I heard the same info from XM, they won't do variants. Plus several of their X-Men pieces are being held back by Marvel.
I'm looking towards SS to knock out an awesome Dark Phoenix. I doubt they're doing any Phoenix at all and I really want them to finish the 90s/Jim Lee PFs before prices are $500 base price, but who knows. It makes sense for them to do so at this point. Cover the other part of the Phoenix market that wants a Dark Phoenix. There is no 1/4 Dark Phoenix so they can be first. Get the people who couldn't secure a PO for the XM Phoenix. As long as it looks cool it'll sell. And from what SSAlex was saying there's more X-Men on the way that will likely hit next year. When asked if the Fox battle affects them like it has XM she said no.