World Building Pt 1: Creature Feature

August 17, 2024

World Building for Black Series: Part One

Generally, TVC is considered to be the world-building line. Historically, the 3.75 or 1/18th scale has given us a larger variety of creatures, vehicles, playsets, and side characters. In the opinion of many TVC fans, over the past several years it seems that Black Series has been getting more main characters and side/background characters than the TVC.

My journey into collecting started with 3.75 as a kid full of ships, vehicles, and a few dioramas. I’ve transitioned to Black Series since its start. When Covid hit, I also got into toy photography and diorama-making as an adult. I’ve seen in so many groups folks build elaborate dioramas full of custom characters. I’ve been a bit jealous of the talent I’ve seen. In my journey over the past couple of years, I’ve dabbled in a few customs and dioramas. One thing I really miss from my childhood collection is the wide variety of creatures and aliens. In the following months, I’ll share what I’ve learned and what creatures from other lines might work for world-building with Black Series. Like most of the time, we’ll help you do it on a budget.

We’ll start with a fill-in Black Series dark-side creature. This week I found this Displacer Beast from the Dungeons and Dragons movie at Ollie’s Bargain Stores. It was only $10, and I figured I’d give ‘em a chance. Something about these creatures screamed Star Wars, especially after reading about the Leveler in the High Republic book series.

It’s definitely 1/12 scale, and it’s strange enough that looks like something you might see in Kashyyyk or the jungles of Felucia. I love the tentacles and extra legs. I’m sure a more talented customizer can take advantage of those features and really take it to the next level! For now, I like them as they are.