senate security, consolidating the blue senate guard and his own crimson personal guard under his direct authority.

One thing that always happens often from one Star Wars film to the next is that a character’s outfit is often at risk for changing. Heck, even some character’s facial likenesses like Kit Fisto’s even can change. This succession and evolution is all part of the process so George Lucas can reach the most definitive vision of the films (through his eyes). Obviously overprotective fans see this as troublesome and it really messes with the continuity. Change can be good, but change that alters a story can be somewhat damaging. When things aren’t explained, it leaves fans’ scratching their heads in confusion. Conversely, believable new storylines can help to explain changes we see. Take for instance Luke Skywalker’s likeness. After Mark Hamill sustained a facial injury from a motorcycle accident, George Lucas wrote in the Wampa attack in The Empire Strikes Back to explain his new look that the reconstructive surgery brought him. That's great. It works and it made the change in his appearance quite believable. But not everything has to be explained all the time either. It’s quite possible for uniforms to evolve in the films as well. And that’s precisely what happened with the Senate Guard outfit from one Prequel Trilogy film to the next. There was little to no difference in the uniform from Episode I to Episode II.

But that all changed in Genndy Tartakovsky’s Clone Wars micro-series when the cut-out visor (as seen in Episode I and Episode II) was replaced with a black visor instead. The crest of the helmet also changed significantly. But this revised look was also carried forward into the Revenge Of The Sith film and represents the latest version of this elite guard. Hasbro cleverly killed two birds with one stone and added both blue and red versions of similarly looking guards and universally dubbed these characters as Royal Guards for the Revenge Of The Sith basic figure line. Both utilize the same body type. The only differences are in the head (helmet) sculpt and the color of the uniform. It’s a shame that each character didn’t get its own packaging so their respective differences could have been better documented. They each have unique names and blending them as Royal Guards unfortunately blurs too many lines together and it’s something we’re not entirely comfortable with since they each serve unique bodies of government. Thankfully, as action figures, Hasbro gets much higher marks for the work that went into the sculpts than the thought process that went into the packaging. The blue Royal Guard (also called a Coruscant Guard, but more accurately a Senate Guard) is an exciting all-new action figure to have in the Star Wars line because it marks the first time the version with the “black visor” has been released as an action figure. This figure isn’t perfect. It misses the mark by having swivel elbows (a definite “no-no” for an army builder action figure) instead of ball-jointed ones and the awkward stance of the legs makes us with that Hasbro could have added ball-jointed ankles into the sculpt as well.

The Royal Guard (blue flavor) is good enough for now, but you can bet that you’re going to want to see this updated in the basic figure line in the near future. Royal Guard [Senate Guard] comes with decent articulation. This would normally be considered a healthy dose of articulation for any action figure, but the Royal Guard ends up not being as utilitarian as you’d like. This isn’t the end of the world because these characters normally just stand around and guard things, but if you’re looking to make the most of this sculpt you may be slightly disappointed. The soft-goods on the Royal Guard look nice (as long as you don’t mess with them). Once you remove the outer robes from the figure (or even posing the figure) it significantly changes the drape of it and it is much too big. So be forewarned – don’t touch the soft-goods because it's hard to get them perfectly back into the same position in which they arrived. Underneath is an incredibly designed body loaded with armor. Hasbro is paying homage to the Expanded Universe here and fans of Crimson Empire have reason to be happy! Royal Guard comes with a gun that looks identical to a Biker Scout’s pistol and also a strapped blaster file with a metallic blue deco. It looks awesome. Lastly, the Royal Guard also comes with an environmental display base since it is a Collection 2 figure. This is a great interpretation of the Senate Guard. We wish Hasbro didn’t package it as a Royal Guard, but no matter how he’s arrived, he is still a great and welcomed addition to the Revenge Of The Sith line. It will be interesting to see if Hasbro will update this character again to make him definitive. That’s what we’re hoping for at least.