Found one at the Clovis, California Toys R Us this afternoon
Price was $169.99 + tax. With California's high sales tax, it came out to a little over $183. For those of you looking for this item, the item barcode is: 3050941288. The SKU #, per my receipt is, 285603.
Overall, this thing is massive, highly detailed, and way cool. I've included a number of photos and review below.
Boxed Item (Front)
Boxed Item (Rear)
Box/Item Barcode
Box Contents
Overall, not that many parts and assembly is a breeze with just snapping in the wings and inserting the antennas, hatch, and guns. It should come apart pretty easily as well, meaning that if I get tired of it, I can put it back in the box.
Once assembled, this thing is gigantic! You can see the 6" pilot figure for scale. In the background, you can see how this compares to 1:18 scale and 1:6 scale items. That's the 21st Century Toys 1:6 scale radio controlled M-5 Stuart tank in the background, being dwarfed by the TIE Fighter
Its a little wobbly when sitting on the wings, but is overall rather sturdy and does not seem to have used as rubbery of plastic as on the smaller Class III vehicles. I can see some bending occurring with the wings the longer the item sits on them, though, which means you may want to hang it. This will definitely look spectacular in hanging in flight! The paint detailing is good and they even added some weathering.
Comparison shot with the 3 3/4" Class III toy of the First Order TIE Fighter
The interior is my favorite part of the model. Probably one of the most detailed cockpits we've ever gotten on a Star Wars toy. Lots of controls, levers, buttons, screens are intricately detailed and painted.
Cockpit Overhead View
Pilot's Station Interior Details
Gunner's Station Interior Details
The figure itself is pretty decent. I like the red markings on the helmet. It comes with a sidearm, but no holster to attach it. I hope Hasbro eventually releases a single-boxed version of the TFA TIE Pilot so I can have the ship properly crewed. But for now, the OT TIE Pilot will work well enough as the gunner
Its a little tricky getting the pilot figure into his seat, if anything due to its utility belt. The headrest is removable (or at least I was able to easily remove it) making placement of the figure easier. Would have been nice if the whole seat apparatus lifted out to put the figure on it, like on the recent 3 3/4" scale TIE Interceptor and TIE Bomber. It was a little easier to get the figure into the gunner's station.
Pilot in seat (minus headrest part)
Fully crewed ship using an OT TIE Pilot figure
Overall, I'm very, very pleased with the Black Series 6" scale First Order Elite TIE Fighter. Its simply an incredible ship and its awesome to see a Star Wars vehicle replicated on such large scale. Its proof to me that Hasbro will still take on "big ticket" items, but it also has me thinking about future vehicles in the 6" scale... I have a good feeling we may see a TFA X-Wing sometime down the road as after all the TIE needs an adversary. Then what about other ships? If they did the TFA TIE Fighter, why not an OT TIE Fighter or X-Wing? Heck, the A-Wing, Snowspeeder, Luke's Landspeeder, TIE Interceptor are all "small" enough to be feasible in the 6" scale now - even some of the slightly larger ships like the Y-Wing and B-Wing. Lots of possibilities.
Still, if you have the cash to get this ship, don't miss out!
