Skurge the Executioner BAF Wave

[Ultra Seven]

Also, and this came directly from the horse’s mouth (Ryan Ting)…one reason we don’t get as many team builders as we used to is because there are less BAF waves which are/were the ideal spot to slot them into.

This is exactly what I figured, and I'm interested to see how it affects long-term line health. I'm hoping they can continue to strike a decent balance and find ways to keep getting them out there. For us long-term collectors, the fun of Marvel Legends is the ludicrous depth of characters and the ability to build out C-list teams like the New Warriors or the Serpent Society.

 

[Xavion2025]

This is exactly what I figured, and I'm interested to see how it affects long-term line health. I'm hoping they can continue to strike a decent balance and find ways to keep getting them out there. For us long-term collectors, the fun of Marvel Legends is the ludicrous depth of characters and the ability to build out C-list teams like the New Warriors or the Serpent Society.

I can only speak for myself, but without a steady flow of BAF waves and the unpredictability in terms of character choice that comes with them, the line is boring me to tears. I bought (and kept) 13 Marvel Legends last year. I used to be good for 80 to 100 a year. Part of that can be blamed on higher prices and the basic truth that the more you have, the less you need, but a lot of it is due to less of those iconic (I can’t stress that word enough) versions of C-List team builders.

 

[Reno]

I'm still a big proponent of the BAF concept. We may honestly not even have gotten Executioner at any point without it. Could he have been released as a Deluxe or in a 2-pack? Sure! But would he have been?

I personally buy most releases in any given BAF wave anyway, so it hasn't really been an issue for me... especially since the most A-list character that I'm least likely to buy doesn't generally come with a BAF part anyway. The biggest pain point for me was the mixed comic/MCU waves since I don't generally buy MCU figures, but they haven't done that since the Marvels wave I don't believe.

 

[docsilence]

I didn't think much about it, but aside from the Secret Wars waves throwing in a few of my top wants for a long time like Rachel, my favorite waves from 2025 (and 2024) were BAF waves because they covered such weird, unique stuff. I'm not as excited about Legends as I was a few years back and I didn't even realize it til this discussion, how much of that is my love of random strays and team builders. I know crapping on Warbow is objectively funny but I stuck him next to Crystar on my desk and the two of them have become permanent fixtures. I don't even think WWBN is a good figure but he's just sort of always been out and about in my office since we got him.

That being said, yeah, I think Executioner should've been a solo release or a two-pack with Enchantress, he's been wanted by too many people for too long.

 

[NORM]

I feel like the Mini Comic waves are the new avenue for team building/completion. We got Banshee to finish off GSXM, Rachel Summers to finish off Excalibur’s core team, and Feral to finish X-Force!

I’m still a supporter of BAF waves, as I’ve supported pretty much ALL of Marvel Legends and the ways they’ve released their figures. I still buy it all, I still preorder. The line just makes me happy. It does a lot more right than it does wrong.

 

[hmmberto]

New characters are the lifeblood of the line, and personally I still think they're doing alright. Even if you only focus on mainline Marvel comics/616 characters, in 2025 we got at least 23 brand new characters and 7 who I think should count given the age of their previous iterations.

Unimpeachable newness

• Ai Apaec (Dark Spider-Man)
• Cardiac
• Champion of the Universe
• Deathbird
• Electro (Francine Frye)
• Executioner
• Fabian Cortez
• Feral
• Genocide
• Gorgon
• Husk
• Hypno Hustler
• Marrow
• Nightcrawler (AoA - Uncanny X-Force crossover)
• Owl
• Phantom Rider
• Phoenix (Rachel Summers)
• Rom
• Shuma-Gorath
• Spider-Boy
• Starfox
• Triton
• Warbow

Close enough to count

• Doop
• Dragon Man
• Kaine (arguable with the SP//dr wave Scarlet Spider)
• Man-Wolf
• Mandarin
• Shanna the She-Devil
• Werewolf by Night

Like others, this is exactly what I care about in ML. I'm happy to get a better Johnny Blaze or Abomination, or a Maximum version of an A-Lister or whatever, but the expanded universe is what has kept me around for 23ish years.

 

[Ultra Seven]

Close enough to count

• Doop
• Dragon Man
• Kaine (arguable with the SP//dr wave Scarlet Spider)
• Man-Wolf
• Mandarin
• Shanna the She-Devil
• Werewolf by Night

I think my statute for "new" character is definitely anything pre-Marvel Legends Infinite in 2014. On a related note to this list, man do I hope they make Shanna available to those of us who missed the SDCC set. Super bummed I didn't get that figure.

Edit: Marvel Legends Infinite, not Return of Marvel Legends. Thanks for the nomenclature, NORM.

 

[NORM]

Cut off for me is (but not limited to) Marvel Legends Infinite Series. I think the earliest waves were the Mandroid wave that had all the CA:TWS figures, and the Ultimate Goblin wave that had the Amazing Spider-Man figures (mixed with comic, I think). Anything in the carded “Return of ML” waves could use a redo, and in most cases, has or will very soon. Look at Barnes Cap, Klaw, Madames Masque and Hydra, Constrictor, Daken, Ultimate Cap, Return of Thor, Archangel.. some were pretty worthy when they came out, but updates were very welcome.

 

[Xavion2025]

I completely agree that the Mandroid and Ultimate Goblin waves were the turning points and both of those waves started hitting in force in January of 2014.

