The REAL Death's Head Conspiracy

[@Wixhael]

Just wanted to add one final weird anecdote to this story: in the foreward of the Fallen Angel graphic novel, Furman claims that "Death's Head... was originally destined to debut in his own title, but these plans were shelved... Rather than let the creation gather dust, the decision was made to guest star Death's Head in the next Transformers story arc, beginning in #113. This, though, presented ownership/copyright complications, so a one-page, non-Transformers related strip was prepared to cement Death's Head's Marvel credentials." Personally, I dont buy this version of events either. First of all, if this really was true, why has Furman only ever told it this way in this ONE graphic novel? Why change things to look even more suspicious later on? Especially when, second, the later versions of this story directly contradict it by claiming Furman wrote him specifically FOR Transformers, and didn't see any further potential for the character until he saw Geoff Senior's design. And THIRD, even if that was the case, it still does nothing to explain how they managed to keep the rights to the character, because once again, Transformers #113 was inarguably his actual first appearance anyways. Nothing about this foreward changes anything I said in the video, but it's definitely worth mentioning here.

[@sunyavadin]

Everyone is overlooking that in 2006, Simon Furman travelled back in time to 1986 to pull all of this off.

[@insanimal2]

@@sunyavadin Who did he displace into Limbo though?

[@manjackson2772]

*foreword. Also, *tongue-in-cheek.

[@professorplum7025]

The problem is people only THINK the rights are held by the first appearance. The rights could actually have been held by Transformers by default, YET if the character created in Transformers comics appears in a Marvel title within a certain timeframe, it could belong to Marvel. We have no idea what the original contact actually says. And it's likely a lot of these writers and artists don't remember themselves.

[@26th_Primarch]

I have two possible theories: Remember that legal contract said "first appearance," and if Death's Head appeared in the background of a random Marvel comic before actually showing up in Transformers 113 (UK), it's technically possible for Marvel to have claimed his copyright... It's also possible that Hasbro really didn't want him because of how different he is from the Transformers aesthetic and him NOT appearing in the Transformers cartoons which would have led to abysmal sales of any Death's Head related toys or similar products... Also of note that Death's Head isn't the only original character Marvel made for Hasbro's Transformers comics...

[@TheLastGherkin]

Hey! The TFUK Appendix guy here, finding it very surreal to see part of my own article popping up in a recommended video! "High Noon Tex" was the first wiki page written up for the project as a proof of concept entirely to set the records straight on the wild, fluctuating backstory given by Furman over the years. Thanks for putting more eyes on a favourite obscure character of mine, and as I implied in the article - that's some cunning business sense, yes?

[@Wixhael]

Oh no way, that's awesome! Thank you so much for all your hard work on the Appendix, it was such a cornerstone of this video that it probably wouldn't exist without what you wrote!

[@Rougesteelproject]

Hasbro could do the funniest thing ever and make a Marvel X Transformers Collaborative Death's Head figure. Finally give him an alt-mode.

[@The_Blue_Otaku]

What do you think Death's Head's alt mode would be? Because personally I think he'd be a motorbike with his head on the front of the chopper, kinda like how biker gang members would mount a deer's skull on the front of a bike.

[@Rougesteelproject]

@@The_Blue_Otaku Like Lobo's bike from DC? Then they can retool/repaint it.

[@The_Blue_Otaku]

@@Rougesteelproject Yeah I was thinking something like Lobo's bike the Spacehog but instead of a some flying Sci-Fi space bike I was thinking something more like a normal chopper with big handlebars

[@The_Dandyman]

We did get a Marvel Legends of him for an SDCC 2024 exclusive

[@spencergellsworth]

For a sweet minute I had that third party transforming Death's Head that looked a lot like Lockdown's ship. Then he appreciated too fast.

[@lucacaccamese3417]

I think the reason why fans latched onto the idea of Death's Head being written into a widely published comic strip that released before his Transformers debut so that Marvel could maintain the rights to the character is because Marvel did actually do that with another character. Circuit Breaker was a human villain originally made for the Transformers comic, but Marvel managed to put her into a crossover event before her debut issue of Transformers was published.

