Death Watch Mandalorian - TBS [P4] - Six Inch Figures (TM21)

An extremist clan that attempted to take over Mandalore during the Clone Wars, the Death Watch Mandalorians are tenacious warriors embracing the ancient traditions of their people.

It’s fascinating to see the many characters introduced in The Clone Wars television series come full circle in the latest Disney Star Wars Entertainment. We first saw the Death Watch in The Clone Wars series, and Pre Vizsla quickly became one of the most favorite characters when the show focused on the Mandalorians. Now, we see new and old members of the Death Watch reflected in The Mandalorian and subsequently in the Hasbro Star Wars line. One of the latest characters is the Death Watch Mandalorian, and it’s a focus in The Black Series [Phase IV] lineup. The Death Watch Mandalorian is another interesting character and action figure. It has many qualities of Boba Fett but also has an outfit inspired by Din Djarin while still paying homage to Pre Vizsla. Very similar in appearance to the Mandalorian Loyalist, the primarily blue uniform is bold and bright and solidifies the character as one of the familiar strangers that so often appear in the various Disney Star Wars banner. Death Watch Mandalorian doesn’t bring much new to the table, but you’ll quickly discover how it will become an essential addition to the 6-inch action figure line.

Right off the bat, we’d like to comment that Hasbro approached this character in an interesting manner. Choosing the on-screen character from a flashback sequence is not a common occurrence in the toy line, but that's what they've done here. The figure doesn't have a removable helmet, but we do see similarly looking characters with removable helmets. And for this reason, we’re certain that Hasbro reused the existing tooling of another Mandalorian to produce this figure’s head sculpt, but we cannot pinpoint exactly who or what. At first, we thought Hasbro reused Boba Fett’s head sculpt, but that one comes with an articulated rangefinder. The Death Watch Mandalorian doesn’t come with one that moves. So, if Hasbro did use existing tooling, they tweaked it to varying degrees. But from our perspective, Death Watch Mandalorian is a mostly all-new figure. The figure looks excellent in our assessment. The posture of the figure is one of its highlights. When posed standing on guard with the included blaster rifle, you can’t help but be reminded of Boba Fett from The Empire Strikes Back. Death Watch Mandalorian has a lean and athletic silhouette. Something about boots on a Mandalorian leads to a more streamlined and thinner look while wearing the armor. Death Watch Mandalorian wears everything well, and it is one of the best-looking Mandalorian characters in the 6-inch line to date.

The Death Watch Mandalorian is indeed a well-made action figure, but it has a design flaw. For one reason or another, the jetpack doesn’t plug into the back of the figure tightly. It falls off with the slightest bump. We hope that this isn’t a universal design flaw in all of the units produced and just exclusive to our sample, but time will tell if this is a widespread problem or not. That said, the rest of the figure is impressively designed. The detail in both the armor and the body glove is exquisite, and the paint operations throughout the figure are gorgeous. Hasbro included a single WESTAR-35 blaster pistol. This version is the first time we’ve seen a wooden handle on these blasters, but it looks fantastic. Hasbro also tooled an all-new Death Watch blaster rifle in black, and it fits well into both hands of the Death Watch Mandalorian action figure. We feel Hasbro included an adequate amount of accessories here for an important figure. Still, the 6-inch line is heavily overpriced, and we keep hearing reports of how collectors of the line are walking away due to cost. Despite its price, we hope you can enjoy this figure somehow in your collection.