A Certain Point of View: Writing, Film and Stuff

Photo Credit: PicClick.com 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 l...