Welcome to my Darth Vader collection - The Sithsonian.
I have broken the collection into each country and what I have been able to find so far. I have been amazed at just how many different countries released Darth Vader on differing versions of the card-back, and some of the non-US versions are extremely rare. Some are only rumoured to exist and haven't even emerged yet! The hunt continues...
This page has been developed mostly as a library for my own collection, but I hope it helps others discover new Darth Vader figures - especially from the Vintage line. I hope you enjoy The Sithsonian as much as I have enjoyed collecting them all.
Australia
- SW 12bk Toltoys with empirical measurements on the card back
- SW 12bk Toltoys with metric measurements on the card back
- SW 12bk-C Kenner (Taiwan) card with Australian metric sticker
- SW 20bk-A Toltoys card
- ESB 41bk Kenner card with Australian Pink 4LOM Offer
- ESB 45bk Toltoys card Display Offer with Australian address printed on back
- ESB 47bk-A Kenner card with 'Offer not available in Australia' sticker across the 4-LOM Offer
- ROTJ 65bk Toltoys card with Australian Address
- ROTJ 65bk Luke Hoth Toltoys with Australian Address
- ROTJ 79bk Kenner card with Australian Coin Offer
- SW Toltoys Death Star playset
- Showbag from the Myer Star Wars Exhibition 1982
- Showbag from the Brisbane Exhibition 1983
- Croner Toys 1983 Darth Vader Costume
These were actually locally made by Toltoys in New Zealand to compensate for the lack of product available, hence the difference in size, quality and bubble. All parts were made in New Zealand (reportedly Christchurch).
- SW 12bk Toltoys with Farmers Price tag (Farmers was a NZ Dept Store)
- SW 21bk Toltoys New Zealanf Small Card - the card is noticeably smaller than the US card and has a distinctive upside down bubble
- SW 21bk Toltoys New Zealand Large 'transition' card with distinct large square bubble and matte back
- ESB 48bk-A Toltoys New Zealand with no POP and New Zealand Toltoys information where the barcode should be
- Argentina - ROTJ 12bk Top Toys card
- Argentina - Bootleg Hombre Espacial Piloto Navex, although now considered to be more of a bootleg of a bootleg
- Argentina - Bootleg Hombre Espacial Dictador Robot
- Brazil - POTF 9bk Glasslite card
- Brazil - Model Trem vintage Bootleg with Blue Plastic Tube Sabre painted red
- Brazil - Model Trem vintage Bootleg Single Pour (non-moveable neck) with Red Plastic Tube Sabre
- Columbia - YUPI Lucasfilm licensed figures found in snack food products
- SW 12bk-A Kenner-Canada
- SW 12bk-D Kenner-Canada GDE-Logo
- SW 20bk Kenner-Canada
- ESB 21bk Kenner-Canada
- ESB 32bk Kenner-Canada
- ESB 41bk Kenner-Canada
- ESB Sears Shrinkwrap Kenner-Canada Luke Hoth - Darth Vader didn't come on this card
- ESB/ROTJ Transition 41bk (the very clever and cheap way of making an overstock ESB card ready for the new movie)
- ROTJ 65bk Luke Jedi (Green Sabre) - another cardback Darth Vader didn't come on
- ROTJ 65bk US Kenner card with Canada Consumer sticker
- ROTJ 77bk Kenner-Canada
- ESB Droids 7-Pack - Vader should be a shrink wrapped Dengar, but he will do for now
- ESB Dagobah 4-Pack - still hunting the outer packaging for this multipack
- SW Villians 3-Pack
- Darth Vader belt set - notorious for its terrible quality, and George Lucas ordering its production and sale ceased.
