Review: 9492 TIE Fighter

Set ID: 9492 TIE FIGHTER

Number of pieces: 413

Year of Release: 2011

Minifigs: 4

Purchased Price: About SGD80

Honestly I have lost count of how many versions of TIE fighters have been released by LEGO. This has not include the few variants that were released through the years, such as the TIE Interceptor, TIE Bomber, TIE Crawler etc. The design of a TIE-related vehicle is usually very typical, with a small cockpit area and two oversized wings. This led me to give up collecting more TIE fighters as the newer versions were nothing spectacular or impressed me enough for me to part with more money. Until this set comes along in end 2011.

This will make a good collection for those who just started collecting LEGO Star Wars. However, you will never be able to appreciate its beauty if you have not seen or built the earlier (4, 5?) versions. 

The Look

I first came across this set on internet website and the first released pictures were enough to convince me to have one. What makes the difference? The newly designed wings. There are certainly more details put into this TIE Fighter wings and it was a joy to see the finished product. Check out the grey borders and diagonal struts. The grey and the black bricks bring out a very nice and contrasting look for this TIE Fighter. 

Building Experience

Simple set to build. No complicated steps. First cockpit, then one wing, then repeat for 2nd wing. Its so simple that it borders boring when I was building it. Having said that, I have to constantly check that all the black bricks on the wings are flushed level from time to time because they are only held together by 1 or 2 bricks and can be flimsy when handling. I was very interested in how the grey rim of the wings was constructed and while I was happy with the look of the end product, the rim does not really fit snugly with the rest of the wing. Upon close examination, there are gaps that still can be seen between the rim and wing.

This is a sticker-less set (Thank you LEGO!!!) and the printed bricks are mostly used for the cockpit area.Talking about the cockpit, I must say it is rather claustrophobic for the TIE pilot (as with other TIE fighter sets) can be accessed by a double-hinged cockpit windscreen. Below the cockpit is a pair of red laser rockets that can be easily fired by a push of a finger. This makes the set rather playable and it can easily be paired with a X-Wing to reenact the classic dog fighting scene in the movie. 

Minifigs

The 4 minifigs are (from left): TIE Fighter pilot, R5-J2, Imperial Officer, Death Star Trooper (what is he doing here?)

The Death Star Trooper has a double face - one with a cool looking shade and the other, an angry look.  The pilot has a very detailed oriented flight helmet but the pleasant surprise is the smiley looking face under the helmet, instead of the totally-black head that was found in older sets.