Praetorian Guard Figures Review: Do They Live Up to the Hype?

Does the new Hot Toys figure capture the essence of the deadly Imperial Praetorian Guards from The Mandalorian? Read our review to find out.

The Imperial Praetorian Guards, who made their impressive debut in the third season of The Mandalorian, are being immortalized in figure format by Hot Toys! But does this new figure truly capture the essence of these deadly fighters? Let’s dive into our review to find out.

THE BOX AND ACCESSORIES

The box is your usual Star Wars collectibles box – a black box with the Star Wars logo and a promotional picture of the figure. Figures from The Mandalorian season 3 have a blue and yellow colored strip featuring two additional photos.

Unlike the First Order Praetorian Guards, the Imperial ones all have the same helmets, which means that Hot Toys included the accessories of each guard with this one figure. So, you get everything you need here, and you can even army-build this one if you want. The stand is the usual Star Wars interior base. This one works for every figure.

Then, he has six hands – two hands to hold the weapons, two open hands, and two gesture hands. He’s missing his fist hands, which would have been appreciated. In terms of weapons, he has a heavy vibro blade, two vibro-arbir blades that can be joined at the ends to form one single blade and a chain whip. The First Order weapons felt more ceremonial, while these felt like they were meant for action. These are all newly sculpted blades. They’re great, but I wish they had included USB-powered light-up weapons, too, like they do with lightsabers. It would have looked great on these blades.

THE FIGURE

The Imperial Praetorian Guards are my favorite Star Wars red guards. They have a beautiful armor that gives them a threatening presence. At the same time, it’s an armor that can work for ceremonial purposes but also allows them to move quickly for action. The helmet stands out, too. You can feel the Middle-Earth inspiration while it still bears the Star Wars touch. Moreover, this guard uses elements from other troopers.

The torso and the belt are taken from the First Order stormtroopers, while the forearm armor is taken from the Imperial Stormtroopers. It mixes two generations of troopers, and the results are excellent. As for the color itself, the burgundy of the undersuit and the red of the armor parts are the same as the Imperial Royal Guards. Each armor part sports a bright and shiny red. It feels like chrome-plated armor, except it’s just painted red.

GALLERY

VERDICT

The Imperial Praetorian Guard is a magnificent figure that will be a great addition to your collection. The perfect figure to army-build!

Sideshow Collectibles distributes the Hot Toys Imperial Praetorian Guard figure in Europe and the United States! Subscribe to our newsletter at the top of our homepage to stay up-to-date with all the latest Hot Toys reviews from Future of the Force.