Though Hasbro only allowed retailers to begin taking pre-orders for Marvel Universe Wave 23 (2013 Series 4) less than two months ago, the latest (and second last) wave of Hasbro Marvel Universe figures has begun hitting stores in the United States! This series includes six all-new figures for the Marvel Universe line, but thanks to Hasbro’s not-so-genius packing strategies, two of them are variant figures that are going to make you want to pull your hair out…

Many collectors have yet to find the Marvel Universe Mysterio and Rhino figures at retail, but there’s no respite for fans–the final waves of Marvel Universe are coming out fast and furious! Marvel Universe Wave 23 has started to turn up online on eBay and is now starting to hit some online retailers as well. This case assortment is actually fairly decent, as it includes two each of four new figures: Baron Zemo, Gravity Suit Iron Man, Marvel Knights Cloak or Dagger, and “Marvel’s Abominations” (Abomination or A-Bomb).

The initial fear many collectors (re: me) had about this series was that Hasbro was going to follow the dreaded running change protocol in which they show variants and then the running change variant figures never show up (poor Marvel Legends Blade and Dani Moonstar). Fortunately, it appears that we can rest sort of easy–both the Marvel Universe Cloak and Dagger and the Marvel Universe A-Bomb and Abomination action figures are shipping already, so there’s no doubt that they’ve all seen production.

Of course, just because all the figures have been produced doesn’t mean that they’ve been produced in equal quantities. Thus far, the vast majority of Marvel Universe 2013 Series 4 (Wave 23) cases that have been opened have contained 2 Marvel Universe Cloak figures and 2 Marvel Universe Abomination figures.

Logic would dictate that Hasbro would make just as many Marvel Universe Dagger variant figures as they make of her partner, Cloak–but Hasbro doesn’t always make sense. As a result, the Marvel Universe Dagger figure is selling for $50 and up already on ebay, with prices quickly rising.

Meanwhile, you’d expect that the Marvel Universe A-Bomb variant figure might be selling for a lot less than Dagger, seeing as how he’s a far more recent character with comparatively very few comic book appearances. That doesn’t seem to be the case, however–the Marvel Universe Wave 23 A-Bomb figure is selling for the same $50 and up as the Dagger figure right now. It could just be hype or early speculators keeping A-Bomb’s price high, or maybe he’s more popular than I thought–we’ll have to wait and see.

At this time only a small portion of the total number of Marvel Universe 2013 Series 4 cases produced have been found, so it’s possible that the variants will look closer to 50/50 in the long run. In the meantime, though, the Dagger and A-Bomb Marvel Universe action figures have quickly become some of the most sought-after Marvel Universe figures Hasbro as released in ages.

If need be, I’m (grudgingly) prepared to pay a small fortune for Dagger, but at the present high prices, A-Bomb will be staying out of my collection. How do you feel about the apparent scarcity of Dagger and A-Bomb, Marvel Universe collectors? Would you be willing to pay the big bucks to add these to your collections?