once i get my prof x i could care less about this line. i got the charecters i know and love. im actually surprised it lasted this long

I've said it last time and I may still get proven wrong but I really believe that MU is going to become like Generations is to Transformers. What I mean is when there is a movie or TV show that needs promoting via action figures then they get priority but when all of that is slow or non existent Hasbro will fall back on either MU or ML to keep it's Marvel fans buying product.

I know personally I'm all caught up with what's currently out with the exception of the Professor X wave. I'm seeing lots of product at the stores (today I went to TRU to get the new Hobbit figures and saw lots of new MU) and they seem to be selling well.

I do, however, find it suspicious that Hasbro "forgot" all the slides for the new figures they were going to show at SDCC. And I could build a small city with all the GoG 3-packs I've been seeing. Those should go in a landfill...

lol.

i wouldnt say landfill but the should have been army builders cause then they'd fly off the shelf. its sad when i saw a pack missing only the weapons and the fig are left intact.

I've never seen anything MU peg (or shelf)warm like this pack. Except maybe Guardian. So basically anything with "Guardian" in the title should be scrapped by Hasbro in the near future...

The inconsistent appearance of the waves is what always frustrates me...looking to solve that shortly.

J

I live outside of Cleveland and you guys must have it good. I have 6 Targets 5 walmarts and 3 toyrus within 20 miles of my home and I have not found anything new in a long time. Good luck hunting and thank you all for all the useful info

Hey, it's frustrating and all but we are still getting new figures for a while and hopefully they will announce all new stuff soon. There have been fairly reliable reports of A-Bomb, Abomination, and Red She-Hulk coming. I am guessing around the time that Hulk TV show drops but until we see pictures who knows.

Let's lighten the mood up in here.

http://i1253.photobucket.com/albums/.../dj-roomba.gif

no doubt!

We already have a thread about the "uncertain future" of the Marvel Universe toy line.

Merged.

My suspicion is that Hasbro is going to ax the Marvel Universe line, and focus solely on Avengers. On the plus side, they'll probably put a lot more "comic series" characters into Avengers because of it. On the downside we won't get nearly as much character variety as the MU line has had.

On the downside, the entire action figure industry seems to be crumbling before our eyes, particularly where the "collector-favored" lines are concerned. Even Star Wars and Transformers have had massive dropoffs in the last couple years.

To be honest, given Hasbro's plans to become a "multimedia company" moreso than just a "toy company" and the rapidly rising manufacturing costs to make toys in general and action figures in specific, I wouldn't be surprised if in a few years (say...2017 when the Star Wars license comes to an end) Hasbro pulls out of the action figure segment altogether save for Transformers (their in house brand). I'd add G.I. Joe, but that would be dependent on the line having a pretty big (and unlikely) resurgence in conjunction with the new film.

well to be fair the line has to end sometime. Or make a resurgence like Marvel Legends.

Thinking about it , Maybe its not the MU line Habro doesnt give a @#%$ about but US.(The people who buy and support the line) We were given a number of Excuses and what not at SDCC for not showing more. And were pretty much told a lot of new product would be shown at NYCC. That and the TOTALLY BOGUS release dates for shown product.( Had planned on some good XMAS gifts) Looks like theres going to nada, zilch, shown at NYCC. Dont know why Hasbro just cant tell it like it really is (whatever that may be.)

you mean there won't even be a panel at nycc? what about the offsite thing i've been hearing about where they'll be showing off their product?

The offsite thing, according to sources, will have reveals in the press release. I'm thinking that SnowFlakian is right when he espoused an economics theory behind all of this.

Plus, to add on, I predict Toyfair will have a large showing. In May 2013, the new Iron Man comes out, with Thor Dark World coming out in Nov 2013 and Captain America in 2014.

The year should be ripe with movie toys. There is are four points of concern here though:

Quality- As we know movie line figures have been getting slashed in terms of articulation...

Comic vs Move line/Figure Selection- Comic lines have been dwindling or non apparent.

MU ML/Movie- unlike most years where a movie line and an independent line can co-exist we have several movie lines debuting rapidly which can flood the market. Will this mean that MU and/or ML be reduced greatly (or even...cut?)

3.75 Guarantee- I have this weird feeling that Hasbro is slowly moving towards a 6 inch paradigm considering the reintroduction of Marvel Legends, but I am not sure. I dont think Hasbro wants or can produce both a 6 inch and a 3.75 independent line in full force along with 3.75 and 6 inch movie lines. Something will get reduced. In past it has been 6 inch movie lines, but who knows

Marvel Universe became Gladiator Universe from what I've seen

Yeah I've seen at least 20 MU Gladiators, along with 10 Absorbing Men

Gladiator has become the Multiple Man of Marvel Universe 'round these parts. Full pegs. Even on sale he goes nowhere. Gladiator is omnipresent.

