Review: 75211 Imperial TIE Fighter
Posted by CapnRex101,
Six years have passed since LEGO last released a minifigure-scale rendition of the standard TIE/ln Fighter and 75211 Imperial TIE Fighter definitely seems to improve upon its predecessor, making use of several pieces that have been introduced since 2012 and are ideally suited to the vehicle.
I have therefore been looking forward to this set very much, although its price of £64.99 or $69.99 appears rather expensive for a model which only contains 519 pieces. However, all four minifigures look fantastic and I will be impressed if this set can match, or even surpass, the high quality of 2015's 75101 First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter, a Sequel Trilogy variant of the infamous Imperial craft.
Please note that this review is spoiler free.
Minifigures
Han Solo appears in three sets based upon Solo: A Star Wars Story, wearing different attire on each occasion. This version is dressed as an Imperial Mudtrooper so sports a new dark bluish grey helmet with a moulded strap and goggles on the front. It looks marvellous in relation to the movie and I like the unique cape worn around Han's neck which features a printed hood and some creasing. His head, on the other hand, includes the standard smiling and angry expressions which both look pretty good.
Mudtrooper breastplates resemble those worn by Imperial Snowtroopers on Hoth but is predominantly grey rather than white. It looks excellent and I am particularly impressed by the metallic silver highlights on Han's belt buckle, representing battle wear. Tobias Beckett wears similar armour, although his features an officer's rank insignia plaque as well as some dark tan mud and is partially covered by a dark bluish grey trench coat.
The minifigure wears an officer's cap with a silver identity disc on the crown and his head includes an untidy beard, some wrinkles and a fairly plain facial expression. Hopefully this character will appear in future Solo: A Star Wars Story sets with a new double-sided head as this one conveys little emotion. Beckett comes with two pearl silver blaster pistols while Han is equipped with a large rifle.
LEGO seems to revise the Imperial Pilot minifigure every year and this example continues that trend, wearing an updated helmet which includes more printed detail than ever before. The Imperial insignia look great and I love the metallic silver design on the ridge down the centre of the helmet, although it has not been printed perfectly on my minifigure which is rather disappointing.
The lift-support pack fixed to the pilot's chest is very nicely detailed, featuring some colourful buttons as well as two gas transfer tubes that line up with the hoses on the helmet. I like the figure's metallic silver belt buckle and the design on his legs looks good too, having appeared in many previous sets. A standard Clone Trooper head is found beneath the helmet and the pilot carries a black blaster pistol for use on the ground.
Imperial forces can be adapted to suit many different environments and the Mimban Stormtrooper is one such soldier, wearing light bluish grey armour that is decorated with a muddy camouflage pattern. This is an attractive design and seems entirely appropriate for the swampy world of Mimban, although the arms and the back of the helmet looks quite plain compared with such intricate camouflage across the rest of the figure.
The shape of this trooper's helmet appears identical to that of a standard Imperial Stormtrooper at first glance. In fact, it features much thicker armour across the forehead, perhaps housing additional sensor equipment for navigating the mists of Mimban. I am always delighted to see such attention to detail but wonder whether a new element was really necessary here given its similarity to the existing part. Like Han Solo, the Mimban Stormtrooper wears a lovely dark bluish grey cape and wields a blaster rifle.
The Completed Model
9492 TIE Fighter was released in 2012 and represented a vast improvement over earlier renditions of the craft, defining both the scale of today's model and many of its most notable design features. 75211 Imperial TIE Fighter measures 23cm in height so looks absolutely perfect in relation to a minifigure and its proportions are accurate to the source material as well, closely following the excellent example set by 9492 TIE Fighter.
However, comparing this set with its immediate predecessor reveals several significant improvements. The strengthening of the connection between the narrow support pylons and the wings is probably the most important of these, allowing you to fly the model around with absolute confidence that the solar collection panels will not wobble or fall off entirely. The shape of the cockpit has also been altered, reflecting the introduction of a new canopy element in 2015 that was designed specifically for TIE-series vehicles.
That canopy includes greater printed detail than ever before and I think the combination of slopes that form the cockpit are effective on the whole, despite the inevitable challenges presented by assembling a sphere using LEGO pieces. The pentagonal 2x2 plates on either side of the viewport are especially impressive. They were initially created for the Minecraft track system but are new in light bluish grey and they look superb here.
