Darth Vader

Theme:

Variations:

See Anakin Skywalker
Original
2005 Variant
2006 Variant
Light Blue Head
2008 Variant
Darth Vader (battle damaged)
Light-Up Lightsaber
Chrome Darth Vader
2010 Variant
Darth Vader (Microfigure)
Darth Vader (Medal Printing)

Accessories:

Lightsaber, Cape, Helmet, Hologram

Years:

1999 - 2000, 2002, 2004 - 2006, 2008 - 2011, 2013-2015

Appearances
3340 Star Wars 6211 Imperial Star Destroyer 7150 TIE Advanced & Y-Wing 7152 TIE Advanced & Y-Wing 7200 Final Duel I 7251 Darth Vader Transformation (No Cape) 7262 TIE Advanced & Y-Wing 7263 TIE Fighter 7264 Imperial Inspection 7965 Millennium Falcon (Pupils) 7672 Rogue Shadow (Battle Damaged) 8017 Darth Vader's TIE Fighter 8096 Palpatine's Shuttle (Wounded) 10123 Cloud City 10131 TIE Collection 10188 Death Star (New Design) 10212 Imperial Shuttle (Pupils) 10221 UCS Super Star Destroyer 4547551 Chrome Darth Vader (Chrome) K10131 Battle of Yavin Collection International Toy Fair 2005 promotional set(Light-up) Celebration IV Set Toy Fair 2009 Promotional Diorama

See also: Anakin Skywalker

Darth Vader is a Star Wars minifigure introduced in 1999 as part of the Classic Star Wars line. Since 1999, He has had 14 variations to date.

Symbol of the saga

Darth Vader has appeared in a total of seventeen sets, being recognized as one of the most frequently packaged minifigures, but he is not even close to Luke Skywalker who appears in twenty-eight sets. He is considered the representation of the LEGO Star Wars line to a certain extent, after the fact that Darth Vader is the most well known Star Wars character, and has been in all 6 movies. He was released in the set 8017 Darth Vader's TIE Fighter to symbolize the 10th anniversary of LEGO and Star Wars. His helmet was on the box art of the Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith line.

He has so far appeared in all of the LEGO Star Wars Video Games. He is the last unlockable character in LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game, that can only be unlocked after finding all the minikits in the game, which makes him one of the hardest characters to unlock. He also has a cameo in LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures. He is also on the front cover of the book LEGO Star Wars: The Visual Dictionary.

Background

Darth Vader (formerly Anakin Skywalker) was once a Jedi Knight and expert pilot trained by Obi-Wan Kenobi, but his emotions (mostly for Padme) caused him to give in to his anger and aggression, leading to him being turned to the Dark Side of the Force by Emperor Palpatine. This new path caused him to join the Sith and resulted in a duel with Obi-Wan. Vader lost this duel, which resulted in him having to permanently wear body armor and a life-support system.

15 years later, the Rebels of the Lothal System had caused enough trouble (such as destroying the Inquisitor and demolishing Grand Moff Tarkin's Star Destroyer The Sovereign) for the Emperor to send "An alternative solution": Darth Vader.

"If the Rebels have left, then we must draw them back. And if they are here, we must draw them out. We will squeeze Lothal, until someone reveals the whereabouts of these traitors."-Darth Vader in The Siege of Lothal

Vader began his mission by intimidation; soon even Agent Kallus realized that he was a force to be reckoned with. Minister Maketh Tua had run out of solutions to find the rebels, so Vader informed her that Governor Tarkin was expecting her the next day, to account for her failure. This so frightened the poor minister (as she had personally seen his ruthlessness in dealing with failure) that she was driven to plead with the Rebels to save her, in exchange for secret Imperial information: namely the names of rebel sympathizers on Lothal and other nearby systems, and the true reason the Empire came to Lothal-known only to a few, and ordered by the Emperor himself. In truth, this was exactly was Vader wanted; it drew the Crew of the Ghost back to Lothal, and thus narrowed the search by an entire galaxy. Minister Tua was killed in an explosion, which the Empire captured live-stream. They used the footage to turn Lothal against the Rebels, leaving no haven for them on the whole planet. Their only hope of escape was to find a shuttle near the factories-once again, exactly as Vader desired.

