Knight Models' Emperor's Royal Guard (KST018)

Anybody who knows me is well aware of my passion for Royal Guard units at least through the 18th c. It should come as no surprise then that I would eventually acquire KM's rendition of Emperor Palpatine's hand-picked, personal unit.


The "history" of this elite unit can be found in any number of places on-line, so let's get straight to the matter at hand. This figure was sculpted by Rhee Hyun, who, if you recall, also sculpted The Destroyer in KM's Marvel series. Unfortunately, Mr. Rhee's work in his first commission for KM leaves much to be desired. In fact, the real questions here are: 1) why did KM feel compelled to release this figure? And 2), why did Lucasfilm approve it??

The figure is cast in 5 pcs. + a rectangular plinth (base). It is essentially a resin figure, with 2 white metal "accessories": the helmet and the right forearm-force pike unit. The design (i.e., engineering) is very well conceived, and the resin casting, while hardly state of the art, is actually quite good. The metal casting. . . not so much.

Actually, the castings themselves are fine. What is inexplicable to me is the severe distortion in the helmet, and the design of the force pike. This figure is but a couple of years old, and there is a cornucopia of references--on-line and in-print--for this iconic weapon. Needless to say, I will be scratch-building a replacement force pike!

But back to the helmet. I would like to blame the production team for the grotesque distortion, but given the clean casting and the seamless fit of the same to the torso, some (most?) of the blame must lie with Mr. Rhee. Again. . . what references, if any, did he use? Even if we were to disregard the apparent distortion, the lines of the helmet are inexplicably wrong! Is he familiar with helmets with extended, attached bevors? Or. . . did he understand that this was an inflexible piece of equipment?? As with the force pike, this piece will be extensively reworked.

Finally, there is the question of scale. We all know that KM purports that their lines are done to 1/27th scale, or roughly 70mm. We've also seen countless examples of deviations from this--but none as severe as this: this figure is 80mm to the eyes/visor, with an overall height of close to 90mm! I have already begun to reduce the height, but am still short (tall?) of my goal.

What with the helmet, the force pike, and the scaling issues, this will be a rather involved recla- mation. Which is fine by me, as the end results should more than justify the time and effort invested!

Stay tuned!!