There’s a bit of a double-edged sword when it comes to me reviewing a figure of a highly anticipated character. On one hand, I’m predisposed to want to like the figure, but on the other I’m a bit more nitpicky than I’d usually be because I really want to see the character done justice more than usual. Let’s see how they did with the Marvel Legends Death’s Head!
I love the packaging on this figure. While I did not collect these cards, they were a pretty common sight in my comic collecting days, so I have plenty of nostalgia for this style. I like that they even duplicated the background of Death’s Head’s card art for the packaging insert.
The figure comes with four hands (two fists, a right open hand, and a left grip hand), a shield, an axe, a spiked mace, and a rocket. The mace, rocket, and axe attach to the hand sockets and can be stored on the shield. Now, I say it’s a rocket, because I’ve seen him fire a rocket from his arm, but I suppose it could also just be a differently shaped mace. These attachments fit securely in the hand socket and are made of a fairly solid plastic except for the axe. It’s a bit more wobbly than I’d like. Rubbery.
The three weapons can also store on the shield which he can also hold on his grip hand. The shield plugs into the back peg hole, but the plastic is a little rubbery so the connection isn’t as secure as I’d like. It stays on there okay, but it sags slightly.
I do like the option of having an open hand for different poses and the grip hand is great for holding the weapons or the shield.
The sculpting on Death’s head is pretty solid with a lot of clever re-use from Colossus and the recent Ronan figure and some well-detailed new pieces. I think the gauntlets aren’t 100% accurate, but they are pretty darn close. The Colossus torso re-use, does lead to extra lines down the center of the yellow section of the costume and Death’s Head was often drawn with metallic colored abs in this costume, so it’s not 100% accurate there, but I can live with this one as well. I really like the sweep and texture of the cape along with the frayed ends. There is also some nice battle damage sculpting on the newer armor, boots, and shield parts. His face is a little different panel to panel, so this looks on model for me, I just wish his horns were a tad sharper.
The articulation is pretty standard legends fare for a bigger figure, the one disappointment for me being a single hinged elbow. I like that the grip hand hinges up/down while the rest hinge in/out. The skirt is very soft, but all one piece, so it will get in the way of leg movement a bit. I wish the center tabbard had been a separate piece so that it would open up a bit and allow for more movement. As it is, the skirt can ride up a bit to allow for more forward leg movement. Death’s Head has:
- Swivel/hinge shoulders, wrists, hips, and ankles
- Double hinged knees
- Swivel bicep, waist, and boots
- Single hinged elbows and ab crunch
- Ball and socket head attached to a hinged neck
Paint is decent and I like that they painted a bit of black wash on the parts of his armor and boots that are battle damaged, but man I wish that silver was painted with a metallic paint a wash on the metal lines. He’s mostly that metallic-ish plastic that looks pretty good, but nowhere near as nice as metallic paint. I do like the metallic blue on the costume.
He’s a big boy as you would expect based on the Ronan/Colossus parts and while he’s slightly bigger than the character is in my mind’s eye this works for me. He’s listed as 6′ 10″ in the OHOTMU, so a 7 and 3/4 inch figure is fairly close in the not quite 1/12 scale of Legends.
Overall I like this guy quite a bit. He’s a big, impressive chonk of a figure that represents Death’s Head really well, the only shortcoming that does really bug me is the not so metallic metallic plastic. If that was painted with a nice metallic he would be almost perfect for me. I may try a wash and metallic dry brush to dirty and shiny him up a bit. This figure is first to market at SDCC, but he will be available to order on Pulse next week, 8/5/2024 at 7PM ET.
