Deathlok

Just a quick reminder that Marvel put a better version of Cyborg on a weekly TV show than DC could put in the Justice League movie. Reanimated into super-powered dominance, Deathlok is a cyborg hero bent on demolition. Hey, nice! Deathlok first appeared under the title "Deathlok the Demolisher," so that's what the bio is nodding at by mentioning demolition. The original Deathlok, Luther Manning, was not part of the standard Marvel Universe: he was created in the post-apocalyptic hellscape of 1990 (remember, this was in 1974) where he has lots of his own adventures before meeting a time-travelling Spider-Man and coming back to the present; he hung around for a while, but eventually returned to his own future time in order to free America from its megalomaniacal ruler. But there were numerous clones, copies, the 616 Luther Manning... lots of confusing things. Including several Deathloks built in the present day, inspired by the one from the future! Thanks, confusing-ass comic continuity! It's hard to tell, since all the various Deathloks look pretty much identical, but this seems to be the original Luther Manning Deathlok? Granted, he was usually represented with one white eye and one red bionic eye, while this one has two yellow eyes (a feature typicaly seen on the third, Michael Collins, Deathlok), but the important thing is the design, with half his face being a metallic shell, and the other half being a rotten corpse. Shockingly, this toy appears to be 100% new sculpt. It's possible the left shoulder and bicep are reused, but if they are, that's it. His legs and right arm have the banded metal that represents "cybernetic limbs" in comics, with the muscles lovingly re-created, and even pseudo-tendons on the backs of his hands. Interestingly, the "skin," so to speak, visible on the insides of his forearms (where his brown gloves are cut away) has very thin metal bands on the right arm, but much wider metal bands on the left. Odd place for asymmetry! The boots are new, because no one else has worn this style, with four golden bars sculpted on the front and back, and large silver discs on the sides of the ankles. They even sculpted a little sunken patch on his scalp where some of his dead old skin has rubbed away. The torso is emphatically new. The three thin yellow stripes running down the front are sculpted in, and no one else has ever had those. Same goes for the American flag on his chest - they may not have sculpted every little star and stripe, but the outer edge is definitely an etched-in line. There's a hole on the left side of the chest where a tube plugs in, running around his back to a device hanging from his brown utility belt. He's also wearing a massive backpack, which seems to have a turbine in the center of it and thus probably serves as a power source. That's a separate piece that plugs into the toy's back, but it has enough sculpted texture to make it look like a real item that's been through some battles! Deathlock is armed with a pistol, which can fit in the holster on his belt, and with a large Gatling gun that features a string of bullets. The pistol is based on one Deathlok carried when he showed up in Uncanny X-Force (thus explaining why he's in a Deadpool series), and has a very blocky, advanced/near-futuristic look, complete with an extended magazine sticking out of the grip and a sight on top. The Gatling gun only has one handle, which will make it hard for him to carry, but the bronzy bullets fit in the side securely, and the three barrels really rotate. Both guns are made from the same dark metallic grey as the backpack. The figure is mostly painted well, although the red used for his left arm and boots is a less vibrant color than that used for his torso - if it were just the boots, you'd likely never notice, but since the arm is right there, it kind of stands out. The silver coverage on his ankle-pods could be better, too. DL moves has swivel/hinge ankles, swivel shins, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs, balljointed hips, a swivel waist, hinged torso, swivel/hinge wrists, double-hinged elbows, swivel biceps, swivel/hinge shoulders, a hinged neck and balljointed head. The waist was fairly stiff on mine, but you won't want to turn that too far anyway, thanks to the chest-tube. Deathlok includes the left arm of Sasquatch, this series' Build-A-Figure. When ToyBiz made their Deathlok, it was in the first series of Marvel Legends to come with BAF pieces. It also had a bio talking all about Luther Manning, but used all the distinctive design elements of Michael Collins - so technically, that figure and this figure represent two separate people, who conceivably could have been active at the same time. Hasbro's Deathlok is a better toy (because, duh, it's coming out 13 years later), but it's not an upgrade or replacement - it's just a compatriot. -- 05/17/18

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