[Snowflakian]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razorlight6

Considering that everything hitting stores for the past couple months are revision cases, we should have been seeing Yelena instead of Natasha, just like the other recent variants finally seeing the light of day (Dark Avengers Ms. Marvel, dark red Daredevil, black Bullseye, red/blue Warpath, phasing Vision). Maybe Hasbro didn't go ahead with her because it requires a new head, or at least new hair.

They already have the hair peice done. Original Widow was going to come with swappable hair. Instead they opted to single card each.

We may not see her until a much later on revision case. They have to balance them out to make sure the figures get out there for the consumer base, and since many are still trying to get Natasha, that might be their focus for now. Opting to save Yelena for when movie natasha is on shelves towards avengers.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Razorlight6

There won't be any combining in any real sense. Next year the Iron Man 2 (rebranded), Thor, and Captain America movie lines (whichever ones are still around) will be phased out to make space for the Avengers movie line. The Marvel Universe line will still be there. It's Hasbro's and Marvel's core line and has the Marvel logo splashed across it, introducing movie-fans to other Marvel characters. Come for the character, stay for the universe.

The "Avengers Assemble!" emblem is just for marketing.

Avengers Assemble is because all the movie lines will merge for the Avengers line. It's the hype buildup for it. Avengers Assemble is a marker on the new figures to show it's all part of the same movie universe.

MU will still stay on shelves, it is the comic figure outlet and will always stay that way. The movie lines though will come and go depending on which movie is in theaters or is selling. For now the idea is to run them concurrently(cap and ironman at least, thor wasn't expected to last and had a limited amount of waves initially planned), then phase all out for the avengers line(potentially with mold re-usage). Then probably running the Ironman 3 line concurrently to the Avengers line or as a subline to the avengers line. Both staying on shelves next to MU. So the marker is more than just hype building and marketing. It's a sign of things to come.

So yes, all the movie lines(that are in the same universe at least) will merge, but no, MU isn't going anywhere.
We've also got a new spidey-line coming too.