Emperor’s Royal Guard - Real Action Heroes

Elegance and deadliness – these are the hallmarks of the crimson-clad Royal Guard that accompanied the galaxy's sovereign at all times. While the guards can trace their origins to the cerulean-clad Senate Guards of the Republic, Palpatine crafted an order of protectors that stood apart from the rest of his forces.

Medicom is known for the striking Star Wars collectibles. From the chunky Kubricks to their realistic and super-deformed Vinyl Collectible Dolls, they certainly know how to deliver Star Wars in style. But perhaps their best collectibles are the Real Action Heroes which are a slightly smaller scaled one-sixth figure. Smaller in the fact that they look a little shorter next to the Hasbro or Sideshow Collectibles' 1:6 Scale Figures, but they still deliver amazing quality in sculpt and costuming. One of their best figures to date is the Royal Guard. Simply put, it’s a beautifully designed one-sixth scaled figure. As a character, the Royal Guard has not seen light as a one-sixth scale figure that often. Interestingly, this is the first one-sixth scale Royal Guard figure since the 1998 Action Collection version by Hasbro. But it is light years ahead of the Hasbro version as far as design and authenticity is concerned. Of course significant upgrades and improvements in technology allow for incredible features and details that could never have been attained a decade earlier, but even despite the advancements in technology, Medicom Toy has the propensity to really grab proportions and likenesses unlike any other toy company. The attention to detail that has been included in the Royal Guard is most impressive and save for the extremely expensive price tag, this figure was an “almost perfect” purchase.

Sideshow Collectibles joined with Medicom Toy and thankfully gained a wonderful distribution deal to really help American collectors attain these stunning one-sixth figures for their collections. While the price of them hasn’t been reduced, the availability has been expanded, which in turn reduced the aftermarket prices on these figures. While we love to pay the most affordable prices for our Star Wars collectibles, the Medicom Toy Real Action Heroes are extremely high quality figures and worthy of their asking price. The Royal Guard is another one of their incredible pieces. The figure has a ton of articulation and comes with his force pike. Unlike so many other figures in the Real Action Heroes line, the figure doesn't come with any interchangeable hand attachments. But you don't need them. He comes with the appropriately sculpted hands to hold it upright against his body. And the figure also has the flexibility to be posed in an action stance. Medicom Toy has sculpted a beautiful helmet. It and the outer robes match perfectly and are colored in a blood red. Then the Royal Guard has inner burgundy robes (as well as burgundy boots). The coloring here is flawless. The fabric used for the robes is very unique and leaves you with the thought that this is what the actual material must have felt like for the costumes used in the movie! Slightly crepe, yet luxuriously silky, the Royal Guard’s robes have appropriate length and stunning drape. They have been beautifully fabricated.

The bottoms of both the outer crimson/blood red robe and inner burgundy robe have metal wiring sewn in the bottom of them to allow for optimal posing. This seems to be a new standard for one-sixth figures, especially the high-end one-sixth figures. While we love the option for the fabric to keep its pose, we actually have mixed feelings for this wire used in this particular fabric. Due to the heavy nature of the fabric that was used for the Royal Guard, we believe that the robes did not need the assistance of the included wire. They would have had a natural drape on their own. The problem is that the wire is hard to manipulate through the fabric and the futzing that was required to get our desired poses drove us to near insanity. We battled with the robes for much too long to make the figure look good for the photos in our gallery. It seemed sometimes that the wire was working against us. And once you think you have the robes in a pose that you want, you may need to start all over again, because the wire doesn't seem to stay put. It definitely will take some practice to get that wire to work towards your advantage so be prepared. The Real Action Heroes Royal Guard is still a gorgeous figure nonetheless. This may just be the definitive one-sixth version of this character for all time. We are thrilled to have it as part of our one-sixth scaled collection. So will you. The price is steep, but it's good to know that Medicom Toys holds their products to a high level of quality. That expectation has been met here.