By now, we’re all clear on the concept of the double life, right? Well here’s another name for that roll call: Jason Battersby. The Canadian artist and designer grew up in Toronto, attended Umea Institute of Design in Sweden for his Masters in Transportation Design, and works in Munich – by day – as an automotive exterior designer at Audi Konzept Design in Munich. When not sketching vehicle lines suitable for the four rings, he lends his pen to Audi efforts like the Poltrona Frau Luft, the Audi e-bike, and the Audi premium luggage concept. When Battersby clocks out for the day, he turns to designs like the TIE-X concept.
Conceived as “[Darth] Vader’s secret advanced Tie-Fighter project,” the handful of TIE-X ships in existence “were built to be the most agile in the Empire, carrying out secret missions for Vader across the galaxy.” Trigger warning: those of you who honor Star Wars cannon might retreat from your screens when you get to the TIE-X flanks and what look like four exhaust ports. For those who don’t know (which includes me – I had to look all this up), the “TIE” in TIE Fighter stands for Twin Ion Engine. The large, glowing aperture in the center of a traditional TIE Fighter is a Sienar Fleet Systems (SFS) I-a2b Solar Ionization Reactor. On either side of that is where you’ll find the two miniscule, glowing red exhaust ports for the SFS P-s4 Twin Ion Engine System. Behold the liberties taken with the TIE-X at your own risk. We recommend you enjoy every one of those liberties in the large gallery above.
Related Video:
