Skurge the Executioner BAF Wave

Since after issue 1 of Crystar and Warbow were basically drawn like Silver Surfer (shiny muscles) and Crystar himself suddenly had hair, I'm expecting London Con to show the 2nd issue looks for both of them.
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That would be fine with me. It would be money saved.

Honestly, it's always a relief when Hasbro shows something I don't want. It's easier on the wallet and it's more shelf space for what I do want.

They can go ahead and make Green Tambourine Warbow and Vanilla Ice Crystar. Just don't put them in a BAF wave and it's all good.
 
Misfit said:
II do get a little kick out of seeing the odd ball characters get a figure, and Warbow certainly qualifies, but packing the oddities with a BAF piece completely unrelated to the character is pretty cruel. Especially in a wave where one figure isn't coming with a BAF piece already. That should have been Warbow. Or he should have been in the mini comic line.
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You do understand the entire point of the Build-a-Figure model is to get you to buy figures you might otherwise pass on, right? Warbow is the epitome of the kind of figure the BaF model was designed to sell. Wolverine always sells thats why he doesn't get a BaF piece. He doesn't need it.

Hasbro KNOWS Warbow would never sell in a mini comic wave or without a BaF piece except to the most die-hard collectors. The only reason he exists is because he can be packed with part of a figure they know people want so they can sell him to reluctant fans that really want Executioner.
 
PantherCult said:
You do understand the entire point of the Build-a-Figure model is to get you to buy figures you might otherwise pass on, right? Warbow is the epitome of the kind of figure the BaF model was designed to sell. Wolverine always sells thats why he doesn't get a BaF piece. He doesn't need it.
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Yes, I know that, and that's why I called it cruel. If a character can't sell without holding collectors hostage then it doesn't deserve to exist.
 
Strong disagree from me on that.

I understand the position but since I like the obscure characters I honestly don't care that some of you feel 'held hostage' by the baf model when I know the BaF model is the only reason those figures exist.

Without a baf concept I don't get to have many of the less high profile characters that get squeezed into a baf wave.

I will never advocate for 'just don't make that' as a choice when it comes to the d-list characters.
 
Was there always this much distain for the BAF model and obscure characters? Is this new...?
 
What it boils down to for me is this. With the baf model as it is - you can still get the figure you want, either by buying the figures you don't want to build the baf, by buying the baf part loose on the secondary market, buying the completed baf on the secondary market or waiting for them to hopefully release it as a stand alone figure later.

But if the line goes the way you advocate I just don't get some of the characters in my collection at all.

My way more things get to exist, even if you might have to pay more for a couple of them.
 
I think better choices could be made in terms of WHICH D-list characters are being made. This gets back to SDcomics' stance. There are plenty of REQUESTED characters that could be made in place of characters no one asked for, like Warbow. It's cool that he got made at all, but at the expense of literally anyone on Beamish's One A Day list? Make it worth it to collect the full BAF Wave by making more of the characters desirable. That's good for business, that's good for everyone.
 
Personally, as long as I don’t have to buy MCU figures to complete a comic BAF I want, then I tend to be okay. And in the cases where a wave has very few characters I want, but does have a BAF I want (Ch’od wave for example), I accept that and just bought Corsair and Fang, and picked up the pieces I needed loose.
 
PantherCult said:
I think its gotten stronger - or louder- the higher the price per figure gets
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yeah - plus as the line continues and they continue to mine characters that have yet to be done before, you're going to get some real headscratcher picks that no one seems to want or have asked for. Before, generally the more obscure releases were still at least somewhat known to the general fandom. Warbow may be... too obscure.
 
You know, when ToyBiz introduced the BAF concept all those years ago, it was great. I think Galactus was the first build a figure. It really was like getting an extra figure at no cost in each assortment. And I think Legends were only around 8 bucks each then.

And Marvel Legends was mostly a comic based line then. Sure, there was the occasional Thomas Jane Punisher or Wesley Snipes Blade but that wasn't that big a deal, at least not to me, So the BAF was a truly inspired idea.