The access hatch on top of the TIE Fighter and the trans-black viewport on the front are both mounted on hinges so you can open them to reveal a seat for the pilot inside. There are no studs for attaching a minifigure which would typically be an issue but the control yoke in the front of the pilot keeps him quite secure on this occasion. Furthermore, two clips are included beside the pilot so there is room to store accessories during flight.
A series of concentric dishes form the rear of the cockpit. These look reasonably good in relation to the film but would have been even better with a hexagonal viewport, sometimes identified as a solar ionisation reactor, at the centre rather than a round one. I like the twin trans-red thrusters though and a pair of spring-loaded shooters are hidden very neatly beneath the cockpit. You can launch the missiles individually by pressing on their tails.
Each solar array panel is connected to its stanchion via four clips, much like the wings on both 75095 TIE Fighter and 75101 First Order Special Forces TIE Fighter from 2015. These are nestled inside the wing superstructure so there is little risk of breakage and I think the integration between the support pylons and the wings looks brilliant. Unfortunately, wing braces are absent from the inward-facing collection surface and the dark bluish grey plates seem out of place to me so I would recommend replacing them with black ones.
The exterior of the solar array panels look wonderful though, featuring six angled braces and a light bluish grey frame that runs around the edge of the wing. The resultant structure is remarkably sturdy and its shape matches the movie exactly. I appreciate the clear contrast between exposed studs and smooth tiles on the solar collection surface but would have preferred all six support struts to feature the same texture.
Hexagonal converter core housings are situated at the centre of each wing. The mechanical detailing here is relatively simple, consisting of some dark bluish grey grilles and a printed 2x2 round tile. There are no stickers in this set but it does include a total of five light bluish grey roller skates which are new in this colour and could prove to be extremely useful.
Overall
LEGO has very nearly perfected the TIE Fighter design over the last few years and 75211 Imperial TIE Fighter is undoubtedly the best minifigure-scale version yet. Not only has its shape been improved but the model now feels sturdier than ever before so is ideal for play. I am also satisfied with the minifigure selection on the whole, although a standard Imperial Mudtrooper would have been a welcome addition.
My only major criticism of this set relates to its price. £64.99 or $69.99 feels quite expensive in relation to the size of the TIE Fighter, despite the inclusion of some new parts and several printed components. I would therefore suggest waiting for a discount before purchasing this set, although it is undoubtedly a worthy addition to any LEGO Star Wars collection.
I hope you have found this review informative. Let us know by liking this article and share your thoughts on the set in the comments below.
This set was provided for review by The LEGO Group but the review is an expression of my own opinions.
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29 comments on this article
That Mimban Stormtrooper is a great minifig!!
A lot of people are complaining that we're getting yet another set of OT X-Wings and TIE-Fighters this year, but to be honest, the last ones (from 2012) were pretty seriously outdated, and while the Sequel Trilogy versions are good for what they are, it was about time to return to the classic stuff. Pretty solid sets!
That shot besides the 2012 Tie Fighter is frustrating me... I own the 2012 version and it looks like crap next to the new one!! I probably won't buy the new one unless it goes on discount, but its clear they have improved the design since I got the old version. The cool Mimban variants with the Mudtroopers and the Stormtrooper are also really tempting... Maybe we can get a Mimban battlepack someday with some more of these dinged up Imperial Soldiers?
Also... I know some people aren't buying it but that Tobias face really does look like Woody Harrelson to me. Don't know why I like it and some other people don't but oh well.
As someone who has a decent Star Wars collection but no classic TIE fighter, I’m definitely getting this...
On clearance.
Thanks for the comparison shots. Always helps to justify with myself why I'm going to spend $70 on a set I essentially already own.
I like this version, the minifigs included are also well designed and detailed..
You could have 3 or 4 of these on display chasing an X-wing it'd look so cool.
It's a great set, one of the few day one purchases I made this year.
It looks fantastic. It’s amazing how far Lego has come. Do you have comparisons with the FO Tie fighter by any chance?
Just bought it on lego.com. Awesome review. In the US you can get a Vader pod again with a $60 purchase.
