While many of us are used to the awkward game of give and take involved with character rights being held by a different company, it would seem like Disney and Marvel Studios has taken things to a new level with asking XM Studios to cancel production on their various figures.
Singapore-based XM Studios has made various Marvel collectibles over the years, including epic dioramas featuring various Marvel heroes and villains
In a statement made on Facebook, the company said:
Folks, it's been a sad day for us... due to reasons we aren't at liberty to disclose, we have been asked to put a hard stop to all X-Men characters for now. That means Cable can't be released, and neither can the awesome Sentinel Diorama which we've all been so looking forward to. Still, we continue to have faith that this isn't an indefinite red light forever and you can have our promise we will be back to producing these dream pieces once the coast is clear - no matter how long it takes!
Through a follow-up with Bleeding Cool it's been confirmed that the Galactus/Avengers diorama which featured the Fantastic Four has also been cancelled. The Phoenix statue is still going ahead.
IT would seem fairly obvious that this is somewhat tied to Fox and their current holding of the film rights of both the X-Men, Fantastic Four, and related characters. We've seen some mild repurcussions on the surrounding comics, and so on; but this is an unfair gesture to collectors of these various statues and dioramas who are now forced to either wait this out, or find another item.
As has been th case with this dispute between Marvel and 20th Century Fox, the only group to truly lose here are the fans.