Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1 Starfighter - TSC - 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 a hyperdrive and deflector shields. Lord Vader pilots this deadly ship in the Battle of Yavin, destroying several enemy fighters, and nearly bringing down Luke Skywalker, had it not been for a lucky shot landed by the Millennium Falcon.

Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1 Starfighter vehicle is a cash cow for Hasbro. With very few updates at all, Hasbro re-released the vehicle in The Saga Collection, and we anticipate we’re going to see this vehicle many more times throughout the years. The vehicle is out of scale and ridden with action features, but Hasbro believes it’s worthy of a re-release. We’re not so sure if we agree. The Saga Collection release may, however, be the new jumping-off point for the vehicle. Hasbro has given Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1 Starfighter vehicle an all-new paint job, and in our opinion, it turned out well. With a final dirty wash to give it a necessarily worn appearance, the vehicle looks better than it ever did. Hasbro decorated Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1 Starfighter in a beautiful new palette of colors. And the vehicle is a worthy addition to a collector-focused line that is desperately trying to balance representing the Original Trilogy as well as prominently feature products based on Revenge Of The Sith. Yes, this vehicle's sculpting has overstayed its welcome in the toy line at this point, but at least Hasbro is doing what they can to keep things fresh. Up to this point, Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1 Starfighter doesn’t have a complex release history.

It made its debut in 1997’s The Power Of The Force "2" [Freeze Frame/The Kenner Collection] lineup when collectors revered the vehicle. Most collectors were happy to own the vehicle after so many years without it. But in 2005/2006, Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1 Starfighter hasn’t aged gracefully. So at best, this is a bittersweet release. It's nice to see it revitalized somewhat, but the tooling is still tired and in need of updates. In 2004, for The Original Trilogy Collection, Hasbro tweaked the sculpt and updated the date stamp to 2003. Hasbro ultimately released it in 2004, but collectors weren’t too impressed with the final product. Hasbro repainted the same 2003 iteration and made it part of the Mid-Size Vehicle assortment for The Saga Collection. As you can see, we’re all getting inundated with the Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1 Starfighter vehicle, and, it isn’t coming with the much-needed changes collectors want to see. As briefly mentioned earlier, what makes this release more painful is that there are still scaling issues with it. 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 at this point. That effort would make collectors happy.

Still, the vehicle isn't without merit. 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. Darth Vader's TIE Fighter doesn't come loaded with a ton of play features, but the ones it does have are 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 it borders on obnoxiousness. But it’s not something Hasbro is going to retool and remove because the point of re-releasing this vehicle constantly is to consistently get the ship out to retail again. The cockpit accommodates the many Darth Vader figures released throughout the years. As far as accessories, Darth Vader’s TIE Advanced x1 Starfighter vehicle comes with two projectiles. When this vehicle was first released, the projectiles were completely gray. Now the full projectile has been cast in bright green plastic. When displayed in a collection, Darth Vader's TIE Fighter looks rather nice, especially if you choose to keep it in the very nice The Saga Collection packaging, complete with color-coding.