Star Wars TIE Fighter Fan Film is Amazing Blend of Anime and Nostalgia

While you might normally think of a project titled TIE Fighter as a part of the excellent Star Wars space combat game series, but it's also the name of the exceptional fan film in the YouTube video above.

The film's art and animation is the work of one man, Paul Johnson, who created this side story "over 4 years' worth of weekends," according to the video's description. But he got some help on the music front from "the living guitar solo Zak Rahman and sound design by up and coming audio technician Joseph Leyva."

You can see a poster for the film from Johnson's DeviantArt page below, which draws inspirations from "those really classy oil/acrylic-painted movie posters by folks like Drew Struzan."

Despite the work and the amazing end product, Johnson isn't asking for money. He writes, "Don't support me on Patreon, because I don't have one! And don't donate to my Kickstarter, because I don't have one of those either. Instead, if you enjoyed this, give someone at your workplace, uni, school or whatever a random bar of chocolate or can or Coke or something. Seriously, it'll probably make their day. That would totally make my day."

If the game stoked your nostalgia for inside-the-cockpit action, the online storefront GOG.com released the original Star Wars TIE Fighter and X-Wing games last year. And we're expecting to hear more information on Star Wars Battlefront next month.