The Problem with Star Wars Minis

[pawsplay]

The problem with Star Wars minis is that a lot of them are iconic characters. A problem, that is, using them for roleplaying. You simply can't stick Luke or Jango on the grid without creating this moment of cognitive confusion where the figure is the character from the movie. They are simply too recognizable.

Those figures, of course, are also some of the more detailed, dynamically sculpted ones, as well as the most likely to resemble a PC. A lot of the rest consists of figures in various uniforms or regular costumes, and "Jedi guardians" and such that are generic beyond belief. Even just getting a nice mix of the different aliens is tough, as they are spread out among several sets.

And there are very few substitutes you could use. Sci-Fi minis are a very small niche, and most of them belong to very recognizable product lines, often with a "heavy metal" look. That leaves you with conversions of fantasy and historical minis. Historical minis are often of the slightly smaller scale, aside from the hassle of conversion. Sticking a lightsaber on a converted fantasy mini... well, it would be tricky, as well.

It's very hard to go shopping for a mini that looks like your character... in some ways, it would be nice if you could buy a metal mini, glue the appropriate weapon in, and choose your own hair color.

So your main option, apart from just living with what you get, is conversions of the plastic minis, something I've never been brave (or artistic) enough to attempt.

 

[Kunimatyu]

If D&D Minis are any indications, sometimes some small repaint work can help.

For instance, when I got the common Pirate figure from War of the Dragon Queen, I painted differently-colored hats on a lot of them, so as to make it easy for me to distinguish between pirates should my PCs ever fight some.

It shouldn't be -that- hard to change the clothing, skin tone, and/or hair on some of the minis to get them to look less like movie characters and more like unique PCs.

Besides, you know you want to see blaxplotation Han Solo...

 

[kenobi65]

I know what you mean...but being able to get minis of the iconic characters is undoubtedly a draw for those buyers who *aren't* RPG players. So, it's probably not something that's gonna change.

Also, the iconic characters tend to wind up in the "rare" slots...which are also the slots that get more complicated paintjobs (hence the "generic" characters having "generic" paintjobs).

 

[pawsplay]

I like the iconics... it's just that after a while, I have enough Lukes, and I start wishing I had people in various "Star Wars clothes." And less guys with lightsabers and Jedi mullets. Seriously, one human male Jedi per set is pretty good for me... how about covering the common alien types?

And something to use as an evil villain that isn't Peter Cushing? Menacing looking figures that aren't ninjas with red lightsabers would be nice.

 

[phindar]

It doesn't seem like it would be that big a deal in my group, but then I'll cast pretty far and wide for things to use as minis in games. (When the party of DDM and Heroclix is fighting a MacFarlane dragon from the deck of a Mega-Blocks pirate ship, while dollar store plastic spiders crawl over the railing and a Yu-Gi-O necromancer is dim dooring skeletal dinosaurs from a Smithsonian model kit-- Mace Windu really doesn't look that out of place.) And sometimes I've found the opposite is true, if a mini from a familiar source can "sell" the idea of a character, it actually helps the imagery. If your fighter/psion is based on Mace Windu, having the Mace Windu mini would rock. (As a GM, I'll base npcs on recognizable characters from books or movies, because its easier for the players and I to keep them distinct. There's none of that players asking blankly, "Is this the guy that..." or at any rate there's less of it if they've got a recognizable mini to look at.)

That said, having 15 Mace Windus isn't that helpful, except in the odd case of a Mirror Image spell. I've never bought a Star Wars mini set though, but I have picked up a few on the secondary market. So I haven't run into the "Abyssal Maw" problem with Star Wars. (Were they called abyssal maws? It was a really common mini I had no use for that turned up in every box I bought for awhile.)

 

[joeandsteve]

I use LEGOS

 

[Pramas]

I've got a bunch of the pewter Star Wars minis WotC did 6 odd years ago in my garage. They were designed to be PCs. I'd be happy to sell them if folks are interested.

 

[phindar]

I use LEGOS

Too rich for my blood. Mega-Bloks are the unemployed cousin to the LEGO empire. Though they do have the Dragons line and the POTC license, and I keep my eye on the discount aisles. I did play in a game where the GM had a LEGO collection, and we'd build our characters out of LEGO men. (My ranger in that game wore skull-face make up because I found the "ghost" head. Good times.)

 

[Alnag]

I see a problem with let's Darth Maul, but Luke? I have one, and he looks as common as any non-name human Jedi could look. I have to told players that's him, because they didn't recognize him.

 

[kenobi65]

Seriously, one human male Jedi per set is pretty good for me... how about covering the common alien types?

Actually, that particular point is something that the SWM designers have explicitly been trying to do. I think that most of the common alien species have had a mini in one set or another.

And the beauty of that is that most of the aliens have been commons or uncommons...which means you can pick 'em up inexpensively on the secondary market.