Like a video game, the Separatist droids seemed to get progressively more challenging as the movies wore on.  We get the B1 Battle “Cannon Fodder” Droids in TPM, followed by the B2 Super Battle “Muscle” Droids in AOTC, and then we see the IG-100 MagnaGuards in ROTS.  These guys were Grievous’s choice for his personal bodyguard detail.  They were nimble, capable of fighting multiple styles, hard to destroy (decapitation didn’t stop them), and particularly skilled in fending off lightsaber attacks with their electrostaves.

Plus, they wore shmatas.  Woe be the unlucky soul that encounters an electrostaff-wielding, shmata wearing, terminator droid.  Unless you’re Obi-Wan.  Handling MagnaGuards was his speciality, apparently. 

These guards came in multiple colors, white, gray, blue, and black.  I don’t recall seeing any of the black versions in ROTS, but you can see the other three.  I think.  This version is gray, while a later repaint towards the end of the ROTS line was white.  There was also a blue version that came in a silly “Battle” deluxe two-pack.  If you look at the film, it seems that each droid had various levels of paint wear and tear, and it was sometimes hard to discern what the dominant color was.  According to anything I tried to research, the colors didn’t denote anything in particular, that’s just how they came from the factory. 

This was a fun figure at the time of release.  I was intrigued by this particular droid when the figure was first released, and they were kinda cool in the film.  Until Obi-Wan easily dispatched four of them by dropping an Acme anvil on the group. 

The figure is a decent sculpt, although it lacks any meaningful lower body articulation, so it doesn’t do a lot of posing.  The legs, as was common in the first wave of “collection 1” figures, had the “Squeeze for Battle Action” feature.  The arms moved up and down in opposite directions, so when he’s holding the electrostaff, he moves it in a battling motion.  Not terrible for an action feature, I suppose.  The execution wasn’t so bad.

The included plastic cloak looks decent enough, but restricts the movement of the right arm, essentially negating the battle action.  It is removable, should you choose to do so.  It looks passable in either the ready pose (with the staff across its body), or at the rest (holding the staff vertically on the ground with one hand).

Even though a much better MagnaGuard was released about 5 years later in TVC, this figure can still survive in the background of your displays, if you need a few extra. 4/10.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a game to watch.