Emperor Palpatine/Luke Skywalker/Emperor’s Royal Guard - SW [TLJ] - Exclusives

It’s not an exaggeration. The Emperor Palpatine/Luke Skywalker/Emperor’s Royal Guard TARGET exclusive three-pack from the Star Wars [The Last Jedi] line is one of the greatest 3.75” scaled products Hasbro has made for the longtime Star Wars collector. Sure, super-articulation isn’t part of this exclusive release, but the sculpts are so incredibly fantastic that you’re probably not going to care much. Yes, the set has a couple of issues, and we’ll address them all. But between the smart gathering of three pivotal characters from Star Wars Episode VI: Return Of The Jedi and sculpts that would make any Star Wars collector happy, the Emperor Palpatine/Luke Skywalker/Emperor’s Royal Guard three-pack has more going for it than against it. Love them or hate them, the 5POA figures included in this set represent some of the best/finest likenesses of these three core Original Trilogy characters. And although you can, generally speaking, ascribe five points of articulation to them because of the approach made with this set, both Emperor Palpatine and Luke Skywalker each come with seven points of articulation as determined by the inclusion of swivel wrists. It’s correct to feel that as a longtime collector that Hasbro has shortchanged us here when it comes to the figures’ articulation, but hopefully with the approval that the likenesses here have exceeded our expectations, hopefully, Hasbro can take some notes and develop these beautiful sculpts into new super-articulated action figures for the future. They must do this. It’s the only way.

For those of you not aware, the Emperor’s Royal Guard was originally intended for release in the Rebels toy line, part of the Saga Legends lineup, but the figure was canceled. It’s difficult to imagine why this sculpt has taken so many years to materialize, but here it is, part of an exclusive multipack available only at TARGET. The Emperor’s Royal Guard is as simple an action figure as it can be. Although it only comes with only five points of articulation, the Emperor's Royal Guard has swivel shoulders and swivel hips along with a ball-socket head that make up this figure's articulation. (The helmet is attached to the long crimson robes and separate from the armored body underneath in one piece. See our photo gallery for specifics on this. His force pike is much too thick but can hold it just like in the movie thanks to a well-sculpted right hand that accommodates it without any issues at all. The sculpt is pretty standard. The Emperor’s Royal Guard is standing at attention, and no action has been worked into his sculpt. If you’re looking for the ideal background Emperor’s Royal Guard to round out your collection, this is the figure you want to have as he is exactly what we need for an “at attention” iteration. We wish Hasbro would have added two of these figures and just made it a four-pack for $24.99. This would have been a completely acceptable MSRP for four figures while killing two birds with one stone; the second bird being a set of two, necessary Emperor Royal Guards to protect Emperor Palpatine.

For us, Emperor Palpatine is the best Episode VI version of the character ever. Hasbro should be proud of their efforts here. For the first time, Hasbro has focused solely on how Emperor Palpatine looks in Episode VI and not the Prequel Trilogy or in the Expanded Universe to create a faithful representation of how this character appeared in 1983. Start praying now that Hasbro takes the digital files, at the very least, of this Emperor Palpatine figure to develop a glorious The Vintage Collection version. We all have waited WAY too long for that figure, and at this point, it would be the equivalent of justice if Hasbro did this for us. Emperor Palpatine also provides evidence to a rumor that The Black Series [Phase II] Emperor Palpatine (#11) figure was prepared with interchangeable hands that included Force lightning. Well, here is the proof. Our sources have indicated that digital files have existed for years of thee interchangeable hands and the proof is right here with this 5POA version. If you also recall, Hasbro advanced us information at 2014’s Toy Fair that IF they brought Emperor Palpatine into the line, he WOULD come with interchangeable hands that shot out Force lightning. This obviously never panned out. Always in motion is Hasbro, but the rumors always seem to get proven true time and again. Emperor Palpatine also comes with a beautifully sculpted cane. It fits into his right hand very well. His robe shell is also removable, but the figure doesn’t look great without it. However, if you remove it then you can inspect the great head sculpt of this action figure.

We’re completely taken with Luke Skywalker too. He could not be more reminiscent of the 1983 figure which is an incredible thing to experience. But let’s talk about his faults first. Firstly, Luke Skywalker’s hair color is wrong…. again. It’s almost a pattern with Hasbro at this point. The first version of Luke (mostly in his Jedi gear) always starts off with red hair. And then if there is time to correct the figure then Hasbro changes it to dirty blonde. We don’t think there will be enough time to change the hair color on this figure, but stranger things have happened. Despite the wrong hair color, Luke Skywalker has a divine head sculpt. It’s one of the best “Episode VI” portraits we have seen in 3.75” scale, and it blows away the head sculpt on 2014’s TBS [P2] Luke Skywalker (#03) figure. It’s that good. In addition to wrong hair color, Luke Skywalker has a VERY funky pose. It seems that Hasbro wanted to take a small risk and not play it so safe when it came to his sculpting, but the final product is a very wonky action figure, sadly. With some patience you can get Luke Skywalker to stand unassisted and look good doing so, but for the most part he looks uncomfortable in many of the pose you’re able to attain with this figure. But even with these complaints, the figure still looks great. He is in perfect scale in the 3.75” format, his silhouette is completely accurate, and his new lightsaber accessory is just perfect. All three figures deliver satisfaction here. There is no way you’re going to be disappointed, aside from articulation issues. Again, these figures are not completely perfect, but the approaches made with them show that Hasbro is committed to creating products that are as faithful as possible to their onscreen counterparts.