Saturday, 4:00 p.m.-5:00 p.m. Pacific
Marvel & Hasbro

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

, with reduced articulation a la Avengers and GI Joe.

I sincerely hope there's actually lot's (positive) to talk about, and all the rampant rumors about the demise of the MU line are dispelled.

What rampant rumors? Your post is the first I've heard of this...

Someone on Twitter told me to check out this thread....funny how times have changed.

It's not a rumor...dark days are coming.

Since it's pretty well known that I'm a HUGE fan of this line, I don't think it will come as a big shocker when I say that I'm very disappointed by this (yes, technically still unofficial) news. I've actually known some things for quite awhile now, but when someone tells you something in confidence, you well, keep it confidential.

There are still plenty of great figures planned in the MU line (you may recall a really big sneak peek that came out from SDCC)...but with all the changes over at Hasbro this year, who knows if these will ever actually come out? Most of the Hasbro team responsible for bringing the line out are no longer even around.
Dave Vonner? gone (but now started up Kasual Friday).
Scott George? gone (but now started up Kasual Friday).
Jerry Jivoin? now over on Transformers.

Other factors that are playing into this are situation with the Chinese factories, the higher expense of pretty much EVERYTHING involved with creating action figures. And of course the elephant in the room...the terrible distribution Hasbro has had in 2012 (and in 2011 (and in 2010 (and in 2009 (and in 2008))))

The pattern of the past few years is pretty obvious: the spring focuses solely on whatever spring big-screen movie line is coming (hoping to attract the kids), then the fall sees the return of the collector-focused lines (Star Wars, Marvel Universe). This then carries over through the holidays.

Furthering complicating matters, nearly every single movie line pegwarms and ends up on clearance. Yes, the case assortments are bizarre, and the character selection is very heavy on "A" list characters, but I give Vonner major credit for going as deep as they were able to go. The line evolved over time and saw many improvements since the beginning. Having a Fans' Choice early in the line was a great way to get fans involved with the character selection ever since (you HAVE noticed that there's been a lot of these characters made from that poll? I wish that Vance Astro would finally get made, but it seems unlikely now)

This sounds pretty bleak, but I don't really mean it to be. There are some great new figures planned, that new Hulk? awesome. I got a huge smile when I first heard about Beta Ray Bill and Beast, plus there were some other surprises coming that well, who knows if they'll even get made?

There are a LOT of kit-bashes and repaints coming, and although that's been an aspect of the line since the beginning, they could do a lot more for years to come with the parts they now have in their library.

Another thing...this is not limited to just Marvel Universe, either. But that's something that should probably stay confidential...

So what are the guesses on the comic packs..


So there are 2 of the old X-Men vs. Avengers comic (I think issue 4 and 2) .-So Crappy costume era X-Man and Avenger

From CTR-- guess I forgot about them..

We've uncovered two new Marvel Universe comic packs, both of which are inspired by the original Marc Silvestri drawn The X-Men Vs. The Avenger limited series. The first pack will include a kit-bashed Magneto made up from the body of the AIM Soldier, Doctor Doom's cape, and the Adam Warlock head and a repacked Captain America. The second set will feature a redeco of the upcoming She-Hulk (in her purple Avengers costume) and a kit-bashed Wolverine which is essentially the X-Men Origins Brown Costumed Wolvie with the Wolverine Vs. Silver Samurai head and hands. THese sets will be limited to 40, 000 pieces and when they hit the shelves next month, they will go for $16.99.