Imperial Stormtrooper (Archive) — Star Wars The Black Series

Overview

The Imperial Stormtrooper at the Archive Collection captures the canonical elite shock troops of the Empire — fanatically loyal, wearing imposing white armour offering a wide range of survival equipment. Released Summer 2024 single-carded in the International Exclusive distribution channel — only available outside the United States. International exclusive at $24.99. 18 joints including butterfly-jointed shoulders and rocker ankles. One accessory: a non-standard blaster. The figure is a repackage of the 2020 Black Series Stormtrooper (figure id=25783). The year imprinted on packaging reads 2020, reflecting the source body’s release era.

The Mandalorian Timeline Tell

Two specific design details place this Stormtrooper firmly in the Mandalorian-era timeline rather than the canonical original trilogy configuration: this Stormtrooper doesn’t have a holster for the blaster, and the included blaster is different from a regular E-11 — it has a longer magazine sticking out on the side and a flashlight attached.

The absence of a hip holster is a meaningful visual distinction from the canonical ANH/ESB/ROTJ Stormtrooper configuration, where the hip holster is a standard equipment component. For collectors building canonical original-trilogy Imperial army displays, this holster absence reads as visually incorrect. For collectors building canonical Mandalorian-era Imperial remnant displays, the non-standard blaster and holster-absent configuration are appropriate.

The Soft Plastic Shoulder Bell Engineering

The shoulder bells are made out of very soft plastic so that you get a better range of motion for the arms. This is the same engineering commended on the Wave 4 Imperial Death Trooper (Archive) — soft-plastic shoulder bells deliver practical above-90-degree arm-movement capability that hard-plastic shoulder armour physically blocks. For a character class that collectors primarily display in combat-deployment arm configurations (raised rifle, two-handed blaster shouldering), the soft-bell engineering is a meaningful practical improvement over standard Imperial trooper hard-plastic-bell configurations.

The Brilliant Army Builder — With One Critique

Otherwise it’s a brilliant Stormtrooper figure and a cool army builder. The overall figure quality is strong — the paint application looks good, the weapon fits well into both hands, and the figure stands well on display without falling over.

The one structural critique is specific and worth calling out directly: unfortunately the helmet on the figure is too small when compared to the rest of the body. This is a proportion mismatch on the 2020 source body that the Archive repackage inherits unchanged. It’s not a deal-breaker for most collectors — the figure reads correctly at standard display viewing distance — but in side-by-side comparisons with other Stormtrooper releases the undersized helmet is noticeable.

For army-builder collectors who plan to display multiple copies, the consistent helmet scale across all copies means the mismatch reads as consistent rather than as individual quality-control variation. It becomes a source-body characteristic rather than an individual defect.

Articulation

18 joints. Barbell-jointed neck, ball-jointed lower neck, butterfly-jointed shoulders, swivel-hinged shoulders, swivel-hinged elbows, swivel-hinged wrists, ball-jointed upper body, barbell-jointed hip, swivel thighs, swivel-hinged knees, rocker ankles. Above the 17-joint baseline through butterfly shoulders and rocker ankles. The butterfly-jointed shoulder engineering — working in combination with the soft-plastic bell design — supports the widest practical arm-movement range of any Archive Collection Imperial trooper variant. The rocker ankles support broad foot-positioning flexibility for stable multi-copy formation display configurations.

Distribution and the Wave 8 Imperial Cluster

International exclusive Archive Collection release at $24.99 — released Summer 2024 as part of Wave 8 alongside Darth Vader (Archive), Bo-Katan Kryze (Archive), and Luke Skywalker X-Wing Pilot W8 (Archive). For collectors building canonical Imperial remnant Mandalorian-era displays, the Stormtrooper Archive pairs with Darth Vader Archive for the canonical Dark-Side-command-with-trooper-escort configuration.

For army-builder collectors specifically, the International-exclusive distribution is the structural challenge — US-based collectors building multi-copy Imperial formation displays at import pricing is structurally more expensive than any prior Archive wave army-builder acquisition.

The Imperial Trooper Archive Collection Overview

Across the Archive Collection’s Imperial trooper coverage, the four distinct variants each bring specific engineering contributions: the Imperial Death Trooper (Archive) with soft-plastic bells and dual-finish black paint, the Imperial Hovertank Driver (Archive) with dirtier armour paint, the Shoretrooper (Archive) with darker paint and scratch detailing, and this Imperial Stormtrooper with butterfly-jointed shoulders, soft-plastic bells, and Mandalorian-era configuration. Together they cover the four distinct Imperial trooper character classes across the Rogue One and Mandalorian eras.

Other Stormtrooper Figures

The Imperial Stormtrooper is one of the most-released character classes in the entire Hasbro Star Wars catalogue. Other notable releases include the 30th Anniversary Galactic Empire variant (figure id=16), the McQuarrie Concept Series (figure ids=435, 436), the Vintage Collection The Empire Strikes Back release (figure id=815), the Power of the Force 2 release (figure id=1288), the Power of the Force 2 With Battle Damage (figure id=1325), and the 2020 Black Series Mandalorian-era source body (figure id=25783). The Archive release joins this extensive character-class catalogue as the dedicated 2024 International-exclusive Wave 8 repackage.

Secondary Market

Single-carded International-exclusive Archive Collection release with dedicated Archive cardback packaging, Summer 2024. Year imprinted: 2020. Available through international retail channels at MSRP and the secondary market with import-pricing premium for US-based collectors. Verify the non-standard blaster (with longer magazine and flashlight) is present.

Verdict

Imperial Stormtrooper (Archive) at the 2024 Wave 8 International-exclusive Archive Collection is a strong army-builder release with two specific caveats — the butterfly-jointed shoulders combined with soft-plastic bell engineering deliver the widest practical arm-movement range of any Archive Imperial trooper variant, the rocker ankles support stable multi-copy formation display, the weapon fits well in both hands, and the paint application reads correctly at display viewing distance.

The helmet-too-small proportion mismatch is real but not a dealbreaker — it’s consistent across copies. The missing holster and non-standard blaster firmly place this in the Mandalorian-era timeline rather than original-trilogy Imperial context. The International-exclusive distribution makes army-builder multi-copy US acquisition structurally expensive before import costs.

Buy this figure if you build canonical Mandalorian-era Imperial remnant army displays (the soft-plastic bell butterfly-shoulder configuration is the best-articulated Imperial Stormtrooper in the Archive sub-line), if you specifically want the Mandalorian-era non-standard blaster configuration, if you collect the Archive Collection as a complete set, or if you can access international retail channels at MSRP pricing. Skip if you specifically want the canonical ANH/ESB/ROTJ holstered-E11 Stormtrooper configuration, or if the helmet proportion mismatch is a dealbreaker for display-quality requirements.

The shock trooper of the Empire in its Mandalorian-era remnant configuration. The figure with the butterfly-jointed shoulders, the soft-plastic bell engineering, the non-standard Mandalorian blaster, the absent holster, and the too-small helmet. The Stormtrooper that completes the Archive Collection’s Imperial trooper coverage alongside the Death Trooper, Hovertank Driver, and Shoretrooper. International exclusive distribution, Summer 2024, Wave 8.

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Part of Star Wars The Black Series | Phase 4 Archive Collection. Related: Darth Vader (Archive) P4-ARC-DVA | Imperial Death Trooper (Archive) P4-ARC-DT | Shoretrooper (Archive) P4-ARC-SH | Imperial Hovertank Driver (Archive) P4-ARC-HD.