Being a visual artist, aesthetics are a huge thing for me in most areas of my life (hence my sometimes illogical love of Apple computers and products). Thus it is that when certain things run against my aesthetic taste, I tend ignore them, or outright exclude them. Such is the case with a more than a few 'Expanded Universe' things in Star Wars. One of the most notable of these is the vaunted "TIE Defender". Simply put, I feel that it just looks stupid and impractical—to say nothing of the fact that its stats are completely bogus. There are no trade offs in this thing. It is faster than any other fighter, more maneuverable than any other fighter, more heavily armed than any other fighter, etc., etc.. While this must be great fun in the video game in which it was introduced, it really doesn't endear an already dorky looking design. And the name is all wrong, too. Defender? Empire? Seriously!? Decapitator I could believe, but Defender? That just sounds wussy. So, no. It isn't going to exist in my Star Wars universe.
The TIE Avenger had a better name, and yet, to me the design wasn't as cool as Darth Vader's prototype TIE from Episode IV. Thus, in another divergence from Expanded Universe 'canon', the TIE Avenger is modeled off Darth's TIE rather than being a whole new design.
The TIE Tank is another no-no in my book. Lets see.. a 'tank' with a huge window in the front, crappy visibility and no turret. You have to turn the entire tank in order to aim at something- and the guns are mounted low to the ground, so you can't really fire from cover. Yeah. Just a bad idea all around—and stupid looking.
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