The text below is mostly copied from the original review by Chris on 9/14/17 for the Black Series release of this figure.  This TVC version is a straight repack of that figure.  New notes are added at the end of the review.

I love this figure, and I don’t care who knows.  I want to shout it from on top of a mountain, but I don’t have a mountain.  I have a website and a camera.  Look, I review figures.  That’s what I do, and today’s top story in Bantha Skull’s world is that I love this figure.  If you are a long time reader with a good memory you will recall that I have made that exact same Anchorman reference in another review.  But I figured your memory is about as good as mine, so it was safe to go back to that well again.  It’s hard for me to imagine that just over three years ago I gave a Black Series figure a score of zero and absolutely meant it.  Now I am reviewing what, for me, might be Hasbro’s best figure ever.  The turn around from the dark times is impressive to say the least. 

If you can’t tell from the lead in paragraph, or if you’re CJ and skipped directly here, I’m going to give this figure a perfect score of a 10 out of 10, but it’s not a perfect figure.  It’s hard for me to reconcile that statement except to say that there is always a subjective element to these reviews.  I am subjectively willing to forgive the few minor warts the figure has in this case.  So what are the issues?  First the neck lacks an ideal range of motion, and is limited to a slightly downward tilt at all times.  This gives the figure a menacing stance, but in picture 15 above, I would have preferred to have the figure staring straight on instead of staring at the top of his boots.  The other negative is that, once again, “rocker” ankles would have had a huge benefit here.  That type of ankle joint isn’t going away.  The upcoming Vintage Collection Assault Tank Driver appears to utilize them.  My suspicion is that the lower shin armor prevented it in this case.  Those are the only two gripes I personally have.  Reader Jimmy Griffin mentioned that the shoulder armor hindered the range of motion on the arms on his sample.  I did not encounter this, so it may be yet another case of “your mileage may vary”. The shoulder armor is flexible enough on my sample to move out of the way.  During the HASCON Star Wars panel, Meagan mentioned that they are working to devise flexible yet durable plastics. 

Why do I love this figure?  I was able to easily balance the figure in a number of aggressive fighting stances and also pose it in a neutral stance.  This wide range of posing options is why we want super articulated figures.  So this figure excels at it’s most important trait.  The ball jointed wrists allow the figure to securely and naturally hold the melee weapon.  When I first saw the “red Solo cup arms”* on the character, I was worried that would limit the range of motion of the figure’s arms.  The ball jointed elbows do stop at ninety degrees, but in this case, that is all the is needed to interact well with the accessory.  Again, this figure does its job.  One last comment is that we often think of the Vintage Collection as the highest standard of quality in the modern line.  In one respect, this figure exceeds that standard.  Despite having a two tone lower leg, the knee joint uses a matching plastic color, something that was often missed during the first iteration of the Vintage Collection.  As you should have read in the second paragraph, I’m giving this figure a 10 out of 10.  Hate me all you want.  I love it.

Updated Notes by Bret 6/7/19.

Collectors haven’t been particularly thrilled with Hasbro’s strategy of repacking the few Black Series figures from the recent Disney films into the Vintage Collection.  Most of them were marginal sellers at best in the first place.  While some of that can be attributed to the abomination known as “Walmart Exclusive Black Series Phase 3”, a lot can be attributed to the lack of “toyetic” characters from the sequel trilogy, the hopelessness of setting up anything approaching a complete scene on your shelf due to the mind-boggling lack of depth in the line, as well as the poor character choices (TFA Han and Leia in the wrong outfits).  One possible exception is the Elite Praetorian Guard.  Arguably one of the most difficult new media figures to find at retail (other than perhaps the Scarif Stormtrooper), this character was also part of one of the coolest scenes in the saga.  Watching the main protagonist and antagonist join forces to fend off a squad of Snoke’s most highly trained and elite soldiers was pretty great, even if you hated the film.  And it also turns out that the figure itself was one of the best ever made by Hasbro (see Chris’s review above).  So of all the repacks planned for the early waves of TVC, this Elite Praetorian seemed to be at least somewhat reasonable to even the most pessimistic collector.

While the announcement of a repack of the Praetorian was received somewhat lukewarmly, many collectors were frustrated that Hasbro didn’t bother to simply change the helmet and add a new weapon, thereby creating a second of the four guard variants.  It seems it would have been a relatively inexpensive upgrade, and would have attracted more buyers.  However, life is usually more black and white for those that aren’t making the decisions.  Hasbro has tried to make it clear to the collecting community that any change made to the sculpt or accessory load out of an older figure will change the status of that figure from “repack” to “new.”  This affects the costs and logistics of bringing old figures back to market, and would potentially take up a “new” slot in a planned wave of figures.  And for the record, changes to the paint applications, such as the addition of PhotoReal, do not change the figure to “new” by Hasbro’s standards. 

This means that Hasbro had planned wave 6 to include 2 new figures and 3 repaints/repacks.  This is how they budgeted it.  In order for the Praetorian to be a variant with a new helmet and weapon, it would have taken up one of the 2 “new” slots, which would have bumped either Lando or the Stormtrooper.  Then in one of the open repaint/repack slots in the wave, we could have gotten that Black Series Phase III Finn we’ve all been waiting for in TVC.

So sadly, but understandably, this is just a straight repack of a Sequel Trilogy figure.  While it is an awesome figure that you “must” own, you may not be that interested (even though you “must” own it) because not only do we not have the other 3 Praetorian variants, but we inexplicably have neither a properly outfitted Rey, a helmetless Kylo Ren, nor a bisected Snoke.  And unless you bought that BB-8 Transforming playset, we don’t have a proper throne.  Which reminds me of that story Chris told from his time at HASCON 2017 when the Hasbro reps nervously stopped Chris from checking out the newly revealed Snoke figure because they couldn’t show what was underneath the gold robe.  After TLJ was released, I assumed this was because the figure could be split in half, and Hasbro wasn’t allowed to spoil a huge moment.  But the figure hit retail 5 months after the film debuted.  At that point, there was nothing to spoil (unlike when I opened my AOTC Jango Fett a month before AOTC and his head fell off.).  Basically, I’m getting back to that world-building thing again.  No other figures with which to interact makes this one a sad and lonely guy on your shelf.

It’s definitely not the worst “repack” since the TVC relaunch, but isn’t too inspiring either.  Personally, I would have preferred Hasbro skip this, and save it for an exclusive 4 pack with all the helmet variants and weapons.  Or maybe two 3 packs - one with a pair of variants and Rey, and the other with another pair of variants and unmasked Kylo.  Both sets could be convention exclusives.  Maybe in 2022 for the 5th Anniversary of TLJ.  Or something like that.

Great figure that keeps the 10/10 that Chris gave it.