Can We Build an Army Builder Wave?

[AndyL]

Okay so I'm technically new here as one person. I've been on these forums off and on for many years on an account with my now ex. Three jobs and two cities later I'm flying solo and having a lot of fun here.

Years ago there were a lot of Wish-Lists happening and I just though they were the funnest thing ever. But now I have another inspiration to do one.

If anyone has read anything I have to say about the Mindless Ones wave they know I think the most mindless part about the whole thing is that they made the BAF an army builder and only having one army builder in the actual wave. I think this was a missed golden opportunity to make an actual full army builder wave to try to get as many purchases of full waves as possible. To me if done right I think a properly done wave would possibly be one of the best selling waves of all times.

Full disclosure, I've seen many of the characters and personalities thrown around for years now by several people. Some who no longer post and some from who I'm sure are still her one way or another. So if it seems I might have stolen your idea let me apologize in advance. I mean no harm and I have no problem relinquishing credit if necessary.

Rules: A 6 to 7 character wave. Characters never done as army builders on Pulse. A BAF that has not been done yet. Characters done before the Infinite brand change are fair game. Also fair game are characters that were only available in multi-packs. As much elaboration on body styles and alternate parts within modern Hasbro price restrictions are encouraged. I'll start.

1 - Sharon Carter: Updated in white uniform on the Quake model with an alternate helmet head sculpt

2 - Dum Dum Duggan: Updated on the Odinson or Unworthy model with an alternate helmet sculpt and a huge gun

3 - Hammer Drone: The MCU version like everyone has been asking for. In neutral color such as gray or charcoal. Not entirely movie accurate but good enough

4 - Chitauri: No explanation necessary. I can't believe it hasn't been done to this day.

5 - Doombot: This one is another no-brainer. So easy to do using mostly existing parts

6 - Ultron Drone: Exactly the same as above. A few aesthetic changes to differentiate it from the original and done

7 - Chaste Ninja: Use the old ninja mold or the new one. I promise it won't make that much difference.

BAF - Mandroid: From the Armor Wars storyline. Those big beautiful banana yellow armors with giant claws and arm cannons.

To me this would be just like printing money for Hasbro. To date I have personally purchased no less than at least 6 copies of every army builder ML has done. Except for the Grey Hand because I'd already bought more than a dozen red ones from the Stilt Man wave. In this wave it would also come in with a built in marketing ploy that Hasbro could exploit to convince the fans to buy at least 7 full sets of this wave. Why 7 might you ask? Well originally Stark built 7 Mandroids for SHIELD that he then destroyed during Armor Wars. I'm betting there are quite a few collector that wouldn't stop until they had seven of those bad boys in their collection. I would be one of them.

[Thwippersnapper]

Servo-Guard
ULTIMATUM Soldier
Kree Soldier
Brood alien
HYDRA Soldier (classic update)
AIM Scientist (different buck & brighter yellow)

 

 

 

BAF, Dire Wraith or the classic Mandroid you mentioned

Apologies if I broke your rules with the AIM.. just can’t think of anything else I’d want.

[Jmacq1]

Prime Sentinel

Purifier

Dire Wraith

Brood Drone

Nova Corpsman (Multiple Heads)

SHIELD Cape-Killer

Americop

BAF:  The Right "Smiley Armor"

 

[memocromatico]

I've daydreamed about an MCU army builder wave for years. And with everything that's come out I can churn out a few lists 😛

1. Chitauri
2. Sakaaran
3. Dark Elf (Malekith alt heads maybe?)
4. Ultron Drone
5. Hammer Drone (Marine Corps) 
6. Nova Corps
BAF Chitauri Gorilla

1. Outrider 4 arms
2. Hammer Drone (Navy)
3. Black Widows (Red Room, alt heads)
4. Dormammu's sorcerers (Kaecilius head as an option)
5. Border tribe (W'Kabi head)
6. Ultron Drone (Multiverse of Madness)
BAF Frost Giant (Lauffey alt head)

1. Sovereign (female, Ayesha alt head)
2. Ravagers
3. Tlalocan Warriors (male)
4. Skrulls
5. Hammer Drone (Air Force)
6. Kamar Taj Sorcerers 
BAF Cursed Dark elf (Kurse alt head)

1. Tracksuit Mafia (green)
2. Outrider 6 arms
3. Kang's Army (Quantumania)
4. Hammer Drone (Army)
5. Tlalocan Warriors (Female, Namora alt head)
6. TVA Hunter (B-15 alt head)
BAF Hell Spawn (GotG vol3)

I considered adding a Stark drone multipack instead of a single figure... but felt like those would work better as the Porgs did in Black Series.

[McHogan]

This sounds familiar as a thread but this is always fun so I'm game:some are repeats from other posters but this is who I need for my collection... all comic versions

1: Ultimatum Soldiers. Bet there are G.I.Joe parts laying around they could use to make these guys 

2: Watchdogs. Easy headswaps for various Jerks from this group.

