Basically the theory is that since Sony has made a cinematic deal with Marvel/Disney and is likely preparing to give Spiderman a decent push in their universe, Marvel is more likely give out licenses to have Spider-man merchandise created.

On the other hand, Fox is not handing back the cinematic rights to F4 and X-Men, and Marvel/Disney is (IMO) acting like a petulant child and being petty, revoking all licenses for merchandising that are not so far along that there is a contractual obligation for releases (like the Emma statue coming later this year).

That's all just theory and some opinion, but it pretty much sums it up. Granted, I think it's understandable that Marvel would want to focus licenses on properties they own 100%, totally get that business decision. But that doesn't mean they have to deny X-Men/F4 licensing completely, yet that seems to be the case....

If I seem bitter about it, I am. It's not like Polaris has only been my #1 most wanted ML for 8 years now or anything. :(

The trick with Spider-Man is that Sony owns part of the character itself. So, since Spider-Man is still Marvel's No 1 most lucrative product, they deem it worth their while to develop a healthy relationship with Sony, since they will be in business with one-another as long as Spider-Man exists.

Fox on the other hand only owns the movie rights to X-Men and Fantastic Four, and so Marvel are no-where near as willing to cooperate with the company to satisfy fans.

In Marvel's current state of fluctuating arrogance (post Avengers and Guardians success), they are under the impression that they not only don't need Fox's cooperation, but that by starving the X-Men/FF comics and merchandise (even though Fox would not receive a percentage of any of this anyway) and promoting their "in house" properties such as the Inhumans or Guardians, they are in a win-win situation.

The problem here though is that X-Men movies are still going to do very well despite pulling plans on X-Men's COMIC BASED merchandise which Marvel, in its idiocy, doesn't seem to realise. The only people they are hurting are the fans themselves.

It should be pointed out too that Fox is under no contractual obligation to hand over the X-Men rights to Marvel. Marvel comics signed those rights over to them in the late(?) 90's and that is one of the primary causes they were able to get out of the bankruptcy they were in.

It should also be noted that prior to Marvel's acquistion by Disney, we were getting X-Men related product. Maybe not quite as much as central Marvel but there was a decent representation. I put a lot of this on "NuMarvel" after Disney bought them.

The Jubilee wave came out last year as well... think Marvel wanted the rights before that wave

Keeping in mind as we aren't privy to the actual contracts between Marvel/Disney/Fox/various merchandise producers, it's all conjectural, but regarding that wave and also Magik, there is no telling how far along the production was for that product.

Magik too was originally shown as a image prototype last year, maybe it was too far along to cancel.

Could I be wrong? Sure, absolutely Because I don't know. But I do feel like the chances are very slim and that if we don't see any newly announced X-Men product (not just from Hasbro, period) then it's quite possible it's true.

I'm just not going to place any bets on us getting Fox related product. Even though as pointed out, it's conjectured that Fox gets none of the proceeds from anything but the movies themselves. IT's all about promotion and generating interest in the films. And as VanPooten pointed out, the lack of that merchandise really only hurts fans themselves.

Agreed, although he did get it at a decent price considering shipping and tax, but yeah hopefully you do get it. I usually hit ebay after everything is pretty much gone from HTS. Hoping I get it again this year though.

Let's hope so, the next X-Men movie comes out next year....

Part of the problem with the X-Men right now is that the comics are kind of a mess. Not to mention that some of the more recent movies aren't achieving the success that Fox has been hoping for. Based on that, Hasbro may just want to play it safe for the time being. I'd hope we get some X-Men figures (SHADOWCAT!!!) with 2 movies next year but it's best to stay pessimistic in this situation. As for the FF...I've got nothing so believe what you want.

As for what we might actually see at SDCC
Movies: Cap, Scarlet Witch, Falcon and Iron Man from Civil War. Maybe a Dr. Strange prototype.

Comics: Falcon-Cap, Lady Thor, Heroes for Hire, the announced Spiderman figures, new Punisher and Bullseye since they'll be in DD S2.

But didn't the Sony/Marvel deal for Spiderman joint use just get done this year? Feels like a parent custody battle and we're the kids getting caught in between.

I guess they have just decided to only release merchandise in conjunction with movies/shows for the most part, that's all I can figure.

I guess that's why Hasbro/Marvel people get paid the big bucks. Way more to it then we'll ever understand.

I am not going to see Fantastic Four just out of principle for the fact they did an origin story again. And not a huge deal buy why mess with characters like Johnny and Sue Storm.

Regarding the SDCC Ant-Man set... has anyone else had serious problems with the hips on those old Icons bodies? I seriously can't move the hips on my Goliath and DD icons figures without it feeling like I'm going to snap them off. If they didn't solve that issue before reusing the mold, I can see a lot of the buyers of this set being pissed.

It's loosely based on the Ultimate Comics interpretation as opposed to the original movies more 616 influences.

So the Storm family change is to present a more direct visual cue and better story angle of Johnny's perception of his father's favortism. This time being more because Dr. Storm's prodigy is his adopted daughter and Johnny Storm is his biological son.

At least that's how I see the change. It yields more onscreen diversity, better reflects modern family dynamics, and better accentuates the internal Johnny Storm angst and presents more impact for that moment of even with all that baggage, he still loves his sister and will look out for her and protect her. She may be adopted, but she's still family.

It's actually a change that the original Ultimate comics version would have done probably if they thought of it at the time. It fits to the spirit of all the other changes they made when that comic started.

