The modeling team for the original lego star wars messed up and made it so the ships were entirely flat and not angled like they should be. Same thing for obi-wans jedi starfighter

@PurpleDave said:
"I missed out on this because of how limited its availability was at the time (especially to someone with no credit or debit card). It took forever and a day for them to make a new model of Obi-Wan’s Ep3 starfighter."

I collected all the parts to make Obi's ship, including a rather expensive BL shipment from Germany (to obtain the red hexs)- only to have Lego reintroduce 75135. I still haven't gotten around to getting it built.

I really wanted this. The tri-fighter was one of my first ever Star Wars sets and I ended up getting Anakin's jedi interceptor with the vulture droid a few years later, but I always wanted Obi-Wan's ship. I was really happy when they came out with updates of the ships in 2014 and 16, and still for a decent price compared to today's standards.

@StyleCounselor:
I just harbored resentment until I was eventually able to buy 75135…which I still haven’t opened.

@LegoSonicBoy:
Sure, why not? I may not have an Econ degree, but I do understand the basics, and realize that they have done an insane amount of cost-optimization to keep sets at roughly $0.10/pc for four and a half decades of minifig-based sets. It won’t last forever, and may already be on the way out. Measuring value by any other metric, using standards based on 1980’s sets, and ignoring two generations of inflation, is what I couldn’t pull off with a straight face.

I remember wanting to get this so much at the time, even though I already had 7256, one of its main components... all because of Obi-Wan's starfighter, which wasn't available on its own anywhere. If it had been, you can bet I would have grabbed that at the time, to go with Anakin's, and ignored this set... but as much as I wanted it, I just couldn't justify buying the entire scene when I only wanted one vehicle out of the five. So I never did get it.

*shrugs* That's life, I suppose!

I'm pretty sure this set was a retailer-exclusive here in the UK, too. Don't remember to which shop, though.

@Darth_TNT said:
"Lot of play value for 50 bucks."

My thoughts exactly! I wish they'd do more like this now. I feel like a true playset like this would slot in much better than something like The Justifier at the top non-UCS price point. Give us lots of smaller builds and a healthy selection of minifigs, please!

This is one of those bizarre sets. My brain always registers it as being a co-pack of the Anakin's Jedi Interceptor and Vulture Droid set, the Droid Tri Fighter set, and... Obi-wan's Jedi Interceptor and Vulture Droid??? The exclusivity of that ship is just such a weird inclusion in a set that has 4 other ships that were also sold at the same time. Did they bank on people buying it solely for Obi-wan's starfighter? Did they think there would be THAT much demand for it that it could carry the sale of this set alone?

Looking at the comments, it seems that at least some people decided against buying it precisely because of that.

@Zoniax said:
" @Murdoch17 said:
"My powers have doubled since last time we met, Count.
"

But what scale could you possibly be using?!"

Midichlormians.

As for the 7283 , I managed to score one back in the day.

@Bagelwolf:
So…75098?

@Binnekamp:
It was a long time ago, with a marketing strategy that was focused far, far away from where it is now. Adults didn’t buy LEGO sets for personal use (never mind all the employees who maxed out their annual discount). Kids only cared about main characters (not true). Variety of minifigs served little purpose (false). It was okay to bundle a bunch of repeat models with one exclusive (I’m sure I’m not the only one who considered my Ep1 launch wave to be complete if I bought 7171 and skipped 7131). They did it yet again with 10131 and the exclusive TIE Droid. Chances are they were operating under the mass delusion that the only way they could get people to buy a straight recolor of Anakin’s starfighter was to make an enticing bundle. I’m still surprised they don’t just crank out a new version of that ship every year until they work their way through every known Jedi who pilots one…ideally starting with Mace Windu.

@GSR_MataNui said:
"$50 could get you an entire dogfight of Star Wars sets back in the day.

Even accounting for inflation, these days you're lucky if that'll get you a single ship.

I hope that experiment with smaller Star Wars sets the other year paid off. I'd love to see more palm sized and swooshable craft that can still fit minifigs like this lot. Really collectable kits and great for display! "

I have to say the 75301 X-Wing is my second favorite edition of the fighter (just behind 75218 because of detail) and 75300 TIE Fighter may actually be my favorite. It fits perfectly with my TIE Advanced Prototype and Vader’s TIE Advanced from Rebels. They could make a Y-wing and B-wing to a similar scale for the Rebellion, and a TIE Bomber and TIE Interceptor for the Empire! If they did, they would be a great asset.

@PurpleDave said:
" @Bagelwolf:
So…75098?

@Binnekamp:
It was a long time ago, with a marketing strategy that was focused far, far away from where it is now. Adults didn’t buy LEGO sets for personal use (never mind all the employees who maxed out their annual discount). Kids only cared about main characters (not true). Variety of minifigs served little purpose (false). It was okay to bundle a bunch of repeat models with one exclusive (I’m sure I’m not the only one who considered my Ep1 launch wave to be complete if I bought 7171 and skipped 7131). They did it yet again with 10131 and the exclusive TIE Droid. Chances are they were operating under the mass delusion that the only way they could get people to buy a straight recolor of Anakin’s starfighter was to make an enticing bundle. I’m still surprised they don’t just crank out a new version of that ship every year until they work their way through every known Jedi who pilots one…ideally starting with Mace Windu."

That's right, I remember those! Yeah, the 'malibu stacy with new hat' approach was nothing new to Lego Star Wars, come to think of it. Now I also remember that there were multiple box versions of Y-Wing and Tie Advanced (7150 in 1999 and 7152 in 2002. Maybe one in 2004 as well. I looked it up: 7262) and the original X-Wing (7140 in 1999 and 7142, the 2002 re-release). And the 2004 version of the X-Wing (4502 X-wing and Yoda's Hut) was basically re-released in 2007 as 6212, standalone with new figures and the ability to covert the the Tie-fighter to that of another pilot. And finally, I think of another X-Wing design that was re-released as a standalone later: 4484 and 6963.
Oh, and there's 7263 too. It's missing the stand and minifigs, but it's almost identical to 7146 (the 2001 version) beside the new greys, L.U.L. Darth Vader and 2x3 wedges on the wings.

The entire 2004 regular wave had black box and blue box designs (although this was probably not intended to increase sales beyond consistency with their new 'blue is for boys themes' branding).

My point is: I'm an idiot for even thinking it was weird to make a collection like this. Besides the repeats you've mentioned (especially 10131 does the exact same thing with only ONE new ship) it was just disturbingly common in early Star Wars to do straight up repeats...

Especially that 1999 Tie Advanced. I count 4 'different' sets with that one, super dated build!