Change Obi-wan’s dialogue in ANH so that TROS’s TIE fighter antics make sense:
“It followed us!”
“No, it’s a short range fighter. However, certain larger TIE variants, such as that piloted by Darth Vader, are equipped with a Hyperdrive. Regardless, this ship probably originated in this system.”
“There aren’t any bases around here, where’d it come from?”…
“A fighter that size couldn’t get this deep into space on its own. However, I must admit that the Empire may be capable of producing TIE fighters with Hyperdrive capability while retaining precisely the same dimensions and appearance, which would render this conversation, and by extension my troubling military deduction, entirely pointless.”
“He must’ve gotten lost in part of a convoy or something.”
I know this is a joke thread, but…
I think we can easily assume that the Tie Defender upgrades are passed into the FO TIE models. The FO has had decades to improve on the Thrawn/Zsinj Defender.