Can you believe that it took LEGO two years to finally release a single Stormtrooper? They had Scouts in 1999 and 2000, and then in 2001, you get a single lone Stormtrooper. Just something odd you only notice when you're a crazy LEGO Star Wars fan.

@MCLegoboy said:
"Can you believe that it took LEGO two years to finally release a single Stormtrooper? They had Scouts in 1999 and 2000, and then in 2001, you get a single lone Stormtrooper. Just something odd you only notice when you're a crazy LEGO Star Wars fan."

Yeah, unbelievable. Especially since they were shown on the box art logo.

I think its funny how for so many years, those maniacs at Lego thought that, well, blue existed. Yeah, I suppose it looks kinda cool, but its hilarious how intentionally inaccurate it is! Glad they got it sorted in the end!

@gorf43 said:
"I think its funny how for so many years, those maniacs at Lego thought that, well, blue existed. Yeah, I suppose it looks kinda cool, but its hilarious how intentionally inaccurate it is! Glad they got it sorted in the end! "
I disagree
(hashtag)BringBackTheBlue

I absolutely love this set. Was one of my first. It and it's figures we're the only bad guys I had for a long time.

@gorf43 said:
"I think its funny how for so many years, those maniacs at Lego thought that, well, blue existed. Yeah, I suppose it looks kinda cool, but its hilarious how intentionally inaccurate it is! Glad they got it sorted in the end! "

I disagree with you. I know that the blue on the TIE Fighters is inaccurate but all that gray and black kinda makes most new TIE Fighters look bland.

Kenner made blue TIE fighters in the 1990s, so Lego isn't the first toy company to produce blue TIE fighters.

I had this set. It was awesome. Was so excited to get.

HOWEVER!

IT does not swoosh well. I found the cockpit to be very fragile. Swoosh it too hard, and the wings would just fly off. And I was only 9 or 10 at the time. The TIE interceptor released a few years later had a nearly identical looking cockpit, but one that was much more sturdy, just by changing a few parts.

The only TIE fighter to have a stand to set it upon, if I recall correctly

This would look Good in Blacktron. All that blue turned into white/yellow with a matching cockpit colour? perfect. And those figs.... One looks like a Blacktron 1, the other like a Blacktron 2. Perfect

@gorf43 said:
"I think its funny how for so many years, those maniacs at Lego thought that, well, blue existed. Yeah, I suppose it looks kinda cool, but its hilarious how intentionally inaccurate it is! Glad they got it sorted in the end! "

Well.... https://modelermagic.com/tie-fighter-studio-model/

Sigh, 20 dollars for a TIE fighter.. the good ol' days....

I found this set almost complete in a used-parts-crate. What monster would give this away?

@gorf43 said:
" @Lego_mini_fan said:
" @gorf43 said:
"I think its funny how for so many years, those maniacs at Lego thought that, well, blue existed. Yeah, I suppose it looks kinda cool, but its hilarious how intentionally inaccurate it is! Glad they got it sorted in the end! "

I disagree with you. I know that the blue on the TIE Fighters is inaccurate but all that gray and black kinda makes most new TIE Fighters look bland."

Yeah I get what you mean, I just wonder Legos reasoning for the color. We saw Tie Fighters in 77, and the SW theme started in 99. What could have possibly gone wrong? (and yes, inaccurate as it would be, a new blue Tie would be cool.) "

The UCS Interceptor 7181 also had blue trims. That is a nice model and I would consider it this one's big bro.

@MCLegoboy:
They were firmly in the “main characters only” phase of set design. Luke, and to a lesser extent, Han, accounted for a ridiculous number of early SW minifig slots. Villains were few and far between, with Vader from 7150 and a pair of Scout Troopers from 7101 being the only OT villain minifigs released in the first year. Ep1 didn’t fare much better, with 2x Darth Maul, 4x Battle Droids, Sebulba, and a Droid Fighter in the initial wave.

