Death's Head

Been waiting a while for this one! (And not just because an online order took until now to ship what GameStop had in physical stores months ago.) Don't call Death's Head a bounty hunter - unless you're tired of breathing! This peacekeeping cyborg from the far future is a one-being arsenal who doesn't care who his next victim is, as long as he's being paid. It was a seven years ago, in the Death's Head II review, that we said "everybody is waiting for a proper Legends-scale version of the original Death's Head," and a full decade since the Marvel Universe figure created the recipe for how to make one, and as their 2024 San Diego Comic-Con exclusive, Hasbro's finally delivered. As is often the case, Comic-Con exclusives get more creative packaging than regular releases. Like the recent Strange Tales Marvel Legends, he's sold in a box-shaped box, rather than the curved ones Marvel Legends have been coming in since Winter Soldier's series in 2014. The graphic design of the box, front and back, is styled after the Impel Marvel Universe II trading cards; those cards came out in 1991, which is a bit after Death's Head's heyday (only one year before Death's Head II would be introduced), but he did have a card in that series (one that, considering how the comic industry was exploding at the time, was probably seen by more people than any of Death's Head's previous comic appearances had been), so the choice makes sense, and is a fun idea. The bio text is even a truncated version of the text from the card! The most distinct thing about Death's Head has always been his head. Given the name, you'd expect him to look like a skull, yes? Well, no. No more than any other character with a metal face, at least. The cheekbones, maybe, and the nasal slit, but most skulls don't have a big simian upper lip, or weird tusks jutting up from the lower jaw. It's certainly a recognizable and unique design, but I wouldn't say his head looks like death at all. Following the lead of the 4" figure, Marvel Legends Death's Head is built from the same molds used for Colossus - specifically, the 80th Anniversary figure, the one with the sides of the torso exposed and bare thighs. The gloves come from the first version, unchanged, though he does get plenty of new parts: the hands (both sets) with spikes on their knuckles, the boots that stylistically match the gloves, the belt and loincloth/skirt, and the big shoulder armor and cape. The cape has a nice texture running all over it, inside and out, and the lower edge is tattered. All his new armor pieces show evidence of battle, slashes and scrapes and bullet holes. The action figure stands more than 7½" tall (thanks to his little red horns), and has as much articulation as you'd want: balljointed head, hinged neck, swivel/hinge shoulders, swivel biceps, hinged elbows, swivel/hinged wrists, hinged chest, swivel waist, balljointed hips, swivel thighs, double-hinged knees, swivel boots, and swivel/hinge ankles. Although the legs are the same underlying sculpt that Colossus had, we can tell they're new molds because the existing ones didn't have the pinless hinges like Death's Head does. You can push the belt up a bit, so the skirt won't block the legs too much. The cape piece is permanently glued into the figure's shoulders, rather than plugging into the chest like the 4"er's; its material is heavy enough that it will flex naturally if you bend the figure over, but that also means you need to consider if he's going to be back-heavy when posing him. We get really nice paint, where we get it. The legs and head have that slight translucency of unpainted silver plastic, but the arms and chest are nice and solid. His blues are a very strong, metallic shade, and the yellow as vibrant as vibrant can be. The red picked for his cape and his small accent details is slightly muted, which keeps him from looking toyish. They've even done a little painting around the bullet holes (on the front at least) to add some visual depth to what is otherwise a big field of blue. Like the Marvel Universe release, Marvel Legends Death's Head has weapons that can plug into his wrists, as the character can do in the comics. Instead of just an axe and a spiked mace, this time we also get a missile. Neat! When not in use, these can be clipped to the rear of his shield, and the shield itself can plug into the hole in the center of his back. The weapons are dark grey, a color not used anywhere else in this set, so they look like their own set of things. The shield is the same silver as the body, with yellow paint in the inset section on the front. It's really exciting that Hasbro has finally made a 6" scale Death's Head, and excellent that he's so easy to get - like, yes, this was this year's SDCC exclusive, but it was available on Hasbro Pulse after the show, at online retailers like Big Bad Toy Store or Entertainment Earth, and has even showed up in person at GameStop and similar-level physical stores. It's a nicely made toy with plenty of accessibility, no matter how you like to shop. -- 12/09/24 Now that they've finally made Death's Head, what's the next obscure character we're all looking forward to? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.

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