i can see your point about the old stuff. but really i think they just want their displays to look really good. i dont think they are taunting people with older sold out statues. they are just trying to make their display as appealing as possible and having the lineup of avengers and x-men seems reasonable to me. i have comic cap but dont have thor, classic iron man, or hulk. i will prob get thor, dont want iron man, and dont want to dish 1800 for hulk. esp with the hulk maquette coming. despite the older stuff being sold out, cap and thor can actually be bought for a decent price if you look and wait for the right deal.
I definitely don't disagree with you. I have all the X-Men, which for somebody who started at the top of last year I'm proud to say, even if all but 2 are Regs. But a decent price is relative...for me and many others who I see post here, mainly newer folk, we're out priced. It's not that I completely don't have the money for Cap and Thor, it would mean I couldn't do a bunch of other things and I'm not willing to sacrifice. I don't feel like I'm missing out though so I guess I'm making it seem more of a deal than what it really is. For things that came out before I started collecting, I like a lot but don't feel any kind of way about it.
They are trying to make their displays look good, and I think they succeeded, but if I were a brand new consumer I'd be looking for some of those products and would be disappointed some of the coolest pieces are long gone. If I would have gotten into the game now and had to pay the current market for someone like Gambit, I'd just decide to not even start collecting.