[TAO's Note: He's already contributed a few great pieces of content, but googum is back already with another entertaining and comic-filled look at one of the younger conventions in toys, the quest for a complete Build-a-Figure.]
For action figure collectors, there are a few things that are going to come as a given, across several different collecting lines. For example, you are probably going to find your own way of cutting twist-ties or rubberbands. There are going to be some characters that you end up with multiple versions of, whether it's Snake-Eyes, Batman, or Darth Vader. You're definitely going to end up with a box full of lame accessories that you're never going to use; whether it's full of Total Justice fractal armor pieces, or movie G.I. Joe giant guns. And if you're like me, you're going to have more than a few Build-a-Figure, Collect-and-Connect, Build-a-Droid, whatever you call them, orphan parts.
Now, I know some of you are capital-C collectors; and you're going to get every figure in any given wave. So what if you've never heard of Guardian, or don't know why you need a red and a green Parademon? By golly, you're going to get the whole lot...but even then, you come up with a few spares as well, don't you? If you get, say, the Wal-Mart Punisher and his camo variant, you're going to end up with an extra Nemesis arm.
But, I'm more about characters, as well as being on a budget, so I sometimes won't buy every single figure of a wave. I usually can't force myself to choke down another Wolverine, or to buy figures I don't want just to get a leg. So the drawer full of orphan parts grows, and collects dust.
It's actually worse than it looks in the picture above. I'm positive I have some Annihilus pieces somewhere, and I left out several of the recent DCUC pieces. Worse still, on two separate occasions, I've got most of the parts, like four or five; then, figuring I would get the last one later, put the figure together. You can see how well that worked out:
And my Giant-Man BAF? If you recall, that was a ten-figure investment; and I outright refused to buy the Age of Apocalypse Wolverine and Sabertooth just for feet. Bad enough I had to buy burnt-head Wolvie for a hand, that figure was in the same drawer as the orphans. Giant-Man ends up on the back of the shelf, hoping no one notices he's a couple inches shorter than he should be.
Now, there are more than a few alternatives to a drawer full of dismembered body parts... and there's a sentence I hope you don't hear too often. You can put them up on eBay, either part-by-part or a big lot. I bought more than a few ML Nightcrawlers back in the day, and for a while there I think I was the number one seller of Galactus ass. A dubious distinction, to be sure. You can also hit message boards, like over at OAFE.net, and trade them with other collectors. I know I got rid of some Apocalypse and Blob pieces there, but...
After lanquishing in the drawer for a year and a half, I got the other piece for the Stargate dialer. In the last month, I've managed to finish two BAF's (oh, all right, a BAF and a C&C) that I did not expect to: Atom-Smasher and Ronan the Accuser.
So, there's the dilemma: do you ditch the pieces, selling or trading them away; or hold out in the hope that you'll luck into the final parts later? After all, I only had two of the Atom-Smasher parts, and didn't think there was a ghost of a chance of completing him. Or maybe everyone else just sucks it up and buys the figures. You tell me.
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