Apparently this is what it was going to look like - the distinct design to distinguish it from normal TIEs and to allow room for a second crew member, but it got scrapped and changed to a 'more recognisable'/audience friendly design:

Make that two - just started listening to the podcast and can't get the song out of my head! (in a good way lol)

D'Oh! I missed that Joe - excellent call!

How would including the ships from the new movie undercut their ability to sell more boosters? This is exactly what they did from the start - the starter pack had an X-Wing and TIEs that were also available in boosters for Wave 1... (there are/were compelling reasons to buy at least one of these boosters for the cards that only came in them)

Some tasty new images... Note that what looked like an antenna - is actually another gun(!)

In the store I did not notice - I was in a hurry and was more concerned with checking the paint job on the top... when I got home I noticed it and thought (somewhat naïvely that it must be a separate part that has to be attached. In fact, when the "part" was not in the box I still assumed that I was missing a part that has to be attached - it was only checking it via unboxing videos on YouTube that showed me it should have been attached. *sigh*

So I got an Assault Frigate today, only to discover it didn't have the "undercarriage" (the nobbly bit underneath that looks like it belongs to the Nebula). I've dutifully filled out a form (and uploaded a picture) on the FFG customer support site, but I was just wondering ... is this common? Has anyone else had this issue? I can understand a missing card or plastic lug, but for this whole piece to be missing just seems crazy...

Oops! Wrong forum - please ignore!

Heh. Like 'media' is the plural of 'medium,' which was lost on those that coined the term 'multimedia.' *sigh*

I could not agree more (on both counts). I suppose rather than a wave it could be a special "Ugly" pack of 3-4 ships Most Wanted fashion.

Surely not - I'd be very surprised if they did not make a distinct new model for the T70... Not that there wouldn't be an opportunity for other upgrades/fixes to be included that would filter down to T-65's...

What spoilers? There are two new TIE fighters and a new X-Wing in episode VII ... all three have either been shown in a trailer or even had a toy revealed. I know the general toy push is still in September, but surely this gives FFG enough room to announce at least these three ships without giving anything more than product/model shots away? Other (unrevealed) ships would be right out of course... Don't forget that new evil looking Kylo shuttle is out of the bag too. That's true Joe - I'd forgotten that ...

No, we live in a capitalist part of the world ;-P Well ... it's a pretty big part of the world - basically every part of the world that's not North Korea* ... so I'd argue that mtrein was pretty much on the money with that statement... *Capitalism and Democracy are NOT the same

What spoilers? There are two new TIE fighters and a new X-Wing in episode VII ... all three have either been shown in a trailer or even had a toy revealed. I know the general toy push is still in September, but surely this gives FFG enough room to announce at least these three ships without giving anything more than product/model shots away? Other (unrevealed) ships would be right out of course...

Hey Reiver - where did you see this?

Good point. They couldn't do B-Wing style as there is a rear window (not like the front, more of a long horizontal band per teaser #2). I really don't know what they could do without something strange like a bent or curved stand like one of the rebel ships in Armada ... but that would possibly make it incompatible with standard pegs...

Really? That's not what I'd call super dense (but then I live in the country faaaar from city lights). In any case - if the TIEs in these shots were black ... well we'd be able to make out the white panels at least...

Personally I'm absolutely baffled at the choice of black as the colour of the hull. Don't get me wrong, black looks "cool," but from a film production POV it's extremely limiting ... you are essentially committing to showing these ships in atmospheric battles only, or if it is in space, having everything occur with a nebula as a backdrop.

There are "standard" TIEs in the movie without the "Cogs" or antenna (and presumably without the turret/cannon) - these "standard" TIEs can be seen in the first teaser dogfighting the Falcon. I am aware of that. THIS particular TIE shown, that people are talking about, is NOT one of those. Hence my comment that a pilot skill 1 on a elite version TIE variant is unlikely. On the generic ones, sure. You see, I expect this TIE variant, should it make its way to X-Wing, be a separate sculpt, rather than a title. My bad entirely - I think I quoted the wrong post. I was responding to the poster that saw it as a standard 12pt TIE with a rear cannon upgrade (who you were responding to also). I think the thing is that because it looks more or less like a standard TIE, people are thinking of it in that way (not you obviously) - traditionally we've had a radically different design to denote different capabilities. I too would expect it to be like a TIE advanced compared to the standard TIE, with shields and/or extra hull. And yes, I would expect a separate sculpt for this one also... the fact that this is the first ship "toy" revealed points heavily to its significance in the movie.

Found this video that shows the inside of the cockpit - two seats, one rear-facing(!) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dydg_1mL67A

Here's a much higher res version of the original image Joe posted:

There are "standard" TIEs in the movie without the "Cogs" or antenna (and presumably without the turret/cannon) - these "standard" TIEs can be seen in the first teaser dogfighting the Falcon.

Found this shot which gives another look at the turret/cannon (unfortunate placement though!)

Please, please, please make it so!

There is? If you watch the star wars movies, it seems to be the centre of the ****ing universe