Art of the Shelf: Attention!

This entry of Art of the Shelf we talk about the art of Troop Building. What is Troop Building you may ask? Well troop Build also known as army building is the purchase of multiple copies of a figure to create an army of them for display purposes. This is generally done with the nameless foot solider like cobra troopers and storm troopers for example.

To start troop building you need multiples of the same figures.  I would say 3 or more is ideal. Now you can do many things buy troop build and having them accent a display scene and filling in some of the space making the display a bit busier.  

With Troop Building you can build anywhere from a small unit of solders…

Or recreate the Geonosis Invasion.

 

Look a figure stand in use

Many toy lines and companies encourage Troop Building (gee I wonder why).  Many companies Like Hasbro, Playmates (Not the Magazine), Bandai, and even Lego have had toy lines that encourage Troop Building. There is a warning to give here troop building can be both expensive and a tad bit on the obsessive side. Now if you are going to Troop Build I have some recommendations. The first is keep to smaller figures no bigger than 5 inches. Know your toy line you are Troop Building for so you don’t have an army of Clone Trooper Commanders as an example.  Warning if you are Troop Building because of the footsoldier being undesirable by the target audience i.e. not a hero or villain  they are made in less quantity at times. This can make building difficult and expressive at times. Now do I recommend Troop Building? No I do not unless you are big into diorama building. Troop Building clutters the shelf and only works if you are recreating a scene from a movie, game, or comic book.