Well, it seems that the months of sadness and grieving surrounding the name change of Hasbro’s “Marvel Universe” line to “Avengers Infinite Series” may have been premature… sort of. Hasbro sent out the first hi-res packaged photos today of the upcoming Avengers Infinite Series 1 figures, and as it turns out, the line isn’t called that at all! (What?) Apparently the line is going to be called “Marvel Infinite Series”. But whatever the line is called, the packaged images make it clear that that the figures are going to be pretty outstanding!

The highlight of Marvel Avengers Infinite Series 1 is the long-overdue Wasp figure. There’s always a concern about female figures magically turning from beauties to dogfaces somewhere between the prototype stage and the finished product, but the first-ever 4″ Wasp figure (thankfully) is a grand success.

The Marvel Universe-style Wasp action figure is very clearly feminine and very clearly Janet Van Dyne. This Wasp figure is a big victory for longtime Marvel Universe collectors, and it’s a crime that it’s shortpacked at one per case.

While a founding Avengers is evidently too obscure to be packed at more than one-per-case, somehow Marvel’s Grim Reaper (as opposed to the Family Guy Grim Reaper?) managed to get packed at two-per-case. I want this Marvel Infinite Series Grim Reaper figure–especially after his prominence in the Uncanny Avengers comics–but I have some reservations about this character getting packed at two-per-case. I guess we’ll see how he does at retail in just a few short months!

Poor Indestructible Hulk! Thanks to the downsized packaging for the Avengers Infinite Series (let’s hope that there’s no craziness with bubbles falling off the package like Star Wars collectors have had to deal with with the Star Wars Black Series), ol’ Marvel NOW Hulk has to have his head pushed down in the package. The Infinite Series Hulk looks good in the packaging, although it’s not immediately obvious to me how his chest armor is supposed to hook together as seen in the non-packaged prototype photos. Hmmmmn.

I’ve heard some folks complain that the Heroic Age Iron Man figure is a straight repack–and those people may be right. This mold was definitely previously available in the Marvel Universe Heroic Age Heroes pack, and now Hasbro has even given the figure the same blue energy effects piece he had in that set! I won’t be able to tell if the colors are exactly the same until I have him in hand, but it’s sure looking that way right now.

And while on the topic of repacks, I might as well tackle this Marvel Infinite Series Captain America figure. Unless there’s some microscopic changes to the paint deco that I can’t see in the hi-res pictures, this is exactly the same figure as the 2013 Marvel Universe Captain America figure. That figure didn’t clog shelves nearly as bad as some of its predecessors, so (hopefully) this Captain America action figure will sell reasonably well at retail as well.

Finally, we’ve got Hyperion. As I’ve said before–I’m okay with a classic version of Hyperion here, but I dearly wish that Hasbro had made a modern Jonathan Hickman Avengers NOW Hyperion variant figure for us as well. Hyperion is a real part of the Avengers for the first time ever right now, and I’d love an action figure of Hyperion in his current attire to commemorate the event.

With the release of these hi-res packaged images of Marvel Infinite Series 1, we’ve now likely seen exactly what the finished product that arrives in stores is going to look like. What do you think Marvel collectors? Is Marvel Infinite Series (or Avengers Infinite Series, or whatever you want to call it) looking like a worthy successor to the legendary Marvel Universe line?