Part One: The first TIE Fighter versions: Good but
flawed...
Ever since 1978, the year Kenner Toys (now Hasbro) started the Star
Wars action figure collection and its assortment of vehicles and
playsets, one of the mainstays has always been the Empire's Twin Ion
Engine (TIE) fighter.
Unlike the first production version of
its Rebel counterparts (the X-Wing and Millennium Falcon), it
has always been proportionate in scale to the 3.75-inch figures,
mainly because of its layout -- ball-shaped cockpit connected to two
hexagonal solar panels that give the TIE its distinctive H-shape --
is simple and efficient. It could hold one figure -- at first,
collectors had no choice but to use either Darth Vader (until he got his own TIE-Advanced X-1 fighter) or a stormtrooper until later runs of figures finally included the TIE Fighter pilot. To simulate severe battle damage during play, two spring-action buttons on the gripping tubes could separate the "wings" from the ball cockpit. (In
contrast, the original 1970s X-Wing and Falcon were scaled down somewhat. The X-Wing -- Luke Skywalker's main conveyance in the
Classic Trilogy -- is shorter in body and wingspan, even though the detailing is, considering it's for a toy designed to be played with,
very well done. More recent versions, including the 1997 Red Five
X-Wing with electronic enhancements and the new Red Leader vehicle have longer and slimmer fuselages and the wingspan is longer. The
Falcon, for its part, might never be produced in proper proportions
because it would be roughly the size of a coffee table!)
The TIE Fighter vehicle, despite its proportional correctness, has been tweaked several times even though it's a very simple vessel,
design-wise. The first variant (released by Kenner in 1978) had a
white body rather than "Imperial gray" colors, and the
"solar panels" were not molded and painted but were simulated by stick-on labels. Furthermore, in an attempt to make the
TIE Fighter a little more exciting to play with, Kenner placed a
"laser emitter" (actually a little red bulb) in the central
"chin" of the cockpit sphere that lit up when you pressed a
button on the battery compartment in the rear of the TIE. (Kenner
also added a sound emitter that produced what the packaging amusingly
claimed was an "authentic battle sound." It was a wimpy
little whine which sounded nothing like either the TIE's famous
screaming sound or even the distinctive laser cannon blasts heard in
Star Wars. Worse, the X-Wing also had this wimpy little red laser
light -- on the nose -- and whiny "battle sound." The battery compartment, which also doubled as a handhold, was the only detail that marred the "authenticity" of the Fighter's lines. Well, that and Kenner's odd decision to sell white TIE
Fighters.)
Kenner updated the TIE in 1980 after the release of The Empire
Strikes Back. The mold and wimpy lasers were still the same (and the battery pack/handhold), and the solar panels still were simulated by label sheets rather than being molded and painted, but at least the paint job was now Imperial gray rather than white. In addition, the
second set of labels was included to simulate "battle damage
scars." Oh, and speaking of battle damage, the wings could still
"explode" away by pressing the buttons on the gripping tubes.
Part Two: Improving the classic TIE Fighter
Bursting from Imperial hangar bays in gnat-like
clouds are the standard starfighters of the Imperial arsenal -- the
Twin Ion Engine craft known as the TIE Fighter. The single-seater
short-range vessel lacks a hyperdrive, and as such requires deployment from launch bases and capital ships. It features two fire-linked laser cannons chin-mounted on the ball-shaped cockpit.
Though TIEs presented a formidable challenge to pirates and civilian craft, the skilled pilots of the Rebel Alliance made short work of them in combat. Imperial TIEs swarmed around the first Death Star,
engaging Rebel Alliance X-wing fighters in fierce dogfights as the
Rebels attempted to destroy the massive weapon. – Product Packaging
Blurb, TIE Fighter (Imperial Dogfight)
As good as the Kenner TIE Fighters were, they were not without their
flaws., the battery compartment was an annoying feature for
collectors interested in the vehicle for display purposes rather than
its intended use, i.e., as a toy for 7-year-olds and older kids. You
had to be careful when applying the labels; an air pocket between the
plastic surface and the label would form an unsightly bubble that
would mar the look design-wise and failing to get the label on correctly upon the first try
usually meant a damaged label with unsightly tears or dog-eared
edges. (Kenner would, if you sent them a "missing/damaged
part" form, send you additional parts, including label sheets,
but you had to wait weeks for them.) The toy itself was pretty
sturdy, but repeated use of the "battle damage" feature or the clumsy butterfingered dropping of the TIE fighter could wear out the
springs and the holding "slots" that kept wing and gripping
tube together. Worse, after several years or even decades, the glue
that affixed the "solar panel" labels to the plastic dried
up, and the labels themselves became brittle with age.
Fortunately, Kenner, and later Hasbro, invested a great deal of money
and talent in redesigning the Star Wars line of figures and assorted
vehicles when production resumed in the late 1990s. Advanced
technology in molding and sculpting have made the figures more
detailed, and Hasbro's awareness of the collectibles market has
spurred not only an increase in figures and vehicles but also an
amazing focus on achieving authenticity in look and proportion vis a
vis the 3.75-inch scale figures and their vehicles.
The 2003 edition of the Imperial TIE Fighter follows closely on
improvements that first appeared on other Hasbro TIE variants. Starting
with the 1997 edition of Darth Vader's TIE Fighter -- no longer just
a standard TIE cockpit ball with "bent wings" and a gray
paint scheme -- and followed by the circa 2000 TIE Interceptor and
the 2002 TIE Bomber -- the solar panels on the wings are molded on
rather than having to be added on from label sheets. And while the
wings still "fly apart" to simulate catastrophic damage (as
Imperial TIEs in the movies usually ran into asteroids or Rebel laser
fire), that annoying "battery pack" handhold is gone,
making this the second TIE variant to match its movie-original
counterpart's look.
The 2003 TIE Fighter comes -- as did the TIE Bomber and various Rebel
fighters -- in a display-ready package with a printed backdrop. The
box identifies this particular vehicle as being from "Imperial
Dogfight: A New Hope" and shows another hapless TIE Fighter
exploding and a Rebel X-Wing at the toy's "six." A TIE
Fighter Pilot figure is also included, something Hasbro has been
doing with many of its vehicles in the past few years; the B-Wing
released a few years ago comes with a Sullustan pilot figure and the
two more recent TIE variants also come with Imperial TIE Fighter
Pilots.
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