By Owen Quinn author of the Time Warriors and Zombie Blues
Watch any child play with toys and you are witnessing a brand new world being created right before you that only they are privy to. Every single story begins behind the wide eyes of a mesmerised child.
People often ask what inspires me to come up with sci fi or horror scenarios and aliens. I’ve written an article here on that very subject of inspiration and ideas. Read it by clicking on the link here https://timewarriors.co.uk/2023/04/03/to-sit-down-and-write-get-off-your-arse/ However there is one thing I actually forgot about and yet have surrounded myself with them all my life and will enjoy to the day I die.
As a child you are forever creating stories with your tpys and when I was young it was the Star Wars toys especially that gave us our new Star Wars adventures and spin offs along with the comic strip in Star Wars Weekly. I had a Tardis and a Star Trek transporter that could send my imagination anywhere and to any time. So when my Dad built a rockery in our garden it was the site for many new Star Wars stories and with the plethora of figures released, anything could happen and crossovers between shows were common long before it became popular. Luke Skywalker travelled in the Tardis and R2 was beamed to a lost dimension of Transformers characters. So in this series I will look at the toys that blew me away as a kid and helped spin new worlds in my head. Every single story begins behind the wide eyes of a mesmerised child.
So what is it about this particular piece that sends the imagination into overdrive? Well War of the Bounty Hunters was a comic book event that I and many others collected. It was set between the Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi and saw the frozen Han Solo in carbonite being the prize sought after by not only a plethora of bounty hunters but Darth Vader and the Crimson Hand.
But the one thing that set fans alight was the debut of a new version of Boba Fett. Titled Boba Fett in disguise, it saw an all black armour retaining the Mandolorian look. Fett used it so no one would figure it was him when he went undercover to locate Solo. And it’s arrival in print saw a surge in demand for an action figure variant. This did not happen in the 3.75 range but in the Black Series in a special presentation box with art from the comic books. The closest we got to a 3.75 version was a mock up on a comic book cover.
So what is it about this figure that would send any writer’s imagination spinning in new directions? For me, it was a reminder that every once in a while your characters should do something unexpected. We are so used to how iconic Fett looks and at this stage very aware of all the different versions of Mando armour there is out there but never before have we seen an all black version. It immediately propels you to think Batman, symbiote Spiderman and heroes and villains using dark outfits to keep the city safe or try to destroy it. In this story Fett is up against dark underground forces and even darker villains, so this alone adds new layers to his character.
While it is important that the cores of your characters stay the same, this black armoured Fett invoked me to wonder how far I could push one of my characters into a position where it brings out something new but still maintains their core values. If you are doing a series involving the same characters it is important to expand upon your own mythology. Believe me when I tell you that a mythology builds much quicker than you think and to fully indulge in it. Bringing in new elements is vital to your characters such as new villians and monsters to fight and new worlds to plunge them into. Reveal hiiden secrets or past guilts in order to keep them real. No one is perfect and everyone has hang ups. Doing this solidifies your characters within their journey and hopefully the audience will be engaged enough to stay with them on that journey.
Another thing it reminded to do is never be afriad to go too big in a story. If it’s the potential end of the world make the threat real. Never be afriad to destroy entire countries if you have to or leave scars on the world that will remain because a reset button is too easy to use. Just as events have consequences with your characters leaving some scars emotionally or physically then so too should the world bear those scars. The Avengers Civil War is a good example of this following the events of Age of Ultron. The world and characters are changed forever. How deep those scars will be is up to you as the writer.
Seeing this figure sit on my shelf always reminds me to ask the most important question a writer can ask themselves when faced with a blank sheet of paper…what if?
The Time Warriors and Beyond 