This is a situation where technically, this figure is not a Transformers product. But I guarantee at least half, if not more, of the people interested in this figure are coming at it as Transformers fans.
This is why they’re here.
To begin with, let’s talk about Marvel UK’s Transformers comics. The American Marvel books we’re all familiar with were being published in the UK in the 80s as well, but as a weekly title, instead of a monthly one. Each issue had a smaller page count, so the American stories would be split into parts, and serialized, but still, they ran out of issues fast. To keep up with demand, a stable of British writers (eventually, just Simon Furman) and a team of artists began making UK-exclusive stories that took place between the American issues. But instead of making these fill-in stories literally filler, Furman and company decided to go hard, and tell tales with a much darker, grimmer, 2000 AD-esque sensibility, between the more colorful US reprints. And it worked, because the UK Transformers Comics were immensely popular, eclipsing even the cartoon in popularity in the UK. And it’s from these stories that we get Death’s Head.
His auspicious debut.
Death’s Head was created by Simon Furman and artist Geoff Senior, first appearing in 1986, in UK issue 113 (more issues meant way higher numbers). He wasn’t a Transformer, but he was a mechanical life form, and he worked as a bounty hunter (despite hating the term, preferring “freelance peacekeeping agent.”) He also ended nearly every short, clipped sentence of his on a question. To be honest, he was kind of an amoral, violent jerk, only really caring about money, and making sure he did his job well. Still, UK readers seemed to like him (or at least, the comic did a good job of pushing him), and he’d appear in multiple stories over the next two years, before getting thrown into a time portal, which would careen him across dimensions, sending him briefly to Marvel UK’s Doctor Who comics (they could just, like, do that back then, apparently), before he wound up in the mainline Marvel Comics 616 universe.
A more modern showing.
Death’s Head would show up in a lot of other books after that, get multiple solo series, and generally be a quiet cult favorite, though the odd situation around who owned the rights to the character meant he never showed up in Transformers stories again (with Decepticon bounty hunter Lockdown being invented as a replacement character), while during his Marvel appearances, Death’s Head couldn’t ever directly mention his Transformers adventures, either. That, plus his obscurity, means he’s not the type to get a ton of merchandise. But! He did get a brand-new Marvel Legends figure this year, which I thought was some kind of exclusive….but nope, it’s just casually up on Hasbro Pulse. Me, I found one at Gamestop, and couldn’t resist a shot at owning yet another obscure Transformers comics guy.
The Sculpt
10/10, no notes.
Handsome fellow, ain’t he?
Okay, that’s an exaggeration. But really, the sculpt on this guy is incredibly cool. He’s got immediate *presence* to him, once you pop him out of the box. It helps that he’s a bit bigger than your usual Marvel legend. Like, a head and a half taller, and a lot wider. Guy’s got mass, density, and charisma. And the scale actually works for me! See, I’m a Transformers collector first, and when it comes to non-Transformers figures, I tend to prefer smaller 4-inch characters, like mainline Star Wars, GI Joe, and Spider-Man Epic Hero Collection figures are, because they kinda-sorta scale with Transformers. 6-inchers like this guy are usually way too big. But Death’s Head was actually presented in the comics as being Transformers-sized instead of human-sized, so he actually does feel like he fits with my mainline Bots and Cons.
“You assume because I’m a mechanoid, I take Energon?”
“This will do for payment, yes? Said your enemies were on Chaar?”
Meanwhile, before he arrived in the Marvel Universe, he was apparently shrunk down to human size (The Doctor, of Who fame, did it, or so I’ve read), so he *also* scales with the other 6-inch figures I have. Either way, he’s just the right size.
“Him? He’s no meaner than your average New York driver.”
(Some years later) “Whoa, buddy, who left you in the dryer on high heat?”
“Said he was some kind of Doctor, yes?”
Okay, so two things to note about the sculpt itself: Apparently, he’s retooled from a previous Colossus (of X-Men fame) figure, but it must have been an extensive retool, because he looks correct to me. And as to what he’s correctly based on, this figure’s *technically* not designed after his appearances in the Transformers comics, but on his look after he made the move to Marvel. To be fair, he mostly looks the same, he basically just got a change of clothes.
It’s like he looked at this guy, and went, “now, that’s a fashionable fellow!”