After the Rebels gained access to one of the factories' shuttles (and stealing some Military-Grade Shield Generators in the process), Vader sprung his trap. He personally came with several elite troops to crush the Rebels once and for all-and if they somehow managed to escape his grasp, he still would win because of a tracked hidden on the shuttle. He dueled with Ezra and Kanan, though they were no match for him and were nearly killed several times. The first one, five seconds into the battle, both were sprawled on the ground. three seconds later, Vader threw Kanan across the landing platform and force-pushed Ezra against the wall, using the Force to draw Ezra's lightsaber slowly through his neck. It was only the timely arrival of Kanan (after recovering from the toss the Sith Lord had given him) that saved the boy. But Kanan's shoulder was slashed at by Vader's lightsaber, giving his a scar he would bear for the rest of his days. It was only the once-again timely arrival of one of Sabine's grenades toppling two walkers that saved the Jedi, who with great effort force-pushed Vader into the path of the giant machines. But to no avail, for Darth Vader effortlessly pushed the walkers away from him. Sabine attempted to shoot him with her pistols, only to have the shots ricochet back to her torso and head. Her armour

Gallery of Variations

Original Variation

Without Cape 2005

No Eyebrows 2006

Light Bluish Grey Head

2008 Redesign, with a new torso

Battle Damaged

Light-up Lightsaber

Chrome

2010 Redesign, with pupils

Microfigure

LEGO Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Out

2014 redesign

75056 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar

2015 redesign

Original

Darth Vader's original variation was his first and most famous variation, which appeared in eleven separate sets, officially representing Darth Vader as a LEGO minifigure, until its redesign in 2008. The minifigure has black legs, black arms, and black hands. His torso has a special design showcasing a control panel with red and blue buttons on his torso, with grey outlines around it. He has a cape, and a classic grey scarred Minifigure head, which represents his battle injuries due to his Battle with Kenobi. Under his head he wears a black cape and over his head he wears an exclusive mask that covers all of his head, representing a breathing mask that keeps him alive. He comes with a red lightsaber.

He appears in this variation in the sets 10123 Cloud City, 7200 Final Duel I, 7150 TIE Fighter & Y-Wing, 3340 Star Wars, 78744 Star Wars Value Pack, 10131 TIE Collection, and 7262 TIE Fighter & Y-Wing. In 7251 Darth Vader Transformation he comes with no cape.

He has appeared in all four LEGO Star Wars Video Games in this variation, including: LEGO Star Wars: The Video Game, LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy, LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga, and LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars. He also has a cameo in LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures in this variation.

Light bluish grey head

This variant is almost identical to the original version except the grey on the head and torso outlines is updated to a light bluish grey color. This variant can be found in sets from years 2004-2007.

New head

Darth Vader was released in three more sets, 7264 Imperial Inspection, 6211 Imperial Star Destroyer, and 7251 Darth Vader Transformation, with some minor differences from the Original Variation, those being having his eyebrows removed and a few additional scars.

2008 redesign

In the 2008 redesign, Darth Vader comes with the same black hands, black arms, black legs, helmet, and cape as his original variation, except his torso has more details, including his belt and even more detail on his chest panel. The head also, in a strange way despite being in traditional LEGO style, has an increased resemblance to Hayden Christensen. This variation was first released in the set 10188 Death Star, and later re-released in the set 8017 Darth Vader's TIE Fighter, marking it as the new official redesign.

2010 redesign

The 2010 redesign has the same legs, cape and helmet that the previous redesign used from 2008. The head has a new printing, introducing the pupils for the first time. Vader's torso buttons are coloured differently, too. This current variation is only available with the sets 10212 Imperial Shuttle, 7965 Millennium Falcon, and 10221 UCS Super Star Destroyer.

Battle Damaged Darth Vader

Battle Damaged Darth Vader was a unique variation of Darth Vader, released only in the set 7672 Rogue Shadow, released as part of the Expanded Universe line to promote the Star Wars: The Force Unleashed video game.

