Kenner Emperor's Royal Guard & Emperor Palpatine

 The villains in Star Wars are often very memorable onscreen. But in a movie series, we get one of the best onscreen villains in Darth Vader. But the stakes go higher for Return of the Jedi! We saw the Emperor briefly in The Empire Strikes Back, but in Return of the Jedi, he makes a physical appearance, based off his look in the 1980 version (voiced by Clive Revell, and portrayed by an older woman wearing a mask) to being portrayed by Ian McDiarmid (and in all his film appearances after ROTJ). I mean, the Emperor made Darth Vader look forgiving, for crying out loud! But the Emperor wasn't alone. His red robed Royal Guard accompanied him to the second Death Star. Kenner would make both of these into action figures, with the Emperor coming near the end of the line.

Emperor's Royal Guard

Honestly, while they don't have a lot of screen time, the Royal Guard made for an incredible figure! As a matter of fact it looks so good, you could even use them for POTF2 and beyond for any diorama involving Palpatine's arrival or the Throne Room Duel. They're that good! Now sadly  his head cannot turn but his arms and legs do move and he can fit in any vehicle. He comes with 2 accessories, one being his cloth cape which can be removed, and you can see the unrobed version in the other photo (that photo from a search engine photo from eBay). I don't recommend removing the robe, and haven't tried putting one back on after getting removed. His other accessory is his force pike, which he can hold best in his right hand, as the robe exposes that arm only. From a sculpting point, this is incredibly well done! There wasn't a guide on what the figure wore under the robe, so Kenner had to make one up. Looks like a kitbash involving Vader's legs and other body parts painted red. The more modern VC (repacked in the 3.75 Black Series and VC) are incredibly well done and call back to this version. The bare minimum you need of this essential figure is 2, for the Throne Room. If you do Palpy's arrival display, you need 6.

Emperor Palpatine

The big baddie of the Star Wars universe is finally here! Palpy isn't a tall figure, but he commands a lot of power and respect amongst the Empire! He has the basic 5 POA, and not too many paint applications except for his hands and face. Take a look at that close up of his face, they got a lot of detail in that! Not bad for 1983! Palpy comes only with his cane, which fits in only his right hand. His left hand is posed to blast Luke Skywalker with Force Lightning. No lightning attachment was available at the time as kids had something else called an imagination, so you had to use your imagination a lot if you grew up in the 1980's! This is also another figure that has returned in the Hasbro Retro Return of the Jedi line, although that figure is slightly shorter than this version (I would do a photo comparison but I'm recovering from a surgical procedure). Needless to say, if you collect any Kenner era Star Wars figures (or Hasbro) you most definitely need Palpatine in your collection. Loose prices on eBay are your best bet, however his current Retro figure does fit in well with any classic Kenner figures, even if it's shorter.

All images except for the robeless ERG (image taken from an image search via eBay) are from Galactic Figures. Thanks for reading!! My next Kenner Review will be Endor Han Solo!