Should Hasbro Do Away With Build-A-Figures In Favor Of Deluxe Figures?

Figures

by Jay Cochran
May 6, 2020

Toy Biz was the first company to really successfully implement the Build-A-Figure concept with their 6� Marvel Legends line, where pieces of a larger character based figure would be included with a number of individually packaged normal sized figures. The idea was two-fold. It gave people more incentive to purchase all the figures in a wave so they could complete the larger figure, hence increasing sales for a company. It also allowed larger based characters to be released, that might not otherwise be feasible to do because of packaging restraints, allocated retail shelf space and price.

In the beginning we were treated to building sized characters such as Galactus, Giant Apocalypse and the Sentinels. Overtime the Build-A-Figures were shrunk down so they were usually still larger than a regular figures, but not super big. We got the likes Onslaught, Modok, Mojo and many others.

The Build-A-Figure concept became so popular and successful, that many other toy companies started implementing similar type figures in their own action figure lines.

In recent years however, we have started to see a new trend emerge from Hasbro, who of course took over Marvel Legends and the Build-A-Figure concept from Toy Biz years ago. More and more we are seeing the Build-A-Figure being reissued, completely assembled and in it�s own packaging. These figures are usually sold as a more expensive deluxe figures. Some of of these deluxe figures are primarily just re-paints, while others incorporate more sculpting modifications, which allow them to offered as an almost completely new figures.

This new trend of course has been received with mixed reactions from the collectors. Some view it as an easier way to obtain the larger characters, since they no longer need to buy the individual figures in a wave. Others who purchased the full waves in order to complete the Build-A-Figure, feel a bit taken advantage of with Hasbro now re-releasing them individually, especially the ones with only slight modifications.

Some argue that Hasbro should do away with the Build-A-Figure completely, and just release the larger characters as deluxe figures. The downside too that is, Hasbro would likely see a decline in sales for certain individual characters released in a wave, especially those more obscure characters that many aren�t as familiar with. Hence making it less likely they will continue to release those more obscure guys. Even the variety of larger scale characters might become more limited, as retailers would likely only want to carry the well known characters.

While it can sometimes be a pain to buy a figure you really don�t want, in order to complete that Build-A-Figure you do want, I think the pro�s of the concept still out weight the con�s of it. As for the deluxe figures, I think its better when the figure has significant modifications to it, but even in the case of the recently announced Kingpin repaint that only has slight modifications to it, I like we are getting a second one so we can use one of the bodies with the Shadow King head sculpt that Hasbro released with the Professor X figure. Now we get to have both Kingpin and Shadow King on our shelves without having to purchase two Build-A-Figures.

Let us know in the COMMENTS SECTION. Should Hasbro continue with Build-A-Figures, go with just deluxe figures or continue to do both?

Image

❮ ❯

Comments...

Last 10 comments - ( Read All Posts )

GrtWhiteCustoms - 2020-08-05 @ 3:38 pm

Time to chime in with my two pennies...I love the BAF concept!! I feel like I'm getting a bonus with my purchase! I also love that if I don't want the BAF I don't need to purchase every figure in a wave( yes Titus I'm looking at you)

That being said...I love the Deluxe figure concepts as well. Archangel was an Awesome Deluxe figure and I hope for more in the future.

Now do I feel like Hasbro is double dipping? YEP...sure do. KINGPIN for example. I would have waited for the Spidey classic version, Had I known it was coming....I still wanted figures from the BAF wave but not ALL of them.

So..if you are reading this for a solid answer...I don't have one.

I want more Deluxe figures in the future like Angel, Griffin and Dragon Man AND I want BAF's like Charlie 27 and Warstar.

Maybe use the BAF concept could be for more obscure characters and the Deluxe concept for more well known characters?

I just don't see moms wanting to buy their precious bundles of joy a Deluxe Sugar Man on the Toy aisles.

Gigantor - 2020-08-05 @ 3:34 pm

The figure is ok, just never cared for the character in the comics.

EUPHORICVIKING - 2020-08-05 @ 3:27 pm

14 minutes ago, Gigantor said:
I seriously beg to differ on Paladin being a better figure than Iron man foes Spymaster & Blizzard. Only thing Paladin has been good for is to slap on Skrull heads & make generic Skrull grunts out of him cuz he already sports the basic Skrull colors of Black/purple. Already made 4 of em using that recipe.