He includes a grey headpiece displaying a black eye and scars on the left side of his face and a shattered mask on the right side. He wears a black headpiece that goes around his neck, representing his broken mask. He has a grey legpiece, one black legpiece, and a black belt. He also has a black arm piece and one grey arm piece, and two dark black hands. He also holds a red lightsaber.

The variation represents Darth Vader's appearance after being fought (and severely damaged) by Galen Marek, his secret apprentice, near the end of the storyline of the video game The Force Unleashed.

This variation is avaliable to play after creating a minikit for a certain level on LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars.

Light-Up Lightsaber

This variation is exactly the same as the Original Variation, but only his left arm, left hand, helmet and lightsaber blade can be removed. His hand is attached to his lightsaber. The lightsaber has a built in light, which lights up his lightsaber whenever his head is punched down. He has a built in battery. This minifigure is exclusive to 7263 TIE Fighter.

Chrome

Alongside LEGO® Star Wars' 10th anniversary, LEGO produced Chrome Darth Vader Minifigures to promote the event, and an unconfirmed number polybags of the Chrome Vader were randomly inserted into 2009 LEGO Star Wars sets. The Chrome Vader was the same design as the 2008 version of Vader with the new torso, but shiny paint was used instead of the standard black.

Microfigure

Darth Vader appears as a Microfigure in the LEGO Games set 3866 The Battle of Hoth.

2014 Redesign

The 2014 redesign has the same cape and helmet that the previous redesign used from 2010. His head has a totally new printing, showing a tan color and his facial expression has completely changed. He now also has printings on his legs. This Minifigure has only appeared in the set 75055 Imperial Star Destroyer.

Santa Darth Vader

The Santa Darth Vader, introduced and only featured in the 2014 version of the 75056 LEGO Star Wars Advent Calendar, features new prints on the torso, hips and legs. Underneath the Santa-costume-printing, the print of the 2014 redesign can be seen. Mask and head are also equivalent to the 2014 version of the figure. Additionally, this design sports a red cape instead of a black one.

2015 Redesign

The 2015 redesign of the figure, introduced with set 75093 Death Star Final Duel in June, keeps the printing of the 2014 redesign completely from head downwards (excluding the head). The exclusive feature to this version is the new mold and concept for the helmet of the figure, as well as the head-print. The helmet now consists of two parts: a neck piece and the mask and helmet. The former being connected to the minifigure's neck and the latter connected to the head. The face features new printing on a white headpiece.

Notes

In some of the 6211 Imperial Star Destroyer sets, Darth Vader was printed with eyebrows.
A red version of Darth Vader's helmet was produced by LEGO for mould testing; however, it was not included in any sets. This colour version is available via Bricklink, giving it the liberty of being considered an official LEGO part. It is the exact same part as Darth Vader's helmet, except it is the colour of red.
Darth Vader has been released for five Star Wars subthemes: Episode III, IV, V, VI and the Expanded Universe. His appearance in 10131 TIE Collection from 2004 marked his first appearance in an Expanded Universe set (7672 Rogue Shadow being his second.)
He appears in two UCS sets, 10212 UCS Imperial Shuttle and 10221 UCS Super Star Destroyer with an appearance in the new LEGO Star Wars video game, LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars.
Darth Vader's front printing has changed more than three times over the years.
Darth Vader was featured on the boxes for the 2014 sets.
His 2014 variant was the first to have a head in any color other than grey.

Appearances

Darth Vader has appeared in seventeen sets, a large portion of which contain Imperial vehicles and technology; the most common is his personal TIE Advanced x1.

LEGOVADER — Darth Vader from LEGO Star Wars II: The Original Trilogy.

Lego star-wars-iii-vader — Darth Vader from LEGO Star Wars III: The Clone Wars.

Video game appearances

He has appeared in all four LEGO Star Wars Video Games. And he is a cameo in LEGO Indiana Jones: The Original Adventures.

Secondary appearances

The LEGO Darth Vader Minifigure has also been released in products besides LEGO sets and video games, mostly accessories, including pens, Key Chains, and t-shirts.