TIE Fighter (Standard Starfighter Of The Imperial Forces) - ROTS - Vehicles (Exclusive)

TIE Fighters swarm into space to attack the heroic Rebel Alliance forces! TIE Fighters are the standard starfighters of the Imperial forces. The pilots are highly skilled, but they are no match for the daring and resourceful Rebel pilots! TIE fighters waged a fierce battle to defend the first Death Star from the Rebel attack. Re-create the action and adventure of Star Wars!

So Hasbro waited until the Revenge Of The Sith line to bring collectors the first correctly scaled TIE Fighter vehicle? It’s true. It wasn’t until 2005 during the Revenge Of The Sith era (complete with the Revenge Of The Sith line look packaging) that Hasbro gave us the much wanted and much needed updated TIE Fighter vehicle. Released as a TARGET exclusive, the clumsily named TIE Fighter (Standard Starfighter Of The Imperial Forces) vehicle is quite a sight to behold and it captured the attention of collectors everywhere the moment it was announced and subsequently released. Still utilizing the cockpit from 2003’s SW [S - P2] Imperial Dogfight TIE Fighter (released as a Kay Bee Toys exclusive), Hasbro took that updated hull and added two beautifully sculpted all-new solar panel wings to the vehicle to recreate the most screen accurate version our Star Wars collections have ever seen. Seemingly never too sure of the exact color of these vehicles, Hasbro went with a grayish smoky blue color which sort of covers all spectrums of debates regarding the vehicle’s actual color. Hasbro abandoned any form of battle-damage on the vehicle, but that’s OK because the only thing that collectors will be focused on here are the bigger wings. And it's a preoccupation that's rightfully entitled.

TIE Fighter (Standard Starfighter Of The Imperial Forces) looks fantastic. There really is no other way to put it. The detail that has been etched into the wings is nothing short of impressive. Looking truly like a vessel of the Imperial Navy fleet, TIE Fighter (Standard Starfighter Of The Imperial Forces) is the new definitive standard whenever Hasbro decides to reissue or update this vehicle. We’ve already received excellent larger-sized X-wing fighters, so it’s now the perfect time to start getting the major vessel from the other side of the war to complement them. We’ve mentioned that the cockpit is identical to the 2003 Star Wars “Saga” release (the KB Toys exclusive), so it’s worth mentioning that a retool of this cockpit would be equally appreciated. The seating area is much too boxy (the figure floats around too much inside of it) and the lack of any believable controls or dash make you wish for a little more substance inside of it. Thankfully, the outside of the cockpit has wonderful details that are contemporary with the features of the new wings. These details haven't aged in the slightest. If you can't tell, we’re trying to express that the cockpit and wings are seamlessly compatible. It doesn’t look like each has been tooled from different time periods even though they have been.

The biggest disappointment with the TIE Fighter (Standard Starfighter Of The Imperial Forces) vehicle is the pack-in figure, although, it’s barely enough affect our affection for the new vehicle. After ll, better TIE pilot action figures exist, so switch it out if you want. Whether a mistake was made or not, the packaging pictures 2004’s SW [S - P3] TIE Fighter Pilot (Battle Of Yavin) (’04 #14). But what came with this release instead is the old 1996 The Power Of The Force “2” TIE Fighter Pilot figure. He’s been slightly retooled as the bottom of his boots are smooth and show no date stamp. Our memories might be hazy, but we don’t believe we have seen a figure with this type of revision in the basic figure line to date. Despite the pack-in figure here, the TIE Fighter (Standard Starfighter Of The Imperial Forces) will undoubtedly be a highly sought after release. But it sort of bothers us when Hasbro spends the time to retool a vehicle this extravagantly to make it superior and then it gets relegated to an exclusive release. Something this awesome needs to be available in the general marketplace as far as we’re concerned so that it has the greatest accessibility. The size difference of the new wings when compared to the original is quite measurable. It makes you realize just how inaccurate all previous Imperial TIE fighters toys were in the Kenner/Hasbro line that preceded this correctly sized version. Hey, if Hasbro isn’t growing the toy line to become greater and better with each successive year, then what’s the point? This release proves they're growing.