Toy Biz is going out with a bang this year as far as Marvel properties are concerned. Having sold the licence to Hasbro (effective Jan. '07), Toy Biz still has two more assortments of Marvel Legends to hit before the end of 2006. Shown below is the final one, wave 15, and some of the prototypes of toys that will now never be made. The villain henchmen were going to be packed in with the figures in the 13th wave (Bring on the Bad Guys) that instead ended up with a build-a-figure Onslaught. Also shown are some of their offerings for the TNA wrestling line, which will continue.

While it's unknown as of yet if Toy Biz's upgraded presence at the convention will continue next year, fans are grateful that the showing for 2006 was far beyond what it has been in the most recent years past.

And what a showing it is! For their last year shepherding the Marvel license through fan-encrusted waters Toy Biz not only brought all of their upcoming product to display, but also a nice chunk of stuff that was sculpted but now will most likely never see mass production.

Due to rising oil costs last year (after all, plastic is made from oil, plus the cost of shipping from the Orient) some items made specifically to please the fans were not to be. First, a suggested Avenger Quinjet build-a-figure was unable to get off the ground (it's unknown how far this made it into reality, or if any actual sculpting was started). Next, the planned "accessories" for the all-villain ML 13 were going to be classic Marvel comics henchmen with limited articulation- AIM Scientist, Hellfire Club goon, Hydra Agent, Doombot, Hand Ninja, and Brood Drone (not shown). We're not sure where Forbush Man was going to fall in the mix, but he does have a nifty Thor Frog to keep him company. Even smaller pieces, like the non-articulated PVC X-Babies that were to come with the ML 14 Mojo assortment couldn't be saved. Maybe one day Hasbro will include these in some fashion to their line.

The remainder of 2006 will bring us two more ML assortments, a second series of the "Face-Off" Two-packs, more large size ICONS figures, and a "House of 'M'" box set featuring alternate universe version of favorite characters. Most of these figures will also have variants, which have become increasingly easy to find to the point of sometimes being entirely evenly distributed, so that neither version is more rare than the other. Here is what each new wave will contain:

ML 14- Mojo Build-a-Figure: First Appearance Iron Man (gold variant), Longshot, Luke Cage (silver shirt variant), Falcon (modern variant), Baron Zemo (melted face variant), and Psylocke (face tattoo variant).
ML 15- Modok Build-a-Figure: Beta Ray Bill, Moon Knight (black variant), Thor-Buster Armor Iron Man (Destroyer variant), Spider-Woman (black variant), Wasp (2 variants!), and Captain Marvel (Genis variant).
Face-Off- FA Wolverine vs FA Sabretooth (open mouth variants), FA Punisher vs Jigsaw ( Bradstreet Punisher/White Suit Jigsaw variants), and Modular Iron Man vs Mandarin (War Machine/Green Helmet variants)

The ML sized X-Men line designed to parallel the X3 movie will be releasing a third assortment soon that includes a repaint Colossus, all new Avalanche, X-Treme Rogue, Ultimate Iceman, Ultimate Nightcrawler, and Ultimate Sabretooth. Shown with them is the Hulk vs Thing Masterworks diorama and the Spider-Man villain Toxin.

Superhero Showdown keeps going strong (although there is no indication yet if Hasbro plans to continue the line or not) with all new figures of Mr. Fantastic and the Invisible Woman (with both blue/black and blue/white outfit variations), Colossus, Magneto, Mole Man, Juggernaut, Green Goblin, Cyclops, Venom, Elektra, Silver Surfer, Beast, Daredevil, and Deluxe Namor w/Shark and Ghost Rider w/bike.

ICONS continue with Venom, Hulk, and Beast. And rounding it out are some TNA Wrestlers. You boys are going to be lonely in that case next year!