D&D: WizKids Unveils ‘Classic Collection’ Monster Manual Minis From First Edition
WizKids will soon unleash monsters from the depths of 1st Edition. Feast your eyes upon the beginnings of the Classic Collection.
The past is a foreign country, and nostalgia its primary export. That is to say, you can spend your life reminiscing about a time when things were simpler and you couldn’t wait for them to be complex.
But hey, it’s only Thursday. Let’s not get too existential. Instead, let’s talk about how in this case, the nostalgia is strong. A new wave of D&D minis from WizKids will bring monsters in the style of the 1st Edition Monster Manual to your tabletop. That’s right, modern pre-praints, classic 1st Edition design, all in WizKids’ new Classic Collection coming this October.
D&D Classic Collection – Monsters A-C
There is something absolutely special about the first edition Monster Manual. There’s no unified art theory. TSR famously employed family members, and if you believe the Apocrypha, people who happened to be nearby, to do little drawings. And it shows.
There’s a certain personality to 1st Edition art. That’s what makes it live on, even to this day. 5th Edition could never. They have a brand identity and art direction. Both are good things. But the frontier is hemmed in. Not so in 1st Edition. This is why WizKids’ Classic Collection seems pretty exciting.
The first set includes Monsters from A to C. The sculpts for these are based on original artwork from the 1977 Monster Manual. And while the list that follows is not final (and subject to change) it’s a pretty good idea of what’s coming.
You’ve got a 1st Edition Ankheg, perhaps one of the best looking of the bunch.
An old school Beholder, looking rather like an orange left in the fruit bowl just slightly too long.
My personal favorite is the Bulette, who has really had a glow-up from the origin story:
Also, you’ll find the Carrion Crawler, Chimera, Cockatrice, and Couatl:
Look for these in October
