Crimson Empire - TLC - Exclusives

The Royal Guard is Emperor Palpatine's elite security force. Clad in striking red robes, they are respected and feared throughout the galaxy for their elegant and deadly fighting skills. Candidates are chosen from the ranks of the Imperial squads and trained on the barren world of Yinchorr. They work hard to master the lessons being taught to them, for their very lives are at stake: When Darth Vader tests them in the Crucible arena, they do not get a second chance if they fail the test.

We feel that nothing creates more chagrin in collectors than a silly box set of Skittles-colored Expanded Universe characters based on a publication you may like or dislike (or know or not know). This aptly describes the Previews exclusive Crimson Empire set from The Legacy Collection quite well. When Hasbro releases a set like this before, oh let's say, Ewoks, bounty hunters, droids, more pilots based on the films, and even Jabba's palace aliens, it becomes very frustrating to collectors who are fans of movie based characters (and have supported the line since day one). And while we admittedly agree that there is an intense group of Expanded Universe collectors out there, sets should focus on The Force Unleashed or Knights Of The Old Republic first before sets the Crimson Empire multipack. The Star Wars Expanded Universe has come to the forefront of collecting, taking tight control of what gets released and what gets placed on Hasbro's backburner. Unfortunately, it seems to be affecting the movie-based characters at an all time high. For example, we got a phenomenal Amanin action figure in the 2009 TLC Walmart exclusive Janek Sunber/Amanin Comic Packs set, but he was based on the Star Wars: Empire series and is not accurate to the character we saw in Jabba’s palace. This is quite unfortunate in our eyes. So we have to use our 2001 POTJ Deluxe Amanaman until Hasbro upgrades him. And the EU has taken over the Original Trilogy toy concepts as well. Even things that may seem like they are based on the films (Disturbance At Lars Homestead comes to mind) are really a nod to some other Expanded Universe source. Who can help out the OT fans? We almost wish that Lucasfilm, Ltd. would step in and somehow "make" Hasbro focus on more of the films for multipack releases. Because a set like this just makes us roll our eyes. And we offer sincerest apologies if you liked this set.

As you can probably already tell, this review is not that favorable. This box set will really only appeal to fans of Crimson Empire, but we're not sure how many of you are actually out there. And by the incredible lack of sales of this set, it appears there aren't too many of you out there. In fact, many online stores and comic book shops had marked down the set 50% off or more shortly after its original release. (This is not a good thing, folks.) You may have heard this before, but the look of these figures and the poor kit-bashing that was executed to make them allows you to believe that you are collecting another license (namely Power Rangers) because, well, they do not really look like anything Star Wars. It seems as if the Palpatine and Vader were thrown into the set as good will to remind collectors that this is indeed a Star Wars product. Even so, it just looks like a silly attempt to get something out to collectors in desperation, not because any time or effort was put into them. While the character specific insignia on the helmet and the back of the figure is very neat, that is about all we can say is the saving grace of these action figures. At least there is a positive comment we can give this set. Unfortunately, the four royal guards all use the leg's from 2007's TAC Clone Trooper Training Fatigues (No. 55) figure. And we all remember how annoying that figure was with its awkward pose and its "one leg shorter than the other" issues. It doesn’t become better for these figures. They are a pain to stand up and they have a consistent “action pose” that becomes annoying over time. Kir Kanos and Carnor Jax reuse the head's from their Comic Packs release, but they have been repainted so significantly, they are nearly unrecognizable from their first incarnation. This should add a little diversity into your Crimson Empire mini-collection. Darth Vader is nearly a simple repack while Emperor Palpatine is a repaint of the Evolutions mold we have already come to love. But since we get him every six months, there is honestly nothing new enough about him to get overly excited.

While we wish and hope for a box set of figures that are based on any one of the six Star Wars films, sets like this will have to keep us occupied in the meantime. We won’t rest easy about this and will certainly make our voices heard. Heck, we would even like to see a new 212th Attack Battalion, 501st Legion or Coruscant Clone Trooper Battle Packs sets before sets like this. And those seem like they should be no brainers to Hasbro, so we honestly don’t get it. If you aren't a fan of the Expanded Universe, we can say wholeheartedly that there is no reason to purchase this set (and we don’t normally like to make bold conclusions like this). But we think that Hasbro needs to feel the pain of bad choices like these sets so that they don’t make a bad choice again. (And we believe they will because this set just isn’t selling as it is almost being given away.) On a different note, if you are going to purchase this set, we recommend that if you are a collector who is very picky about good paint jobs on your figures, take some time to check for good paint applications. To add insult to injury, Hasbro didn’t give this set the quality control it deserved and the paint applications are some of the worse we have seen. We have even found samples where the symbols have been applied cockeyed and shoddily. The paint applications are especially worse on the heads and it makes for a very frustrating purchase to those with type A personalities. Wait a minute. Collecting should not be this stressful, right? Although the set retails for $34.99, we are more than confident you will be able to find this for much cheaper. And you should definitely pay a lot less for this as this set is certainly nothing to clamor about other than it adds four new royal guards to your collection, in multi-colors that is. And remember that they have very limited posing capabilities too.