EMPEROR'S ROYAL GUARD He's Back!
The Retro Collection 3 3/4-Inch Action Figure Hasbro Pulse/Shop Disney 6-Pack
Item No.: No. F6988
Manufacturer: Hasbro
Number: n/a
Includes: Staff, plus Mon Mothma, Yak Face, Wicket the Ewok, Gamorrean Guard, and Admiral Ackbar
Action Feature: n/a
Retail: $72.99
Availability: November 2023
Appearances: Return of the Jedi
Bio: Star Wars Retro Collection includes Star Wars action figures from the 40-plus-year legacy of the Star Wars Galaxy, including movies and live-action series. (Stolen from the marketing copy. Packaging has no bio.)
Image: Adam's photo lab.
Availability: Click here to buy it at eBay now!
Commentary: I'm kind of a fiend for
Retro figures because they're kind of scarce and I feel like they're an endangered species. I open some immediately, and there are some I still have carded and unopened so I can enjoy a little treat later - this
Emperor's Royal Guard is one that is, as of my writing this sentence, still mint on card and has been for just under a year. As a kid, the original figure was not a favorite like an Ewok or Luke or any given alien. The helmet was fine, the stick was fine, the robes hid any detail on the figure - he was basically a sheet ghost with a helmet head. I'm not sure why it didn't click,
I like ghost toys a lot, but I definitely didn't make the connection as a kid. This was just some dork in a tablecloth who stood around and didn't get to do anything cool, so getting one as a gift was not necessarily as exciting as a Biker Scout or the pig guards. Now let me go get and open the figure.
Figures like this - and 4-LOM (the bug guy in the robe, as Kenner named him) - are good candidates for
The Retro Collection because they largely get to bypass the line's shortcomings. For some reason, Hasbro's factories sculpt the details in a softer way. With only the helmet and one arm exposed, the softer sculpting isn't something you're even going to notice - all that matters is that the colors are pretty much on the money and that the helmet is shiny, with a painted black visor. The pike is much taller than the actual movie, but it's close to the Kenner original - if lighter - with pretty good sculpted details. At first blush I'd say they did an excellent job with the staff, and I had to go get my original 1983 figure I've had since it came out to even realize that it might be as close as a
Retro accessory might get to the original Kenner sculpt, and without a side-by-side comparison of the original article I might have a hard time telling them apart. Hasbro's getting better at this.
The figure's helmet is a little less glossy for 2023, but the paint is a smidgen better. I really wish Hasbro put the Emperor's Royal Guard as a non-exclusive figure so fans could get as many as they wanted, and put The Emperor proper in the gift set (or skipped him completely) because nobody could afford to army build this guy at $73 per boxed set... but gosh, what a boxed set. Thee figures weren't perfect copies of the originals, but they're pretty good - this guy arguably has
better robes because they're not as fuzzy, but that could just be my memory. I feel like my 1983 Kenner guard always had a little fluff to him, and the new one doesn't, and the cut
seems better but that could be the seven years he spent as a toy and in a carry case before being placed in a specially-crafted Kenner display case I have to this day. (Thanks for selling me one, Jim Drye of Mesa, AZ, I hope you're still out there.) But I digress.
I think this is a pretty good figure. I think Hasbro overcharged us a bit for it, but I also heard rumblings of the edition size and it makes sense that it wasn't an $8-$10 figure. The whole set will probably leave you hemming and hawing about the price, but given it had freaking Yak Face in it in addition to Mon Mothma, it's a risky collection of oddballs. I wouldn't say this is a perfect rerelease, but it's so close and generally as good as the original (at least, for the parts that stick out of the robes) that I can't complain too much. Hasbro did a nice job, and I admit I am a little sad thinking that this could very well be the last Kenner-style Return of the Jedi action figure I ever rip off a cardback. I hope that's not the case - it would be very nice to get just a few more between now and when Star Wars figures finally become unprofitable. I've still got Ahsoka in her poncho and Grogu with his backpack to crack open, and the pre-ordered sets... and I hope there are more to come.
Collector's Notes: I got mine from Hasbro Pulse.
--Adam Pawlus
Day 3,177: October 3, 2024
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