TIE what?

[Fallenangel]

One day, fallenangel got bored and decided to mess with his LEGO TIEs. He made a startling discovery. This is what he had to say on the matter:

"I hear AFOLs talking about how much better and improved the newer Star Wars sets are over the newer ones... I'm not sure they realize how similar these TIEs actually are."

These required little to no modding - there's about as much altering done to the various modules of 6206 and 8017 as there was done to the 6212 over the 4502.

(Of course, I'd like to make it clear I'm not a fan of the newer 8017.)

[Brickdoctor]

The 'major improvements' are essentially the use of gray instead of blue; which, considering TLC's fanatical use of the rainbow is a big step. The design itself rarely changes. The System-scale X-Wing has only had 2 major renditions; the AAT still uses the same basic frame; the LAAT/i uses the same basic techniques on a slightly larger scale; Luke's landspeeder has only had minor changes; every walker uses the same plate armor technique; the snowspeeder has only really changed in color scheme and greebling as newer parts are released.

[Big Cam]

The 'major improvements' are essentially the use of gray instead of blue; which, considering TLC's fanatical use of the rainbow is a big step. The design itself rarely changes. The System-scale X-Wing has only had 2 major renditions; the AAT still uses the same basic frame; the LAAT/i uses the same basic techniques on a slightly larger scale; Luke's landspeeder has only had minor changes; every walker uses the same plate armor technique; the snowspeeder has only really changed in color scheme and greebling as newer parts are released.

Wow, in my opinion, you nailed it. Not that I don't appreciate the different variants.

[Brickdoctor]

Wow, in my opinion, you nailed it.

Why thank you.

[Clone OPatra]

every walker uses the same plate armor technique;

I'm not sure about that. The first two AT-ST's use a radically different armor technique from the new one in the Battle of Endor.

About the TIE's, although the basic idea of being 'modular' with wings and back that snap onto the cockpit has remained the same, the new one certainly is different. As mentioned before, it doesn't use blue anymore, but it also is bulkier with more smooth pieces and has missiles. Just because you can snap the wings off just like the old one doesn't mean that the design in terms of the look of the craft hasn't changed. That's not to say the new one is better, but it does certainly have more detail that wasn't there on the old one.

[Brickdoctor]

I'm not sure about that. The first two AT-ST's use a radically different armor technique from the new one in the Battle of Endor.

About the TIE's, although the basic idea of being 'modular' with wings and back that snap onto the cockpit has remained the same, the new one certainly is different. As mentioned before, it doesn't use blue anymore, but it also is bulkier with more smooth pieces and has missiles. Just because you can snap the wings off just like the old one doesn't mean that the design in terms of the look of the craft hasn't changed. That's not to say the new one is better, but it does certainly have more detail that wasn't there on the old one.

Granted. Maybe I should have said every current walker.

And I wouldn't call Flick-fire Missiles a 'Major Improvement'.

Like I said, the basic design is the same. You can expect some of the angles to change as new parts are made.

[Clone OPatra]

Like I said, the basic design is the same. You can expect some of the angles to change as new parts are made.

That is certainly true that the basic design is the same, but even with the same guts the end look and feel of two models can be quite different. When it comes to LEGO, I'm not sure there are so many different ways to build a simple representation of a ship. MOCers of course can go wild with tons of interesting connections, but LEGO sets have to be easy enough to build.

[Brickdoctor]

That is certainly true that the basic design is the same, but even with the same guts the end look and feel of two models can be quite different. When it comes to LEGO, I'm not sure there are so many different ways to build a simple representation of a ship. MOCers of course can go wild with tons of interesting connections, but LEGO sets have to be easy enough to build.

Agreed. The real difference in the TIEs, as I said before, was the color scheme; and the new greebling can be expected over the years. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that the previous rendition of the TIE x1 preceded the UCS ISD, which pioneered the use of greebles. (see the review in this forum) The only TIEs released between then and now were (again, I'm not completely sure) the 2005 TIE Fighter and the 2006 TIE Interceptor.