Imperial Senate Guard — Star Wars The Black Series #GG 08

Overview

The Imperial Senate Guard at #GG 08 is the Gaming Greats Collection’s representation of the robe-less Senate Guard variant from The Force Unleashed video game series — the staff-wielding Imperial Royal Guard configuration that appears in the game without the standard soft-goods robe of the cinematic Royal Guards. Released March 2022 as a single-boxed GameStop exclusive. MSRP $26.99. Three accessories: a blaster, a staff, and a removable red blade for the staff. 19-joint articulation. The figure is a re-release of the 2017 Black Series Senate Guard (figure id=9027 from a four-pack release), modified for The Force Unleashed video game variant by removing the robe and substituting a staff for the rifle.

The 2017 Re-Release Question

This is a re-release of the 2017 Black Series Senate Guard from the Royal Guards 4-pack, with two specific changes for the Force Unleashed configuration: the soft-goods robe is removed (the original 2017 figure shipped wrapped in a fabric robe), and the original rifle is replaced with a staff weapon. Same body sculpt, same head, same helmet, same articulation. The 2017 figure represented the Royal Guards as seen in the prequel and original trilogy films; the 2022 #GG 08 represents the same character class as it appears in The Force Unleashed video game.

For collectors who own the 2017 Royal Guard 4-pack figures, the Senate Guard is a duplicate body sculpt with different accessories. For collectors who didn’t own the 2017 figures, the 2022 release is the more accessible version of the character class — the original 4-pack has been hard to find at reasonable prices on the secondary market.

The Robe Decision and Why It Matters

Even though it’s more accurate to not include the soft-goods robe (the Force Unleashed in-game character genuinely doesn’t wear one in the configuration the figure depicts), the figure feels naked without it. The previous 2017 release included the robe, and removing it for the 2022 release is a downgrade in display flexibility — collectors who want a robed Senate Guard now need to keep the 2017 release alive in their collection rather than upgrading to the 2022 version.

A more flexible release would have included the robe as a removable accessory, letting collectors choose between the cinematic-accurate (robed) and game-accurate (un-robed) configurations from a single purchase. Hasbro chose game-accuracy at the cost of cinematic-accuracy, and detailed reviewers have flagged this as the figure’s most defensible negative: include the soft-goods robe and give collectors the opportunity to either display a movie or video game accurate version.

The Staff and Red Blade

The Senate Guard came with a blaster and a staff which has a removable red blade. The staff fits well into the hands and it’s easy to attach the red blade — simply plug it into the tip of the staff. The two-piece staff configuration supports both deployed (blade attached) and stowed (blade removed) display options.

The staff is the screen-accurate Force Unleashed weapon — the in-game Senate Guards wield electrostaff-class polearms rather than the rifles the cinematic Royal Guards carry. For collectors building a Force Unleashed Imperial display, the staff is the correct weapon. For collectors who want a cinematic-accurate Royal Guard with a rifle, the 2017 release is the right purchase.

The Blaster Holster Problem

The blaster fits well into the holster, but the figure isn’t able to hold it well. This is a meaningful engineering miss — a sidearm that holsters cleanly but doesn’t grip in-hand suggests the hand sculpt and the blaster grip aren’t aligned. For collectors who want to display the figure with the blaster drawn, the configuration reads as awkward; for collectors who keep the blaster holstered, the figure works as intended.

The recommendation is straightforward: holster the blaster, hold the staff in both hands, and treat the sidearm as visual detail rather than active accessory. The staff is the figure’s combat weapon; the blaster is backup equipment.

The Helmet Articulation Limitation

The head is hardly movable because of the long helmet which goes down over the chest and down the back. The Royal Guard helmet design extends beyond the head silhouette, blocking neck rotation in both directions. The articulation is technically present (ball-jointed top and lower neck), but the helmet sculpt physically constrains the range of motion to a very limited arc.

For collectors building dynamic-pose displays where head positioning matters, this is a real limitation. The Senate Guard can stand at attention, gesture with the body, and adopt the standard formal-guard configurations, but the head essentially looks forward in any pose. This is consistent with how the 2017 figure handled the helmet-vs-articulation trade-off — same constraint, same workaround (don’t try to pose the head).

The Force Unleashed Source

The Force Unleashed video game series (Lucasfilm-published, 2008 and 2010) follows Galen Marek, Darth Vader’s secret apprentice, on a path that eventually leads to the founding of the Rebel Alliance. The games extensively feature Imperial enemy classes, including the robe-less Senate Guard variant the #GG 08 figure depicts. For collectors who played either Force Unleashed game, the figure captures a recognisable enemy class.

The Gaming Greats Collection includes several other Force Unleashed figures — Starkiller at #GG 26, Lord Starkiller at #GG 30, the Shadow Stormtrooper at #GG-E06, the Stormtrooper Commander at #GG-E07. The Senate Guard joins this Force Unleashed sub-roster as the Imperial security-class representative.

Articulation

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 the knees, swivel joints below the knees, ball-jointed ankles. The double-swivel knee configuration is the upgrade over the standard 17-joint Phase 4 baseline. The figure stands solidly on display without falling over.

The Paint Application

The paint application mimics the colours seen on Senate Guards from the video game well. Hasbro committed to the Force Unleashed in-game palette — the specific red robe colours that distinguish Senate Guards from other Royal Guard variants in the broader Star Wars canon. The colour application is sharp, with no notable issues, and reads correctly under display lighting.

The Mural Collection Position

The Senate Guard sits at the eighth position in the Gaming Greats Collection mural display. For loose display, the figure works best alongside other Royal Guard and Senate Guard releases across the broader Black Series catalogue (the 2017 4-pack figures, the various Carbonized variants) for an Imperial security-class display, or alongside the other Force Unleashed Gaming Greats figures (Starkiller, Lord Starkiller, the Shadow and Stormtrooper Commander figures) for a Force Unleashed ensemble.

Secondary Market

Single-boxed GameStop exclusive, March 2022. Aftermarket prices on the secondary market have generally tracked at or near the original $26.99 MSRP. The Force Unleashed tie-in keeps demand stable among collectors who specifically built that game’s figure roster. Verify the blaster, staff, and removable red blade are all included. The blade is the small part most likely to be lost in transit. No production variants documented.

Verdict

The Imperial Senate Guard at #GG 08 is a competent re-release of the 2017 Royal Guard sculpt with The Force Unleashed-specific accessory loadout. The staff-with-removable-blade engineering is sharp, the paint application matches the in-game source material, and the 19-joint articulation supports formal standing-display configurations.

The missing soft-goods robe is the figure’s most defensible negative — Hasbro could have included it as an optional accessory to support both cinematic and video-game display configurations, and chose not to. The blaster-grip issue limits sidearm display flexibility. The helmet’s near-immobile articulation is a structural limitation carried over from the 2017 sculpt.

Buy this figure if you played The Force Unleashed, if you build Imperial Royal Guard variant displays, or if you missed the 2017 4-pack. Skip if you own the 2017 Senate Guard and the Force Unleashed-specific accessories aren’t worth a duplicate body sculpt.

The Force Unleashed Senate Guard variant. The 2017 sculpt with the staff swap and the missing robe. GameStop exclusive, March 2022.

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Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Phase 4 Gaming Greats Collection. Related: Starkiller (The Force Unleashed) P4-GG-26 | Lord Starkiller P4-GG-30 | Shadow Stormtrooper P4-GG-E06.