Star Wars: 10 Starfighters We Never Got To See
Every Star Wars fan knows the X-Wing. But have you seen the Y-TIE?
While more famed for its colourful characters and distinctive props, Star Wars never really gets the credit it's due for its contributions to fictional spacecraft. Sure, the Millenium Falcon and the X-Wing are considered iconic, but the variety of other fighters, frigates, and freighters in Star Wars is, frankly, immense.
Hundreds of different designs have been introduced through the movies, games, novels, comics, and other works across the last few decades. Some became essential aspects of the franchise's lesser-told stories, others made fleeting but memorable cameos, and some got as far the concept pages of movie storyboards, only to be shelved and saved for another day.
While not all of them have remained canon during the recent transition to Disney ownership, if there's one thing we've seen from Star Wars over the last few years it's that they're not afraid to delve into their 'Legends' pile to dust-off an old favourite. Plus, with an untold number of new projects in the pipeline there's every chance, one way or another, you'll see more than a few of these gracing your screens in the near future.
10. TYE-Wing
What do you get the person you hate for Christmas? Well, you get them the keys to a DIE-Fighter of course! Quite frankly, this ship was a death sentence to be assigned to in battle. They were only worth using as small transport ships. They didn't even have a large cargo capacity (65 kilograms), making them effectively useless for transporting anything other than the pilot.
This is the 'affectionate' nickname for the TYE-Fighter, one of the 'uglies' that combined the cockpit of the TIE-fighter, the engines of the Y-Wing Starfighter and the offensive capabilities of neither.
This made up part of the fleet that was first seen in the comic Poe Dameron 8, led by the First Order's Terrex. They weren't equipped with shields or a hyper-drive engine, though they were armed with light lasers. They were most often found in the hands of pirates, used as distraction decoys for smuggling items out of hot areas. They were not a design that did anyone any real favours, which is most likely why they were never mass produced and entered into service in either the Imperial or Alliance fleets.
Due to their flimsy nature, they never made it past the pages of the comics. They are an oddity, something to be mocked and derided. If you pilot one, you've messed up somewhere along the way and deserve to feel bad.