Emperor’s Royal Guard (ROTJ 1983-84)

The Royal Guard looked to be real bad asses. The red helmet with the “I won’t take any s---t from you” stare. The robed standing-at-attention stance. The big lances. Then, during the movie, they did…nothing. Nothing! The Emperor gets killed, and they do nothing! Sure, he sent them away, but even the Secret Service has tabs on the President all the time. Apparently, there may have been a deleted scene where the guards confronted an admiral, but that has not been publicly shown.

The figure was only released on ROTJ backing, and included a force pike as a weapon. The red cloth robe was attached at the base of the helmet, with a slit for one arm to come out and grasp the pike. Neither the robe nor the cape could be removed – except by wrecking the figure.

Why should you own this figure? Five reasons:

1. Despite their movie inaction, it still looks bad ass.

2. Great red figure for ex-Soviet lovers.

3. Goes great with an Imperial Shuttle.

4. Create a scene where the Guards actually do something, like Grevious’ robot guards in Revenge of the Sith.

5. The force pike makes a great limbo pole for all the figures.

Backstory:

They were first formed as the Red Guard for the Republic Senate after Palpatine claimed rumors of corruption in the Senate. They later became the Emperor’s personal guard. They were handpicked from among the best stormtroopers, and underwent rigorous and grueling training. To keep in fighting form, some were always rotated out on combat missions, so some survived the destruction of the second Death Star. These remaining Guards were chronicled in the graphic novel series Crimson Empire, where they fought for supremacy. They also came back together to protect the clone Emperor in Dark Empire, but one of their own had sabotaged the Emperor’s clones so he would not live long.

Want more? Full article at Wookieepedia

52nd in alphabetical order