Starfield players are using its character creator to fulfil mankind's historic dream of sending Tony Soprano to space

Tony Soprano superimposed over an image of one of Starfield's barren planets. — (Image credit: HBO / Bethesda)

Starfield is finally here in its non-'advance access' form and its players are already hard at work. Not hard at work exploring the galaxy or cataloguing the flora and fauna of distant alien worlds, mind you. No, they're hard at work doing the truly important stuff: making celebrities in its character creator before sending them to die in the chilly void of space. Per aspera ad astra.

The Starfield subreddit is awash with familiar faces right now. Sure, there are all the people you expect—figures from Star Trek, The Expanse, and other sci-fi—but also the kinds of baffling pop culture references you'd expect from the internet in 2023. Ever wanted to see Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul's Mike Ehrmantraut suit up for a moon mission? Of course you have; everyone wants that. And some dreams, my friends, cannot be denied.

Put your ship away waltuh from r/Starfield

Prestige TV is quite well represented, actually. Not only do we have Breaking Bad's Mike, but over in some other corner of the galaxy Tony Soprano is prepping himself to seek a great perhaps in the space between the stars. He's not got the makings of a varsity athlete, but he does have the makings of a hero.

Woke up this morning, got some gabagool from r/Starfield

Players have also made Leeloo from The Fifth Element, Sandor Clegane from Game of Thrones, and, naturally, Doc McCoy from Star Trek. I'll post all those below, but I think my favourite is this rendition of David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust. Not necessarily because the resemblance is all that uncanny, but because he kind of looks like Annie Lennox tried out Homer Simpson's makeup-applying shotgun.

Starman! Ziggy Stardust from r/Starfield

Also, Kanye West is here. He could do with some time away from Earth.

Started a New playthrough, made Kanye West from r/Starfield

It's all good fun and, if anything, showcases how far Bethesda has come with its character creators since the old days. If you're like me, you remember spending ages trying to create someone vaguely humanoid in Oblivion's character maker only to come away with a creature that looked like someone tried to carve Winston Churchill into a ham hock. Not all of Starfield's celebs are perfect recreations—some are deeply imperfect, though of course still beautiful—but the fact they resemble anyone human still feels novel to me in a Bethesda game.

Anyway, here are some recognisable faces and a living nightmare:

Capt. Leeloo Dallas from r/Starfield

Dr McCoy the combat medic from r/Starfield

Sandor Clegane “The Hound” it’s been so fun making all my dialogue decisions based on how I think he would respond. from r/Starfield

My attempt at recreating James Holden from The Expanse! (5 Pics) from r/Starfield

Am I a pretty space pirate? from r/Starfield

One of Josh's first memories is of playing Quake 2 on the family computer when he was much too young to be doing that, and he's been irreparably game-brained ever since. His writing has been featured in Vice, Fanbyte, and the Financial Times. He'll play pretty much anything, and has written far too much on everything from visual novels to Assassin's Creed. His most profound loves are for CRPGs, immersive sims, and any game whose ambition outstrips its budget. He thinks you're all far too mean about Deus Ex: Invisible War.