The Story
Darth Vader first appeared in Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope, released May 25, 1977. Created by George Lucas, his black armor and helmet grew out of Ralph McQuarrie concept art and were sculpted by Brian Muir. On screen he was two performers at once: David Prowse inside the suit and James Earl Jones providing the voice. The result became one of the defining antagonists in film, a masked enforcer of the Galactic Empire whose entrance in the first movie set the tone for the entire saga.
Vader is the fallen Jedi Anakin Skywalker, seduced by the dark side and remade as the Emperor's second in command. The Empire Strikes Back (1980) delivered the reveal that reframed the whole story, that Vader is Luke Skywalker's father, and Return of the Jedi (1983) completed his arc from villain to a man who turns on his master to save his son. Force choke, red lightsaber, labored breathing: the character is built from a handful of instantly readable signals, and that is exactly what makes him work as a collectible.
That is why VeVe used Vader to anchor the Star Wars single-character lineup. The first Darth Vader digital collectible dropped May 29, 2022 in the Dark Side Collection, a Season 4 blind box at $80 with three variants. Each carries the First Appearance tag, VeVe's marker for a character's genuine platform debut, and each depicts the Sith Lord in a different pose.
Open a Pack
Simulated blind box using this drop's real VeVe pull odds. See what you would land, then grab it on the market.
The Drop
May 29, 2022 is the date Star Wars officially entered VeVe as a standalone character series, roughly six months after the R2-D2 and C-3PO droids opened the license under Disney's Golden Moments run. By this point VeVe had shipped DC, Marvel, and Disney collectibles, but Star Wars carries one of the deepest and most knowledgeable collector bases in entertainment, so leading with Vader was the safe, correct call.
The blind box format meant every buyer paid $80 without knowing which variant they would pull. That uncertainty is central to the VeVe experience and it seeds an active secondary market for anyone who wants a specific tier after the fact. The published pull odds were 1 in 2.33 for the Common, 1 in 2.80 for the Uncommon, and 1 in 4.67 for the animated Ultra Rare.
The Three Variants
Three sculpts of the Sith Lord climb from Common to an animated Ultra Rare, each holding the First Appearance tag.
Market Context
Star Wars is one of the most valuable entertainment licenses in the world, and this was its first single-character digital collectible on VeVe. That first marker is permanent. Every Star Wars character drop that followed, Luke Skywalker, Boba Fett, the Mandalorian, Grogu, the Stormtroopers, exists downstream of this Vader.
The layered supply gives the series different entry points. The Common tier offers accessible pricing and the deepest liquidity, while the animated Ultra Rare offers maximum scarcity and the strongest chase value. The $80 blind box origin also means many of these were bought by collectors rather than short-term flippers. One Ultra Rare has been burned, permanently reducing that tier to 5,976 in circulation.
Collector's Note
For a Star Wars collector, this is the starting point of the character series on VeVe: the platform debut of the franchise's central villain, capped by an animated Ultra Rare that carries his actual breathing sound. All three variants trade between collectors on the VeVe secondary market, sometimes below the original blind box cost, so you can target the exact tier you want. New to VeVe? Grab $10 off your first purchase before you start hunting variants.
Frequently Asked Questions
Darth Vader is the fallen Jedi Anakin Skywalker, created by George Lucas for Star Wars: Episode IV A New Hope in 1977. He was played on set by David Prowse and voiced by James Earl Jones. The Empire Strikes Back later revealed him as Luke Skywalker's father.
It dropped on VeVe on May 29, 2022 in the Dark Side Collection, Series 1, as a $80 blind box. It has three variants: Common "Dark Lord of the Sith" (11,977), Uncommon "Beware the Dark Side" (9,977), and Ultra Rare "The Emperor's Fist" (5,977, animated with sound). All are marked First Appearance.
It was the first Star Wars single-character series on VeVe. The very first Star Wars collectibles on the platform were R2-D2 and C-3PO in November 2021 under Disney's Golden Moments run. Vader led the dedicated character series that followed.
27,931 total across three tiers: 11,977 Common, 9,977 Uncommon, and 5,977 Ultra Rare. One Ultra Rare has been burned, leaving 5,976 in circulation. The counts are fixed.
The Ultra Rare "The Emperor's Fist" is fully animated, showing Vader drawing his lightsaber and performing the Force choke, paired with the sound of his mechanical breathing. Combining animation with character audio is uncommon across the VeVe catalog, which is why it anchors the series.