And yet I have never seen a multiple man in the wild. Of course I started late, but still.

serious, check grocery stores. I found two multiple men at frys. All my Secret wars packs to finish my wrecking crew also.

I still think the current figure system needs to be overhauled personally.

MU needs to stay. Let it be pure comic versions of characters across the ages with occasional wave emphasis on detailed comic versions of characters in the prevalent cartoons.

Movie lines need to be consolidated though.
We have the basic line up of films for awhile now. The film toys which are being relegated to 4-5 waves and then out, need to be merged by licenses.

X-Family license(Fox). 4-7 films to draw from, and one film line already that can be filtered in as filler with certain figures at low case ratios.
Spider-License(Sony). This is where the ultimate spider-man toys should have gone, including movie conceptualized versions of them and the amazing friends cast alongside extended library like black cat besides of course comic figures of all of em too.
Avengers License(Marvel). This includes all connected cinema like IM3, Captain America, Thor, Hulk, GOTG, etc.

Then some kind of rotating one for Daredevil, Fantastic 4, Ghost Rider and any other outlying live properties.
This way they can all stay on shelves with fresh product. Get packaging revisions per each movie with emphasis on current films of the year or retro year and maintain shelf space. Depending on the film it's a decent spot for comic figures to bolster out the store shelves when an MU wave is high on the obscure. Like the X-Men line could have Bastion, Ultimate Nimrod, Academy X new X-Men, or even other movie characters that have yet to have this scale as figures. The Avengers line could branch out more too on the comic side with stuff like young avengers female Hawkeye, Mockingbird, or even Jarvis. The avengers side could even have some stuff from the new in-universe tv shows. Like the leading shield agents in SHIELD, or whatever else is coming.
MU definitely needs to stick around though. It sells too well. Especially now as the cartoons are introducing the wider spectrum of characters to kids and more. Heck, EMH has actually got me saddened that I haven't gotten a winter soldier figure yet.

To be quite honest?

I will be very surprised if Thor: The Dark World gets its' own line, given how abysmal the sales of the modest-to-begin-with Thor line were.

In point of fact, I would not be surprised if the continuing Marvel Cinematic Universe just all gets folded into a continuing "Avengers" line, as that branding is likely far more recognizable and valuable than the individual characters at this point. Just release a wave or two or three of characters from each given movie as they debut.

That's why I lean that too.
Thor not selling well, cap lingering but doing so so, and then avengers and IM2 selling decently.

Marketing and analysis would suggest to solve all those issues they need to merge the Avengers Cinematic universe and film lines. Phase 2 of the Marvel movies would be the perfect time to reset how the figures are handled like that. Then Phase 3 movies can take what worked from both methods for the cinematic toys and do another new push as a rebranding.

It makes sense doing it this way too. All of the side heroes are going to eventually make their way into avengers anyway. Probably with tweaked costumes too. Which means more figure sales. The same could be said of other licenses and their expanded universes. Like Amazing Spider-man with the upcoming venom spin-off, or even Black Cat getting a movie concept figure, or some of the villians. I'm just kind of hoping during the "Fantastic Four Reborn" we get figures of them, and then some alt universe fan4's too like Doom 2099 and Fan4 2099, Fantastic Force teen Franklin, FF Adult Franklin and Valeria, kid franklin and valeria. The same could be said about daredevil, but I'm waiting until october 10th to see what happens with him.

Daredevil, Ghost Rider, and maybe even the Fantastic 4, are all the kinds of figures you almost want a side line for together though. While they have a wide array of comic character libraries, the movie figures don't need that many.

The same can be said of Cap and Thor though too. Mostly they just need the core costumed cast, a few SHIELD supporting, and the major villians and or troop builders when applicable. Most of anything that's comic related for them usually ends up in MU anyway. So may as well not touch the comic versions for them outside of a select few like Sin for cap, and many randoms in there for Thor. Though for Thor we've been pretty lucky so far it's an interesting mix of comic and movie aesthetic so some movie figures fit for both like Destroyer.

IM3 can skate since they still have many more comic and concept armors they can do. Like his 90s modular suit that needs to be made still, heroes reborn, heroes return, and some others, not to mention the sheer amount of badguys he has that can still be covered.

(On the flipside. I'm kind of loving Hasbro's lack of presence at this year's NYCC. Don't get me wrong, I love Hasbro dearly and can't wait to see the transformers reveals that can fit inside an hour... But overall, the lack of presence just makes me giggle like a kitten with catnip rolling on the ground dreaming about karma. Makes me just want to pat hasbro as a giant entity on the back and say thank you for this and every figure in my collection too. LOL!)