[@Wixhael]

Yeah, I can totally see that! Furman even mentioned Circuit Breaker in the foreword of DH Volume 1, so I believe it!

[@VirginPrince]

Yeah, protecting the copyright for Circuit Breaker was a real smart move on Marvel's part. The fans have been absolutely clamoring for her. She's practically a license to print money.

[@aleanddragonITA]

I wish Marvel & Transformers co-owned Death Head & Circuit Breaker instead of arguing about it 😢

[@lucacaccamese3417]

@@VirginPrince Except for the part where they haven't done anything with her since the original Transformers comic ended, and seemingly have no plans to do anything with her in the future.

[@KasumiKenshirou]

@@lucacaccamese3417 In later TF (US) comics, Circuit Breaker joined a team of other super-powered human characters. When the TF comic was cancelled, in the letters column the reply to one of the letters said that The Transformers would probably never come back, but that this team (who's name I don't remember) would come back. 😆

[@jonothanthrace1530]

Death's Head is one of Marvel UK's greatest creations, yes?

[@darkrexkigntstone8773]

Beast war megatron: Yesssss

[@moreau1755]

Something you seem to have overlooked or didn't understand - there is a difference between "created" and "published" when it comes to copyright. In neither the US nor UK do you need to publish something - e.g. release it publicly - to get copyright. Don't take my word - type "do you need to publish to get copyright" into Google and you'll see that it's not required in either country. The simple act of creation counts. Marvel's contract with Hasbro gave them rights for anything first PUBLISHED in a Transformers title, but if another strip was produced prior to that publication, as Furman claims, then Marvel would retain copyright, even if that strip wasn't then published until afterwards. Furman's wording was truthful, while (presumably deliberately) not drawing too much attention to this detail - the strip was the first "official" outing, enough for copyright retention, and "subsequently" published - in other words, it wasn't actually published until later. As for the date being scrubbed - the notes in the TPB confirm that initial strip was "hastily drawn" and that Hitch "went on to (almost) completely redesign the character" so the idea that the version subsequently published was a redrawn version, hence the later date, makes sense. The original hastily drawn version was done to get the copyright, then a spruced up version, same script but better art, actually published. The only conspiratorial bit is that someone does seem to have decided to scrub the date, possibly not wanting to draw attention to that detail.

[@matthewevans107]

That’s not how anything works. Copyright can be transferred. The contract stipulates the conditions under which it gets transferred, and that stipulation is based on which published work the character first appeared.

[@Jez-Hunt]

I had totally forgotten about Deaths Head until this video popped up in my suggestions. The Transformers comic was the only comic I read as a kid, my mum couldn't afford more (my brother got 2000AD), so I read and reread every copy so many times. Deaths Head was such a weird and different character, and I remember loving how it made that world feel bigger and stranger, and it felt like he'd stepped out of the pages of my brothers comic. He looked awesome and spoke in a weird idiosyncratic way, I remember how exciting and dangerous he seemed, he was incredibly cool. And in all those intervening years I had forgotten about him, thank you so much for bringing back a really excellent part of my childhood! Now I have to go and find all this extra stuff, yes?

[@Cdr2002]

I’ll never understand why Marvel was so dedicated to keeping the rights to Death’s Head before to basically do nothing with him past the mid 90s

[@manjackson2772]

Because if they don't own him, then someone else will, and they might make money that Marvel then isn't making

[@jonothanthrace1530]

The Death's Head IV miniseries was aces, though.

[@Cdr2002]

@@manjackson2772 you know I think you might be onto something

[@Cdr2002]

@@jonothanthrace1530 I may have missed that one, thanks for the recommendation!

[@jonothanthrace1530]

@@Cdr2002 It was the 2019 miniseries co-starring Hulkling, Wiccan, and Kate Bishop. Also, I was mistaken, the star of that series is DH V; IV is an antagonist in that one.

