Get ready to have multiple browsers open... honestly, the Target Jean is my highest priority since those Target pre-orders sell out SO fast, but this wave on Amazon won't be far behind. I don't care at all about the Clayface so at least I get to skip that. And at least Mattel scheduled the Masterverse Battle Cat drop for next Tuesday and not also for Tomorrow.
It's possible that Hasbro has found that the BAF isn't doing its job in getting people to buy whole waves. As a casual Marvel fan, I look at that list over the past five years and there's really no one compelling me to buy figures I otherwise wouldn't want. It was easy back in the days of Galactus and Sentinels, but now they're mostly deep cuts to someone like me. Better to just make a stand-alone figure and upcharge it on the basis of it being bigger than usual and sell direct.
I've never been a big fan of the BaF marketing scheme --especially when I'm forced to buy MCU figures to obtain a comic-based figure. So, it going extinct is no skin off of my back. I am one of them there cherry-pickers.
However, I would definitely like the BaF scheme much more if they did a better job of keeping the theme internally consistent.
MCU BaF with MCU figures
Modern BaF with Modern renderings
Classic BaF with Classic renderings
Given property BaF with heroes and villains related to that property.
For the most part I think this method would make for a much happier collector community. Many of us could get a handful of desireable figures in one fell swoop and then skip a wave depending on our preferences. I'm pretty sure we've all had the, "My wallet could sure use a break" moment.
It's possible that Hasbro has found that the BAF isn't doing its job in getting people to buy whole waves. It was easy back in the days of Galactus and Sentinels, but now they're mostly deep cuts to someone like me. Better to just make a stand-alone figure and upcharge it on the basis of it being bigger than usual and sell direct.
I think that's honestly it. When you had to buy one character you might have skipped to build Apocalypse or Onslaught it's one thing. But I think when it's Armadillo and Xemnu people were like - ehh, I'll just toss that BAF leg aside and get the one figure I want, or whatever. The more marginal the BAF character is the less likely it is to incentivize people to buy figures they would normally have skipped. And since that is really the point of the BAF - if it's no longer doing it's job, save the money and skip it.
As a fan of "as many characters as possible" I'm sad to see the BAF go. But I get it. It costs money to make the BAF as a pack in. The trade off is that it increases sales of the wave across the board so it's worth the extra investment. If it no longer entices people, then the cost benefit analysis would suggest you skip it. And they started testing those waters with the "retro waves" at the same price. And then the Spider-Man waves which weren't actually retro waves, cut the BAF but not the price. And if the sales numbers on those didn't drop significantly from the BAF wave counterparts then the message to Hasbro is the BAF is waste of resources. Especially if we can sell the occasional oversized figure separately for another $50 or $60... If this retro comic wave does similar numbers to the Void wave from last year then it might be the nail in the coffin of the BAF.
When they price a Spider-Man figure that just comes with a few extra hands the same as a figure with a whole BAF piece, it does make one wonder how the math works out there. It just strikes me as a far easier proposal to focus on making figures people actually want to buy (what a concept, I know) instead of strong-arming them into buying a figure they don't want just to build a figure they might want. I do love the concept of a BAF when it's done well. It was a lot of fun back in the old days assembling them and most were cool figures for their time. I think it started to ware on me though when I had to buy X3 Jean and Juggernaut to complete someone (the Blob?) and I was left with some figures I had zero interest in. BAF waves seem even more scattershot now so it makes more sense to me to just market bigger figures on their own.
I'm so much more into this wave than I expected, probably because I like the ROM, Iron Man and Miles figures so much. I think seeing them hold the little comics is kinda fun honestly. I sold so many of my long boxes and would sorta be into collecting these, like the little football helmets I collected as a kid.
I expect X-Men #1 connecting covers and will be in for Gambit or whomever. Maybe Venom? I love BAFs, when they do it right, so hopefully we see more beyond Nemesis. As far as the core product is concerned, I feel really good right now with this wave, Made-to-Order and the Maximum line. I think it's better.
Don't let the Build-a-Figure concept go away, there are so many characters yet to be made as such.
According to the rumors/leaks, the Gamerverse Wave and the Friendly Neighborhood Spider-Man wave are BAF waves, so that would be 3 BAF waves this year.
I hope comic BAF waves are still in the mix, but as Lucid Silverback said, they have to be completely themed. No more mixing MCU and comic figures in BAF waves. No more mixing classic and modern. No more Avengers "and friends".
Example - can you imagine a specific Defenders BAF wave? Defenders may be totally old school 70s-80's, but a wave with the 4 anchors - Hulk, Silver Surfer, Dr. Strange and Namor, plus add in an update to fan favorite classic Valkyrie and never-been-made-before Gargoyle and Devil-Slayer with BAF Overmind? Purely Defenders based.
when or where was it confirmed the Target Jean Grey was going up tomorrow at 1:00 PM EST? I didn't catch that.
But I am definitely going to get Banshee, Daken, and Adam Warlock tomorrow. But if that Jean is going up, I'll try for her too. I also do want that DC Clayface from the Animated Series. So many products!
BAF was a dead concept I felt once it appeared that most retailers did not want to buy each wave via a mixed case of the whole assortment, but instead have cases of single figures, presumably because it was easier to for online sales to not break down cases and also order in the proportion they wanted by figure.
The more marginal the BAF character is the less likely it is to incentivize people to buy figures they would normally have skipped. And since that is really the point of the BAF - if it's no longer doing it's job, save the money and skip it.
Yep - I think it outlived its value once we got to the more obscure BAFs - while a nice way to get figures to us that they might have felt wouldn't sell in their own, if that was the case logic suggests people wouldn't buy extra figures just to complete it.
I think a full themed wave with matching BAF has value, but random assortment waves like this I think it would no longer moves the needle.
I still love BAFs, and they remain some of my favorite figures. They just felt extra special. And I’m not sure if some of these characters would ever be made as deluxe figures. We’ve gotten some fun and obscure characters over the years. I hope BAFs continue.
I'm definitely more attached to the characters themselves than how they're delivered. It does seem unlikely that we'd get individual releases of all kinds of characters who have been made as BAFs if the model goes away completely. If we can keep getting the likes of Controller, Armadillo, Bonebreaker, etc through single or multipack releases then I won't be too fussed. It is a lot of fun to slowly assemble a figure as you collect the wave though, and I would miss that little bit of excitement.
At $25 a figure, my attitude over the past few years was to cherry pick the 2 or 3 figures I want from each wave and finish the BAF by buying the assembled figure on the aftermarket (or in most cases deciding the BAF character wasn't necessary to my collection). I think some of the BAF characters can now be slotted into a standard or deluxe offering (or multi-pack). I understand that this may prohibit some of the really obscure characters from getting made, but maybe the one or two obscure BAF waves can become the exception instead of the norm, becoming fan channel or retail exclusives and Retro/bubble card is the mainline. It seems like that's what's kind of happened.
When they price a Spider-Man figure that just comes with a few extra hands the same as a figure with a whole BAF piece, it does make one wonder how the math works out there.
Yep. It'd be nice if the retro figures had extra accessories to compensate for the lack of a BAF part.
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