-Side note, I have the black VIP card and I got double points? Is that a all year thing? I can't find anything on the site saying why I did? Not complaining at all just wodnering
I have already staeted it that this ship will be added to my fleet at discount.
Although the mini figs look great, this will be a pass for me. I have 9492 which, apart from the flatter window piece, looks much better than this new one. Those long plates on the wings are a backwards step compared to the long bar pieces the previous model had.
@hoarder40: the bars aren’t the right shape at all though. The plates/tiles on this one are much more accurate.
As always your review is a great read and it gives a lot of needed insights. Thanks.
On a side note: after watching the movie I do not understand why Lego didn't decide to do an Enfys Nest set analog to the bounty hunter set (vehicle plus three to four minifigs). Yet. Hope to see it later on. It screams for a release, both in buildability as well as story wise.
Cheers
Great set. It is already at 20% off on various Amazon sites.
Small niggle, the black thing on the back of the TIE cockpit is a window.
(Yes, I know the Essential Guide said otherwise. Don't believe it, it got stuff wrong all the time. You can see a matching hexagonal structure inside the cockpit, and some shots in ANH even have moving scenery visible through it. This Rebels-based diagram also gets it right: https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/2/2f/TIE_fighter_blueprints.jpg)
I love this set: probably the best non-UCS Tie Fighter we've ever gotten. The cockpit is a tad too blocky, but that's my only qualm with the set itself.
I love it, I want it for my ever growing minifig-scale TIE collection. I don't want to pay 85€ for it. But I'll most definitely get it once the price drops.
@Rob42 - The purpose of the hexagonal structure is frequently altered to suit the story, as demonstrated several times during Star Wars Rebels, hence the conflicting information from different sources. Nevertheless, I have updated the review to mention both the viewport and the solar ionisation reactor.
I was seriously tempted to get this set, it has great minifigs and would fill the Imperial starfighter gap in my collection, but the I'm not a big fan of the brick built hatch opposed to the six-by-six hinged dish piece. I decided instead to build a slightly modified version of Rebel Builder's TIE Interceptor and get the TIE Silencer. While RB's design has the pylons offset by half a stud, I prefer his design to this set. That doesn't mean I dislike this set though, and I very much appreciate the review!
9492 is an amazing model that, at the time, I thought really couldn't be improved on. But I gotta admit, this one's better. I'm on the fence on whether it's better enough to deal with selling the old and buying the new, though. And while I'm not a big minifig guy, I have a soft spot for astromechs and I don't know if I'd like giving up the super-cool black with gold trim R5 unit that came with 9492.
@ra226: Same here, the astromech and my utter lack of interest in Solo minifigs makes me keep my 9492.
I like it, I like it a lot. But not 65 quids worth. Also, not interested in the minifigs so if I did get it, the minifigs would end up on the marketplace forum.
On a side note, if the swamp world Mimban now exists in the movies, does that mean that Splinter in the Mind's Eye (Bizarre super early sequel) is now canon.
Really hope the make new Bombers and Intersepters soon
@donutboy nope.
Looks great, but I can't justify buying it at $70 when I have the Special Forces version on my already overwhelmed Lego "Imperials" shelf.
@donutboy; no Splinter is still Legends (non-canon). But including Mimban in Solo is a very intentional homage to the old novel. Lucasfilm has been putting a lot of old stuff back into the new canon in some subtle ways... just Google Jaxxon (Han Solo's Legends space rabbit friend) and be shocked to see that even he is canon again...
I just built this last week and found it a really enjoyable build that could be finished in one session (health issues make it hard for me to spend more then 1.5hrs straight building at a time). The solar panels really are well attached and while there is repetition on the build, it's not boring. After finishing I showed my mum the completed model, "flying" it around while humming the Star Wars evil empire sound track lol, showing that even a relatively simple set like this can still make middle aged people act like 10yr olds!! Happy building :)
Great review as always. I will be very excited to get this set as this is the best version of the Original Tie fighter yet, maybe even the best of all time. Plus, I can't wait to start my collection of Original Trilogy sets. Hope I will be able to get it soon
It's interesting to read the comments from those that have the previous Tie Fighter set. Instead of buying the new one, why not download the instructions and modify the old one as closely as possible? That is the beauty of our hobby. I understand, though, as I am a recovering LEGO collector. Great review by the way. Thank you CapnRex!