- ROTJ Tri-Logo 70bk-B with Rounded and tapered small scalloped bubble
- ROTJ Tri-Logo 70bk-B with miscard bubble
- ROTJ Tri-Logo 70bk-D Anakin - Another cardback Darth Vader did not come on (POTF figures only)
- Hungary Fixed Limb Darth Vader figure and blister card
- Hungary Stump hand Vader
- Hungary Claw Hand Vader
- Turkey UZAY
- Poland Unarticulated, including rare Silver figure
- Poland Articulated (1st and later Generations), including Grey and rare Silver figures
- Poland 1st Generation Articulated with cardback
- Poland Overstock cardbacks
- Russia Oriet POTF2 era
- Uruguay Guerrero Espacial
- SW 12bk Meccano
- SW 20bk Meccano - iconic square card
- ROTJ 65bk Meccano - really tough to find and also missing red paint on the chest
- ROTJ 65bk Meccano Luke Jedi miscard on Yan Solo cardback
- ROTJ Tri-Logo 70bk with long Meccano bubble
- ROTJ Tri-Logo 70bk with short Meccano bubble - these two are exclusive Tri-Logo releases from France
- ESB 45bk German Parker Mills
- ROTJ-era Darth Vader postcard given out at promotions and signed by 'Darth Vader'
- ROTJ Tri-Logo 70bk - distinctive long thin punch with a triangle shape in the middle
- POTF Parker Die Kraft Der Macht Two-Pack with (Meccano) Mini-Rig
- POTF Parker Die Kraft Der Macht Three-Pack
- SW 12bk Harbert
- ESB 41bk with Harbert Sticker on the back - just the cardback, but a significant find as not many of the first 12 have shown up
- ROTJ UHU Stick with Logray
- ROTJ Tri-Logo 70bk with 'Edilio Parodi' Import sticker on the back of a German Tri-logo card
- ROTJ Tri-Logo 4-Pack with Tri-logo cards - one from each movie plus Darth Vader. This set also has the wrong weapon for Leia
Ireland didn't have its own line, but these 3-Packs were distributed by a local store, Dunnes. They are not an official product and are notoriously fragile.
Japan
- SW 12bk-B Kenner card with Takara 'No ST' sticker and 'ST' sticker
- SW 12bk-C Takara card with Takara ST Sticker and white background and Japanese COO Vader. Note the lack of COO on the reverse.
- SW 4-bk Takara 8 Inch figure
- SW Boxed 6 inch figure
- ESB POPY box with SW-A baggie
- ROTJ Kenner 65bk-A with Tsukuda Sticker
- ROTJ Kenner 65bk-B Luke Jedi (Blue Saber) with Tsukuda Sticker
- Japanese Darth Vader Candy premiums - Morinaga (boxes)
- Japanese Darth Vader Candy premiums - Meiji (Black) and Gachapon (Gum Ball machine - the rest)
- Kaka snack food premium
- ESB 37/41bk POCH card with the horizontal reverse. These are called 37/41 Backs because they have 41 figures listed, but only 37 figures shown.
- ESB 37/41bk POCH Transition card with Gratis offer sticker
- ESB 45/47bk with printed '1 Figura Gratis' offer (mis-card with yellow lightsabre)
- ESB 45/47bk Hammerhead - I love how the Poch card uses the bubble upside down so that his head faces forward
- ROTJ 45bk Palitoy with '1 Figura Gratis' offer sticker
- ROTJ 65bk Palitoy with Clipper black sticker and '1 Figura Gratis' offer
- ROTJ 65 Back PBP
- ROTJ 65 Back '1 Figura Gratis' Offer
- ROTJ Tri-Logo 70bk with PBP Bubble
- SW 12bk Clipper
- SW 12bk Kenner with Clipper Gratis sticker
- SW 12bk Kenner with Clipper Gratuite Gratis sticker
- ESB 41bk Kenner with Black 'Gratis Premies' Wrap-around yellow sticker
- ESB 41bk Kenner with Red 'Gratis Premies' Wrap-around yellow sticker
- ESB 41bk Kenner Canada with Red 'Gratis Premies' Wrap-around yellow sticker
- ESB 45bk Clipper
- ESB 45 Bk German Parker Mills cardback with Black Offer - rare German ESB with Black wrap sticker
- ROTJ 48bk-D with Clipper 'White' wrap Offer
- ROTJ 45bk Palitoy with 'Black' wrap Offer and Twin-stem Bubble
- ROTJ 65bk Kenner with Clipper 'Black' wrap Offer and offer booklet - rare double offer
- ROTJ 77bk Kenner with Clipper 'Black' wrap Offer - rare with Alternate Pointing Photo
- ROTJ TriLogo 70bk with Clipper offer booklet and 'Star' sticker
Mexico
- ESB 10bk Lili Ledy El Imperio Contraataca
- ROTJ 12bk Lili Ledy Retorno
- ROTJ 14bk Lili Ledy Regreso
- ROTJ 30bk Lili Ledy Regreso
- ROTJ 65bk-B (alternate picture) Kenner card made by Lili Ledy in Mexico for the US Market and the only 65bk with the alternate picture