@RaiderOfTheLostBrick:
Han, Fett, and Leia didn’t appear until the second year, but yeah, Stormie was the OT logo offender for taking two years to show up. Ep1 was much worse, though. Amidala wouldn’t appear in that outfit until 2012, and they _STILL_ haven’t released a proper PT Darth Sidious minifig!

@gorf43:
Typically, any rendition (not just LEGO) of the TIE Interceptor has a distinctly blue shade compared to the two Ep4 TIEs. I think the Bomber does, too. Here, and for the previous TIE Advanced, it made less sense, but they were also designing these early sets with no real understanding of what AFOLs were, so bright colors that kids would be drawn to won out over screen accuracy.

@Norikins With set in hand, the issue with proportions of 75300 almost disappear. It really looks better than in photos. And there's not much to be said in the way of "Junior" about it, unless you consider a 6x10 plate Junior.

@MCLegoboy said:
" @gorf43 said:
"I think its funny how for so many years, those maniacs at Lego thought that, well, blue existed. Yeah, I suppose it looks kinda cool, but its hilarious how intentionally inaccurate it is! Glad they got it sorted in the end! "
I disagree
(hashtag)BringBackTheBlue"

We should call it BlueLivesMatter!

Wait… no…

@Norikins said:
"The general size and proportions on these old TIEs are good. I really dislike how 75300 has more pieces yet is smaller and with stunted proportions. This is half the price, larger, and even comes with a stand (seen in the corner behind the minifigures). 75300 is extremely overrated and disappointing. Reliant on the huge specialized Juniors TIE fighter wing pieces yet it buries them within many smaller plates. Lego could have done something like this, just added some touch-ups which wouldn't inflate the piece count that much like adding 2x3 wedges to the wingtips and a border around the wings, make the cockpit more rounded with modern pieces, make it more stable, and, bam, something vastly superior, bigger and more affordable than 75300's hypercondensed chibi nonsense."

I own 75300, and it doesn't use the gigantic Juniors TIE Fighter wings. It uses 6x6 plates with Technic pin holes at the bottom. I didn't like the set when I first saw it because of the odd proportions, but it looks much better in hand.

This was the most well-proportioned TIE Fighter, neigher overscaled nor underscaled!

I have both this set and the somewhat-maligned 75300- -and I have none of the intervening TIE fighters (referring to the the regular, garden variety models--I have the OG Vader and the Rebels prototype). Having rebuilt this one shortly before getting the 75300 for Christmas, I find that I do like blue the bits of blue and the "plate-wide" wings better than all grey with "brick-wide" wings, though there is absolutely no denying the new one is sturdier.

I also far prefer the OG stormtrooper mould--the printing wasn't as good as it would become, but the later printings on the mould that debuts here are peak stormtrooper. The newer, dual-injected one is a feat of engineering but the it just doesn't look as good to me. It lost that hint of LEGO-headed blockiness in favour of just being too large. I'm more willing to go along with the new TIE pilot helm. As much as my classic from 7146 is my favourite TIE pilot by virtue of standing out from the crowd, it's just an unprinted, black Stormtrooper helmet (though that IS movie-accurate in its own way).

I miss the simplicity of sets like these.

@CapnRex101 said:
"With regard to the Stormtrooper's first minifigure appearance, this reminds me of one of my favourite LEGO Star Wars facts: Among the seven characters featured on the LEGO Star Wars Original Trilogy branding from 1999, only three appeared as minifigures during that year."
Yep, Luke, Vader, and R2-D2 in 1999, then it was Han, Leia, and Boba Fett in 2000, and then finally the Stormtrooper in 2001.
The same cannot be said for the Episode I logo though. Where's the yellow faced Padmé and yellow beshadowed Sidious? *grumble*
I still want to see them make a proper Sidious with his eyes covered by shadow. Since he's always in a hood, you could also print a second face with the eyes and just be regular Palpatine and it not be a problem. I just want to see how they'd do it.

@Norikins said:
"Reliant on the huge specialized Juniors TIE fighter wing pieces yet it buries them within many smaller plates."

A cursory look into the instructions for this set would quickly tell you that this isn't true. But that would only be possible if this information was readily made available to you. Imagine being able to look this up so easily...