Everyone – good guys and bad guys alike – need their posse. They need a cadre of dudes around them to protect and guide, otherwise they end up like Britney. And nobody wants that.
In the original trilogy (and you know which trilogy I’m talking about without my having to say it, so don’t act so puzzled), Emperor Palpatine has these cool, deadly looking red robed guards. Now, it has to be a bit of a bummer being this guy’s guard, since he could clearly kick your ass with his little finger, but at least you get to wear the cool red robe.
In later films, which are actually earlier stories, Palpatine was just a lowly Senator. His guards were the guards of all the Senate as well, appropriately called Senate Guards (rather than Royal Guards). They dressed in blue robes with a slightly different helmet. When Sidious rose to power, becoming Emperor, he gradually phased them out with the red version, and renamed the group.
If you have any questions or comments, just drop me a line at mwc@mwctoys.com. On to the review!
Royal Guard mini-busts from Gentle Giant
Gentle Giant produced a whopping 10,000 of the guards, but split it up into red ones and blue ones. The red, classic look is the majority of the run, with the blue version put in as a chase. I’m not sure of the actual numbers, but it looks like there was a blue for every two or three red, similar to what we’ve seen with some of the early Clonetrooper color variations.
Packaging – ***
These come in the usual, bland, black packaging that we’ve seen dictated out of Lucasfilm for awhile now. On the upside though, they have windows to see the contents, and those nifty GG baseball card style Certificates of Authenticity. On an interesting side note, they used the exact same base foam shell for both busts, even though only the red has the removable weapon.
Sculpting – ***1/2
While neither of these are extremly complex, it’s not really the fault of Gentle Giant. On certain characters in the past, I’ve complained about GG’s lack of texturing, but here it makes complete sense. These costumes always appear very smooth, very clean, and very ominous. The outfit itself lacks detail by design, so complaining about the smooth robes and helmet would be a tad disengenious.
Other key aspects are right on target, like the scale of the helmeted heads to the body, arms and hands, and the stoic poses. Put a couple of the red guys behind your Emperor bust, and a couple of the blue behind the Palpatine bust, and you’ll have an excellent display.
It’s worth noting here that the weapon on the Senate Guard is part of the permenant sculpt and is not removable. However, the majority of the weapon and left hand on the Royal Guard comes as a separate attachment, held tightly in place with magnets. It stays in plce quite well, and is much easier to get lined up and attached than some of the other recent busts.
Paint – ***1/2
Like the sculpt, the paint is going to be pretty basic on these. Lots of red or blue, a little black, and a dash here or there of some other color with the weapons perhaps.
The paint work is extremely clean, and to make up for the lack of detail, they used a nice high gloss finish on the helmets, and a matte finish on the robes. This does an excellent job of setting the two apart, and adding visual pop to the otherwise consistent color.
Design – ***1/2
While neither of these busts is in a particularly dynamic pose, that fits the characters perfectly. Like the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier or Buckingham Palace, these guys were stoic bordering on statue. They made for nice set dressing, and added a bit of ‘royal’ to the look of the Senate (and later to the Emperor), but they weren’t men of action in the films. Creating a bust like this, where only the upper body is visible, in some sort of extreme action pose wouldn’t have fit the character well. Also, since the main display option is as a guard(s) to a Palpatine mini-bust in one form or another, an action pose would have made that impossible.
Value – red **1/2; blue **
The busts will run you the usual $45 each or so, except if you’re trying to get a Blue version. Since these were the smaller run, retailers had little choice but to either charge more, or set up package deals where you purchase two reds and you can also buy a blue at the normal cost.
Things to Watch Out For –
Not much. While the weapon on the Royal Guard is held very tightly by the magnets, I still wouldn’t carry him around or handle him without one hand keeping it savely in place.
Overall – ***1/2
Gentle Giant’s track record with the monsters and masked characters in their Star Wars mini-bust line has been extremely good, certainly better than the overall quality of the human likenesses. These two continue that tradition, and will make an excellent addition to your collection. However, if you don’t already have the Emperor or Senator Palpaltine mini-busts, you will most likely be less inclined to take the plunge on buying one or more Guards.
Where to Buy –
There are plenty of great online options:
– the best deal around is at Urban-Collector, at least if you’re looking for both red and blue. You can buy them as a pair for $89. And if you’re just looking for the red, he’s just $37!
– Andrew’s Toyz has a slightly higher price than some on just the red – $45 – but you can get a good price on the blue if you buy him as part of a set of three, two reds and one blue, for $135.
– Amazing Toyz has a great price on the red at $40, or you can get the red AND blue together as a set for $120.
– CornerStoreComics has just the red for $42, or the red AND a blue for $120 as a set.
– Dark Shadow Collectibles is all out of the blue but has the red for $42.00
– Alter Ego has just the red version, available for $42.50
Related Liniks –
Other reviews include the Jawas,
Dengar,
Zuckuss, Chewbacca and Darth Maul, Jedi Luke, Qui-Gon Jinn, Palpatine and Skiff Lando
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December 5th, 2007 at 7:55 am
[…] added a bit of ‘royal’ to the look of the Senate (and later to the Emperor), … http://www.quickstopentertainment.com/2007/12/05/toy-box-royal-guard/ Quick Stop Entertainment […]