75101 First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter review

When the first wave of Force Awakens sets were revealed, It wasn’t the Falcon that caught my attention, or even Poe’s black X-Wing; it was the TIE fighter. Why? If you’ve had or just seen the previous TIE fighters LEGO have released, just the look of this one was enough to get excited about, because at first glance, it surpasses every single one of them. I just hope it lives up to the promise.

Set description

Intercept and destroy with the battle-ready First Order Special Forces TIE fighter!

Intercept the enemy with the impressive First Order Special Forces TIE fighter. The unmistakable shape of this iconic starfighter signifies the military might of the First Order, and features a 2-minifigure cockpit that opens from the top and bottom, 2 spring-loaded shooters and a rotating antenna for homing in on enemy starships. With this great model, you can recreate the epic excitement of Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Includes 4 minifigures with assorted weapons and accessories: 2 First Order TIE Fighter Pilots, First Order Officer and a First Order Crew.

lego

  • Includes 4 minifigures with assorted weapons and accessories: 2 First Order TIE Fighter Pilots, First Order Officer and a First Order Crew
  • Features iconic design, 2-minifigure opening cockpit, 2 spring-loaded shooters and a rotating antenna
  • Weapons include 3 blaster pistols
  • Accessories include 2 helmets
  • Open the cockpit and load up the crew
  • Rotate the antenna and track the enemy
  • Load the shooters and prepare to fire!
  • Iconic design
  • Recreate fantastic scenes from Star Wars: The Force Awakens
  • The perfect addition to any LEGO® Star Wars collection
  • Measures over 9” (23cm) high, 7” (20cm) long and 7” (18cm) wide

75101-1

The Review

If you read my review of the Rebels TIE Advanced Prototype, I praised the use of the 6×6 dish with handle for the windscreen, it looked great and my final thoughts were that a more traditional TIE with this design should work really well: it does and while the wing panels aren’t drastically different (save for the connection method) from 9492, the pilot’s pod captures the spherical shape so much better.

Another mainstay of LEGO TIE fighters is well and truly put to rest here too as the wings do not attach via a large four-armed brick and technic pins used in previous iterations. Instead, each wing contains four ‘1×2 plate with 1L bar’ hinge pieces, the opposing clips being on the pylon from the pod. The fit is good and well thought out although I found one of the wings wouldn’t clip in with that satisfying ‘click’ we know so well; the tolerances of the bricks pushing back. It stays on, but not as securely as it probably should.

 

75101_alt1

The new minifigures are nice, if unremarkable. The lack of a prominent character, will probably drop it down a lot of people’s list which is a shame. While it’s £10 more than the previous version, it can be said that it the more substantial pod and detailing looks like £10’s worth and with a good selection of bricks, it provides good value for the MOCer too, even though the brick count might initially suggest otherwise.

Put simply, this is easily the best (non UCS) TIE fighter LEGO have produced to date, the build was enjoyable and the finished product looks the part too; I have to wonder if the UCS TIE really looks £100 better, or if it’s just £100 bigger. This set is also very AFOL-friendly with the bricks going on details rather than ‘playspace’ and features. It’s a set I enjoyed from start to finish, and which will keep delivering long after it’s broken down… The best Star Wars set I’ve bought since the UCS Slave I.

Author Profile

Luc
Hello, I'm Luc and I've been a Lego builder as long as I can remember. My Lego motto is 'From Imagination to creation' and I'm a hardcore MOCer through and through. That doesn't mean I don't like getting sets though, not only do they look great and give you exciting new bricks to build with but they teach you great techniques that you can use in your own creations.

When I'm not working on some overly-complex AFOL model, I'm playing and creating with my daughter, which makes sure that I never lose the fun, and it's this multi-faceted system of creativity and play that makes Lego the toy of all toys for me

Luc

Hello, I'm Luc and I've been a Lego builder as long as I can remember. My Lego motto is 'From Imagination to creation' and I'm a hardcore MOCer through and through. That doesn't mean I don't like getting sets though, not only do they look great and give you exciting new bricks to build with but they teach you great techniques that you can use in your own creations. When I'm not working on some overly-complex AFOL model, I'm playing and creating with my daughter, which makes sure that I never lose the fun, and it's this multi-faceted system of creativity and play that makes Lego the toy of all toys for me

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *