Naboo Royal Guard - TVC - Basic (VC83)

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The collecting fan base may not think too much about the all-new The Vintage Collection Naboo Royal Guard action figure. You might feel indifferent about it, but we want to make it known that it’s one of the shining stars of The Phantom Menace wave in The Vintage Collection. The early prototype samples in photographs put collectors off a bit. The eyebrows looked too thick, and the facial details on the portrait didn’t seem to resonate with fans. But the final production action figure is a tremendous success by most standards, and we couldn’t be more thrilled to have this upgraded Naboo Royal Guard as part of our collection, finally. We hope Hasbro will release future variations and running changes for future releases. Until Hasbro decides to work ball-jointed hips into tooling for this type of character, for now, this release is the definitive version of the Naboo Royal Guard. We feel that you’ll love this figure, just as we do, because it’s authentic, accurate, and timely for release again in the basic figure line. And it’s a perfect action figure choice to support the release of The Phantom Menace in 3D. This prominent, background Episode I Star Wars character had a ton of screen time in the film, but interestingly, was mainly off in the distance blasting B-1 battle droids and making a clear path for Queen Amidala to search for the viceroy. We’ll need a variety of types for our collection, so hopefully, Hasbro will crank these out like it’s 1999!

An essentially flawless design, the Naboo Royal Guard is an excellent action figure. The upper “body glove” (for lack of a better description) is finely ribbed and fitted and looks like Hasbro designed it from flexible rubber. In the film, they functioned as blast-dampening vests during battle, so we imagine Hasbro utilized some rubber to manufacture them. In the grooves of the ribbing, Hasbro added a dark wash, which makes the deco look realistic. The paint operations are fantastic. The boots, although not ribbed, are colored similarly. In between are bright red pants, and we think they are a shade or two too bright. Compared to what we see in the film, something looks off with their coloring. There is little to worry about a perceived vast disparity between the actual color of the costume and the action figure, however. Hasbro has designated this figure as a “Character Debut – Never Before Offered As A Figure!” but they are incorrect. In 1999’s Episode I line, they released the Naboo Royal Guard, albeit with darker skin and facial hair, but still the same character. Interestingly, other figures like Queen Amidala and Quinlan Vos do not sport the hype sticker despite their respective iterations being available for the first time. The Naboo Royal Guard is a fantastic action figure. Hasbro cleaned up the issues with the prototype, and the production sample shines. These soldiers are called Palace Guards and are part of the Royal Naboo Security Forces, commonly stationed in the Royal Palace of Theed.

Hasbro ensured that they replicated every detail of this soldier into the action figure. The Naboo Royal Guard comes with a removable helmet. To replicate the colorfully pearly look of their helmets, Hasbro adds stripes of varying metallic colors in a mottled pattern. However, the paint application here doesn’t entirely work, but it’s good enough if you’re not too detail-oriented. We have seen them add pearly detail to other figures in the past, so we’re surprised why they went with this deco plan instead of something closer. Regardless, the helmet is perfectly sized, and it doesn’t look the slightest bit oversized on the figure’s head. Conversely, the head isn’t too small to fit the helmet, either. Hasbro also designed an all-new blaster for this figure, and a functioning holster on the left hip accepts it graciously. Despite the figure’s limited swivel hip movement, we have been successful in recreating some cool movie-specific poses with this figure. In other words, the figure has more flexibility than you might imagine, or by our limitations in this review. The Naboo Royal Guard is not to be overlooked. But it’s limiting. We need an army of these characters to be worthwhile additions to displays and dioramas. Hasbro is exploring ways to make Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace more appealing to collectors and determining the best approach. Naboo Royal Guard is evidence of this.