The story of the Imperial Sentinel is far more interesting than the figure and the reason I absolutely had to have this figure in my collection.  For that reason, this “review” will focus more on the story of the character instead of the figure itself, which is largely an inert chess piece.  That story is a bizarre and meandering tale, but one that is steeped in a forgotten era of Star Wars toy history.  If you’re a long time member of Bantha Skull, you already know this story because we have discussed it many times in the forums. Just skip to the last paragraph.

For everyone else, the story starts in 1985.  The vintage Kenner Star Wars line was in the throes of its death rattle.  In a last ditch effort to continue our beloved line, the Kenner designers came up with an extension to the Power of the Force line called The Epic Continues.  This was a wonderfully odd line of kitbashes and new concepts where the Kenner team would actually continue the story of Star Wars.  It would have been the home of the first ever Grand Moff Tarkin figure who managed to escape the battle of Yavin according to the new Kenner story line.  I highly urge you to take a stroll through the pages of the Line Extension Presentation Binder at the Star Wars Collector Archive (scroll to the bottom of the page).  In the pages you will see fan favorite inventions such as the All Terrain Ion Cannon and the Mongo Beefhead Tribesman.  Seriously, if you don’t love that name, you’re a terrible person.

This continuing storyline was to center around the villain Atha Prime. Taken verbatim from the presentation binder:

A powerful force long kept in exile in a remote fringe of the galaxy has been released by the death of the Emperor.  It moves now, like a plague, securing control over the shattered remnants of the empire and re-enslaving newly freed worlds.  Atha Prme, genetics master, ruler of the dark worlds and architect of the Clone Wars, is free again.  His advanced army of combat clones has already decimated rebel outposts along the galactic frontier.  His goal is to crush forever the Rebel Alliance and control the Galaxy.

Sadly the Kenner Star Wars Line ceased before this new storyline was ever put into motion and since Kenner’s attempt to establish part of the Star Wars narrative severely encroached on LFL’s turf, Atha Prime was never canonized into the Saga.  Enter the Imperial Sentinels who are Dark Side Adepts who served Emperor Palpatine in the Dark Empire comics.  The Imperial Sentinels and Atha Prime share a common creative genealogy.  Both are based heavily on the Emperor’s Royal Guard concept art.  In fact, the sketch of Atha Prime is nearly identical to that concept art with the exception of the battle axe being replaced by a scepter.  So this Imperial Sentinel figure is a close as we will ever get to an Atha Prime figure and that forgotten era of Star Wars history.

The bizarre tale continues into the figure itself.  Released during the “Power of the Force 2” era, it was part of a set of nine figures that almost serve as a distinct line.  The cards are unique to this subset and include wonderful 3D fold out displays tucked into the cards themselves.  The “Power of the Force” designation does not appear on the card instead replaced by the “Expanded Universe” name pill.  The figure is woefully dated by today’s standards featuring only four points of articulation.  I instinctively tried to engage articulation that did not exist when trying to pose the figure.  A mere four points of swivel articulation is all we are given with the entire lower body being one solid inert piece.  As mentioned in the open, it’s more chess piece than action figure.  What the figure does have going for it is the familiar POTF2 light up eye port.  It really works on this figure to give the eyes a glowing red appearance.  The paint and design elements are basic which is another sign of the figure’s age.  While I will argue this is a necessary figure for your collection, the plainness of design and lack or articulation amount to a 3 out of 10 figure by current standards.

Click here to find this figure on Ebay

3/10 Bantha Skulls