And then ToyBiz got out of the Toy Business and the Marvel license went to Hasbro. Hasbro was a big Fortune 500 company that had a much different business model. They cut way back on the production values and the line suffered. I think that was okay with them because they seemed more interested in their shrinky dink 3 3/4 inch line anyway. Then Mattel got the DC license and they started the 6" DCUC line which sold like gangbusters. And then Hasbro was all like "Whoopsie. I guess we read the room wrong" and they brought back Marvel Legends. And then Marvel got into the movie making business. And then Disney, another huge behemoth of a company, bought Marvel and tacked on the Disney tax. And then Hasbro started mixing movie figures with the comic figures. And then an orange retard got elected President and now there's tarriffs on everything. And now we're paying nearly 30 bucks a figure.

"And then and then and then and then ..."

That BAF concept that was so cool when it first started? Not so much anymore.

You know when Marvel first started they were a little outfit that had an office in the Empire State buliding. One office. A few dudes and a couple of gals. They made comics for fun and very little profit. And they were wonderful. They created all those characters out of love for what they were doing.

A hard lesson I have learned in life is that whenever the big corporations get involved, everything turns to shit. All they care about is $$$$$ and trying to take you for everything you have. And then after they've completely run a company into the ground, they sell off what's left and move on to something else.

I've said this before and it is true. There are two things that will ruin a beloved hobby faster than anything: Greed and stupidity. And those two things are never in short supply where huge corporations are concerned.
 
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NORM said:
I think better choices could be made in terms of WHICH D-list characters are being made. This gets back to SDcomics' stance. There are plenty of REQUESTED characters that could be made in place of characters no one asked for, like Warbow. It's cool that he got made at all, but at the expense of literally anyone on Beamish's One A Day list? Make it worth it to collect the full BAF Wave by making more of the characters desirable. That's good for business, that's good for everyone.
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See, this is a GREAT post.

Warbow (And again, I'm sorry to all three of you Warbow fans out there) made a grand total of 16 appearances in four titles over the years. 10 appearances in Crystar, 3 in Weirdworld, 2 in Squadron Supreme and 1 in Champions. Nothing real major there.

Why not, say, Swordsman? He was an Avenger and he played a fairly major role in the Silver and Bronze ages as both a hero and villain. He can't be real expensive to make. And (THIS IS IMPORTANT) people have been asking for him. He was on one of the cards that I gave to the Hasbro team at SDCC.

I get that the Hasbro guys should be able to make what they personally want once in a while. I totally get that. If I were in that position we would have had a complete Invaders team years ago. But man. Warbow? What were they thinking?

At this point I think I'm just repeating myself so unless I can think of something new to add I'm just going to let it go. @Xavion2025, who is a super cool dude and deserves a knighthood, offered to send me the Skurge BAF piece at no cost. I'm going to pay him back somehow. I'll get him an exclusive at SDCC or something. He's going above and beyond the call of duty and he should be rewarded.
 
I get both sides of the debate. I never had an issue either skipping the BAF and buying the ones I wanted, or viewing the couple I didn't want to complete the BAF I did as the price I was paying for that extra figure. But, like SD noted, that was when prices were lower all the way around (not just for the figures, but everything else in our lives). With figures now approaching $30, and things like rent/mortgage and groceries being sky high, it's not so easy to justify the purchases anymore just to complete a BAF. I want Skurge, but I can't justify paying almost $180 to get him.

The fact of the matter is, we're now in a place of massive economic uncertainty for many of us. I know I'm now financially the most insecure I've been since my early twenties when I was a poor college student. There are SO many figures I would have bought without question in recent years that I now find myself either passing on or waiting for sales. There was a time I would have happily bought every single one of these figures in this wave, and would have probably only gotten rid of that ugly Iron Man. Now, I'm looking at it thinking "well, I REALLY want Werewolf By Night and Phantom Rider. I like Warbow, but I guess Crystar is going to be solo on the shelf. I don't need a six-armed Spidey in the black costume, and I guess the older Enchantress figure will have to remain in the display for now". First world problems, and all that, but it still puts a damper on the overall joy of the hobby.

Yes, it is true that the BAF wave gives us characters we'd otherwise never get, and that is still the strongest point in its favor. In that regard, I'm happy it exists. In the past this would have just been viewed as a win-win by me, but...once again...the stupid economy. THAT is the biggest issue for the BAF at this point, and it's likely to be the factor that does it in.

Oh, and fuck Trump!
 
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