- ROTJ 65bk-D - as above, alternate picture but this time with Anakin offer stickers and quite an uncommon piece
- ROTJ Lili Ledy Store Display
- Bootleg Semi-Articulated shrinkwrapped
- Bootleg 6 inch scale Semi-Articulated with Thundercats sword
- Bootleg Vintage style figure on ROTJ card/bubble (mid-90s)
- Bootleg Vintage Semi-Articulated with retractable sabre (late-80s)
- Bootleg Vintage Style Smaller Semi-articulated (late-80s)
- Bootleg Vintage Style Unarticulated Yellow (late 80s)
- Bootleg Vintage Style Semi-Articulated with retractable sabre (late-80s/early-90s)
- Bootleg Vintage Style Unarticulated (late-80s/early 90s)
- Bootleg Vintage Style small Unarticulated
- Bootleg Vintage style Semi-Articulated figures: Vader and Chewbacca-Vader (which actually used a Planet of the Apes head)
Peru is a country that had very little of the original product due to the Socialist government during the original SW-era. During the ESB-era, the country opened up and a company called Basa imported Kenner cards and stuck a Company sticker in the top left corner. The cards here were all bought directly from Peru, but have now been deemed to be fake. ROTJ cards with the Basa sticker applied are unlikely with the sticker stopped soon after ESB. I leave them here as a warning for others and as a general idea of how they looked.
- ESB 41bk Kenner Darth Vader with faked Basa sticker
- ROTJ 77bk Kenner Darth Vader Kenner with faked Basa sticker
- SW 12bk Palitoy card
- ESB 41bk Palitoy
- ESB 41bk Palitoy with a blue sticker over the "(with figures)" in Star Destroyer playset illustration
- ESB 45bk-A Palitoy Bounty Hunter Offer
- ESB 45bk-B rare single stem bubble
- ESB 45bk-B twin stem bubble
- ESB 48bk-C Kenner card with Palitoy Address Sticker
- ROTJ 48bk-D with Palitoy Address Sticker
- ROTJ 45bk Palitoy card
- ROTJ 65bk-D Palitoy card with long bubble
- ROTJ 65bk-D Palitoy card with short bubble and offer not blacked out
- The famous Double Telescoping Darth Vader (Loose displayed on a 12bk-A)
- Kenner Villains 3-Pack
- Kenner Villains 3-Pack Prototype Box with round punch and handcut top window edge (also used different tape)
- SW 12bk-A Kenner HK SKU Footer
- SW 12bk-A Kenner Taiwan
- SW 12bk-B Luke Skywalker DT (Loose displayed on card)
- SW 12bk-D Kenner
- SW 20bk-A Kenner - very hard to get offerless card with white price area like the 12 back
- SW 20bk-C Kenner Boba Fett Offer - no sticker
- SW 20bk-D Kenner Boba Fett Offer - black sticker over the picture on the back
- SW 20bk-H Kenner Boba Fett Offer - with two extension stickers
- SW 21bk-A Kenner - tough piece with the white price area like the 12 back
- SW 21bk-B Kenner
- SW 21bk-C Kenner - Secret Action Figure Offer
- ESB 21bk-G Kenner - Secret Figure Offer
- ESB 21bk-H Kenner - Secret Figure Offer with extension sticker
- ESB 31bk-B Kenner
- ESB 41bk-A Kenner - with two sabres
- ESB 41bk-D Kenner
- ESB 45bk-A Kenner - Display Offer with rare Coin Offer sticker on an ESB Card
- ESB 47bk-A Kenner
- ESB 48bk-A Kenner - hard to find with no offer
- ESB 48bk-B Kenner - 'Revenge Offer' stickers on front and back
- ESB 48bk-C Kenner - printed Revenge Offer
- Revenge of the Jedi 48bk Kenner Proof
- ROTJ 48bk-D Kenner - Nien Numb Offer with hard to find ESB bubble and 2-line title on the card reverse
- ROTJ 65bk-A Kenner
- ROTJ 65bk-B Kenner Alternate picture Made in Mexico for the US Market
- ROTJ 65bk-C Kenner - Emperor Offer
- ROTJ 77bk-A Kenner - Black Sticker covering the stock number
- ROTJ 77bk-B Kenner - Anakin and Free Coin Offers
- ROTJ 79bk-A Kenner (Aussie Price sticker)
- POTF 92bk-A with Free Coin Offer
- POTF Mailaway coin and envelope, with an unused Free Coin offer sticker
Kay-Bee Twin Packs. As Star Wars started to lose sales, the store Kay-Bee bought a huge stockpile of carded figures. They were pulled off individual cards and bundled together in these 2-Packs. With many of the weapons taped to the inside of bubbles, very few weapons made it into these packs unless they were already on the figures (such as capes and sabres). They have extremely fragile bubbles and were mounted on thin card stock. As a result, most have significant damage.
