"Battle-Damaged" Imperial TIE Fighter Vehicle

I'm excited to post this vehicle as it just arrived on "Star Wars Day" (4 May) and it's one of the last items needed to complete my run of vintage vehicles and playsets. Also, I love TIE Fighters!

Strange combination of characters here... Vader piloting the TIE Fighter while Lando and Ackbar look on??? Perhaps Vader has defected to the Rebel Alliance along with his ship to collect a reward, like Munir Redfa did in Operation Diamond. We may never know the truth.

Demonstrating the pop-off wings and laser light.

Battle sounds and how to place a figure in the cockpit.

Opening up the box, we remove the cardboard insert housing the three parts of the toy. Note the "slots" on top of the hatch - apart from the blue colour of the ship, this is the only material difference between the battle-damaged TIE Fighter and the first molded-in-white version released in Star Wars and Empire Strikes Back packaging. The trademark information molded into the cockpit section is a bit different: "(c) LUCASFILM LTD. 1978 / MADE BY KENNER PROD. / CINCINNATI, OHIO 45202 / CAT. NO. 70990 OR 71392 / PAT. NO. D254,081".

It's really quite clever how this one piece of cardboard securely holds the wings and cockpit section securely in place, as well as keeps the box from collapsing!

The assembled TIE Fighter.

From another angle.

Here are the used sheets from the wing decals. I love that the original owner of the toy hung onto all this stuff!

Original sheet of "battle-damage" stickers. The instruction booklet notes that these are "not removable" once stuck onto the wings so evidently the original owner considered discretion the better part of valour and left them on the sticker sheet.

 

Original instruction booklet and catalog included with the toy.

The best part of the post - recreating the box art. Unfortunately unlike so many other Kenner toys there's only one tableau image on the box of the "Battle-Damaged" TIE Fighter, and it's a bit of a weird one...

The toy was first released in mid-1983 and only in "Return of the Jedi"-branded boxes. It stuck around for about a year before being replaced in the lineup by "Collectors Series" versions of the Darth Vader TIE Fighter and TIE Interceptor.

I really like this toy and not just because it's a cool TIE Fighter - it's also one of the most complete examples of vintage Kenner toys in my collection. Everything that came in the box is still here - not just the ship itself, but also the cardboard insert, the used sticker sheets, the instructions, and the unapplied battle damage stickers. A real time capsule!