Emperor's Royal Guard — Star Wars The Black Series 40th Anniversary

Overview

The Emperor’s Royal Guard at the ROTJ 40th Anniversary lineup is the Black Series tribute release of Palpatine’s elite ceremonial Imperial protection force — the all-red-robed silent enforcers who flank the Emperor’s throne on the second Death Star and accompany him during his most public Imperial appearances. Released September 2023 single-carded in Hasbro’s celebration of Return Of The Jedi’s 40th anniversary in vintage Kenner-inspired packaging. Mainline non-exclusive at $24.99 — slightly elevated above the standard $19.99 mainline baseline. 19-joint articulation. Three accessories: a blaster, a Force pike, and a removable soft-goods robe. The figure is a re-release of the 2017 Black Series Emperor’s Royal Guard (figure id=5976), shipped at standard retail in the new commemorative Kenner-inspired packaging six years after the original release.

The 2017 Re-Release

The Royal Guard sculpt is the same body engineering Hasbro released in 2017 as a Black Series Phase 3 release. The 2023 ROTJ 40th Anniversary version uses the same body sculpt, same articulation, same accessory loadout — only the packaging changes from the standard Phase 3 Black Series cardback to the Kenner-inspired commemorative cardback marking the 40th anniversary of Return of the Jedi.

For collectors who own the 2017 source release, the 2023 ROTJ 40th version is functionally a duplicate body sculpt with commemorative packaging. For collectors building the complete ROTJ 40th Anniversary commemorative set, this Royal Guard is essential despite duplicating the 2017 sculpt. For collectors building army-builder Death Star throne room diorama configurations (multiple Royal Guards flanking the Emperor), the dual availability across both releases improves overall accessibility.

The Three-Accessory Loadout

The Imperial Royal Guard came with a blaster, a removable soft-goods robe, and a Force pike. The accessory configuration captures the canonical Royal Guard equipment loadout — the distinctive Force pike polearm weapon that defines the character class’s primary combat configuration, the standard sidearm blaster for the secondary weapon role, and the all-red soft-goods robe that delivers the iconic silhouette.

The small blaster fits OK into the holster which is hidden underneath the robe. Specific accessory engineering note worth flagging — the blaster sidearm integrates into a body-mounted holster that’s positioned under the robe layer, supporting the screen-accurate stowed-sidearm configuration where the blaster isn’t visible in the canonical fully-robed display state. For collectors who want to reveal the holster-mounted weapon, the soft-goods robe needs to be partially lifted to access the holster position.

A specific accessory limitation: the blaster is too small for the hands. Recurring critique pattern that affects this figure across both the 2017 source and the 2023 commemorative version — the blaster sculpt is structurally undersized relative to the canonical Royal Guard sidearm scale. For collectors who care about screen-accurate weapon scaling, the blaster reads as visually small in the figure’s hand-grip configuration. The Force pike is structurally fine; the limitation is specific to the blaster sculpt.

The Force pike is a good fit for the hands and it’s possible to have the Imperial Royal Guard displayed “in attention” with the weapon leaned against the shoulder. Standard polearm-grip engineering supports both the active-combat (two-handed pike-deployed) and at-rest (single-hand pike-leaned configurations). The canonical “in attention” display reads as the Royal Guard’s most iconic standing-pose configuration — flanking the throne with pike held vertically.

The Soft-Goods Robe Engineering

The head can be popped off the body — this way the soft-goods robe can be removed. Standard head-removal-required robe-removal engineering supports clean robe disassembly for collectors who want costume modification flexibility. For collectors who want the canonical fully-robed display, the head can stay attached and the robe remains in place.

The red robe covers the entire body well, but it feels bulky and thin at the same time. Specific paradoxical critique worth flagging — the soft-goods robe delivers full body coverage (capturing the canonical silhouette) but the fabric weight reads as both insufficient (thin) and excessive (bulky) depending on display angle. This is a recurring soft-goods configuration challenge across the broader Black Series catalogue — fabric robes have to balance silhouette accuracy, weight distribution, and articulation clearance, and the Royal Guard’s specific costume requirements make these competing constraints difficult to resolve cleanly.

It takes time to make the robe flow good on the figure, but it’s possible. Practical display note — collectors who want clean fabric drape will need to spend time arranging the robe folds rather than expecting out-of-the-box display readiness. For collectors who don’t want to invest the arrangement time, the figure can ship in a less-than-optimal robe configuration that compromises the canonical visual reading.

The Helmet and Sculpt

There is no head underneath the helmet. Standard Black Series Imperial-trooper design choice — single masked configuration without an unmasked head sculpt for reveal-state display.

The accurate red colour tone on the outfit, the sculpted details underneath the robe — it all makes for a great looking figure. Specific colour-calibration commitment worth noting — the canonical Royal Guard red palette is structurally challenging to reproduce in plastic form (most reds drift toward pink or orange depending on lighting), and the 2017-source-and-2023-rerelease body sculpt lands the calibration cleanly. For collectors who care about screen-accurate red-tone display, the colour commitment captures the canonical Royal Guard visual reading correctly.

The sculpted details underneath the robe are largely invisible in the canonical fully-robed display configuration but become visible if the robe is removed for the alternative undersuit display state. Hasbro committed to detail under the robe layer despite the typical display configuration not requiring it — meaningful sculpt-investment commitment beyond the canonical visible-only requirements.

