An 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.

About a year ago, toy collectors got the tragic news. ToyBiz, the company that redefined action figures with their collection of super-articulated and masterfully-sculpted Marvel Legends action figures, was getting a divorce from Marvel Entertainment. For the remainder of 2006, they’d be dividing up their stuff. ToyBiz would get to keep the recliner, the plasma TV, and the rights to make Curious George geegaws, while Marvel would take their collection of beloved characters with them. Yes, even Paste Pot Pete and Dazzler. The Marvel Legends line, darling of the toy aisle, would be coming to an end, along with the X-Men, Spider-Man and Fantastic Four spinoff lines.

The rights to create 1/12 scale (also referred to as ‘6-inch scale’), articulated Marvel action figures would go to Hasbro, who are known primarily for their much smaller, much less articulated Star Wars figures. Character licenses are tricky things - while one company may get exclusive rights to produce 1/12 scale action figures of a character, another might retain the exclusive rights to 1/12 scale statues of that same character, and the rules that govern these items are very specific. If those statues show a hint of articulation or poseability, a problem arises and exclusivity has been breached. So, us collectors usually end up with a wide variety of varying collectibles, all of differing quality, while everyone’s trying to uniquely cash in on The Hulk craze at once. You know, before Ang Lee made him a total whiny spaz-bag and made him fight Hulk Poodles. Yeah, that happened in the movie, and Batman had rubber nipples on his suit, and no one is ever going to care about Elektra or her sizeable big-screen rack.

The license year is running out, and this week, the toy shelves are bursting with ToyBiz trying to expunge all Marvel product from their warehouses ahead of schedule, not unlike like a spurned lover burning all of the stuff that their cheatin’ significant other left in their apartment. As a result, the final two waves of Marvel Legends have hit the shelves ahead of schedule, causing a total collector blowout. Usually spaced out by at least 3 months between releases, the last hurrah has happened, and it’s happened with a total of 21 must-have collector figures (nine of them being exceptionally rare), spanning waves fourteen and fifteen of the Marvel Legends series. Collectors know these waves as ‘Mojo’ and ‘MODOK’, respectively, because if you purchase the six main figures from each wave, spare parts in each package will allow you to create a seventh character that’s otherwise too large to fit into the packaging.

The Marvel Universe has a lot of disproportionate bad guys, so the last few waves have given us a huge Sentinel, Apocalypse, Galactus, and Onslaught, as well as hero Giant Man. ToyBiz seems to have known that the end of their reign was nigh, and for the final two waves of figures, they chose the most bizarre, inconsequential, ridiculous characters they could possibly think of. An obese slug from the television dimension, and a deranged giant floating head. Neither character has ever really had an impact or a memorable role in the Marvel Universe, except for unintentionally providing a hearty ‘WTF?’ and discrediting comics as a valid literary format. Touché, ToyBiz. Incidentally, Mojo and MODOK are two of my favorite Marvel characters ever for those same reasons. Sentimentally, the original Mojo figure was probably my first Marvel action figure, as well as the only other time that Mojo was ever an action figure, snapping robot scorpion tail and all. It was only recently that I acquired a MODOK from an older Iron Man series of figures (also by ToyBiz), but these Legends figures are eons ahead in their ability to capture just how greasy and disgusting a malevolent slug-man can really be.

The sudden release of these is setting collectors atwitter. They’re being found on the shelves of retail establishments like Toys R Us and Wal-Mart before they’ve reached specialized comic shops, which is unusual as far as collectible toys go. While comic shops order through a large distributor monopoly known as Diamond Comics, retail chains order directly from the distribution centers that ToyBiz uses. Usually, this means that comic shops (who need significantly more financial help that Wal-Mart) will get product first, getting prime selling time and real estate, and the retail juggernauts can fulfill whatever needs are leftover. The role reversal on these final two waves has been both disconcerting and rewarding for someone who does most of their pre-ordering online. Distribution is a sketchy and heavily debated topic at best, among all toy companies.

So to ToyBiz, who will never again produce another Marvel figure for us, I say unto you that you’ve done a wonderful job. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting Jesse Falcon, toy developer and sometime-improv actor for UCB, who excitedly walked around the ToyBiz showrooms to point out the clear goggles on Green Goblin’s mask and other details that a real collector would appreciate. Before ToyBiz brought the Marvel Legends to life, toy collectors either settled for excellent sculpting or a high degree of poseability. Sure, it doesn’t sound like a big deal, but cities have fallen, people. Crumbled. To. The. Ground. Or, at least message boards got really heated and swear filters have overloaded. ToyBiz found an exceptional mix between the two opposing factions, and from wave one, I’ve been hunting these down every few months, and more often than not, foiled by opportunistic toy scalpers or collectors who were willing to sacrifice their dignity to get to them first.

But the tale of Barry, the Greasy Hat Man, and the thrill of the chase, will have to wait until next time. Allow me to conclude on a completely unrelated note. Sideshow Toys is having their annual Spooktacular sale, so click on the banner below to be transported to a world of extremely discounted monster collectibles, and if you’re lucky, completely free swag. Click the right place at the right time and you could walk away with your very own Hunchback. Last year, I won a Darth Vader statue valued at 350 dollars, so have fun!