Saesee Tiin’s Jedi Starfighter - TAC - Vehicles

The stern, contemplative Saesee Tiin is a masterful pilot who was so telepathically in tune with his starfighter that he has no need of a navigational computer. He closely follows advances in flight technology and is one of the few to encourage the innovative modifications Anakin Skywalker made to his ship. Starfighters were the primary vessels of the Jedi and see much service during the Clone Wars. The Jedi use their powerful link with the Force to help them operate and control starfighters with skill and precision, and use the dual laser cannons to fire intense beams of energy during combat.

2007 was the 30th anniversary of Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope, but it was also the 30th anniversary of just “Star Wars” itself. Because of this, Hasbro felt that they had the freedom to branch out not only in the Original Trilogy and Prequel Trilogy, but also dig deeply into the Expanded Universe as well as create a few unique conceptual products from their own distinct Hasbro universe too. Tartakovsky frenzy reached an all-time high in 2007, and you’d think that Hasbro would have produced a few more vehicles based on the ones we saw in the awesome micro-series. They did accomplish this in some ways. Take for instance Mace Windu’s Jedi Starfighter. But in other ways they didn’t: just take one look at Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter and you’ll find how well it fits into the Clone Wars universe, while acknowledging that it wasn’t seen in any of the chapters. Interestingly, Saesee Tiin could be seen piloting a Jedi starfighter (the same style as Mace Windu’s) in the Tartakovsky micro-series and it was blue and green. It would have been awesome if Hasbro developed that vehicle for the 3.75” action figure line. But instead they went with their own design in very bright orange and yellow and red as well as utilizing a totally different vehicle sculpt. It’s hard to know for sure, but in our best guess is that Hasbro was inspired by Obi-Wan’s Jedi starfighter in Dark Horse’s Full Of Surprises comic. You’ll see how much it resembles Saesee Tiin’s Jedi starfighter.

Based on 2002’s SW [S - P1] Obi-Wan Kenobi’s Jedi Starfighter. A quite compact vehicle, Hasbro has utilized this very nice tooling multiple times to being other Jedi starfighters into the fold. The vehicle itself has a very nice design and a sleek and slender shape. It has some very basic play features in addition to an astromech droid dome in bright yellow that is permanently affixed to the vehicle’s body. (We’d love to know where the rest of the astromech droid is). The vehicle comes with landing gear, snap off panels and firing projectiles. All of the basic stuff is here to make any kid’s or collector’s day very enjoyable. The color of Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter is striking. The orange ship is beautifully bright. And the red, yellow, black and white accents bring everything together wonderfully. Hasbro even added an Iktochi insignia right where the cockpit door opens. This vehicle definitely looks like Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter and frankly it’s hard to remember that this is a Hasbro concept. The vehicle proved so popular that Hasbro added this to their Transformers Crossovers line which also performed well. The only thing we would have probably suggested to Hasbro was that this vehicle may have been better as a store exclusive first before adding it to the mainline. It’s really a niche type of vehicle. But it seems to have performed well despite this.

In 2006 during The Saga Collection Hasbro released a very successful Battle Packs set called Jedi Vs. Darth Sidious. In that set Hasbro updated 2005’s ROTS Saesee Tiin (III 30) figure. The paint job was cleaned up quite a bit and the figure was given a beautiful soft-goods robe. This updated version of Saesee Tiin was then added to the 30 (77-07) Saga Legends line. This figure fits perfectly into the cockpit of this vehicle (and the sole reason Saesee Tiin was added to the Saga Legends assortment). The figure interacts beautifully with the vehicle, but we’d be lying if we said we didn’t want a full action figure of the astromech droid. All we know is what the dome looks like. It would be incredible if Hasbro could produce this droid as a basic figure for the line like they did for 2007’s TSC R4-M6 (Mace Windu’s Astromech Droid) (SAGA 074) and 2007’s TSC R4-K5 (Darth Vader’s Astromech Droid) (SAGA 066) (for the Jedi/Sith starfighters they accompany). It’s very relevant that a Star Wars character and his vehicle has a matching astromech droid. They feel naked without it. One thing is certain. The 30 (77-07) is a rainbow of fruit flavor. The vehicles are extraordinarily colorful and there is the perfect mix of old and new worked into the various assortments. Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter is one of the more colorful ones. We think you should make an effort to grab one.