Articulation and the Removable Belt

19 joints. Ball-jointed top neck, swivel-jointed lower neck, ball-jointed shoulders, ball-jointed elbows, ball-jointed wrists, ball-jointed upper body, ball-jointed hips, swivel-jointed thighs, swivel-joints above knees, swivel joints below knees, ball-jointed ankles. High joint count for a Phase 3-tooled mainline release — substantially above the 17-joint baseline. The dual-axis knee articulation supports dynamic-pose configurations within the soft-goods robe’s clearance constraints.

A specific assembly note: the belt is its own piece and it’s plugged into the back of the figure — it is possible to remove it by stripping it down the legs (we don’t recommend this). The belt removal requires pulling the component down through the leg sculpts, which risks damaging both the belt and the leg paint application. For collectors who want the figure in canonical configuration, the belt should remain in place; for collectors who specifically want the belt removed, the recommended approach is to leave it alone rather than attempt removal.

The Imperial Royal Guard stands securely when on display without any balancing issues — appropriate Phase 3 standing-stability engineering across the figure’s standing-position display configurations including the canonical “in attention” pike-leaned pose.

Distribution and the Death Star Throne Room Lineup

Standard mainline ROTJ 40th Anniversary release at $24.99 through wide retail channels — Target, Walmart, Amazon, hobby shops. The mainline distribution and the slightly-elevated-above-baseline pricing make this Royal Guard accessible. Aftermarket pricing on the secondary market has remained reasonable due to the dual-release availability between this commemorative version and the 2017 source.

For collectors building the complete ROTJ 40th Anniversary Death Star throne room sequence diorama, this Royal Guard pairs specifically with Darth Vader (ROTJ) at #P4-40A-DV7, Luke Skywalker (Jedi Knight) at #P4-40A-LJ7, and The Emperor at #P4-40A-EM6 for the canonical throne room confrontation ensemble. Multiple Royal Guard copies provide the foundation for proper-scale Imperial ceremonial protection deployments — the character class is a meaningful army-builder proposition for throne room flanking configurations.

Note also the related Carbonized Emperor’s Royal Guard & TIE Pilot 2-pack at #P4-40A-ERTC for collectors who want the alternative Carbonized-finish display configuration.

Other Emperor’s Royal Guard Figures

The Emperor’s Royal Guard has been a consistent Hasbro release subject across multiple lines. Other notable releases include the Revenge of the Sith Emperor’s Quarters version (figure id=174), the Power of the Force 2 ROTJ-era release (figure id=1216), the Vintage Collection ROTJ release (figure id=1302), the Saga Collection Coruscant Security version (figure id=1480), the original Vintage Kenner ROTJ release (figure id=1995), and the Black Series Phase 3 ROTJ release (figure id=4832). The ROTJ 40th Anniversary release joins this multi-decade catalogue as the dedicated 6-inch Black Series anniversary-tribute version.

Secondary Market

Single-carded mainline release on Kenner-style commemorative cardback, September 2023. Available at MSRP through standard retail and the secondary market with broad availability. Verify the blaster, the Force pike, and the soft-goods robe are all included. The smaller blaster is the most easily lost component during transit due to its undersized scale.

Verdict

The Emperor’s Royal Guard at the 2023 ROTJ 40th Anniversary line is a competent re-release of the 2017 source figure with the commemorative Kenner-style cardback as the primary value proposition. The accurate red colour tone calibration captures the canonical Royal Guard visual reading correctly, the Force pike supports both the active-combat and “in attention” display configurations, the soft-goods robe delivers full body coverage and supports clean removal via head-popping, the high joint count handles standard combat poses cleanly within the robe’s clearance constraints, the body-mounted hidden-under-robe holster captures the screen-accurate stowed-sidearm configuration, and the figure stands reliably in the canonical pike-leaned standing position.

The undersized blaster sculpt is the figure’s most defensible structural negative — the weapon reads as visually small in the figure’s hand-grip configuration. The soft-goods robe’s bulky-and-thin-simultaneously fabric weight is a recurring critique that requires patient arrangement for clean display. The duplicate body sculpt vs the 2017 source means collectors with prior Black Series Royal Guard figures are buying repeat tooling for the commemorative cardback. The belt-removal-by-leg-stripping approach is structurally restrictive.

Buy this figure if you collect the ROTJ 40th Anniversary line as a complete set, if you build Death Star throne room sequence dioramas requiring Royal Guard army-builder configurations (multiple copies recommended), if you appreciate the screen-accurate red colour calibration commitment, if you missed the 2017 Black Series Royal Guard at original release, or if the canonical “in attention” pike-leaned display configuration matches your throne room ensemble preferences.

The Imperial ceremonial enforcer with the screen-accurate red colour tone and the soft-goods robe. The figure with the Force pike and the body-mounted hidden-under-robe blaster holster. The Royal Guard that flanks the Emperor for the canonical Death Star throne room sequence. Mainline distribution, September 2023.

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Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Phase 4 40th Anniversary Collection. Related: Darth Vader (ROTJ) P4-40A-DV7 | The Emperor P4-40A-EM6 | Emperor’s Royal Guard & TIE Pilot Carbonized P4-40A-ERTC.