I don’t believe there’s much at this point that was released prior to 2014 that hasn’t been remade at least once since then. We’re finally getting the Bronze Age Falcon. Still waiting for Yellowjacket and the classic Valkyrie.

 

[Reno]

No new figure within a decade is probably a fair cutoff in my opinion, but for my own purposes I only give credit for truly new characters since Day 1 of Toy Biz 6" figures and never for a different costume or alternate universe version. For it to be a new character for me I have to not already have any version of that character in this relative scale, period. So I'm probably the most extreme on how I define it.

 

[Ultra Seven]

I actually sometimes enjoy being even more extreme, and thinking about characters who have never had any action figure, period. It's a cool way to look at the line holistically within Marvel toy collecting and think about how far we've come. To use last year, here's the characters who have never had any form of articulated figure before:

• Ai Apaec (Dark Spider-Man)
• Cardiac
• Champion of the Universe
• Electro (Francine Frye)
• Fabian Cortez
• Genocide
• Husk
• Hypno-Hustler
• Nightcrawler (AoA - Uncanny X-Force crossover)
• Owl
• Phantom Rider
• Phoenix (Rachel Summers)
• Shuma-Gorath
• Spider-Boy
• Starfox

... still fifteen characters, which is pretty damn cool.

 

[NORM]

I don’t think of Toy Biz as part of this collection. Toy Biz ML is as much a separate line as the 5” Toy Biz figures. I don’t display any anymore. But for Hasbro, I lump anything that came before Infinite Series with Toy Biz, certainly any of the earliest Hasbro BAF waves like Annihilus, Blob, Nemesis, Brood Queen. Those waves still had Toy Biz stink on them with reused bodies and dated articulation.

 

[TheSameIdiot]

I get it... you guys who only want a specific 30 characters hate the BaF model. Guys like me who absolutely want Armadillo and Xemnu cherish it because we aren't getting those guys any other way.

Hasbro could slot those characters into a two- or three-pack if they wanted to. They did it with Nimrod, who required a brand-new sculpt.

The Kingpins, Apocalypses, and Juggernauts of the world are well-known enough to warrant single-carded releases, but I don't think the D-listers are out of luck without the BAF model.

Could he have been released as a Deluxe or in a 2-pack? Sure! But would he have been?

Why not? They just gave us a mostly new Gorgon in a two-pack with Medusa.

Black Bolt was the anchor of a two-pack with a brand-new Triton figure.

Executioner and Enchantress are better known than any Inhuman. Executioner appeared in one of Marvel's best movies. (Or most beloved, if you want to argue about Ragnarok.)

And if you don't think Executioner/Enchantress could've moved units, put Executioner in a two-pack with Thor. Problem solved.

 

[hmmberto]

I think my statute for "new" character is definitely anything pre-Marvel Legends Infinite in 2014. On a related note to this list, man do I hope they make Shanna available to those of us who missed the SDCC set. Super bummed I didn't get that figure.

Edit: Marvel Legends Infinite, not Return of Marvel Legends. Thanks for the nomenclature, NORM.

Cut off for me is (but not limited to) Marvel Legends Infinite Series. I think the earliest waves were the Mandroid wave that had all the CA:TWS figures, and the Ultimate Goblin wave that had the Amazing Spider-Man figures (mixed with comic, I think). Anything in the carded “Return of ML” waves could use a redo, and in most cases, has or will very soon. Look at Barnes Cap, Klaw, Madames Masque and Hydra, Constrictor, Daken, Ultimate Cap, Return of Thor, Archangel.. some were pretty worthy when they came out, but updates were very welcome.

I completely agree that the Mandroid and Ultimate Goblin waves were the turning points and both of those waves started hitting in force in January of 2014.

I don’t believe there’s much at this point that was released prior to 2014 that hasn’t been remade at least once since then. We’re finally getting the Bronze Age Falcon. Still waiting for Yellowjacket and the classic Valkyrie.

This is more or less where I'm at. If a character's only previous figure was made pre-Infinite series/2014 (by either Hasbro or Toy Biz) I mark a newly announced figure as "Quasi" new. And yes, I'm tracking all of this in a spreadsheet - don't judge me, we're all nerds here.

No new figure within a decade is probably a fair cutoff in my opinion, but for my own purposes I only give credit for truly new characters since Day 1 of Toy Biz 6" figures and never for a different costume or alternate universe version. For it to be a new character for me I have to not already have any version of that character in this relative scale, period. So I'm probably the most extreme on how I define it.

This is basically what the list of 23 new-new characters from 2025 is, except I do give credit for alt-universe versions when they've crossed over into the mainline/616 universe in a significant enough way to be considered a unique individual character separate from the original. So, AoA Nightcrawler as a member of Uncanny X-Force = counts as a new 616 character, AoA Gambit who stayed put = does not.

 

[hmmberto]

I don’t think of Toy Biz as part of this collection. Toy Biz ML is as much a separate line as the 5” Toy Biz figures. I don’t display any anymore. But for Hasbro, I lump anything that came before Infinite Series with Toy Biz, certainly any of the earliest Hasbro BAF waves like Annihilus, Blob, Nemesis, Brood Queen. Those waves still had Toy Biz stink on them with reused bodies and dated articulation.

The list of characters from that era who have yet to be remade has dwindled to almost nothing at this point. I think we were discussing it in a different thread recently, but it must be close to single digits! My prediction is that the very last holdout is going to be Impossible Man.