The nostalgic imagery of Vader’s TIE right next to Luke’s X-wing feels more like the kind of thing they would’ve done for real for this particular movie.
I guess you could say it TIEs everything together… sorry.
That’s why I voted for the TIE as well. The visual silhouette (and the symbolism) of an X-Wing and a TIE being next to each other means more to the overall saga I think than the Imperial Shuttle does. Plus, there’s something fitting about Vader flying the TIE-whatever (Interceptor?) in the first Star Wars movie, and Ben flying the same type of ship in the last.
“It’s like poetry, it rhymes.”
Mind you, I don’t necessarily think it’s the exact same ship, just the same model. And in that respect, I think different models of TIEs would be more readily available on the Death Star than an Imperial Shuttle would be, since those always seemed to be reserved for the highest ranking officials. So there’s story justifications and lore justifications.
Screw it. Pop the Titanic back in and be done with it, Hal.