Star Wars: The Black SeriesHasbro
Jay's Grade — our honest in-house call, not third-party slabbed.
Star Wars: The Black Series – Darth Vader (The Empire Strikes Back) Action Figure (2020 Hasbro)
Released in 2020 to mark the 40th anniversary of The Empire Strikes Back, this Phase 4 Black Series Darth Vader is widely regarded by the collector community as one of the definitive ESB Vader releases in the modern 6-inch scale. The Phase 4 packaging era introduced movie-specific sub-branding — here rendered as a bold blue diagonal accent stripe against the signature black field — giving the box a cleaner, more cinematic presentation than earlier Black Series releases. Numbered "01" in the Empire Strikes Back sub-series, it carries real collector cachet as the lead figure in its wave.
The box is in vintage condition, presenting the figure and red lightsaber accessory through the front display window. The back panel features the multilingual ESB character bio across five languages alongside the 2020 Hasbro/Disney/Lucasfilm copyright line. This release arrived alongside both a Carbonized variant and a 40th Anniversary edition in the same wave — making this the standard retail version for collectors who benchmark across ESB Vader iterations. Community reviewers consistently ranked it among the strongest modern Vader figures, frequently comparing it favorably against the concurrent A New Hope Black Series release.
For Star Wars Black Series completists, this is a meaningful piece: a milestone anniversary release with movie-specific packaging that stands apart from the generic Phase 3 Vader releases that preceded it. The bold Darth Vader artwork running across the box top — helmet emerging from blue lightsaber light — adds strong shelf presence. Whether displayed in-box or opened for posing, this figure represents a high point in Hasbro's modern 6-inch ESB tribute lineup.
Every graded piece is our honest in-house call — not third-party slabbed. Here's exactly where this one lands, and why.
This piece: CC-7 — Very Good
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Every review here is Judge.me–verified — no cherry-picking, no edits. Just collectors who got their figures mint instead of mangled, and came back to say so.
Jays is my first stop in collecting. I preorder things through Walmart, Amazon, Hasbro Pulse, etc., but Jays always seem to get the items and either meet or beat the other companies pricing. I always end up cancelling my pre-orders and going with Jays. Better selection, price and MUCH MUCH better shipping quality. You can't even compare anyone else's shipping and packing to Jays. And that's why Jay's blows them all out of the water.
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Perfect and careful packaging, shipped super quick. Thank you, will definitely be following the store!
Didn't pull any punches in item description. Came extremely fast and well packed. Extremely happy being a first time buyer! Thank you.
I've been buying from Jay's for a while now and I am never disappointed with the experience. Prices that can't be beat, easy PayPal option, and lots of bubble wrap surrounding the products. The fact that they go out of their way to make consumers happy keeps me coming back.
This is my 3rd or 4th time I have ordered from Jay's. The orders are always correct and arrive pretty quick and packaged extremely well. Best in the industry.
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