- ROTJ Kay-Bee Twin Pack - Darth Vader with Princess Liea
- ROTJ Kay-Bee Twin Pack - Darth Vader with Hammerhead
- ROTJ Kay-Bee Twin Pack - Darth Vader with IG88
- ROTJ Kay-Bee Twin Pack - Darth Vader with Pruneface
- ROTJ Kay-Bee Twin Pack - Darth Vader with Admiral Ackbar
- ROTJ Kay-Bee Twin Pack - Darth Vader with Ree Yees
- ROTJ Kay-Bee Twin Pack - Darth Vader with Gam Guard
- ROTJ Kay-Bee Twin Pack - Darth Vader with Endor Rebel Commando
- ROTJ Kay-Bee Twin Pack - Darth Vader with Bib Fortuna
- ROTJ Kay-Bee Twin Pack - Darth Vader with Logray
- ROTJ Kay-Bee Twin Pack - Darth Vader with Wicket
- ROTJ Kay-Bee Twin Pack - Darth Vader with Biker Scout
- ROTJ Kay-Bee Twin Pack - Darth Vader with Squidhead
- ROTJ Kay-Bee Twin Pack - Darth Vader with ERG
- US - SW Kenner Darth Vader's Tie-Fighter (Small Wings) on Tie Fighter 12bk
- UK - SW Palitoy Darth Vader's Tie-Fighter 12bk
- Australia - SW Toltoys Tie-Fighter 12bk
- Japan - SW Takara Tie-Fighter 12bk
- Netherlands - SW Clipper Tie-Fighter 12bk
- US - SW Kenner Darth Vader's Tie-Fighter (Small Wings) 20bk
- Canada - SW Kenner Canada Darth Vader's Tie-Fighter 20bk
- US - SW Kenner Darth Vader's Tie-Fighter 21bk
- US - SW Kenner Darth Vader's Tie-Fighter Mail-in
- Italy - SW Harbert Darth Vader's Tie-Fighter 21bk (sadly, just a cardback for now)
- US - ESB Darth Vader's Tie Figher 31bk (Proof Card)
- US - ESB Darth Vader's Tie Fighter 31bk Internal Packaging Sample (Unproduced)
- US - ESB Tie Bomber
- US - SW White pre-production box
- US - SW Darth Vader's Tie Fighter Special Offer
- US - SW Tie Fighter Special Offer
- France - SW Meccano Darth Vader's Tie Fighter
- Spain - ESB Poch Darth Vader's Tie Fighter
- Mexico - ROTJ Lili Ledy Darth Vader's Tie Fighter Regreso Box (there is also a Retorno version)
- Spain - Bi-Logo Poch Darth Vader's Tie Fighter - this was a Spanish release only
- Canada - ROTJ/POTF era 'Collector's Edition' Kenner Canada Darth Vader's Tie Fighter with the infamous mis-spelling of 'Guerre' in the Star Burst as 'Querre'
- Australia - Toltoys release of the MPC Darth Vader's Tie Fighter model kit
- US - SW Kenner
- Australia - SW Toltoys Boba Fett. Vader didn't come in a box with the Toltoys Logo (BUT... see below)
- Canada - SW Kenner Canada. Note the reference to 38 cms rather than 15 inches, and English on the Front and French on the back
- France - SW Meccano
- UK - SW Denys Fisher
- Peru - ESB Basa
- Mexico - ROTJ era Lili Ledy. Very different to the Kenner version
- US Preproduction ESB Box Flat - the ESB line was cancelled by Kenner due to poor sales and the ESB figures were not released
Carry Cases
- US - ESB Kenner Carry Case Mailer Version with SW Logo on the sticker sheet
- Canada - ESB Kenner Canada 32 Back Carry Case with SW Logo on the sticker sheet
- US - ESB Kenner Carry Case - 32 Back with special offer of Boba Fett, Bossk and IG88 in the very rare ESB-b baggies
- US - ESB Kenner Carry Case - 41 Back with special offer of Luke Bespin, Darth Vader and Yoda
- US - ESB Kenner Carry Case - 47 Back with Rebate Offer
- Mexico - ROTJ Lili Ledy Carry Case - extremely rare to find complete
- US - ROTJ Kenner Carry Case - this case had two insert versions with 65 figures, and later 79 figures, but the 65bk sleeve did not change.
