Star Wars: Darth Vader / YMMV

Adorkable: Despite how much of a Sadist he is, Triple Zero's gleeful reaction to horrible things occurring makes him seem like a excited fanboy.
Alternative Character Interpretation: After Issue 25, fans began to hotly debate as to whether or not Vader knew Aphra would survive being sent out an airlock. Some fans felt it was out-of-character for Vader to kill someone so cruelly by making them suffer their worst fear, usually he is indifferent about killing not sadistic. Others felt it was out-of-character for Vader to not just kill her via force choke or saber, since those would have been quick and final, where out the Air-lock gave Aphra a small window of survival. Not to mention he didn't even check to see if she actually died, just chucked her out and walked away. Still others think it is perfectly in character for him to do so, especially after all Aphra had done, plus Aphra is not a force user so there is no reason to think she had any chance.
- Alternately, did Vader know what Aphra was trying to do, and doesn't bother confirming her death to give himself plausible deniability?
- Was Palpatine really intending to replace Vader? He claims the replacements were Cylo's idea that he merely let progress to test and encourage Vader, and the end result was Vader actively seeking power and working behind his back with the end goal of deposing him, just like a Sith apprentice ought to. On the other hand, Palpatine initially made no secret about his disdain for Vader and only starts acting like there is a lesson to be learned after Vader starts killing the other candidates, with Vader clearly viewing his claims of it all being a test as him trying to cover his ass now that Vader has come out on top.
- It is intentionally left open what Vader's statement about there being no choice other than Trios for queen of Shu-Torun. Is that a compliment for her service, or is dismissing her saying there was no other option?
- Vader pulling Aiolin out of the lava and easing her passing. Obvious Pragmatic Villainy aside, since she could give him information incriminating Cylo, was there a small Pet the Dog moment in seeing somebody go through the same pain he did on Mustafar?
Anticlimax Boss: Cylo's enhanced soldiers are presented as being strong enough to be rivals to Darth Vader, fighting the Dark Lord to a standstill in their introductory issue. Morit in particular was presented as being the most dangerous of them all and his fight with Vader was the main advertisement for Issue 23. Vader defeats each of them without much difficulty, with his final fight against Morit being the shortest of them all.
Crosses the Line Twice: Triple-Zero. He may be a sadistic Robotic Psychopath, and specialize in Cold-Blooded Torture, but every line out of his... ah, vocabulator is comedy gold.
Ensemble Dark Horse: Triple-Zero thanks to his Laughably Evil behavior.
- Doctor Aphra, so much so that she got her own spin off. She actually won a popularity poll to get her own action figure from Hasbro, even beating out the fan favorite Ahsoka Tano.
Evil Is Cool:
- Come on; it's a comic about Darth Vader. 'Nuff said.
- BT-1, Triple-Zero and Black Krrsantan are all pretty cool in their own right. BT-1 is an astromech droid armed with a flamethrower, Triple-Zero is a humanoid protocol droid who speaks entirely in Black Comedy and is programmed to torture people, and Black Krrsantan is an evil Wookie with a wicked-looking scar on his face.
  - In short, if Star Wars had a Mirror Universe, these three characters would be the Power Trio's backup.
- Boba Fett is back. That is all.
- Dr. Cylo and his experiments make such a good presence with their plotting and fight scenes that it's kind of a shame that they only appear in this one series.
Hilarious in Hindsight: Palpatine being pissed and giving Vader a lengthy verbal chewing out for the destruction of the Death Star becomes hilarious when not long afterward in Disney Infinity, Palpatine barely even cares that the Death Star was destroyed.
- Robot Chicken also had a skit about Palpatine losing his shit at Vader about that so famous, it inspired their eventual trilogy of specials.
Magnificent Bastard: Inspector Thanoth is an agent of the Imperial Inspectorate assigned to assess the competence of Darth Vader himself after the loss of the Death Star. Accompanying Vader on a competition to complete missions against a group of artificial Force-users with his apprenticeship to Sidious on the line, Thanoth proves every bit the Dark Lord's match in scheming ability and coolly thwarts all of Vader's attempts to ditch him. A believer in the Empire, but not in the ability of Sidious to lead it, Thanoth is revealed to be a supporter of Vader himself usurping the throne, and ultimately gives him everything he needs to take down his foes before cheerfully engineering his own death on Vader's blade by revealing that he had deduced his true identity.
Moral Event Horizon: Go here.
Nightmare Fuel: When Aphra and Vader reach the surface of Geonosis they find it deserted with the rotting remains of the natives. The planet was said to be "sterilized".
Rescued from the Scrappy Heap: A common compliment given to the series is that it found a way to integrate the divisive Anakin Skywalker material from the prequels in a way that truly added to the character of Darth Vader, and even produced some genuinely emotional moments.
Tear Jerker:
- Darth Vader #6. Boba Fett tells Darth Vader he found the boy who blew up the Death Star, but he only got his name. Darth Vader finds out that he has a son, and his reaction is as saddening as it is awesome.
  Vader: Did you bring me anything of value bounty hunter?
  Boba Fett: Not much, just his name. Skywalker.
  Vader: (goes completely silent)
  Boba Fett: We're done here, then. *leaves*
- The flashbacks to Anakin's time with Padmé. It's clear that even after all these years, he still loves her and hates himself for what he did to her.
  Aphra: Sounds like she was something special.
- Vader has had his flagship taken away for his failure at the Death Star. So what vessel does he use to get around? Padmé's royal Naboo star-cruiser. This ship is probably all he feels he has left of her.
- Aphra's death scene in issue #25. Watching her sob and beg for a quick death by lightsaber instead as Vader calmly and mercilessly prepares to send her out into the void of space is gut wrenching, even though she's later revealed to have survived.
  Aphra: Not like this. Please not like this.
- Darth Vader standing on the Executor bridge in issue #25, stretching out his hand and imagining his son, Luke, reaching for it. Though he intends to turn him to The Dark Side, Vader truly wants Luke to accept him as his father even though it's unrealistic given the obvious circumstances.
  Vader: Soon...
Too Cool to Live: Karbin, the Astarte Twins and Voidgazer are all skilled combatants (and in three cases, non force using lightsaber wielders) who are trying to trump the force with sheer science, are built up as major rivals to Vader, and all have cool backstories and designs. None of them do make it to the end of the series.
Unintentional Uncanny Valley: The artwork is occasionally traced from the movies, such as Vader's flashback to Padmé telling Anakin about being pregnant. It's rather unsettling for some.

YMMV / Star Wars: Darth Vader

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