[@JacobHillSBD]

Dude, it’s like you can peer into my mind! I have the Comic-Con exclusive figure on the way, and I saw on the back of the box that Death’s Head’s first appearance was Dragon’s Claws #1, and thought “Hey what his first appearance was Transformers 113”. I didn’t really dig much deeper, but thank you for doing so!

[@Wixhael]

Glad I could help! The figure is aces, love that thing a LOT. I spotted the "first appearance" thing on there too, it's definitely not great!

[@carlgibson285]

That's really strange since Death's Head doesn't even appear in Dragon's Claws #1. His only appearance in the series is #5.

[@Neekotronus]

So, the simple answer is a line from Furman that you read that he was copywriten before publishing. That's it. He doesn't need to be published before ownership is taken. Filing for copyright is generally, enough.

[@Neekotronus]

Also, no, not a conspiracy. Just a lack of understanding copyright. Manic Mountain out of a molehill.

[@matthewevans107]

The contract supersedes it as you can sell copyright. So publishing the strip after Deaths Head appears in Transformers would cause the copyright to transfer to Hasbro. Hence why it’s not a simple answer.

[@Neekotronus]

@@matthewevans107 lol, no.

[@EuphratesTalksTFs]

This is one of the most well-edited things I've ever seen holy SHIT dude

[@Wixhael]

@@EuphratesTalksTFs Oh wow, that's HIGH praise. Thank you!!

[@emiliolopez2023]

The answer is real simple Marvel copywrote Deaths Head before it went to print. A story and art was created so they had reference for the copyright. In the initial agreement with Hasbro it says everything that first appears in a Transformers comic story is owned by Hasbro. However, it does not consider unrelated back up stories that seemingly do not take place in the Transformers universe like the Death's Head story. It also does not include characters that were previously copywritten by Marvel. These are the same terms that protect characters like Spider-Man or any other Marvel character that might appear in a Transformers comic book. Just because something has not been printed does not mean that a copyright has not been created. In fact, a lot of times when it comes to creating new characters Marvel copyrights them before they are ever printed. Meaning what has been said is not false. The discrepancy in the comic featuring Death's Head is probably because they just couldn't find room in a book to feature it or the actual comic had not been drawn until 1988. But even so, even if the comic was not drawn as long as they had some art, or even a design plus the plot and description of the character they can still copyright it. The real way to put this all to bed is to look into when the character Deaths Head was first copywritten which is public knowledge.

[@moreau1755]

Pretty much what I was thinking. Creation is what counts for copyright purposes, not publication, and Hasbro's deal only said they got the rights to things not already copyright to Marvel which were then first PUBLISHED in Transformers.

[@carlgibson285]

I'm friends with a few people who worked for Marvel UK back then so I'll ask if any of them know anything about this.

[@Harry75]

Death's Head was a time traveller, yes? Met with this human named Hitch, brought him to 1888 and asked him to draw an original story based on one of his adventures.

[@smackerooonii7001]

I hope Furman's mother is very proud

[@insanimal2]

Are you saying Furman is to Wixhael as Tallarico is to Hbomberguy? 🤔

[@genyakozlov1316]

1. Unlike Tommy Tallarico, Simon Fureman definitely created Death's Head, regardless of owning the rights or not. 2. There is nothing wrong with plagiarism beyond the small sin of lying. Copyright is a universal evil. I'm of the belief that immaterial things like stories, concepts, and fictional characters should belong to the people, like during the Soviet Union. That way parents on inventions shouldn't be protected either. Russian authors made great things with that, like Burotino out of Pinocchio and Magic Land out of Wizard of Oz, both of which are in my opinion way superior to the original works, and both admit in the book forewords to be retellings, thus not even lying. They are undisputed classics of Russian literature. Sadly the copyright infringement laws prevent people from admitting to taking another's ideas, so I can't even blame people for lying these days.

[@insanimal2]

Please note i am not intending to imply anything bad about Simon Furman, i would never

[@endofcentury7077]

​@@insanimal2Well, he's doing a pretty good Hbomberguy impression

[@KasumiKenshirou]

@@genyakozlov1316 I wouldn't eliminate copyright laws, just revert them to how they worked when they were originally created -- the creator of a work would have a 14 year monopoly on it, followed by an option to extend the copyright protection for another 14 years. After that it would become public domain, and anyone could use it. At the very least, they sure as hell shouldn't extend beyond the death of the author! The copyright laws were created to give a financial incentive for an author to create, but balance it out so that the public would eventually be able to use the work, too.

