Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1 Starfighter - TLC - Vehicles

Developed specifically to Darth Vader's specifications, this highly advanced starfighter featured a reinforced spaceframe designed to stand up under the most strenuous battle conditions, as well as redesigned wings and a longer engine – all done to improve the craft's performance and make it a more formidable and unstoppable combat vehicle.

It’s becoming increasingly difficult to keep straight all of the Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1 Starfighter vehicles Hasbro has released since 1997. We’re at about the half dozen mark with 2008’s The Legacy Collection Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1 Starfighter vehicle release. What’s sad is that every time Hasbro reissues it, a collector somewhere dies from the aggravation. (We don’t know that for sure.) The point is that enough is enough. This vehicle has overstayed its welcome in the line, almost like a bad teacher still teaching because of tenure. It’s high time to retire this mold, build a more accurate vehicle from the ground up and call it a day. Sure, kids probably aren’t going to care so much about this being the same vehicle after all of these years, but think of the excitement and exhilaration that would be generated from an all-new sculpt. Hey Hasbro, you can re-release the all-new sculpt half a dozen times too. We won’t mind. Just make this dang vehicle screen accurate for once please! Anyway, Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1 Starfighter has quite a complex history. It made its debut in 1997’s POTF2 [Green/Freeze Frame] lineup and back then it was a revered vehicle. We were all just happy to have it. But the sculpt hasn’t aged gracefully and we’ve reached the point where a new sculpt is desperately needed.

In 2004, for The Original Trilogy Collection, Hasbro tweaked the sculpt and updated the date stamp to 2003. It was then released in 2004, but collectors weren’t too impressed. This same 2003 iteration was further updated and given an all-new paint job and was released as part of the Mid Size Vehicle assortment for The Saga Collection. It is this “version” that has been countlessly re-released in the line ever since. In just a few short years, this same vehicle has been released in three consecutive line looks. As you can see, we’re all getting inundated with the Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1 Starfighter. There are still scale issues with this vehicle. Compared to the standard TIE Fighter, Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1 Starfighter is too big. It would be better if Hasbro went back to the drawing board and tooled an all-new vehicle for us, but we’d be lying if we didn’t admit that it still has some charm. Based on the vehicle we all saw during the Battle of Yavin in Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1 Starfighter is a vehicle that should be a staple in the toy line from a certain point of view, but we think it has gotten “out there” enough where Hasbro could probably hold off re-releasing it for a few more years. You do reach a point where enough is enough…. even with Star Wars toys.

Darth Vader's TIE Fighter isn’t loaded with play features, but the ones it does have may be enough to appeal to kids. After all, in 1997 Kenner expended quite a bit of time and energy to develop a slide out cannon feature. They’ve actually tooled a large lever on the underside of the ship that you push out to extend the cannons. Of course it’s an obtrusive feature that is borderline obnoxious. But it’s not something Hasbro is going to retool and remove because the point of this vehicle’s constant re-releasing is just to get the ship out there again. Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1 Starfighter has gone through many colorations throughout the years, but we believe they got as close as possible to the screen accurate coloring with The Legacy Collection version. So, despite scale, color and play feature issues, are there any other redeeming qualities to Darth Vader's TIE Fighter? There are. When displayed in a collection, Darth Vader's TIE Fighter looks rather nice. The cockpit accommodates the many Darth Vader figures, especially those released in the Saga Legends assortments. 2009’s LC Darth Vader (SL06) figure fits perfectly inside of this vehicle. The vehicle comes with two projectiles as accessories. When this vehicle was first released, the projectiles were completely gray. Now the full projectile has been cast in full bright green plastic. Other than that, this is just more of the same.