As for the X-Men stuff, we just got a Bishop figure and White Queen is coming up. Let's see what future waves are before we start saying how Marvel is blocking mutant figures from being made. But if it is a temporary halt, it might have more to do with putting pressure on Fox than it has to do with actually getting the rights back, but with other recent concessions Fox has made, I'm not sure there is a reason to pressure them anymore. With Deadpool, Gambit, Apocalypse, New Mutants, and even X-Force all at various stages of development including another Wolverine movie. Whatever pressure that was put on Fox previously seems to have worked to get them to start taking the licenses seriously and work towards better movies while expanding the world they have.

The licenses as they stand now work better separate with what Marvel has built on their side anyway. Fantastic 4 being the only one that maybe Marvel could still integrate easily. Mutants would be a bit more complicated, though it could be done without going all "heroes reborn."

On the figure front:
Fantastic 4 from previous waves and having their own dedicated legends line previously didn't really sell all that well.
The box sets did pretty decently, but those are long past. We might see them repacked at some point in the future though over in MI, doubtful on legends.

So I kind of doubt anything for that movie will be done. X-Men Apocalypse and Deadpool I could see them diving headfirst into though. Cinematic Apocalypse is one of those figures that would sell really well and all around the roster is very 80s comics celebratory. So legends and MI could both do some small nods for that, especially now that X-Men figure demand is on the rise after two successful main team movies.

As for comic line: Repacked Bullseye and repacked Punisher seems highly likely for MI. Falcon Cap, Female Thor, Kate Bishop Hawkeye, and the new female Wolverine would be my main guesses(Both MI and Legends). Possibly Superior Spider-man and Spider-Gwen too. Carol Danvers Captain Marvel for MI. There's been some strong demand across the board for those figures. Possibly a new Luke Cage for Legends, and a repacked Luke Cage for MI.

What can I say Snowflakian, I admire your positivity. FWIW I really do hope you're right.

Well, it's easy for me to be positive with Hasbro when they've covered almost every figure I'd want already. :D

Your the 1%er

I'd guess the 99% of us grew up on X-Men in the 90s. Our hearts are being crushed.

^amen.... I think the part that sucks the most (for all of the Hasbro offerings lately) is the fact that we see, quite often the awesome stuff Hasbro is capable of producing, then they back slide and get crappy (pick your bitch: poor paint, cheep plastic, less articulation, poor distro, unimaginative offerings, ect.) obviously all of us here love most or some Hasbro Marvel offerings or else we wouldn't collect the stuff, but I do think Hasbro, or Marvel or both need to realize that there is a value to having a purely comic biased line and quit making all of there offerings have to in some way tie into a Dis-arvel movie.... I'm a 90's kid, like Byrnes, and I'll go ahead and say it... F the Avengers! seriously, growing up they were a distant second fiddle to the X-men. It wasn't until I got older, really around the time of the first X-men movie that I paid any attention to the Avengers. I guess that's just the power of a multi billion dollar film empire. Now I know how Avengers fans felt in the 90's... all 8 of them.

I will take poor paint, cheap plastic and suffer the less articulation and poor distribution all for more imaginative offerings..... :(

I like the Avengers and the X-Men. Not a huge Spidey, Daredevil, F4 or Hulk fan. Let us not speak of Inhumans.

Luckily I must say that I am not a 90s X-Men fan in the strictest sense. I grew up in the 90's but reading Claremont's heyday, then watching X-Men: Evolution, and then reading Grant Morrison's New X-Men and beyond. As a result, I'm pretty open to all X-Men lore without the constant nag for Rogue in that bomber jacket or Storm in a silver catsuit with shoulder pads like most people are.

Personally I feel like that was one of the comics' corniest eras (aside from Lobdell and Bachalo's BRILLIANT Generation X), but I'll be quiet now as the Jim Lee fans shall rise.

As a result, I'm not too fussed about redos of the 90's X-Men in ML form (although we can all agree that Rogue needs another go), but man do we need original Storm and Sunfire. It's almost sacrilegious!

i haven't been on in a day or two i see people are seeing the Ant-man wave in stores now??? where are you guys located?

as for the whole discussion upon X-men merchandise, i wouldn't mind a 90s era version of them as well. i've really never been a big fan of them other then Wolverine.

http://i.imgur.com/Y0TUywC.gif
While true that made me laugh.

That's what really sucks, I wasn't a fan of Avengers, am now and I didn't know anything of Guardians of the Galaxy but I do now. I love what Legends are doing and the figures they are putting out. If they could mix in more X related characters I would loose my Sh*t because they are so awesome.Those cancelled figs like Moonstar, Rogue and Jean Grey and Phoenix Cyclops hurt so bad.

I'm with you. Crank out more variety, even if other things suffer. A comic line of past/now would be the ultimate for me.

I would love a then vs now 2 pack. That would be amazing. Like original costume vs current or do something like a Thunderbolts as Thunderbolts and as Masters of Evil. Songbird and Screaming Mimi. Beetle and Mach V or whatever he goes by. That would be cool!

OMG yes please.

I know very little of comics these days. Starting to get back into it. There are probably a bunch who don't know anything about the old stuff. A now/then 2 pack would be pretty sick to get people into it from both sides.

It would be a cool thing. And it's a great way for Hasbro to redo characters that Toy Biz may have already done. Like a Classic Thor and Female Thor. Or classic Cap and Falcon Cap. Or go crazy and do a New Mutants style Cannonball and a current style one. There are so many possibilities! I should work for Hasbro, damn it. I end up calling half the stuff they put out anyway lol.

I hope that I'll get better at guessing now that I've put aside hope for the X-men figures, which were usually my guesses. I'm still calling that we've got to see both an Enchantress and Mockingbird at some point soon and I suspect we will see one of the two revealed this year.

I'm fine with redos too I guess though I'd rather see completely new figures. but I get costwise why that's not optimal for Hasbro. I'd really like to see new takes/molds on Wonderman, Taskmaster, Moon Knight and Falcon if we're talking redos.