Elite Praetorian Guard — Star Wars The Black Series #50

Overview

Red Line #50 is the Elite Praetorian Guard — Supreme Leader Snoke’s personal bodyguard corps, first seen flanking him in The Last Jedi’s throne room sequences. Eight Praetorian Guards are present when Kylo Ren kills Snoke and turns on Rey, and the subsequent fight — Rey and Kylo back-to-back against all eight — is TLJ’s most kinetic action sequence and one of the finest fight scenes in the entire franchise.

The all-red armoured design is the First Order’s visual answer to the Emperor’s Royal Guard — same conceptual role (supreme leader’s personal protection), same colour scheme, completely different execution. Where the Royal Guard’s robes create a ceremonial, almost priestly silhouette, the Praetorian Guard’s segmented armour creates a combat-ready fighter’s silhouette. These aren’t ceremonial guards; they are dangerous. The throne room fight proves it. Three total Black Series Praetorian Guard releases, each with different weapon configurations. MSRP $19.99.

The Throne Room Fight

The Praetorian Guard’s defining scene is worth describing in detail because it’s the direct purpose of the army builder. Eight Guards in red armour attack Kylo Ren and Rey simultaneously after Kylo kills Snoke. The two fight back-to-back without any pre-arrangement — their Force-bond means they don’t need to coordinate verbally; they move around each other instinctively. The fight choreography was designed to show both characters at their physical peak, each covering the other’s blind spots, the specific competence of two Force-users fighting as a unit despite being nominal enemies.

The visual of two figures in black (Kylo) and grey-white (Rey) surrounded by eight identical red-armoured opponents is a strong display premise: the vibro-blade configuration of this #50 figure is one of eight Guard variants in the scene, each carrying different melee weapons designed to challenge the lightsaber-wielding opponents.

Accessories

Vibro-blade — an electro-charged melee weapon that can hold against a lightsaber without being cut. The vibro-blade is specific to this guard configuration; other Praetorian Guard releases carry different weapon loadouts including double-bladed staffs, wrist blades, and paired sickle blades. For a complete throne room display with weapon variety, collecting multiple Praetorian Guard versions across the three releases is the approach.

Articulation: 19 points via the standard Red Line scheme, appropriate to the melee combat poses of the throne room sequence.

All Three Black Series Praetorian Guard Releases

Elite Praetorian Guard (2017) — this figure: Vibro-blade. Praetorian Guard (TLJ GC) (2022): Galaxy Collection TLJ update with different weapon configuration. Imperial Praetorian Guard (2025): Phase 4 release with further weapon variant. The three releases at different weapon configurations mean a collector can have three distinct Praetorian Guards on display without exact duplication — meaningful for the throne room scene where weapon variety across the eight Guards is specifically part of the fight design.

Army Building the Throne Room

The Praetorian Guard functions as the TLJ equivalent of the Emperor’s Royal Guard at #38 — the all-red elite bodyguard corps that anchors a display around the supreme authority figure. Multiple copies create the formation depth the scene requires. For the throne room fight configuration: multiple Praetorian Guards with varied weapon loadouts surrounding Kylo Ren TLJ (#45) and Rey Jedi Training (#44) creates the scene.

The all-red design is maximally distinct from other Red Line figures, creating strong visual focus in any mixed display.

Secondary Market

The Red Line Praetorian Guard holds above-retail secondary market prices. The 2022 Galaxy Collection version provides an updated alternative. No production variants documented for the 2017 release.

Verdict

The Red Line #50 is also notable for being the line’s fiftieth numbered figure — a milestone in the sequence that Hasbro reached without any special packaging or fanfare, with a First Order bodyguard. That lack of ceremony is entirely consistent with how the Red Line operated: each numbered slot was an equal product decision, and the army builder that anchors TLJ’s most memorable fight scene earning the round-number slot is its own kind of statement.

Buy for the TLJ throne room display, First Order elite bodyguard army building, or Red Line sequence completion. Multiple releases with different weapons enable genuine variety across copies.

The Vibro-Blade and Praetorian Weapon Design Philosophy

The vibro-blade’s specific functional advantage in the throne room fight is that it can withstand a lightsaber strike — the electrostatic charge running through the blade creates a field that prevents clean cuts, allowing the Guards to parry lightsaber attacks rather than simply being cut through. Each of the eight Guards in the scene carries a different weapon configuration designed around this fundamental capability, creating opponents who can actually challenge two Force-users in close combat.

The Red Line vibro-blade version is one of three weapon configurations now available across the line’s Praetorian Guard releases. Collectors building the throne room fight with weapon variety can pair this 2017 vibro-blade version with the 2022 Galaxy Collection version’s different loadout. The 2025 release adds a third weapon variant, completing a collection that can represent the weapon diversity of the actual throne room sequence.

The TLJ Throne Room as the Line’s Best Scene Display Opportunity

The throne room fight is arguably the most achievable signature scene in the Red Line sequence at scale. It requires: two protagonist figures (Rey #44 and Kylo Ren TLJ #45), multiple army builder figures (the Praetorian Guards in various weapon configurations), and an authority figure (Snoke #54) for the throne. All are available in the Red Line sequence at consecutive numbers 44, 45, 50, and 54 — the line effectively provides the complete cast for this specific scene across four figures and an army builder.

The Praetorian Guard’s red-on-red surface detail — different shades of crimson across the armour’s segmented plates — is one of the Red Line wave’s more technically demanding paint applications. The sculpt differentiates the helmet, chest plate, arm segments, and leg armour through surface texture variation rather than colour difference, creating a figure that reads as a single vivid red at distance but rewards close examination with layered detail.

---

Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Red Line. Related: Kylo Ren TLJ P3-45 | Rey Jedi Training P3-44 | Snoke P3-54 | The Last Jedi.