Build A Blob
05.09.07By Collin DavidAn interesting concept in action figures that’s emerged over the past few years is the ‘build-a-figure’, commonly abbreviated to simply ‘BAF’.
While I was under the misconception that this acronym meant ‘big-ass figure’ for most of these intervening years, ‘BAF’ does in fact refer to a much larger or more complex action figure that can be built from extra parts packaged in with other figures in a series. Usually, this extra figure is too expensive to produce in one piece, or too large to package effectively, or just has a limited amount of popularity, so breaking it down into smaller bits is both cost-effective and an excellent incentive to coerce a collector into buying a whole set of figures instead of just one. I know this because the BAF concept has swept me and my wallet away time and time again. My interest in Longshot in minimal at best, but my interest in Mojo is immense.
[Blob and some regularly-scaled Marvel figures]
For example, if you buy all eight figures from Hasbro’s second set of Marvel Legends figures (which have been spottily hitting retail nationwide this month), you can assemble a respectively girthed, in-scale evil mutant known as Blob. The figure weighs in at almost a full pound and dwarfs most other figures in height (and circumference). He’s a big guy, with the power to absorb kinetic force in his belly, which is extremely pliable, nigh unpiercable and does not adversely affect his own physical agility and strength. With these mutant powers, he can also alter his own gravity, rendering him almost unmoveable by all but the strongest heroes. The original Toy Biz Blob was much smaller, and had the action feature of a ‘rubber blubber belly’, which was actually disturbingly squishy to the touch (as well as a large chunk of ham as an accessory), perhaps marking the one and only time that ‘morbid obesity’ was used as an action feature, and still more alarming in its veracity than Jabba the Hutt’s ‘real green chunky vomit’ feature. At least we’ve come to expect vomit from action figures - not so much the tactile, potentially deadly belly flesh.
For the record, my own personal ‘action feature’ would be ‘well sculpted but utterly useless legs!’ or ‘really good peripheral vision!’, or maybe even ‘actively receding hairline!’
Because no Brotherhood of Evil Mutants is ever complete without the mainstay Blob, one would have to either scrape together the Blob parts from eBay auctions, street corner panhandling, or simply cave in and buy a disappointing X-Men 3 movie figure if you want your Blob to have a left leg. It’s a racket, but the reward of a completely new extra character are pretty fair. Marvel Legends has given us fan favorite figures of MODOK and Mojo, an enormous Giant Man and a Galactus, among others. While not a new invention, many companies are picking up on this successful trend, other figure lines are following or have followed suit.
Among the upcoming lines that will involve a bonus BAF packed in with them are the Legendary Heroes from Marvel Toys, with which one can build a Pitt and a Monkeyman. Toynami’s Futurama line will be including a piece of the Robot Devil with each figure. Diamond Select Toys has been packing small sections of the Stargate in with their figures for some time now, which when completed makes for a beautiful diorama environment for the assembled figures. The Invader Zim sets from Palisades all included huge diorama pieces also, including a full living room set and an impressive front lawn, scaled enough to fit the figures properly. Mezco’s Goon series allowed one to assemble a Zombie from a set of four figures, and NECA’s Hellraiser sets came with pieces of creepy monster towers and the Lament Configuration. Way back in the mid-90s, McFarlane Toys even included an assemblable robot creature in their Metal Gear Solid line, and went on to release the Interlink figures, which all assembled Voltron-style into one larger robot.
If there ever was incentive to ‘collect them all’, beyond the silent reward of the completion of a collection, it’s that damned build-a-figure - if for no other reason than not leaving 2/5ths of an Annihilus lying around, which is an OCD nightmare. It’s left me selling off quantities of loose and undesired figures left and right, but at least I have me a big, fat Blob.
