Stormtrooper — Star Wars The Black Series 6-Inch Figure #09

Overview

The Stormtrooper is the quintessential Black Series army builder and the most-produced figure type in the line’s history. Before you can army build, though, you need to know which version is worth buying — and with multiple Black Series Stormtrooper releases across the Orange Wave, Archive Collection, Red Line repack, and Galaxy Collection A New Hope line, the question of which one to prioritise is legitimate.

Black Series Stormtrooper #09 is the original. Released in Wave 3 of the Orange Wave in 2014 — the year imprinted on the figure is 2013, but the retail release was 2014 — it was the first 6-inch Black Series Stormtrooper available at standard retail. The Sandtrooper (#03) came first with desert weathering and a squad leader pauldron, but #09 is the clean white A New Hope version that most collectors picture when they think of a Black Series Stormtrooper army.

The mould shares parts with the Sandtrooper, which means there is a hole in the figure’s back that serves no purpose on this release — a backpack peg inherited from the earlier figure. It’s a minor quirk rather than a flaw, but worth knowing. Everything else about this Black Series Stormtrooper is straightforward and competent.

Accessories

Two accessories: an E-11 blaster pistol and a blaster rifle. Both fit the hands adequately — not as tightly as the best weapon fits in the Orange Wave, but functional for standard patrol and combat poses. The E-11 blaster stows in the holster on the left hip cleanly.

The minimalist accessory count is appropriate for the character. The Stormtrooper is primarily an army builder figure and the emphasis is on the sculpt, articulation, and price-per-unit rather than accessory depth. Two weapons covering the standard trooper loadout is exactly right for the role.

Sculpt and Articulation

The Stormtrooper helmet has no removable feature and no face underneath — the helmet is the head, which is accurate to the character and avoids the portrait aging issue that affects human figures from the same era. The armour sculpt is clean and accurate to A New Hope reference, with the correct proportions for the original trilogy design. No weathering is applied, distinguishing this from the Sandtrooper’s desert-worn appearance.

One engineering constraint is worth flagging: despite the ball-jointed shoulders, the shoulder armour restricts the arm’s range of motion. Raised-arm poses are more limited than the joint count would suggest. Galacticfigures confirms this specifically — 23 joints sound impressive but the practical posing range for the arms is narrower than on figures without shoulder armour. The lower body articulation is unaffected, and the figure achieves stable wide stances without balancing issues.

The 23-joint specification includes ball-jointed top neck, swivel lower neck, ball-jointed shoulders with swivel biceps, double-elbow swivels, ball-jointed wrists, ball-jointed waist, ball-jointed hips with swivel thighs, above- and below-knee swivels, and ball-jointed ankles. The belt is not removable.

Display

The Black Series Stormtrooper #09 is the foundational Death Star Corridors army builder. Multiple copies in a patrol formation — some with blaster rifles raised, some with E-11s holstered — is the standard Stormtrooper display configuration and this figure supports it well. For a Death Star command centre arrangement, pairing with Grand Moff Tarkin (#63 Red Line) and Darth Vader (Blue Line #02) builds out the Imperial command structure.

For Tantive IV boarding scene displays — the film’s opening sequence — the packaging text is instructive: Hasbro specifically positioned this figure in the blockade runner capture context. A formation of Stormtroopers alongside Princess Leia (#30 Red Line) and Darth Vader captures that iconic opening beat.

The best Black Series Stormtrooper for army building in a modern display is the Galaxy Collection A New Hope Sandtrooper (ANH 12, 2025) or the Archive Collection Stormtrooper for an updated mould, but this original Orange Wave version has a lower secondary market price per unit that makes multi-copy purchasing more accessible. For collectors building large formations on a budget, #09 is still a practical choice.

Collector Notes

No variations are recorded for Black Series Stormtrooper #09. Secondary market values are modest — high production and wide distribution have kept prices accessible, which is ideal for army builders buying multiple copies.

The most notable technical detail for buyers: the hole in the figure’s back is not a defect. It is an inherited backpack peg from the Sandtrooper mould parts and is present on every copy of this figure. Sellers occasionally flag it as damage — it is not.

The figure was re-released as part of the Wave 12 Red Line repack (#48, 2017) in red packaging with no changes to the mould. An Archive Collection version also exists. The Galaxy Collection Imperial Stormtrooper (Mandalorian collection, MAN 02) uses updated engineering. None of these later releases are direct mould updates — the Black Series has never done a full ground-up Stormtrooper remould, making this original tooling still relevant across multiple releases.

Verdict

Black Series Stormtrooper #09 is a competent, clean-looking army builder figure with one meaningful caveat: the shoulder armour limits arm posing range despite the high joint count. For standard patrol formations and Death Star corridor displays it works well. For dynamic action poses with raised arms it falls short of what 23 joints would theoretically allow.

For modern Black Series Stormtrooper army building, the Archive Collection repack or Galaxy Collection versions offer slightly better value for display-focused collectors. For Orange Wave completists or collectors who want the original #09 specifically — it’s accessible, holds up fine, and the secondary market price makes multi-copy buying realistic.