The MCU seems to be course-correcting, luckily. It may not be immediate, with all the films planned for next year, but soon they're planning on cutting back on the number of films per year, which, in theory, would allow for better quality and planning. I'm not too terribly concerned, myself; isn't that kinda the natural progression of things? Certainly the comic industry- there'll be a great story run for a year or two, then when that ends, a reset with a mediocre story or one that you just don't connect with, and then after that it'll slowly start to ramp back up and catch your interest again. Comics, and by extension comic shows and movies, have almost always had a "jump in and out whenever" feel to them. We nerds usually have no problem playing catch-up if need be. The industry often throws a bunch of stuff at the wall to see what sticks, and then makes something out of what's left. The MCU sort of did that in the beginning too- not saying they should, but it's not exactly uncommon. But at the very least, it seems like they're actively listening to the fans, and trying to find a happy medium, which I certainly appreciate. With the recent announcement of the 3 branches- Marvel Studios, Marvel Animation, and Marvel Television, methinks there can be more of a widespread factory feel now, versus stretching the one studio across all mediums.

And, to not stray too too far from the original topic at hand, hopefully there will still be a decent output of figures from all mediums to reflect the change. 

X-Men97 is great....  but I've enjoyed the vast majority of the Disney+ Marvel and Star Wars content so I can't join or appreciate all the shit talking about that stuff.

I binged up to the last episode of X-97 last night and had to stop myself from starting the finale at 2am. Excited to finish it tonight.

Andor is in its own category of awesomeness.

I've liked and disliked plenty of the MCU Disney+ stuff, but the only one I want to fight about is She-Hulk. That's one of the most bang-on film or TV adaptations the MCU (or anyone really) has ever done, and I love it.

She-Hulk had its moments, but I really disliked the way they made Jennifer so whiney.  She has such a winning personality in the comics and the show didn't convey that well.  They also made her seem desperate for male companionship and I didn't like the way she was exploited in the show.  Lastly, they really did the Wrecking Crew dirty.  What a waste of potential.

Seconding the love for She-Hulk. Straight from the comics, actually *funny* (as opposed to the groan-inducing dudebro-bully “quips” that pass for “humor” in much of the Infinity Saga), basically just a magical, awesome show.

X-Men 97 may be the best Marvel thing D+ has produced, though. Immediately it has become my favorite adaptation of X-stories. I’ve got the sexy “good” guy Magneto figure in my work desk drawer right now.

If we do get a training suit Sunspot, I hope Hasbro throws us a bone with an additional Cypher head and hands and a Cannonball head and hands.

I guess I'm still in the minority, as I found '97 overrated. They rushed to cram in as many iconic storylines and moments into every half hour episode. I did enjoy episodes that were more character centric, like the ones with Storm and Forge. I really hated how overpowered Morph was, yet how ineffective they still managed to be. In terms of story, performance, I think the melodrama just isn't for me. I can't hear Rogue's voice without picturing that old lady that voices her. Storm has an old lady voice too. Wolverine was so underused, I felt most detached from him among the entire cast. He did nothing to really earn that moment with Magneto in the finale, but still suffered his most famous demise as a result. I did really like how Cyclops and Nightcrawler were used and portrayed. But I think in general, that like Wolverine, big moments weren't earned. They weren't given enough time to simmer and cook before gratuitously presenting the big pay offs.

I loved this series so much! So sad to have to wait a another year for season 2 but beyond happy that is was even better than we hoped for and I am super excited for the X-Men to come back to the main stage in all medias. I hope they bring the collecting cards again. And many more videogames and toys.

Speaking of toys we absolutely need at least two more waves for season 2. Now that it's wrapped I will adapt my guesses/speculations:

wave 3:

Jubilee

Sunspot (training uniform)

Cable (regular costume)

Morph (jacket first costume)

Mr. Sinister

White Queen

wave 4: 

Beast

Storm (classic costume)

Bastion (first form)

Rogue (villain green costume)

Forge

Wolverine (brown costume)

@normdapito I can definitely see how some might think it was rushed through. There really was a breakneck pace at times. Which I didn't really mind- I definitely would have liked a little more time to breathe at points, but it kind of mimicked the fast pace of comic panels, I feel- how things can kinda skip forward pretty fast as you fill in the blanks between the panels. I do wonder if, since there was no guarantee before the show premiered how popular it would be, they just wanted to cover as much ground as they could on the off chance that it was all they got to tell.  Hopefully now that they know the audience is there, they can afford a little more breathing room in future seasons. At least season 3, depending on how far along they are with season 2. Bring DeMayo back, let the episodes breathe a bit (especially now that a good portion of the audience- if not the majority- are proven to be on the adult side, and we can handle slightly longer animated fare), and I think you have a winning format.

Posted by: @h-bird

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I binged up to the last episode of X-97 last night and had to stop myself from starting the finale at 2am. Excited to finish it tonight.

Andor is in its own category of awesomeness.

