Titanium Darth's TIE Fighter- MORE than just a rehash...

[Warstar]

The JC Penney plastic ships seem to be smaller and less detailed in some cases than their Titanium counterparts! I discovered this when I opened Darth Vader's TIE Fighter today- see the pics attached for comparison (Titanium TIE on the left, JC Penney TIE on the right).

I have the Imperial Shuttle, too, and the Titanium one is larger than the plastic one as well!

There's some interesting trivia for you

And for the record- Darth's TIE cockpit IS see-through and NOT painted over- but the plastic tint is very, VERY dark...

[Sentinel18725]

Nice comparison! When were the JC Penny's put out? Are they metal as well? I like this color compared to the JC coloring.

[Warstar]

They're from a pack that was part of the X-Ray Fleet toys back in the day (1996), and they're all plastic. The X-Ray line is the father of the modern Titanium line, as most of them were re-made into the Galoob Metals which got made into what we know as the Titanium Series today.

The set usually isn't that expensive and Ebay is your best bet.

I made this post because most of us are comparing the ships from the old Galoob line to now, and I was surprised to find the old plastic ones were smaller in some cases.

[JediTricks]

Thanks for the comparison WS, I am now fairly confident they're not from the same mold as the detail shapes are different (though the size thing could be related to plastic shrinking after being pulled out of the molds). The work on the Titanium DV TIE is so good though that I wonder if these were molds that Galoob already had finished and were going to produce but never did, Hasbro's Titanium Series sculpting has been MUCH softer than this up until now.

[Warstar]

You're right- just comparing the two together shows that the Darth's TIE mold for the TS is new. It has to be- the old Galoob mold has actual parts near the wings that are hollow instead of painted (look carefully at the picture I took that looks down on the ships- you can see the lower wing of Darth's TIE through the body because of the hole formed there on the JC Penney ship. This part is painted black on the TS one). Everything else about the TS TIE is better and is sculpted "hard." Plastic shrinkage can't explain the differences here- it might be that the TS Darth's TIE was sized up from the Galoob plastic one and retooled.

I can't wait to get an Imp Shuttle to open and to take pics of it for comparison, too.

It does pose the question- did Galoob have these molds ready to go as Die-Casts?

Any way we can find out (for curiosity's sake? )

[jaxx]

I just picked up Vader's TIE Advanced.
When I pointed a light into the cockpit, I could see through the window, but just barely. I think it is painted over, but since it's paint on clear plastic, and not paint on metal (or paint on a solid colored plastic), that's why it can be seen through. I don't know why they didn't just make it clear, or at least a little lighter.

[JediTricks]

I can ask Hasbro next month, but they'll likely not tell me.

[Darth Windu]

JediTricks - if you get a chance, could you also ask them why there was the heavily tinted/painted window on Jango Fett's Slave 1? Really disappointed with that - I managed to paint Boba Fett (using the VOTC-style figure as a reference) and the cockpit which turned out brilliantly, and was hoping to do the same with Jango.

[jaxx]

Darth...
Could you post a pic of that piece?? I'd like to see... if the detail can be picked up.
I think it took me like a week before I noticed that there was a tiny Boba molded in the cockpit. I, too, am disappointed that the window is as dark as it is.
Well, you could always nab a couple of the upcoming raw metal Slave 1's, and transfer the window from one of them to the Jango Slave 1.

[Darth Windu]

Well, I have a website where I've put up some of my work. Unfortunately, the pics are taken with a 2MP camera with no optical zoom, so they aren't as detailed as I would like. However, I'll soon be getting a new camera, which means I can post higher quality pics.

Anyway, I would post a link but I keep getting a message saying "you can only post links to URL's after you've made 10 posts"

Sorry.

EDIT: here's the site's address:
http://www.geocities.com/icur_mmm/SWMMpics.html

Enjoy!