Introduction
I’ll be the first to admit that I’m basically eight years late to the party. But it’s all good. The main thing is I found something that’s awesome, animated, and themed for the month that I get to share. What’s not to like about that? Without further adieu I want to introduce the article’s subject: Tie Fighter. I’ll wait patiently until you’ve finished the video.
Background
Thoughts? Simply amazing, am I right? Released in 2015, I found TIE Fighter a few years back on a complete whim through YouTube. It was created and loaded about eight years ago by an animator called OtaKing and you can find it through his page OtaKing Animation. Paul ‘OtaKing’ Johnson is a 2D and 3D animator out of Sheffield, UK. OtaKing has done a good deal of other animations, such as Street Fighter and R-Type in the same style, and I encourage people to check those out as well.

Synopsis
For a quick synopsis of the video, an Imperial probe droid is out scanning an asteroid field and reports the presence of a Rebel fleet that jumps into the immediate area. Of course the Empire takes this as a great opportunity to crush any resistance and deploys three star destroyers in response. What follows is about seven and a half minutes of 80’s anime style Star Wars action. We get to see all types of void combat: from fighter deployments, to bombing runs, to capital ships being taken apart. OtaKing packs an incredible amount of action into a short run time.
Many of my favorite parts are simply the close up details displayed across pilot faces, whether those are facial expressions or targeting data displayed and being tracked. I also love the inclusion of ground forces being placed on high alert, whether that’s in response to repelling potential boarders or simply to prepare for a possible ground assault, each star destroyer is active and moving. And that’s the last thing that I love as well: the Imperial perspective. It’s not that I like the Empire, I hate it (see what I did there?), but whenever we’re shown the Empire they’re this faceless, monolithic organization. We never really get to see individual soldiers or pilots, let alone what a deployment response at those lower echelons of command look like. I understand why that is, but it’s definitely a cool perspective to look at when it’s available, and this is no exception.

[This post was originally published at Otherverse Games & Hobbies]

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Ryan
A New England transplant that originated from parts westward, Ryan is a bit of a nerd that knows a little bit about a lot of things, all while claiming to know nothing about anything. Seemingly part Khajit a logistician by trade, he’s the kind of guy that can get you virtually anything if there’s coin to be had a problem to solve. Ryan began to learn the scrounging arts while serving time in parts east as a Loggie and has been perfecting them steadily over several decades. He has a problem with continually purchasing models, paints, and terrain that he doesn’t really need but his wife doesn’t seem to mind.