[@forty_two42]

I'm just glad someone besides myself remembers Deaths Head. I have an 18,000 word fan fiction in my Google docs I wrote about Adult Franklin Richards and Deaths Head starting a new Infinity Watch. Also in the fanfic Hawkeye and Mayday Parker restart Force Works.

[@Wixhael]

Hell yeah, it's always cool hearing other people bring up that Franklin and DH have a history!

[@chrisbeyond1879]

"I'm no snitch"

[@MattyStoked]

Absolutely EXCELLENT video! Love the character and loved how you put this together. Awesome stuff, mate!

[@PatriciaCross]

While I also wouldn't want to entirely take Deathshead from Marvel; I would love if Hasbro didn't have to name their version of the character Lockdown.

[@afroscifizianzcomix7836]

So we're not going to get a Death's Head/Curcuit Breaker crossover?

[@stormyboi7]

holy shit, this was a RIDE.

[@Simianradio]

Holy shit, Hasbro is gonna cite this video when they sue Marvel/Disney.

[@Wixhael]

They'd better not, I'd rather take the video down than let this be the reason Marvel can't use him anymore!

[@BooHooper]

@@Wixhael This is why those of us who have come to the same realization as you decades ago have kept quiet about it and accepted the story as-is. This is one of those rights-disputes-fiascos that can stick a character in legal limbo. Just look at what is going on between DC & Marvel over Machine Man.

[@KasumiKenshirou]

From a financial standpoint, Hasbro probably would not want to spend the money on a lawsuit with Disney over a character that most people have never even heard of. I doubt any Hasbro execs have even heard of Death's Head.

[@AnAverageGoblin]

@@BooHooper Defeatist attitude.

[@TheNewSam]

I'd read your Death's Head run. I don't even read comics these days, but I'd read that.

[@davewire87]

I’m just think it’s funny that Hasbro ended up making a Death’s Head toy this year.

[@thebalzan9475]

Maybe if there are/were contract issues, they can be settled with being able to release the original design in the Transformers line, and the character could be shared for use in Transformers media.

[@Wixhael]

Definitely funny, but I'm super glad it happened! I love that figure!

[@silviainsertsurnamehere9620]

Holy shit my entire life is a lie

[@milton7521]

Thanks for the mention, buddy! Great video - can't believe how much work you've put into this. I see you found your copy of Life and Times and the signature hadn't changed there either. I looked at Incomplete Death's Head #1, and unsurprisingly it also states Hitch '88.

[@Wixhael]

@@milton7521 Yeah, thanks for directing me to that article! It's super weird how inconsistent they are with the signature, it seems like the erasure was a more recent change since it seems like the first instance I can find of it happening was Fallen Angel.

[@BagOfMagicFood]

This must explain that "Sign, don't date" advice I saw elsewhere.

[@mus_cetiner]

Great video. I've been living with this curse knowledge with this a long time. I've loved Death's Head character since Transformers and I've never forgiven the creative team for what happened to Death's Head in Deaths' Head 2 mini series, they broke my heart. Lol.

[@lefszycic]

Wow. You had to read Fallen Angels, the debut of Gomi, Bill the Lobster, and Don the Lobster.

[@hotrodney964]

As a member of the uk transformers community I’ve met Simon many times, he’s a really approachable warm guy who loves the fandom and talks regularly at the conventions about all things TF including deathshead, my thoughts on the matter were like yours, Simon and marvel saw the real potential in the character and leaving him the TF universe would have been a waste, so there must have been a gentleman agreement of sorts to switch rights, however Simon has no real ownership of the character now which I think is a shame, recently hasbro made a marvel legend figure of deathshead and Simon ask if anyone in the community would pick him one up from the US, that’s how disrespectful marvel is to the creator of the character that he wasn’t even sent a $20 figure for free in the post.

