8017 Darth Vader's TIE Fighter

8017 Darth Vader's TIE Fighter is a remake of the TIE Advanced x1 used by Darth Vader, and was released in December 2008/January 2009. A Darth Vader minifigure is included, which was one of the first to have the new, more-detailed torso piece. It was released as part of the 10th Anniversary of LEGO Star Wars. Because of this, LEGO randomly inserted 10,000 4547551 Chrome Darth Vader sets into the boxes of this set in the US and Europe.
== Description ==
This set is mostly in black or dark stone (colour), and features details from the Star Wars movies. It has bent wings, unlike a regular TIE Fighter, flick-firing missiles and an elongated hull with an opening cockpit to seat Darth Vader. Due to design, the wings can be folded flat, though this is not possible with TIE Advanced starfighters in the Star Wars Universe.
== Background ==
Darth Vader used this experimental TIE Fighter after a series of other ships which he deemed inferior and uncomfortable (due to his cumbersome life-support armour). It was an improvement over the regular TIE Fighter in terms of both speed and durability, as well as having hyperspace capabilities and was given to him by Marketing Relations Manager Taed Augustus whom he killed for disrespect. It was proposed to become the replacement of the regular TIE Fighter, but its heavy costs never saw it mass-produced. Vader flew this at the Battle of Yavin, just before the Death Star was destroyed. He was pursuing Luke Skywalker, but was knocked away by laser-fire from the Millennium Falcon (it was because of this that Vader survived the Death Star's explosion).
Production of the TIE Advanced was later ceased, but the best features were incorporated into later-generation TIE starfighters. It had two laser cannons and cluster missiles equipped, which let it do considerably more damage than the average TIE Fighter.
Advanced TIE fighters of this class were later used by Lando Calrissian as part of an asteroid field-based flight challenge over the planet of Dubrillion called "running the belt".
== Notes ==
* This set was released in late December 2008 in the U.S. and the UK, and January 2009 elsewhere.
* The Darth Vader Minifigure in this set has a new torso piece which contains additional details, such as more buttons on the chest panel and a belt.
== Minifigures included ==
== LEGO.com Description ==
== Gallery ==
Minifig_-_8017.JPG|Darth Vader with a new torso.
Darth_Vader's_Ship1.png|8017 Darth Vader's TIE Fighter out of the box.
8017 Rückansicht.jpg|The stern of the fighter.
8017 Front.jpg|The bow, with viewport.
8017 Front offen.jpg|The cockpit in open configuration.
8017 Draufsicht.jpg|The upper hull.
8017 Boden.jpg|The fighter's underside.
== See also ==
* TIE Advanced x1
* TIE Advanced v1
* TIE Fighter
== External links ==
Category:Star Wars
Category:8000 sets
Category:2009 sets
Category:Star Wars 10th Anniversary sets
Category:Star Wars Episode IV: A New Hope
Category:Classic Star Wars