Review: Star Wars Black Series Imperial Remnant Warlord & Polar Mouse Droid from The Mandalorian & Grogu
“I think we can all agree things were better under the Empire.”
The Imperial Remnant Warlord and the enhanced ‘polar’ MSE Droid featured heavily in the trailers for The Mandalorian and Grogu and were announced as joining the Star Wars Black Series in April 2025 as the movie entered its final promotional run ahead of the May 22nd release date. The set would be the Exclusive adjacent release for the 2nd wave of Mando & Grogu figures, and like the Remnant Stormtrooper Exclusive from the first wave, it would be sold via Target in the US and the Fan Channel retailers elsewhere.
The Warlord began shipping here in the UK in late Summer, arriving in the standard packaging for the Black Series; there was no white box ‘First Edition’ for this release. The black box carried the usual highlight colour, with a purple tone assigned to the movie. This colouring was used on the front text where our Warlord remains unnamed and is titled fully as ‘Imperial Remnant Warlord’, along with the subtitle for the accompanying droid as a ‘Polar Mouse Droid’. This generic wording continues on the back of the box with the same general movie synopsis text as all the other Mando & Grogu releases, avoiding spoilers at this early stage. The artwork, also hued in purple, features our Warlord on his own without the MSE Droid facing the camera with his hand on his holstered blaster.
The same colouring on the box is carried through onto the cardback behind the main figure tray, and this is embedded with another planetary scene, consistent with - but not the same as - other Mando releases, again most likely as a spoiler avoidance. The Warlord is number 11 in the Galaxy Collection and sits after the single release of Embo at number 10.
After the release of the movie and the credits, we now know our Warlord is called Commander Barro, although he was never named on screen; very much in keeping with how Kenner named many of their figures back in the day.
Barro arrives wearing his large imperial cold-weather coat, a brand-new tailored soft goods piece in a heavier-set fabric than we’ve seen across other robes and cloaks. It comes with a pale fur lining and trim, with a similar black fur collar. In the box, the coat looks awkward and flat, but thankfully this is not the case once in hand and the coat does a particularly good job sitting on the frame of Barro, although you will need to use his arms and hands strategically with the coat for the best display options.
The head sculpt is a new likeness of actor Hemky Madera, complete with a fully sculpted beard and long, swept-back hair. Over the base skin-tone plastic, facial printing tech is applied for Barro’s eyes, eyebrows, and mouth. The hair and beard are part of the single head sculpt and appear painted by hand with a white base colour and a darker grey wash adding definition. In the main, this is neat and tidy, but there is very minimal paint bleed at the edges.
The coat is removable, allowing Barro to be displayed solely in his Imperial Commander uniform. Much of this is re-used, with the arms and legs coming from the original Director Krennic figure from 2016, which established the Imperial Uniform parts that have gone on to be re-used for the likes of Thrawn, Tarkin, Piett, and Veers. Instead of grey, these are now cast in black for the Commander uniform, with the boots a glossy black finish to differentiate them from the uniform. The torso is new to match the build of Barro, and again is cast in black with a Commander insignia on the left of the chest, picked out in red and blue squares on a silver plate. The belt and the base of the upper tunic are added as a sleeved piece in softer plastic, with the buckle of the belt painted silver, and an integrated holster to the right-hand side.
Barro’s hands come straight from the original Moff Tarkin figure. That figure was often criticised due to the proportions of the hands. Here they are a much better match for the larger frame of our Remnant Warlord. These hands are skin-toned to match the head and are designed for gripping the included blaster. That piece is the SE-14r blaster that has done the rounds over the years with the Imperial Officers from Andor, Tala Durith from Kenobi, and most recently the Remnant AT-AT Driver. This grey blaster with large connected sights can sit in Barro’s right hand, or be holstered on his belt.
Articulation for the Commander is an older format thanks to the donor figures for the arms and legs. There are 17 points in total. These start with older pinned legs that do get the benefit of the older double-jointed knees between the solid and secure ankle rocker, and below the thigh swivel and hip joint. The arms are a single-joint elbow, bending to 90 degrees, with the wrist peg and pivot and the shoulder joint. Torso movement sits as a ball joint at the belt line, while the new torso allows the double neck joint.
Barro is not the most dynamic character, and like many Imperial Officers, posing options do not need to be extensive. That being said, Barro can pose with blaster firing and some degree of movement as he tries to escape Mando.
Moving on to the companion piece, the Polar Mouse Droid, this initially looked like a new piece designed to replicate the first live-action variation of the MSE Droid since their appearance in the original movie in 1977. In hand, you realise this is simply a tweak to the original Black Series MSE Droid that came with Vice Admiral Rampart in 2021 and prior to that in the First Order Disney Parks box sets.
What Hasbro has done is cast this original MSE with a white upper body and grey chassis. The wheels have then been updated to an axle with the larger off-road wheels we see the MSE use in the Imperial Remnant Base; these wheels are cast in a slightly darker grey than the base of the droid. Finally, the bulky feel of the new droid is provided by two new slot-in bumpers; these rounded light grey pieces simply slot over the lines of the original droid and are not fixed in place.
with Grogu (not included)
The Polar MSE Droid is more of an accessory in the set and has no articulation, other than the wheels rolling when the droid is pushed around. It has no significant paintwork, with every part cast in the base colour, apart from the upper fins and aerials, which are painted in a darker grey than the white body of the droid.
With the Mandalorian & Grogu movie figures focusing heavily on that early sequence where Mando is hunting the Imperial Remnant Warlord, who we now know is Commander Barro, the inclusion of the Commander in the line does more or less complete his Imperial Remnant lineup alongside the AT-AT Drivers, AT-RT Pilot, and the Snowtroopers. The figure does re-use a lot of parts, including on the MSE Droid, but these all work, and the newly developed torso and soft goods coat do a good job of making him stand out in a collection which already features a lot of Imperial Officers in both grey and black uniforms.
with Imperial Remnant Stormtroopers
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
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