Darth Vader (The Empire Strikes Back) — Star Wars The Black Series #ESB 01
The Black Series Darth Vader in Empire Strikes Back configuration — Phase 4 ESB Collection #01, 2020. ESB-specific Vader with lightsaber. 19 joints. The Phase 4 ESB Vader at current production quality.
Overview
Phase 4 ESB Collection #01 is Darth Vader in his The Empire Strikes Back configuration — the specific ESB armour details that distinguish this release from the ANH (#ANH 06) and ROTJ configurations elsewhere in Phase 4. The ESB Collection opens, as the ESB film’s first act opens, with Darth Vader: the Imperial fleet commander directing the search for the Rebel base, the most imposing presence in any room he enters, the man who will reveal the franchise’s most significant plot development before the film concludes.
Lightsaber. 19 joints. $19.99. 2020.
The ESB-Specific Configuration
ESB Darth Vader has specific armour details — chest panel configuration, helmet proportion, and surface treatment variations — that distinguish it from the ANH and ROTJ versions at close inspection. For collectors building era-accurate displays, the ESB configuration covers the Hoth pursuit, the Cloud City confrontation, and the “I am your father” revelation. Vader is most definitively himself in ESB: the Imperial military commander at the height of his power, before the ROTJ complications.
”I Am Your Father”
ESB Vader’s canonical significance is the father revelation — the specific moment at the Bespin reactor shaft that retroactively recontextualised everything in ANH and set the terms for everything in ROTJ. The lightsaber in his hand at #ESB 01 is the weapon he uses to cut off Luke’s hand before delivering the revelation. It is not a combat weapon in ESB so much as a narrative instrument.
The ESB Collection Opens on the Villain
The ESB Collection mirrors the ANH Collection’s structural choice — opening at #01 with Vader rather than Luke, Han, or Leia. ESB is Vader’s film in the specific sense that everything in it goes his way until the very last scene. He finds the Rebel base. He defeats Luke. He turns Luke’s friend into a bounty hunting pawn. He reveals the truth. Opening with him is accurate.
Secondary Market
Above-retail secondary market prices. Verify lightsaber. No production variants documented.
Verdict
The ESB-specific Phase 4 Vader. Buy for the ESB Imperial display or collection completion.
Vader’s ESB Command Authority
ESB Darth Vader is the most institutionally powerful version of the character — commanding an Imperial fleet from his Super Star Destroyer, with the authority to execute admirals who disappoint him. Where ANH Vader operated as one of several Imperial figures (Tarkin was the operational authority on the Death Star), ESB Vader has no peer. The Imperial fleet exists to serve his search for Luke Skywalker.
The specific authority of the ESB configuration creates a display argument: the ESB Vader behind a formation of Snowtroopers or Imperial officers communicates command in a way that the ANH Vader (who reports to Tarkin) doesn’t. The ESB Collection opens its first slot with the most powerful version of the franchise’s most powerful villain.
The Cloud City Configuration
ESB Vader’s Bespin confrontation with Luke is the film’s emotional culmination — the duel that ends with Luke’s amputation and the revelation, the moment when the franchise’s established villain becomes the hero’s father and the entire six-film saga’s emotional arc snaps into focus. The lightsaber in the ESB figure’s hand is the weapon of that confrontation.
The ESB Collection’s Four Figures
The complete P4-ESB Collection at four figures — Vader (#01), Luke Snowspeeder (#02), Hoth Rebel Trooper (#03), Boba Fett Prototype (#04) — covers ESB’s most display-significant elements: the Imperial commander, the Hoth ground battle’s hero, the Rebel formation infantry, and the bounty hunter villain’s pre-canonical appearance. Four figures, one film, four different display contexts.
The ESB Vader at Phase 4 quality alongside the ANH Vader (#ANH 06) and ROTJ Vader (available elsewhere in Phase 4) creates the complete three-film original trilogy Vader arc at consistent Phase 4 production standards. Three figures, three films, the complete Darth Vader across the original trilogy. The ESB #01 slot is the middle configuration — the villain at his peak power, before ROTJ’s complications begin.
No production variants documented. Standard retail. $19.99. Verify lightsaber. The ESB-specific Phase 4 Vader at the 2020 production standard.
The complete ESB Collection — Vader (#01), Luke Snowspeeder (#02), Hoth Rebel Trooper (#03), Boba Fett Prototype (#04) — covers four figures at $19.99-$26.49, all standard or Amazon retail, spanning 2020-2022. A small collection with a very specific ESB identity.
The ESB Vader is the villain at the peak of his power — commanding a fleet, executing officers who fail him, pursuing a personal mission alongside the Empire’s military objectives. The 19-joint figure captures that imposing authority at the 2020 Phase 4 production standard. Display him at the head of an Imperial formation and the ESB Command configuration communicates itself.
Darth Vader in ESB is the villain who wins. He finds the Rebels. He defeats the hero. He reveals the truth that changes everything. The ESB Collection opening with him is the only correct sequence — this is his film.
Seventeen total Darth Vader releases across the Black Series. The ESB configuration is the one where he’s in charge of everything and wrong about nothing — until the very last moment of the film. Display #ESB 01 at the centre of any original trilogy Imperial display and the hierarchy is immediately legible.
The ESB Vader figure is the villain who first says ‘I am your father.’ Put that in context for the display: this is the figure of the moment the entire franchise changed.
The ESB Vader at Phase 4 standards is the current production peak for the ESB configuration. The 19-joint scheme at the 2020 engineering standard. The armour details that make ESB distinct from ANH and ROTJ rendered at the current era’s accuracy. This is the Darth Vader of the sequel’s revelation, in plastic, on your shelf.
The franchise built five more films around the moment this Vader configuration delivers. Buy him.
Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Phase 4 ESB Collection. Related: Luke Skywalker ESB P4-ESB-02 | Darth Vader ANH P4-ANH-06 | The Empire Strikes Back.