3. Sons of the Serpent (could be problematic, but really, all of the Marvel henchmen armies are terrible people)

4. Kree ( we've got the Skrulls with no one to fight)

5 Howling Commandos. Comes with 2-3 alt heads and maybe use the swappable arms ala Moira Mactaggert for variety. Dugan wouldn't work in this case, seems he is drawn larger but you'd be able to knock out a few lesser known in the group.

6 Street Thug: could have ski masks, ugly brute face.. maybe alt heads of more recognizable thugs like Turk or Spideys nemesis the Burgler..I mean, the DDs, Power Man & Iron Fists, Moon Knights and Spideys need to pound on someone...

BAF: Flagsmasher. Comic version. Such a cool simple design. Comes with his trusty mace and alt heads and arms to make larger Ultimatum goons

[AndyL]

On 10/11/2023 at 8:47 PM, Jmacq1 said:

Prime Sentinel

Purifier

Dire Wraith

Brood Drone

Nova Corpsman (Multiple Heads)

SHIELD Cape-Killer

Americop

BAF:  The Right "Smiley Armor"

 

Man those are some pretty deep great picks. Especially the Smile-Faces. I had completely forgotten about them. I remember seeing those on the cover of my cousins comics as a child and being completely terrified of them. X-Factor I think. But weren't they also in New Mutants?

[Lord_Scareglow]

Alright, here is just what came to mind quickly

Kronans

Warwolves

Dark Elves

Chituari

Brood

Badoon

BAF = Charniputra Sect Vampires

 

I know Brood is a no brainer same with Chitauri and you peeps already picked em, but we need them by now, also Dark Elves easy choice, but How nobody thought of Badoons or Warwolves yet!

Charniputra Vampres as a BAF chef's kiss

[TheArrow]

You'd think an army-builder wave makes total sense, right?  Totally money in the pocket.

But here's the thing..........many years ago, I got to have a sit-down with a Hasbro rep, who was working on action figure toy-line at the time, and he illuminated a bit of info that surprised me, but also gave me a really deep insight into the corporate psychology behind toy lines.........and it hasn't changed in all those years since.


To wit: every toy-line is like a TV show---it has it's head-lining stars, it's supporting players and it's bit-players. 
One of the "rules" is that nobody outshines the stars.
They get the spotlight and they get more of them made than anyone else, because....they are more popular and everyone wants them. 
And they don't break that rule, NO MATTER HOW COOL LOOKING ANY OTHER CHARACTER MIGHT BE. 
The toy line was Action Man, and the character in question was the Skullmen, Dr. X's henchmen/soldiers........army-builders, no less.  Hasbro realized the design of them was TOO COOL, and the character, translated into toy-form would out-sell the hero, Action Man himself. And they did not want that.
So they never made the Skullmen,

They left money......on the table.  Deliberately.
And this bears out today in that we see constant reiterations of certain characters: Spider-Man, Wolverine, Iron Man, Captain America etc, and they do seem to sell well. Now, we do get a LOT of obscure characters these days, and some are outright morts as characters go......but I'd bet that despite their inclusion into a wave, they are probably under-produced in favour of the more well-know characters.

So, an army-builder wave, as logical as it seems.........and much as we might want it........I don't know if Hasbro would go for that kind of push.    But then again..........who knows?? I'd love to see it too.

[Jmacq1]

On 10/12/2023 at 10:24 AM, AndyL said:

Man those are some pretty deep great picks. Especially the Smile-Faces. I had completely forgotten about them. I remember seeing those on the cover of my cousins comics as a child and being completely terrified of them. X-Factor I think. But weren't they also in New Mutants?

Yeah, they floated around I think all the X-Books in the late 80's, but definitely X-Factor and New Mutants (IIRC a few of them ended up trapped in Limbo and...it got worse).

 

[Xorr-the-God-Jewel]

I don't know...I despise BAF waves. The Xemnu BAF wave, for example. Xemnu is my 2nd favorite Defenders villain after Nebulon, so of course I wanted him badly. What I didn't want was to have to shell out $175 to get him, when the only characters I wanted or needed from that wave were Dormammu and Red Skull. So essentially Xemnu cost me $125. 

The Mindless One wave was worse. I had to buy 6 figures to build one army builder Mindless One. Dormammu being one of my all time favorite villains, I'd like to have at least 6 but ideally 12 Mindless Ones. That would cost me between $900 and $1,800! At $150 each (based on $25 for each of the 6 figures needed). It makes no sense to use BAF waves for army builders, other than in the greedy and unrealistic minds of Hasbro execs, because no fan who is not filthy rich is going to spend $900 to $1,800 to get 6-12 characters he wants for army building, while accumulating 36-72 unwanted figures!

I think Hasbro should sell army builders (A.I.M. agents, Hydra agents, SHIELD agents, etc.) a bit cheaper than the standard characters and use a strategy of selling higher volume at lower price rather than lower volume at higher price. 

Mindless Ones, sold individually, should be priced at no more than $35 each, so getting 6 of them would run me $210, and 12 would run me $420. That is far more reasonable than shelling out $900-$1,800 and then having 36-72 figures to sell or otherwise dispose of.