Marvel Select Watcher Figure Reissue Cancelled!

Posted on by January 8, 2015

Diamond Select Toys manages to keep prices down on most of the non-movie Marvel Select action figures released over the past decade-plus by frequently reissuing older figures. And one of the most hotly-anticipated reissues announced last year was of the hard-to-find Marvel Select The Watcher figure. But unfortunately, there’s some bad news for Watcher hopefuls: the Marvel Select Watcher reissue has been cancelled…

Marvel Select Watcher Reissue Cancelled

Last spring, thousands of Marvel figure collectors were psyched when Diamond Select Toys announced a much-requested re-release of the long sold-out and expensive-on-the-aftermarket Marvel Select Watcher figure. Collectors placed their pre-orders, waited patiently, and… nothing.

Delays are no big deal with Diamond Select Toys, as they happen all the time, so I wasn’t really worried. But I should have been.

Collectors who pre-ordered The Watcher Marvel Select figure are now across the board receiving cancellation notices from the retailers they ordered him from, which read something like this:

“Thank you for ordering from Entertainment Earth. We have been notified by
the manufacturer that we will not be receiving any additional shipments of
Marvel Select Watcher Action Figure, (Item DC10783), because they have
discontinued production of this item at this point in time. The order you
placed for this item has been cancelled in our system.

If this item is again made available, we will contact you for a possible
re-order. We apologize for the inconvenience, as we certainly would have
preferred to fill your order. Your order information appears below.“

Marvel Select Uatu The Watcher Figure 2014 Diamond Select ToysWanting to see what was up, I headed over to the Diamond Select Toys Facebook Page for comment, where they stated: “None were produced. The item was cancelled a few months ago, prior to production. I’m sorry you were not notified until now“, “We realize people were looking forward to it, but we have had to shelve it for the time being“ and “Reasons beyond our control, unfortunately. Sorry.“

Now, this is only speculation, as Diamond Select Toys didn’t outright state it, but it seems a strong likelihood to me that DST can’t reissue the Watcher Marvel Select action figure right now because of his nature as a primarily Fantastic Four character and the feud going on between Disney/Marvel and FOX over the Fantastic Four movie rights.

With this being a Fantastic Four movie year (unfortunately), it wouldn’t be shocking if Disney put a stop to any Fantastic Four figures being put out for sale in 2015. If and when Disney reacquires the Fantastic Four movie rights, hopefully the Marvel Select Watcher figure will be able to make its return.

Did your pre-order for the Marvel Select The Watcher figure get cancelled? If so, are you willing to pay the high aftermarket prices for ol’ baldy, or are you not willing to fork out that much for Uatu?

Comments

Marvel Select Watcher Figure Reissue Cancelled! — 8 Comments

  2. I did pay aftermarket prices for the Watcher on eBay, but it turned out to be $35 + shipping ($8-$9) which wasn’t too bad for it. I did want another one as the one I have was kind of scratched up from falling off the shelf. Now we may never get the chance to have one…at least not anytime soon.

    • Congrats! I’m happy that somebody can get their hands on ol big head. Nice to see you out here on the boards,capt!

      • That’s a double negative which means it will be”good”.
        That is also a colloquial paradoxical late night joke made by late night show comedian Craig Ferguson. It was funnier when he told it.

  4. “if it is on (reality)TV/internet(blog) it must be true.”
    Dabid, for shame sir, for shame! Making predetermined judgments and negative speculations? Wow. How”unfortunate”that you’ve fell into the tarpit that is the acerbic fanboy vitriol. Most illogical. The erroneous method of drawing a conclusion without evidence makes no sense.
    None of us have seen the final product to draw a conclusion.
    Is there a”feud”? I’m going to research it and see what I find. This all has a ring of speculation, rumors and innuendo. Why would Marvel/Disney pull the plug on a comic book toy when toys are a different domain than movies? My brother saw Thor,SpiderMan,Wolverine at the Marvel Universe Live show and asked how was that allowed when Disney,Sony and,Fox all claiming the different rights? Well, it seems its time for me to find some answers.

    • It’s not just “acerbic fanboy vitriol” speculation. While DST hasn’t specifically cited the reason for the Watcher’s cancellation, it’s certainly the most likely possibility when you take into account that other toy companies have stated themselves that they’ve been asked not to make X-Men movie and Fantastic Four toys at this time.