Guards 4-Pack (Senate Guard, Royal Guard, Shadow Guard, Elite Praetorian Guard) — Star Wars The Black Series

Overview

The Guards 4-Pack is a Fan Channel exclusive released late September 2017 at $79–89 across GameStop, ThinkGeek, and Barnes & Noble. It brings together four guard types from across the Star Wars timeline — from the prequel-era Republic Senate Guard through the Original Trilogy’s Imperial Royal Guard and a Legends video game Shadow Guard, all the way to the then-brand-new Elite Praetorian Guard ahead of The Last Jedi’s December 2017 release. Three of the four figures share the same body with different robes and colour schemes; the Praetorian Guard is built on a distinct, armoured tooling.

The set’s title — simply “Guards” — works as both a description and a design concept: this is a collector pack celebrating the gallery of iconic robed sentinel figures across the franchise, packed together at a fan channel price that made individual entry to each character possible without separate hunts.

Senate Guard

The Senate Guard is the first appearance of this character in the Black Series 6” line — the blue-robed protectors of the Galactic Senate seen most prominently in Revenge of the Sith. 19 joints — ball-jointed dual-axis neck, lower swivel neck (though head movement is significantly limited by the helmet’s length front and back, making the double neck articulation largely academic), ball-jointed shoulders, elbows, wrists, upper body, hips, swivel thighs, swivel joints above and below knees, ball-jointed ankles.

Accessories

Blaster rifle — a good fit for the right hand. With patience it’s possible to position the rifle slung over the Senate Guard’s shoulders, replicating how it was carried in the film. A nice detail when you get it right.

Blaster — fits the holster underneath the robe adequately, but the figure’s hand geometry doesn’t accommodate it well. The holster is the better display option for this accessory.

The Blue Robe

The soft-goods blue robe covers the body well and the paint beneath accurately represents the ROTS Senate Guard colouring. The robe shares a characteristic with the other soft-goods figures in this set: it simultaneously feels bulky and thin — the fabric has enough volume to look substantial but lacks the weight to drape naturally without attention. With patience it can be positioned to flow properly. The robe is technically removable — head can be popped off to slide it free — but the source documentation does not recommend attempting this.

No head beneath the helmet. Despite both a ball-joint at the top of the neck and a swivel joint below it, the helmet’s extended visor length limits actual movement to a small range up and down.

Emperor’s Royal Guard

The Emperor’s Royal Guard is a straight re-release of the single-boxed Royal Guard (id=5976) with one practical identifying difference: this version has no white date imprint on the bottom of the feet. The single-card release does. If you’re trying to determine which version you have, check the feet.

19 joints — same scheme as the Senate Guard. Shares the same body with the Senate Guard and Shadow Guard.

Accessories

Force pike — a good fit for the hands. The source documentation specifically highlights that it’s possible to display the Royal Guard “at attention” with the force pike leaned against the shoulder — exactly as seen in Return of the Jedi — and that this pose is achievable and looks great.

Blaster — too small for the hands. OK in the holster which sits hidden underneath the robe.

Removable red soft-goods robe — same bulky-and-thin characteristics as the Senate Guard’s blue robe. Head-pop required for removal. The belt is its own separate piece plugged into the back of the figure — technically removable by stripping it down the legs, but the source documentation advises against it.

The red colour tone is accurate, the sculpted details beneath the robe are well-done, and the figure looks great on display. No balance issues. A brief appearance in Rogue One: A Star Wars Story in addition to the prominent ROTJ role is worth noting for collectors tracking screen appearances.

Emperor’s Shadow Guard

The Shadow Guard is from Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game series and is a Legends character — non-canon by current Disney classification. The source documentation is candid: Hasbro likely included it in this set because it was an easy repaint of the shared body. That acknowledged, the black outfit looks “mighty cool” and the figure stands on its own merits as a display piece.

19 joints — same body as Senate Guard and Royal Guard.

Accessories

Blaster — too small for the hands. OK in the holster.

Lightsaber pike with removable red blade — the pike is a good fit for the hands. The red blade detaches cleanly.

Removable black soft-goods robe — same construction as the other two robed figures in the set.

Each Shadow Guard was Force-sensitive and personally selected by Palpatine, making them more elite than standard Royal Guards — a detail that adds character context even for Legends.

Elite Praetorian Guard (Double Blade)

The Praetorian Guard is the set’s standout and the only figure that doesn’t share the robed-guard body. This is an entirely different, armoured tooling — Snoke’s crimson-clad personal protectors from The Last Jedi, reviewed here before the film’s December 2017 release. 19 joints, but with a notable articulation difference: double swivel elbows — a swivel joint above the elbow AND a swivel in the elbow itself. The source documentation notes that with enough patience each elbow can achieve approximately 80 degrees of bend, enabling more dynamic combat poses than a single elbow would allow.

Accessories

Naginata weapon — the double-bladed pole weapon comes as one assembled piece that separates in the middle, creating two individual weapons. Both configurations fit the hands well, and the figure can be displayed single-weapon or dual-wielding.

Two removable shoulder bells — the curved armour pieces at the shoulders plug into small holes. When the arms are raised past 90 degrees, they flex upward slightly, accommodating the movement rather than blocking it. This engineering choice gives the Praetorian Guard meaningful arm range without the armour fighting the pose — a specific positive the other three figures’ shoulder assemblies don’t share.

No soft-goods robe. No head beneath the helmet. Shiny armour with no weathering applied — clean and screen-consistent for a Snoke throne room guard. No balance issues.

The Set as a Whole

The Guards 4-Pack is one of the best thematic multi-packs of Phase 3 — four guard types across four eras of the franchise in a single box, with each figure offering something the others don’t. The Senate Guard is a first-in-the-line debut. The Royal Guard is the definitive ROTJ re-issue with a no-date-imprint identifier. The Shadow Guard delivers a Legends fan favourite as an aesthetically strong easy repaint. The Praetorian Guard brings the most technically sophisticated figure of the group with its double elbows, modular naginata, and flexible shoulder bells.

The robed triumvirate (Senate, Royal, Shadow) share legitimate criticisms — the blasters are all too small for hands, the robes need patience to look right, and the head-limited neck articulation is a minor frustration — but none of these sink the figures’ display value. Lined up together they make an impressive and imposing quartet.

Secondary Market

Fan Channel, late September 2017. Verify all accessories: Senate Guard’s blaster rifle and blaster; Royal Guard’s force pike, blaster, and robe; Shadow Guard’s blaster, lightsaber pike, red blade, and robe; Praetorian Guard’s naginata (confirm it’s still in one piece or both halves present), and both shoulder bells. The naginata halves and the lightsaber blade are the smallest pieces most likely to be missing.

Verdict

The Guards 4-Pack is an essential Phase 3 fan channel set — thematically cohesive, historically spanning, and featuring at least one first-in-the-line debut (Senate Guard) and one technically impressive new-mould figure (Praetorian Guard). Buy it as a complete set.

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Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Phase 3 Red Line. Related: Kylo Ren Throne Room P3-EX-WMT-KYLO-TR | SDCC Han Solo P3-EX-SDCC18-HAN.