- ESB and ROTJ Darth Vader Lightsabres
- Droids Darth Vader Lightsabre
- Bootleg Darth vader Lightsabre
- ROTJ 65bk Palitoy Chewbacca Card with Darth Vader figure
- ROTJ 65bk Palitoy with Vader upside down
- ROTJ 77bk-A Kenner with unpainted chest
- ROTJ 77bk-B Kenner with an upside down backing card. Even the Anakin Offer sticker was placed on the card upside down
- ROTJ Tri-logo 70bk Darth Vader Card with Squidhead figure
- ROTJ Tri-logo 70bk Darth Vader Card with Tie-Fighter figure
- POTF 92-A Kenner with Imperial Gunner coin
- SW 3-Pack - Vader, 2x Stormtroopers
- ESB 3-Pack - Vader, 2x Stormtroopers (Rare ESB version of this set)
- SW 4-Pack - Vader, Tusken Raider, 2 x Stormtroopers
- ESB 6-Pack (Yellow Box)
- ESB 6-Pack (Red Box)
- ESB 4-Pack - Vader, Fett, IG88 and Snowtrooper
- ESB Star Destroyer Line Art 4-Pack - Vader, Fett, IG88, Bossk
- ESB 3-Pack - Bossk, Zuckuss and Dengar (No vader, but a nice complement to the previous 4-Pack)
- ESB 4-Pack - Vader, Stormtrooper, IG88 and Chewbacca
- ESB 4-Pack - Vader, Hoth Stormtrooper, IG88 and Chewbacca - corrected version with 'Stormtrooper' sticker over 'Trooper' text
- ESB 14 Pack - very rare set (Vader, Greedo, Luke, Obi-Wan Kenobi, Jawa, Tusken, DSC, Hammerhead, Chewbacca, FX7, C3PO, R2D2 & Yoda)
- ROTJ 3-Pack - rare Montgomery Wards special - Vader, ERG and Biker Scout
- ROTJ 3-Pack - Vader, ERG and Emperor
- ROTJ 3-Pack - Vader and 2x Snowtroopers
- ROTJ 4-Pack - Vader, Princess Liea, Han Solo and Luke Skywalker
- ROTJ 4-Pack - Vader, Luke Farmboy, Han Solo and Leia Organa
- ROTJ 4-Pack - Vader, Fett, Luke Xwing and Yoda
Young Jedi Mailer with addressed letter (sealed) and open envelope. Most of these were samples with the address of John A Sample, but a few like this actually were posted out. The set came with a free baggie (Logray, Chewbacca or Lando) and the option to buy a second figure as featured in a sticker sheet - C3PO, Darth Vader, R2D2 or Luke Jedi. The second figure was either posted out as a baggie or carded with the POP blacked out - with both examples shown here.
- Netherlands Clipper ROTJ Mail-away Darth Vader. He came in two different baggie types, and there was an early unreleased plain white mailer
- Palitoy ROTJ/POTF Woolworths 8-Pack - These were sold in a bag by the grocery store 'Woolworths' and had 8 figures for 99 pence. There were rumoured to be some POTF figures found in these as well.
The Baggie story so far:
- SW-a
- SW-b
- SW-d
- SW-f
- ESB-a
- ESB-c
- ESB-d
- ESB-e
- ESB-f
- ESB-h
- ROTJ-a
- ROTJ-f
- Euro-b (Clipper Made in Macau)
- Euro-c (Clipper no text)
- Euro-e
- Euro-g - the bag was too small for the figure, so it sits diagonally
- Palitoy internal factory overstock baggie
- Palitoy-d
- Palitoy-i
- Palitoy-k
- Palitoy-m
- Special mention - Emperor in French Euro A baggie with Meccano Gratis sticker
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