If they cut back on articulation and still call it MU... it won't be MU IMO. I don't consider Avengers figs MU. The Commander Rogers figure totally spoiled me I think... that is like my standard now. LOL.

I guess MOC and customizers will still buy them though.

I wont. I like this line because of the quality. I do not buy most movie figures, the quality is shit and getting worse with each new movie line. I may cherry pick future lines but not much. Marvel Universe got me back into collecting. If it goes, I go.

As Kinglouie731 said, your post sounded like you were attempting to defend the entire line using UPSM as an example. The only complaints we were making at the time were about the ASM figures. So your post came off like "The line isn't that bad - look at how good this figure is."

And honestly, I personally don't think UPSM is all that impressive in person. I've passed on him a couple times at retail now. Every time I look at him and think "Maybe I'll get him today", but every time I end up leaving the store underwhelmed and empty-handed.

I wish I saw him at retail..

This thread is six pages deep... so what is the answer to the Marvel Universe future?

I totally agree his shoulders are to high I don't like the body type now the sdcc movie spiderman is awesome and continues to elude me :)

the answer is people have been bsing us to drive us and get us ready for 10 waves a year with vehicles!!

god I wish. I think what will ultimately happen is a merging of all 4 inch lines, including movie lines. MOre figures a year, but mostly kitbashs and related to movies, which isnt a bad thing considering the movies, but it might lower our chances of getting characters like Union Jack who are obscure. So long as its dominated by comicappearances and arent Tcrotched and have atleast as much articulation as the Black Spidey mold, I'll be happy.

I'll also be happy if nothing changes.

This might be a good thing if only it gets the people who refuse to recognize awesome figures from other lines to quit complaining in threads about Marvel figures.

There have been great figures in the Spider-man lines that people have passed on or complained about because they didn't have 25 points of articulation. Rhino, Toxic Blast Venom, Ultra poseable Movie Spiderman, etc are some of the best Marvel figures out there, yet people are content to blindly bash them because they're not MU proper.

Meanwhile, the MU proper has seen fit to steal figures and molds from wherever it sees fit (XMO, IM2 lines) because the secret is that it's all the same universe. The comic figures from the movie lines and the Marvel Universe figures are the same thing as far as I'm concerned.

I don't mind more minimal articulation. I'm not against articulation, but if it's between rocker ankles and not getting characters I want, screw rocker ankles!.

Only answer so far of satisfaction is wait until SDCC.

I really think that's the best way to go anyway.
Lowering shelf-space but upping releases at the same time and covering more variety via consolidating the lines into one global banner and then 3 rotating sub banners with a 4th staple banner would be the best marketing way to do it.

Spidey-related (movie and random, including spin-offs), Avengers (Marvel cinematic universe, including spin-offs and side movies), X-Men (movies and spin-offs including Deadpool and New Mutants besides of course the X-Men movies) and then MU for comic stuff only.

Seriously. It'd keep the shelf space locked up, prevent this retail outlet overstocking issue on early movie merchandise, and would allow them an outlet for everything. This would even help push cross-sells and cross promotions for better product sales and help alleviate the stress on trying to figure out how to balance shelf space when too many movies hit at once. As it is now, we have 4 lines on shelves at once just for avengers. (IM2, Thor, Cap, and Avengers.) Then MU, and now a new Spidey line. A new global rebranding with MU as the header, and then 3 sub-banners only would be the smart thing and prevent overcrowding like this. Assuming at least the distribution figures out to even pack all new figures and single pack previous wave figures(barring female figures, leave those always at 2per for at least 3 revision cases).

Then toss into legends (just one slot per wave) some bigger characters that can work for MU or ML. Like Man-thing, pym particle heroes/villians, and other larger characters like Dragonman.

This plan would also allow a rebranding of all the lines to generate more buzz and hype in the wake of the Avengers, and would allow retailers to unload the old in large quantities to prep for the new. That's what I'm hoping for at least. So that way the next Wolverine movie and X-Men movie can just share the same line, and the next marvel features can share the same line(Guardians for "cosmic avengers", IM3 with some missing Comic series armors, etc). This way MU stays intact too and can better piggy back to the public on the movie-hype and tv series hype.

I kinda thought that when Avengers came out, and stores started putting leftover IM2/Thor/Cap stock on the Avengers pegs, it owuld make sense to just keep the toys going as The Avengers from here on out, When a movie comes out, you launch all the main characters, then in between you release some of the lesser characters and troop builders and stuff, then another movie say IM3 comes out, you release a new Iron Man batch in the same cards. No new shelf space needed.