Still, this is him, this is the guy, all metal limbs with rings carved into them, and with that ridiculously edgy face, with tusks, devil’s horns, and an appropriately grim grimace. And it may be a different set of clothes, but they’re also lovingly rendered, from the crinkled fabric on the boots and gloves, to the tatters at the bottom of his cape, to the scratches and bullet holes on his armor. This would be impressive as a statue, even, and it feels like love and care went into it, which is funny, considering the character’s personality.
The Colors
The change of clothes when Death’s Head moved to Mainstream Marvel also came with a slight color-readjustment, meaning that his outfit is mostly blue, instead of mostly green, but that’s the only thing that feels reflexively incorrect. Beneath the outfit, his skin’s mostly a shiny, metallic gray, with some yellow on his chest (and teeth), and a bit of red on his horns, and eyes, which are rimmed in black. They picked a good shade of gray, it manages to not look too plain, or wash out any detail.
“Want to know my skincare routine? You have silver polish, no?”
As for his outfit, it’s also lovingly colored beyond the blue, with more yellow and red accents, and a red cape. A bit of color I appreciate is some black scouring around the bullet holes in his shoulder armor. Like his sculpt, it manages to look and feel really complete, and really carefully considered.
Build Quality
“Hrm, don’t know why they want me to do this stupid test, no?”
Okay, so, once we move past the aesthetics, here’s where we run into some issues. My modern flirtation with Marvel Legends began because their Amazing Fantasy Spider-Man had surprisingly good build quality, but most of the other Legends I’ve handled haven’t been on that level, and Death’s Head’s no exception.
Goldbug’s here for revenge. Death’s Head doesn’t remember who he is.
Let me start with a positive: His clothes are a good kind of soft plastic, where they’re flexible enough not to lock his joints in, but hold their shape when not being bent. In particular, his cape feels like how all action figures should do their capes. Not soft goods, not rigid plastic, but a very bendable format.
“And fashionably dramatic, no?”
Now, if only it was removable so that he could sit in a chair.
He’s asserting dominance.
Similarly, the weight and density of him, as well as the tightness of his ankle joints, means he stays standing with no issues, despite having only modestly-sized feet.
He lumbers decently.
It’s what he’s made out of, and how his joints feel, that are a problem. A lot of his plastic has this kind of slightly soft, mildly rubbery feel to it, which really contrasts with the more rigid material Transformers are made out of.
His foes are literally made of sterner stuff. At least Rodimus paid him well.
Granted, some of this softer material makes sense, for, say, the fingers on his hands, or the spikes on his head and boots, since safety standards are a thing. But making all of him out of that material feels like an odd miss. Granted, it’s not like you can squeeze and bend (the non-jointed parts of) his arms and legs or anything, they’re rigid enough to hold their shape, but it feels like that’s only because the plastic is too thick. Now, maybe they did the whole thing in this kind of material because so many parts of him needed to be mildly bendy, and maybe it’s not plausible to mix materials, I don’t know, I’m not a designer, but it’s still a noticeable oddity.
Another noticeable oddity: These two characters covering similar conceptual ground.
What’s more noticeable are his joints. Basically, some of them were incredibly tight out of the box. Like, “Are these actually fused?” levels of tight. “Am I going to break this if I keep forcing it?” levels of tight. For me, it was one of his elbows, and different parts of his double-knees. I decided to go “if it breaks, it breaks,” and nothing did, fortunately, and as of this writing, his joints became “broken in,” and loosened up to the point of useability. But still, having to struggle and fight with a toy out of the box is never a good feeling, and a lot of his joints are still way tighter than I’d like, especially considering the softer material he’s made out of. I don’t think anything’s going to break, but there’s a certain awkwardness to posing and handling him that you don’t get from your average Transformer, or Epic Hero figure, or Figuart.
This is an unfair matchup. For him.
Poseability
Trying to look dynamic.
This is an area where, on paper, it’s really good, but in practice, he feels a little limited. So, Death’s Head has a good range of joints, including (but not limited to) multi-directional ankles and wrists, double-knees, multiple arm and leg swivels, an ab crunch, and a waist joint, despite his clothes. I particularly appreciate his double-neck joint, it lets him move his head around very effectively.
He spent more time looking up after the Doctor shrank him.
I’d say the only missing point of articulation is double elbows, his are only single joints, but that’s me being greedy. They’re also mostly pin-free joints, with only his elbows having visible pins on his inside joints, which are hard to spot, anyway. So, in theory? A lot of bendyness.
