Inquisitor’s TIE Advanced Prototype, The - R - Vehicles (Exclusive)

The Inquisitor flies this TIE Advanced Prototype to track down Jedi. The fighter is armed with twin laser cannons so he can fire upon them if they try to escape.

It is evident that there is a heavy reliance on the concept and developmental art when it comes to the inspiration of characters and vehicles from Star Wars: Rebels. The themes and imagery are prevalent beyond belief all of which is a great thing. Any strong connection to the Original Trilogy will immediately grab the longtime collector market, but it hopefully will also be a seed planted in today’s generation so they can better understand what made the original Star Wars films ahead of their time and ultimately the best of all the films. So now that Rebels is serving as the latest catalyst to spark the attention of new Star Wars fans (as well as appeal to longtime Star Wars fans), how has Hasbro kept up with keeping the engagement alive when it comes to the toys? Well, we think they’re doing a fine job. It goes without saying that the Hasbro Star Wars line was plummeting in quality halfway through 2012, all of 2013 and most of 2014. But we see glimmers of hope, especially in the Rebels line, that an unexpected S.O.S. has been thrown out to collectors and that good change is on the way. Hasbro is still utilizing the simplistic approach when it comes to figures and vehicles now, but the details etched into them are impressive. What we don’t agree with is releasing the same exact vehicles and figures together as exclusives while the mainstream releases are sitting on the shelf next to them at the same time. That’s where we’re at with The Inquisitor's TIE Advanced Prototype (with The Inquisitor). This TARGET exclusive is well done, but puzzling at best.

Remember how in the Star Wars [Yoda/Attack Of The Clones] and Star Wars [Darth Vader/Revenge Of The Sith] lines that the Class II/midsize vehicles line took a whole new approach. The vehicles were “dumbed down” terribly. Adding to the confusion, Hasbro produced all-new sculpts of great vehicles they already had tooled better versions of, perplexing the collecting community. We have recapped some of the past to show that it looks like the approach to these vehicles has been changed again (which is a good thing). The full-scale range that we had gotten used to for years hasn’t returned fully back to normal yet, but we nevertheless see some different methods getting employed which should make collectors somewhat relieved, if not happy. The Inquisitor’s TIE Advanced Prototype is one of these vehicles that feels like a breath of fresh air. It gives us a little ray of hope that maybe the Class II vehicle size is on the mend and that Hasbro will be making vehicles of this caliber with a little more finesse and better quality. Still a bit too small as far as scale is concerned, there is, however, no doubt that The Inquisitor's TIE Advanced Prototype vehicle feels like and presents itself as a better quality product than what we have received in the aforementioned lines. The Inquisitor's TIE Advanced Prototype looks just like Darth Vader’s TIE fighter. It’s a smaller scale than the standard TIE fighter (which would be close to screen accurate). Four of its wing panels are articulated with hinge-joints, and you can easily create many different looks for the vehicle based on how you position these panels.

Both the exterior and interior of the wings have been recreated to mirror the details of the TIE fighters seen in A New Hope and the other Star Wars films. A button underneath the cockpit allows you to fire both projectiles at once. It’s a very cool feature. This vehicle comes with a very basic decal sheet to add red lines and triangles to it. These accents are so tiny that we don’t understand why Hasbro didn’t paint them on the vehicle instead. Applying these extremely tiny stickers is maddening, especially for adult hands, but it is possible. The interior of the cockpit is quite exquisite. There is a ton of seating space inside of it and were impressed with the level of detail Hasbro tooled for it. And honestly, the detail throughout the entire vehicle is very well done. The Inquisitor's TIE Advanced Prototype is another great nod to the Original Trilogy. We believe it will be a hit for most Star Wars collectors out there. Also included with this exclusive release is a The Inquisitor action figure. Hasbro did a very nice job on the head sculpt. He has the same texturized skin pattern as his species should. Of course, this time it has been done in an animated style. The Inquisitor’s outfit is very crisp and clean, and Hasbro accented it with silver and red details like the ranking badge and the Imperial emblem to give his clothes a very Imperial Navy feel to them. He comes with a ring-hilted lightsaber to complete his look. Overall, the TARGET exclusive version of The Inquisitor's TIE Advanced Prototype is a nice release. We wish Hasbro thought outside of the box and included a unique action figure with this release to help ensure sell-through, but they don’t think like this anymore.