So I was looking at the listing of MU figures released on Wikipedia and by my count the releases through June 2012 outnumber the releases in the same period of 2011.
Anyone have anything different from other sources?

I'll be at the Hasbro booth immediately upon opening Wednesday, preview night of SDCC. I'll know if there are a bunch of new figures on display or not, and I'll post here with my findings. Honestly I think a lot of good questions will come up in their panel too, and they will be much more willing to answer them in that environment (at least from what I've seen in the past).

SDCC is a week and a half away. Meanwhile wave 18 is hitting retail. Go out and hunt, and the info will be here soon.

My 2 cents.

I have no doubt there will be new figures at SDCC but I don't think that means anything either way for the future of MU. THey could either still be making more figures after we see what they unveil or it could be the last of it. Either way I don't think they will officially announce and end of a line.

I predict that we will see a LOT more waves like the one with white costume Iron Fist, Psylocke, et al; waves with mostly kitbashed/repainted figures.

I think you're right...
Then again I'm fine with that now that we have the more diverse and better articulated base bucks for them to use. Here's hoping they start using those bucks to fix some of the previous figures released too like a new Ironfist with leg swivels, darkhawk with head tilt, etc.

what are the chances well actually see new UNSEEN figs like black knight and the Inhumans. We only saw prototypes last year.

I think the panel will be the best place to get some answers (do we even know which day that's on yet?). I know the Hasbro displays tend to get stuff added to them the first few days of the Con so something not being there on Wednesday night isn't really a bad sign either.



This is what I'm hoping for. To let us know they aren't canceled. If they don't give us Black Bolt I will rage!

Those are probably pretty likely too.

Pretty much anything we heard about that was in the prototype stage before will probably be shown and hopefully some surprises like Mockingbird. Hopefully some in the display case, but if not, they'll probably have full color slides. The real question is about anything we haven't heard about already and the rate of release. Also the fate of Fin Fang Foom might be pretty major about future Masterpiece sized figures. (Which I hope means they'll consider bringing the variant galactus back since he's more widely known than FFF, or find a way to better pack those big figures so that Galactus variant, Purple sentinel, and FFF can all coexist on shelves.)

Somehow I have the feeling FFF might be canceled though. Lack of recognizability, the orange version used as the teaser, the lack of him as a carded exclusive like previous years, it just all adds up to not look good for him. Maybe he's being pushed back until next year.

Im hoping for more gigantic battles packs, cause FFF is a big skip for me. Howevor, ill piss myself if they announce a 18" Celestial.

I hope your wrong nothing I hate more than kitbash and repaints what a ripoff some may be satisfied by creative laziness but not me quality over quantity that's what I want i rather see the line end than go the kitbash/repaint route JMO

You know, just looking at my shelf now, there are a lot of repeated molds, but Hasbro did a good job with the accessories to seperate them.
Like Drax and Absorbing man. Commander Rogers, New Daredevil, and Jim Lee cyclops. Among many others.

That's assuming they do it right though(like they have on some so far) and similiar to how MOTUC does it with the different body types per character and character defining gear/web gear. Universally the same buck for all male and all female and I agree whole-heartedly with you.

I think shipping all those crappy colored Sentinels really hurt the bottom line for MU. The people willing to spend the money wanted classic colors and it we were even told they would come to retail. Sadly that didn't happen because retailers couldn't move what they had. I think the fire sale prices some of saw mean they won't be taking the risk next time and told Hasbro as much. Basically, Foom at retail seems unlikely now but I hope at least he will get made in some quantity.

I bet if the retail sentinel would have been the sdcc version it would have been more valuable as a rare version and take sdcc made it retail they would have flown off the shelf poor decision on Hasbro's part

I agree. I just can't understand who would ever make that decision. Were there focus groups or something?

Hasbro Marvel Panel. Saturday July 14 SDCC 4:00-5:00 Hasbro: Marvel— Adam Biehl (senior director, global Marvel line at Hasbro), Jesse Falcon (licensing director, Marvel), Dwight Stall (senior Marvel product design manager, Hasbro) and Kristin Hamilton (senior manager, global Marvel line at Hasbro), discuss Hasbro’s popular Marvel Legends, Marvel Universe, The Avengers, The Amazing Spider-Man, and Marvel Bonka Zonks toy lines. Attendees will also get a sneak peek at upcoming, never-before-seen action figures. Adam, Jesse, Dwight and Kristin will also host some Q&A for your burning Marvel action figure questions! Room 24ABC