Elite Praetorian Guard (With Heavy Blade) - TBS [P3] - Six Inch Figures (Exclusive)

As Supreme Leader of the First Order, Snoke was flanked by crimson-clad guardians, loyal protectors encased in ornate armor ready to defend the Supreme Leader from any threat.

There has been a relative meeting of the minds that the Elite Praetorian Guards might be the most interesting characters so far in Star Wars Episode VIII: The Last Jedi. They’re the new versions of Emperor’s Royal Guard in this film, and while some have compared their helmets to ducks, there is something ominous and interesting about their design and solid red color. And there are supposedly many in this film. Some fans have already itemized that there are eight unique Elite Praetorians Guards in Episode 8, while others have been more conservative in their approximations and have suggested that there are only five. The latter assumption exists because of how many unique helmet styles there are, while eight represents the number of unique weapons there are. The Black Series [Phase III] line brought us our very first version: Elite Praetorian Guard (50) figure. Most of the figure's tooling has been reused for the figure contained in the “Guardians Of Evil” four-pack released as both a Barnes & Noble and GameStop exclusive. However, the multipack version was given soft-goods for the lower skirt, and the figure was freer to move as needed when posing him. Now we’ve come to the third version. The Elite Praetorian Guard (With Heavy Blade) is an Amazon exclusive and is just more of the same. This time this figure is more closely tied to the Elite Praetorian Guard (50) figure as it has a molded lower skirt. The figure also comes with a unique helmet design and two awesome-looking weapons. We’ll get to what is included here in a moment.

Hasbro did faithfully recreate all of the details that make an Elite Praetorian Guard what it is. A rather faceless character, the Elite Praetorian Guard boasts the crimson robes that its predecessor wears and comes with defensive weapons to defend its Master’s honor. The Elite Praetorian Guard (With Heavy Blade) looks great, has it’s typical 6” issues, but may stand out as one of the more interesting characters in the Sequel Trilogy. The Elite Praetorian Guard doesn’t have a fair range of movement in the arms, especially the elbows, but it is possible to move them enough to pose the figure with the included weapons. Hasbro designed a nice action figure here despite this. The “collapsible cup” arms are a strange concept for any Star Wars character, but they also create this insatiable morbid curiosity that you just want to understand these characters so much more. Hasbro utilized a brilliantly red and shiny, glistening plastic to cast this figure in and the results are beautiful. Reminiscent in many ways of the characters from Crimson Empire (without the faces of course), the Elite Praetorian Guard has a much more warrior-like look and feel to him. At the same time, we do question how these characters can see anything meaningful and be able to fight and protect who they’re intended to protect. Despite the figure’s arm issues, the Elite Praetorian Guard does have wonderful articulation throughout and can obtain a wonderful array of positions thanks to its functional articulation system. Even the lower robes have been cast in plastic with a lower durometer scoring to allow for more flexibility when making the most out of its leg articulation. Hasbro thought ahead here.

The two weapon accessories included with the Elite Praetorian Guard (With Heavy Blade) look fantastic. The first heavy blade is extremely long and almost looks too long for the Elite Praetorian Guard to handle. But you can come up with some pretty interesting poses with it. These characters look like they know how to take care of themselves in battle. And Supreme Leader Snoke looks like he is in great hands with these protectors. The other weapon included is called a sword whip. It has a “Phillips head” screwdriver feel to it with a red handle. It also looks like it could do some major damage if impaled by it. Both the left and right shoulder armor pieces are removable for reasons unknown. It seems that they needed to have some wiggle room when you articulate the figure’s shoulders, but to have them completely removable is something we’re not sure we understand. Despite the figure’s limitations, the Elite Praetorian Guard (With Heavy Blade) can hold the included accessories well. We’re not sure if we can admit to whether we find the Elite Praetorian Guard an interesting character or not. He does seem to follow closely in the footsteps of the Royal Guard that we fell in love with so many years ago, but we don’t know if he’ll ever be able to come close to the same coolness factor of that 1983 character. Time will obviously tell, but for now, it’s safe to assume we have a cool toy of him now. Time will tell, but it may be quite a task to figure out how to obtain all of these Elite Praetorian Guards (if Hasbro keeps making new versions of course).