Death Star Trooper — Star Wars The Black Series #60

Overview

Red Line #60 is the Death Star Trooper — the black-uniformed infantry personnel who operate the Death Star’s surface and corridor environments in A New Hope. Known originally in Kenner’s vintage toy line as the “Death Squad Commander,” the modern canonical designation is Death Star Trooper: the rank-and-file soldiers who provide ground security on the Empire’s primary superweapon. This is the only Black Series Death Star Trooper ever produced, and one of the more specific ANH Imperial figures in the line.

The black uniform with its distinctive bucket helmet is immediately distinguishable from the white Stormtrooper armour — the Death Star Trooper’s enclosed suit communicates a different function, a specialised deployment in the Death Star’s specific environment rather than general planetary operations. Blaster pistol as the primary accessory. 19 joints. MSRP $19.99.

The Design in ANH Context

The Death Star Trooper’s black uniform serves a specific visual function in A New Hope’s Imperial hierarchy display. The Death Star corridors contain three visual types of Imperial authority: the grey-uniformed officers (intellectual command), the white-armoured Stormtroopers (mobile ground force), and the black-uniformed Death Star Troopers (permanent Death Star garrison). Each has a distinct silhouette that communicates function without requiring rank insignia.

The Death Star Trooper’s bucket helmet — round, without the Stormtrooper’s distinctive T-visor — creates a different profile that reads as occupation-specific equipment. These are the soldiers who serve the Death Star, who were there when it was operational, who died with it at Yavin. Their black uniforms against the white corridors of the station are one of the original film’s most distinctive background-character images.

The naming history is worth noting for collectors: the “Death Squad Commander” designation on the The figure is listed as the original 1977 Kenner vintage toy name. The 1970s-80s era toy names often diverged from modern canonical terminology — “Death Squad” was retired in favour of “Death Star” as the franchise’s naming conventions became more standardised.

Accessories

Blaster pistol — the standard sidearm for Death Star garrison personnel. 19-point articulation via the standard Red Line dual neck scheme.

The Only Black Series Death Star Trooper

One release. No Galaxy Collection update, no Archive reissue, no variant. For any ANH Death Star interior display, this is the sole option. Displayed alongside the 2017 Stormtrooper Repack (#48) and Darth Vader ANH (#43), the Death Star Trooper adds the specific garrison personnel element that the white Stormtrooper army builder doesn’t cover — the officers of the Death Star itself, the people who staffed the space station rather than deploying from it.

For a Death Star corridor display, the colour contrast between white Stormtroopers and black Death Star Troopers creates the specific visual variety that the ANH corridor scenes contain. A formation of identical white Stormtroopers interspersed with black-uniformed Death Star Troopers communicates the Death Star’s layered security better than either force alone.

Secondary Market and Collector Notes

The Red Line Death Star Trooper holds above-retail secondary market prices — unique character, no replacement, specific ANH deployment context. The fully-enclosed black design means no portrait quality concerns. No production variants documented.

Verdict

The only Black Series Death Star Trooper. Buy for the ANH Death Star display, the black-uniform visual variety against white Stormtroopers, or Red Line sequence completion.

The Death Star’s Ground Forces and the ANH Death Star Display

The Death Star in A New Hope is not merely a weapon — it is a space station with a crew of over a million personnel. The Death Star Trooper represents the ground force of that crew: the soldiers assigned to the station’s corridors, hangars, and detention blocks. Unlike the Stormtroopers who deploy from the Death Star to planetary operations, the Death Star Troopers are the station’s indigenous security force.

This distinction matters for display purposes. A Death Star interior scene — grey corridors, Imperial personnel, the specific visual of the galaxy’s most feared weapon’s internal operations — requires a mix of these black-uniformed garrison personnel and the white Stormtroopers who move through the same corridors. The Death Star Trooper figure provides the garrison element that the Stormtrooper army builder alone doesn’t cover.

Historical Naming: Death Squad Commander vs Death Star Trooper

The vintage Kenner line’s “Death Squad Commander” name was used through the late 1970s and into the 1980s toy line. By the Power of the Force era (1990s), the more specific “Death Star Trooper” terminology had become standard. The Black Series figure retains the modern “Death Star Trooper” usage while the Collector records reflect the older “Death Squad Commander” designation — both refer to the same figure and the same on-screen character type.

The Death Star Trooper’s position at #60 — opening the Red Line’s final numbered stretch alongside the Jawa (#61), Solo Han (#62), Grand Moff Tarkin (#63), and the Range Trooper (#64) — reflects the 2018 wave’s focus on filling ANH and Solo film gaps in the line. The Death Star Trooper specifically addresses one of ANH’s most visually distinctive background characters — the black-uniformed garrison personnel who appear throughout the Death Star sequences — that had not previously been covered in the numbered sequence. For ANH completionists building a Death Star display, this figure is the final essential element alongside the Stormtrooper repack and Vader.

No production variants documented. Secondary market prices hold above retail, sustained by the unique character status and the fully-armoured design’s display durability. The only Black Series Death Star Trooper, likely to remain so as the character fills a niche supporting role rather than a fan-demanded protagonist slot.

For the complete ANH Death Star interior display at consistent 2017-2018 Red Line production quality: Death Star Trooper (#60) alongside Stormtrooper Repack (#48), Darth Vader ANH (#43), Grand Moff Tarkin (#63), and Princess Leia ANH (#30) creates every major element of the Death Star command, corridor, and detention block sequences in one coherent era display.

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Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Red Line. Related: Stormtrooper Repack P3-48 | Darth Vader ANH P3-43 | Galactic Empire faction | A New Hope.