The black Al-Star was offered as a limited edition a few years ago, but was recently added to the regular line.
I bought a purple Al-Star EF from Amazon a few weeks ago. When I got it the box said EF but the pen was F, so I had to return it. I hope these are correct!
Looking forward to filling it with Bung Box Ink of the Witch. I've read that the "purpleness" of the ink shows up best with a very fine nib.