Star Wars: Saesee Tiin's Jedi Star Fighter

Presenting from Star Wars: Saesee Tiin's Jedi Star Fighter. I found Saesee Tiin's Jedi Star Fighter while trawling the black market. It was complete, loose - with no stickers unfortunately, but the paint job well hid that fact. I purchased Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter for PhP 300 - a big steal considering that if you trawl the market now, despite the influx of this particular Star Fighter, you'd find it selling for around PhP 500 to PhP 600. A lot of people remember Jedi Master Saesee Tiin as either a member of the Jedi Council or one of the Jedi Masters who accompanied Jedi Master Windu when they went to arrest him. Jedi Master Saesee Tiin was cut down there by the emperor - he was the horny guy - the book version of the story gave him a longer fight than the movie did. In the book, Emperor Palpatine tricked Jedi Master Saesee Tiin into trying to use his  natural telepathic powers. Palpatine cut him down while he was distracted. A lot of people do not know that Jedi Master Saesee Tiin was a ace pilot and a member of the Jedi Starfighter Corp and one time commander of Red Squadron (Of no relation to Luke Skywalker's Red - and later Rogue - Squadron - just a nice coincidence). 

Which is why we are here.

Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter is a Delta 7 Aerthersprite-class Light Interceptor. Developed by Kuat Engineering, the Delta 7 would eventually be one of the templates used in the creation of the A-Wing Interceptor. The Delta 7 was not hyperspace capable and had to use a hyperdrive ring for faster than light travel although it was possible to modify the Delta 7 to carry a hyperdrive. The Delta 7 was known for speed, maneuverability and the bite of two dual-laser cannons.

Jedi Master Saesee Tiin was not happy with what he saw. He modified the Delta 7 and added four quad-pulse laser cannons hidden behind break-away panels and powered by the fold-open wings reminiscent of the  solar ionization reactors of Tie-fighters or interceptors that power their weapons. This "Fight Mode" was supposed to be a last option for the Jedi. Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter was first tested by Jedi Master Adi Gallia in a skirmish in the Karthakk System where it was declared a resounding success and more of Jedi Master Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighters were pushed into production.

  

The actual toy Jedi Master Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter toy seems to bear more than a quad set of lasers.

Pushing on a small spring loaded switch towards the rear of the fuselage (looks like a piece of landing gear) activates the break away panels of Jedi Master Saesee Tiin's Starfighter, and a small switch at the back of each wing launches spring loaded missiles.

There is however, no literature that ever lists Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighters as having been able to fire missiles of any sort.

Another major modification to Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter was the inclusion of a Jedi Meditation chair replacing the standard pilot's seat so that Jedi in long hyperspace flights could... well... meditate. 

And yes, unlike the standard Delta 7's Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter was hyperspace capable courtesy of a hypedrive developed by Saesee Tiin himself.

R4-C9 is Jedi Master Saesee Tiin's astromech droid. Now before you start asking how he fit in there despite there being weapons in that area, let us point out that not all astromech droids were meant to be "full-size" R4-C9 (Who by the way has an R2 dome despite being an R4-P model) is built into Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter. There were two astromech droids classes that were associated with the Delta 7: R3-D series astromechs which assist with targeting and the R4-P model which assists in navigation - which means that Jedi Master Saesee Tiin liked to medidate while in Hyperspace.

Jedi Master Plo Koon is seen flying one of Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighters when Order 66 was issued - he died in it over Cato Neimoidia. By then, most of the Jedi were using the new Eta-2 Actis Class Interceptors. 

What's so nice about Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter is the paint scheme. You gotta love how personal he got with it. The tribal markings on the front of the cockpit almost match completely Saesee Tiin's markings on his scalp. It's a nice piece to have. Not as iconic as the X-Wing, but still a nice conversation piece. Another nice part about Saesee Tiin's Jedi Starfighter is that there are several variants of it in the market - Anakin's, Obi-Wan's, Plo-Koon's etc.... Pick one closer to your personal preference.