I liked Paladin, would have preferred his earlier costume. But i think that we got aneasily modified, character on a buck with new forearms and new lower legs made it a far better figure as far as sculpt goes than blizzard and spymaster which are almost straight repaints. Blizzard being a straight repaint.

Gigantor - 2020-08-05 @ 3:19 pm

On 5/7/2020 at 7:47 AM, EUPHORICVIKING said:
I think Paladdin has had enough showings in the comics to warrant a figure. I mean the figure itself is better than Spymaster or Blizzard.I

I seriously beg to differ on Paladin being a better figure than Iron man foes Spymaster & Blizzard. Only thing Paladin has been good for is to slap on Skrull heads & make generic Skrull grunts out of him cuz he already sports the basic Skrull colors of Black/purple. Already made 4 of em using that recipe.

EUPHORICVIKING - 2020-08-05 @ 1:00 pm

On 5/6/2020 at 9:32 PM, MonsterChris said:
...
...
...so...why are you here?

He's here to prove his alphaness....

Scruffy_Nerd - 2020-05-11 @ 10:21 pm

Black series does not have BAF and same price point with new scuplts for most figure. Wave have many repaints and use of old sculpts. I would like to see BAF's go away. Give characters more heads, hands, or other accessories instead. If they fear not selling certain characters they shouldbundle them in packs with a popular character.

Emnems80 - 2020-05-10 @ 6:44 pm

One word, two letters: NO

greenlucario - 2020-05-09 @ 5:32 pm

I'd say, no to stopping with BAFs in favor of deluxe figures taking their place. The deluxe concept is really nice for figures to get out there with some additional accessories or vehicles, but the BAFs need to be left alone. The more recent instances like Kingpin, Walmart Thanos, Groot Evolution, and even Venommake sense, because of specific circumstances.

-Kingpin, we all wanted two BAFs one for Kingpin and one for Shadow King. This fixes that problem without having to a whole second BAF from a lackluster wave, plus this is a classic first appearance Kingpin, which just vibes a bit better with most Spidey and Daredevil set ups.

-Thanos, the original BAF wasn't that great, the colors weren't very eye catching even for a modern comic look, plus a new head and an infinity gauntlet made the figure into more of a new/upgraded figure anyways.

-Groot Evolution, again better paint apps, and if you wanted all the figures because "Groot Mania" fine. Easy pass otherwise. The re-re-release makes some sense since TRU exclusives weren't always the easiest to find near the end.

-Venom, I mean it's less accurate to have a Brock version of Venom be quite this massive, but it was a hard to find figure and it's definitely a different host so it works. Though I still prefer the original Tony Moore inspired BAF this one works fine and it's easy enough to pass if you bought the other one.

Overall we know they won't drop the price if they drop the BAF, so for that major reason alone I'm not okay with it. You don't get a large amount of extra accessories per figure in lines like Lightning Collection, which have the same price point as Legends, are made by Hasbro, and don't have a BAF. On average we get almost as many hands, heads, and effects with a good chunk of the characters, plus sometimes a BAF piece. Leave the BAF be, but also space the re-releases out more so that people can feel better about the value of their original figure or whatever, and others can have a change down the road without paying insane prices online.

bashpics99 - 2020-05-09 @ 5:24 pm

50 minutes ago, tarot said:
No chance. They have moved on from the endgame figures.

I could definitely see hasbro not revisiting prof hulk, but i stillthink some sort of final battle trio set with Cap, Iron Man, Thor will come at some point, probably sooner rather than later. I think armored Thanos BAF gets a re-release at some point too, but of course i could be way off. I could also instead see them doing a set with just Iron Man and Thanos, or a set with Cap/Thor/Thanos as an alternative to the trio of heroes set.

memocromatico - 2020-05-09 @ 4:54 pm

22 minutes ago, tarot said:
No chance. They have moved on from the endgame figures.

They could always revisit. We got Red Skull a couple years ago and he's from 2011. Peggy Carter came last year. Ultron and Ronan 2 years ago. I mean, I'm still holding my fingers crossed for a Quicksilver, unlikely as he may be. There's always a chance IMO.

Post Your Comment Now! (membership required)