I've liked and disliked plenty of the MCU Disney+ stuff, but the only one I want to fight about is She-Hulk. That's one of the most bang-on film or TV adaptations the MCU (or anyone really) has ever done, and I love it.

Same. I loved the approach She-Hulk took. It was possibly the most entertaining of the MCU shows thus far. And I've been able to enjoy most of them. I don't think any are A+ material or anything, but they've at least been entertaining. Falcon and Winter Soldier and Hawkeye have probably been my least favorite, but even they were fine. Just kind of disposable.

The shows that seem to work best are the ones centered on characters and that don't feel like they exist just to be a bridge to the next movie. That's really where the MCU has fallen off is that films feel like they only exist to setup whatever is next. All of those pre-Avengers movies mostly were able to just stand on their own and happened to have a fun little stinger at the end of the credits and they need to get back to that. Not everything needs to be connected. I hope X-Men '97 doesn't suffer a similar fate since I think we all know that Disney is going to try and resurrect other 90s shows and probably make it a point to tie them together. This season of X-Men '97 didn't feel like it was trying to do that, it just had a global catastrophe and it made sense to take a look at what was going on outside the X-Men bubble. I hope it stays that way with minimal, true, crossovers. 

A coworker saw my ML 97 Wolverine figure and expressed interest in one.  I know he's sold out everywhere now, but anyone think they'll do another run of him?  He is such a popular character, and the show is doing so well.  I imagine they want to make another run of some of the figures.

They could make a second Wolverine in wave 3, soft plastic just like the classic X-Men(2000) Senator Kelly pack-in, and when you squeeze him he can expel silver metallic ooze from multiple points in his body.

Posted by: @normdapito

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I guess I'm still in the minority, as I found '97 overrated. They rushed to cram in as many iconic storylines and moments into every half hour episode. I did enjoy episodes that were more character centric, like the ones with Storm and Forge. I really hated how overpowered Morph was, yet how ineffective they still managed to be. In terms of story, performance, I think the melodrama just isn't for me. I can't hear Rogue's voice without picturing that old lady that voices her. Storm has an old lady voice too. Wolverine was so underused, I felt most detached from him among the entire cast. He did nothing to really earn that moment with Magneto in the finale, but still suffered his most famous demise as a result. I did really like how Cyclops and Nightcrawler were used and portrayed. But I think in general, that like Wolverine, big moments weren't earned. They weren't given enough time to simmer and cook before gratuitously presenting the big pay offs.

As an avid X-Men reader throughout all of the 90s and the 2000's, the 90s stuff was my main focus.  The number of stories jammed together to make this one grandiose story kind of made my head spin at points because I was looking at it like the story from the comics was going to be adapted into the series.  In truth this was usually fodder for a single episode or maybe two at most.  None of the stories seem to have gotten their due in the way a comic reading fan would have fully enjoyed.  Granted I found the series entertaining, it felt a lot like a whirlwind where Operation Zero Tolerance didn't even fully get closure and then we're on to Fatal Attractions with Messiah Complex Second Coming drizzled over the top of it.  Fatal Attractions and the Phalanx Covenant (along w/ Age of Apocalypse) are some of my favorite crossovers.  Now it sounds like we're getting Blood of Apocalypse, The Adventures of Cyclops and Phoenix, some semblance of the Joseph storyline, Onslaught and Apocalypse's background story all crammed in the second season.  Wolverine got about half of one episode to shine.  I enjoyed Nightcrawler a lot, but his eyes kept getting larger the longer the series went on, it was reminding me of Teen Titans after a while.  The one character I really enjoyed happened to be Beast as I was pleased with what we got of him, little as it may have been.  I wasn't particularly into the X-Men beating Bastion with "the power of love," whether Huey Lewis-related or otherwise.  Bastion was cold-hearted killer in the comics, even when kept as a head in a prison cell he was still calculating ways to get out and end mutants.  Making him misunderstood, seems like a trope better applied to another villain.  Having Rogue defect instead of Colossus in Fatal Attractions for all of an episode and then being back on the team with no mention of her past actions seemed glaringly strange.  I look forward to seeing what Season 2 brings for the screen and the toys, but I wouldn't say these stories are being adapted well or are being allowed their time to shine.  It's like we're making X-Men meatloaf, and while it may taste good, there is little time to pay much attention to the parts that made up this season's sum.  It beats nothing or an MCU show though.

Finished the series yesterday. It was spectacular. When we get Sunspot, his outfit from the finale would be a welcome addition.

Spoiler

Especially since we’ve needed a new teenage character template with better articulation for a while.

Does anyone else relate to the fact, that a BUILD A FIGURE Jubilee was the only BAF that us X-Men fans had to rely on, during Marvel's embargo of X-Men,  and that insane Toys R Us exclusive hard to find wave.

Now we have a main line release.
An animated series variation.
And NOW a potential re-release of the exact costume that was so hard for many fans to obtain, now in a  MUCH more desirably light due to her inclusion in this show.

Personally, I love to see how this stage of figure collecting so often shifts.