I have so much to say about this set I have no idea where do I start.

The latest picture in the Star Wars saga has brought us some new interesting designs for a bunch of ships and one of those is for a legendary Tie fighter class and thus Lego has decided to turn in into a play set. And I can honestly say that they tried to make something new and interesting. This is a stellar looking Tie fighter. The shape and the colour scheme work like a well oiled machine. The set comes with two cool minifgs and there is even some playability. But let's address the elephant in the room.

PRICE

Lego, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? 80$ for a 470 pieces set? I know that Tie fighters are usually overpriced, but this one just takes the cake. The case could be made that Lego did throw in an exclusive figure and a somewhat exclusive figure. Furthermore, there are few new parts made just for this set. But nah, that ain't gonna do it for me. And I suppose for pretty much everyone else, since the set has been on at least 20% discount in great many stores since the day of its release. This time Lego did really went balls to the wall with the price and there is really no good reason to take their side this time.

And honestly, large reason why this set gets such a poor rating is because of the price and the price alone. Cause other than that the set is pretty rad.

MINIFIGS

• Trudgen. Finally, I have a place to flex with my knowledge of these cool ghoulish dark side warriors. Jokes aside, our beloved Death Trooper slayer has a gorgeously detailed torso print. The legs with the cap are fine and the head is again brilliant. I would normally call this a minor complaint but since I am still in the heat from my pricing rant I will give this set no rest when it comes to its demerits no matter how insignificant they may be. Instead of giving us an exclusive sword mold we get a regular Uruk-Hai machete. Which would be completely fine but..
• Tie Pilot. I suppose this is a standard torso and leg printing for an Imperial pilot but I still find it rather detailed and nicely finished. The helmet has a rubber pipe if you will which ends just in the middle of the torso and gives the minifig even better look. Lego is kinda lazy usually and gives an angry clone head to the most Imperial/First Order minifigs even though they are no clones.
• TRAITOR! Finn. My boy Boyega has been done dirty by the movies, but not by Lego. He comes with an accurate looking torso and leg print with several pockets and two belts. One is a waist print and the second is under the vest. The back looks dull but it makes sense in the context of what he is wearing. One of his facial expressions is thrilled about a man purse he carries around. His other facial expression is horrified over how difficult is to put the man purse on and off without having to unplug the head. One last detail is what I belive to be a new hair piece which is even more detailed than the previous one. I do not understand the reasoning behind putting Finn into this set. It makes no sense movie wise and it makes no sense logic wise. What kind of an opposition is one lonely traitor against a Tie fighter and a member of the Knights of Ren? Instead of Finn there should be one or two Sith Troopers in my opinion.

BUILD

Obviously the most pronounced feature of this whole ship are the wings.

The double layered wings in black with the red edges do look incredibly menacing. Their mean look is even more amplified by the aggressive triangular shaping and the red cockpit glass. These cool features are unfortunately undermined by the light grey fuselage. I know this is how the vehicle looks like in the universe but Lego could have done a little compromise and use a darker shade of grey. Perhaps the did try that and it did not look as good I think it would. But the final product looks little bit whimsical because of this drawback.

The fuselage does not consist of many pieces since the already weak piece count is drained by the wings and thusly it looks think and little cheap.

From the front the ship looks perfect and ready to be put on a display. But heed the warning and do not turn the ship around. As the back side looks awkward, bulky and the design does not work here. Again, the light grey against the sharp black red duo looks really dumb.

The cockpit can fit one minifig rather uncomfortably and there are no control handles inside. The whole cockpit area is small but it has two printed panels on each side.

Thanks to the shaping of the wings this model cannot stand on its own and needs a stand which is a part of the set. Here I have to applaud the designers of this model, since they found a smart way to incorporate a place on the ship which can connect with the stand. You see, those teeth at the front of the fuselage are faithfully accurate to what the ship looks like in the movie. And trust me, balancing a ship on a stand is a nightmare sometimes. Especially with the shape such as this.

PLAYABILITY

There are two spring-loaded shooters incorporated into the second layer of the wings. Each wing has one and the shooting mechanism is designed to be nicely hidden in the body of the wings. The problem comes after you press these little one on two plates in order to fire the missiles. Then you have to pull them out and with the very little space given you will find yourself loathing the decision of firing them in the first place. Cool looking design but a terribly dysfunctional one.

Other than that there is not much playability to this set. You can open the cockpit and put a minifig inside and that is about that.

CONCLUSION

I like this ship I really do. But the price and lack of content renders me unable to give this a nice rating. If this was a 60$ set it would be an easy 3 out of 5 but given the price and thus amplified shortcomings of this set I am left with no other option. And again I do like the ship but there has to be a loud and strong feedback for Lego to hear that they did cross a line here.