He’s trying hard to seem her equal.
In practice, though, he feels oddly immobile. Maybe it’s because, despite all the joints, a lot of them feel like they don’t have a ton of range to them. Maybe it’s his clothes getting in the way, despite them being soft plastic, or maybe it’s the tightness/materials combination. Either way, his poses feel limited to “standing dramatically, pointing weapons, and walking.” At least he looks dynamic when not doing much. His sculpt does a lot of heavy lifting.
And so does he, probably, with those guns.
Accessories and Features
Death’s Head’s got quite a few of these. First of all, like every Marvel Legend, he’s got swappable hands, and they’ve got making them convenient and easy to switch out.
I imagine they make the same kind of pop as removing a suction cup from a surface.
He comes with two closed fists…
“Didn’t hear no bell, no?”
and an alternate set of hands, where the right one’s sort of splayed open, like he’s gesturing, and the left one’s a little open, for accessory-holding.
“This one has a good weight to it, yes?”
I do find myself wishing he also had an accessory-holding right hand, but I also appreciate the gesturing hand, it adds a lot to his personality.
ACTING!
For weapons, he’s got three very dark gray impliments: An axe, with nicely-sculpted notches in it, a mace, and a missile/spear thing, all of which are reminiscent of weapons he used in the Transformers comics. He’s also got a shield, cast in gray, and painted yellow, again, with some nice wear and tear on it.
A surprisingly medieval arsenal.
You stash all three weapons in notches on the shield, and peg the whole thing onto his back. That specific stash of weapons, and the rounded shield, has always been a part of his silhouette, so it’s good to see it here. As for using his accessories, you can hold all three of them in his accessory-holding hand,,,,
“Must axe you some questions, yes?”
but also, you can remove either hand, and plug each weapon into his wrist, like he’d often do in the comics.
Source material accuracy!
That’s right, it’s a Marvel Legend where the detachable hands are diegetic!
If you see this, your credit better be good.
Using his shield’s a bit dodgy, though. Despite having a downward-facing peg on it, it doesn’t really fit into his open hand very well. You’re meant to unplug his fist, and slide it in there like one of his weapons, but between how rubbery the peg itself is (the biggest problem with the material he’s made out of), and the fact that he’s got these flared gauntlets on his wrists that get in the way, it’s really hard to get his shield in there.
“Makes me seem weak, anyway, no?”
It’s not impossible, but it’s a lot less frustrating to just leave it on his back. He’s got more than enough offence, anyway.
Bombs away!
And, while I wasn’t really expecting it, because it’s a wholly unrelated toyline, I do kind of wish his wrists were blast-effect-compatible, if only so he could simulate shooting his missile, but I’m not going to hold it against him.
For the first time in a long time, he screwed something up.
Overall
“Boy, this is a bad spot I’m in. If only there was an outside contractor that could fix my problem!”
Much like the actual character, this figure of Death’s Head is a man of contrasts. On one hand, everything about his appearance is basically flawless (well, I’d prefer he was wearing his Transformers Greens instead of his Marvel Blues, but that isn’t in the licensing cards). He’s lovingly sculpted and colored, incredibly detailed, and just has really good *presence,* even just standing there.
“Well, this was going to pay my rent.”
“I think this is a smarter investment, no?”
But at the same time, standing there’s a lot of what he does, because between the materials he’s made out of, the tightness of his joints, and the way his articulation comes off as limited, he’s not nearly as playable as I’d like. He’s not bad, necessarily, or defective, or anything, it’s just the nature of the toyline he’s from. Some of us like to pick up and fiddle with Transformers, flip them between modes, pose them, mess with the accessories. I also like doing that with some of my smaller non-transforming action figures. This guy feels slightly less conducive to that sort of interaction than most things in my collection.
Win or lose, Spider-Man gets a little vacation.
So, I like him on the strength of his aesthetics, and the fact that he fits nicely with both my Transformers, and my Non-Transformers, but whether or not I can recommend him to you depends on how important the “pick up and play” factor is. It’s not outright bad, like, say, a “meant for the shelf, and never to touch” third-party Transformer, or a NECA action figure. He’s just…slightly less pleasant than I feel he ought to be, which sort of fits the character, funny enough.
“And you say this fungus will restore me to my old size, yes?” “That’s right, Mr. Head. And all you have ta do is crush Spidah-Man!”
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