Dark Trooper (Deluxe) — Star Wars The Black Series #MAN 28

Overview

The Dark Trooper at #MAN 28 is The Mandalorian Collection’s most articulated and most physically imposing figure — the mechanised Imperial combat platform that nearly ends the series’ central characters in the season two finale, with 27 joints that surpass everything in the collection including the New Republic Security Droid’s previous record. Blaster rifle. Standard retail. $33.99. 2022. Strongly received at release.

27 joints. $33.99. The season two finale’s terror in Phase 4 plastic.

The Dark Trooper and the Season Two Finale

The season two finale — “The Rescue” — is the most operationally intense episode of The Mandalorian to that point: the assault on Moff Gideon’s cruiser, the capture of Grogu from a single Dark Trooper (which requires Din Djarin’s full effort to overcome), and then the arrival of a full cohort of Dark Troopers outside the bridge door. The scene where a corridor of Dark Troopers advances on the locked bridge is the season’s most effective horror sequence — mechanised, relentless, not stopping. And then Luke Skywalker arrives.

The Dark Trooper figure is the enemy from that corridor. At 27 joints, the mechanised combat platform is fully poseable in the relentless advance positions that the finale establishes as the Dark Trooper’s visual vocabulary.

27 Joints: The New Articulation Leader

The Dark Trooper’s 27-joint scheme is the most complex in the Mandalorian Collection and Phase 4 broadly at its release: butterfly joints in the shoulders, 4 elbow hinges (two per arm for full elbow rotation), 4 wrist hinges (two per wrist), ball-jointed torso, and the full lower body articulation. The four hinges per arm allow the Dark Trooper’s specific mechanical arm positions — the slightly different geometry of a mechanised unit versus a humanoid one — to be achieved naturally.

At $33.99 standard retail deluxe for 27 joints, the Dark Trooper delivers the Mandalorian Collection’s best articulation-per-dollar at any price tier.

Army Builder: The Dark Trooper Cohort

The season two finale uses a full cohort of Dark Troopers as the threat — not one or two but a corridor full, the mechanised formation that would have been unstoppable without Luke’s intervention. Multiple Dark Troopers at $33.99 each is a more expensive army builder proposition than the standard trooper types, but the 27-joint scheme and the deluxe scale make each individual figure worth the investment.

Strongly Received at Release

The Dark Trooper received strong collector reception at release — the season two finale’s most memorable antagonist design, delivered at deluxe standard retail with the joint count that justified the premium.

Secondary Market

Above-retail secondary market prices. Standard retail deluxe 2022. Strongly received. Verify blaster rifle. No production variants documented.

Our Verdict

The Dark Trooper at #MAN 28 is the Mandalorian Collection’s technical peak — 27 joints, deluxe scale, standard retail pricing, the season two finale’s most terrifying unit in Phase 4 plastic. Buy it. Buy multiples if your display budget allows. The Dark Trooper cohort is the most effective army building display in the Mandalorian Collection.

The Season Two Finale’s Most Effective Sequence

The Dark Trooper sequence in the season two finale works because the episode earns the threat over two acts before delivering the resolution. A single Dark Trooper requires Din Djarin’s full effort to defeat. The locked-bridge scene with a corridor of Dark Troopers advancing — mechanised, relentless, with the locked door between them and our characters buying minutes rather than safety — is the series’ most effective sustained horror sequence. The resolution (Luke Skywalker arriving) works because the threat is genuinely established.

The figure at #MAN 28 is the threat from that corridor. Displaying multiple Dark Troopers in the advancing position communicates the sequence more effectively than any other figure arrangement in the collection. The 27-joint scheme enables every advancing-corridor pose that scene requires.

The Deluxe Value Argument

$33.99 for 27 joints at standard retail deluxe is, we think, the most defensible deluxe purchase in the Mandalorian Collection. The Dark Trooper’s joint count, physical scale, and narrative significance together justify the premium in a way that some deluxe figures with simpler joint schemes don’t. Buy it. Strongly received at release. The collection’s technical peak.

The Dark Trooper Deluxe at $33.99 standard retail is the Mandalorian Collection’s most articulated figure — 27 joints, the four-hinge arm scheme, the deluxe scale of the mechanised Imperial combat platform. Strongly received at release. Buy it. Buy multiples. The cohort display that the season two finale required is the collection’s most kinetically effective army building arrangement.

Twenty-seven joints. Deluxe scale. $33.99. The Dark Trooper at the season two finale’s threat level. Strongly received. Buy it. Buy multiples. The cohort display is the collection’s most effective army building arrangement.

Twenty-seven joints. Dollar 33.99 deluxe standard retail. The season two finale threat in Phase 4 plastic. Buy it. Buy multiples for the cohort display.

The Dark Trooper is the Mandalorian Collection’s argument that standard retail deluxe pricing is earned when the joint count and the scale justify it. Twenty-seven joints at dollar 33.99 is the collection’s best articulation value at any price tier. Buy it. The season two finale required a cohort. Buy multiples and build one.

Twenty-seven joints deluxe. The cohort threat. Buy it.

Twenty-seven joints. Buy the Dark Trooper. Build the cohort.

The Dark Trooper Deluxe is the Mandalorian Collection at its most technically ambitious. Twenty-seven joints, four elbow hinges, four wrist hinges, butterfly shoulders. The mechanised Imperial combat platform at the deluxe scale that the design requires. Strongly received. Buy it alongside Luke Skywalker at number MAN 30 and the season two finale is complete at fifty-eight dollars ninety-eight combined.

Buy the Dark Trooper. The twenty-seven joint cohort threat is the collection articulation peak at standard retail deluxe pricing.

Twenty-seven joints. The Dark Trooper cohort awaits. Buy it.

The Dark Trooper Deluxe is the Mandalorian Collection technical ceiling at the collection standard retail pricing tier. Buy it. Buy multiples. The cohort that required Luke Skywalker to stop deserves the formation display that communicates why.

The Dark Trooper Deluxe. Twenty-seven joints. Standard retail. Buy it.

The Dark Trooper Deluxe. The collection articulation ceiling. The season two threat. Buy it.

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Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Phase 4 Mandalorian Collection. Related: Luke Skywalker Imperial Light Cruiser P4-MAN-30 | Moff Gideon P4-MAN-08 | The Mandalorian.