[@darylmillar]

It is a real shame that Marvel haven't allowed Furman to do anything more with Death's Head as the creator (and best writer) of the character. Even when fans voted for Death's Head in a poll of which character should be brought back in a new story, they only let him do Death's Head 3.0. Which was unrelated to the original character they didn't let him close the story with the character saying "Yes?" as a way to hint of a real connection. So as much as I like the potential for Death's Head to pop up in the Marvel universe every now and then, I hate how they treated Furman when it came to the character. Even going back to the planned revival miniseries for Death's Head in the early Nineties which was scrapped in favour of Death's Head II. A reasonable stand-in for Death's Head is the hired assassin Killatoa in Furman and Senior's series To The Death.

[@gecbomb]

this dude used to make minecraft skins

[@joebaker5581]

From making Minecraft skins to doing battle with the Transformers, Dr. Who, and a plethora of superheroes isn't a half bad career trajectory if ya ask me.

[@Mimic_Gaming]

Death’s Head = the key to transformers and mcu crossover

[@insanimal2]

Chatted with you on bluesky about this but wanted to leave a comment on the video itself just for the algorithm, because this deserves to blow up

[@Wixhael]

@@insanimal2 Thank you so much, I really appreciate it!

[@ComnerSemko-yd7wf]

If you do ever get around to penning a deaths head comic, do make this one to the plots, yes? Like have him try to get to the bottom of the mystery of how he was created (he needs to peacefully remove his creator) only to not be able to get the guy who did it and so he gives up on caring about his past.

[@Wixhael]

@@ComnerSemko-yd7wf Oh, I have IDEAS about how to tackle his backstory. Maybe not quiiiite that, since we know he was created by a fella named Lupex, but there IS a pretty big mystery surrounding who stole/reprogrammed him later down the line! I'd definitely wanna write about that if I got the chance!

[@darylmillar]

That would be fitting as the fictional origins of Death's Head are as complex as the origins of how the character came to be in real life.

[@raffausfaus]

Death’s head can connect DOCTOR WHO WITH LOKI

[@Alverant]

Maybe DH isn't important enough for Hasborg to go after. Plus, you have to be consistent in enforcing copyright. You can't just decide to do it years after the fact. It's very likely you know all the facts and Furman successfully pulled a fast one. It's like when you go through the self-checkout at the grocery store and you "forget" to put a $2 clearance item on the scanner. Yes, you got away with it, but the store isn't going to bother calling you out on it the next time you visit, much less ban you.

[@lucacaccamese3417]

I agree that Hasbro doesn't really need Death's Head anymore. They've already made Lockdown as a stand-in/substitute for him. And since Lockdown is an actual Transformer and not just an alien cyborg, it means that Hasbro can release toys of him in their regular Transformers toy lines.

[@jonothanthrace1530]

@@lucacaccamese3417 Seems like a really dull replacement to me.

[@dillydraws]

@@jonothanthrace1530 Don't you dare call Lockdown Dull.

[@jonothanthrace1530]

@@dillydraws They don't look nearly as interesting as DH.

[@dillydraws]

@@jonothanthrace1530 Are you looking at the bayverse design or animated? Or idw, or cyberverse, or legacy

[@NovaSaber]

If Hasbro wants to do anything with technically owning Death's Head, it should be "trade him for Circuit Breaker" (who is definitely owned by Marvel, but still has her first appearance as her ONLY non-Transformers appearance).

[@venobladebionicles6228]

Chat wake up new Wixhael death's head video dropped

[@billdagrasshawking]

I remember unwrapping his trading card in the early 90’s, ever since I’ve checked every doller bin I come across but I’ve never found an issue with deaths head in it

[@andrewgrant6516]

Because he's too awesome to be found in dollar bins, fool! Start with Walt Simonson's Fantastic Four run.

[@windowone]

Your previous video on him has made me a deaths head fan, I blame you for everything

[@beefgravystudios]

I was a comic fan in the '90s and I haven't thought about death's head in years. This was so incredibly interesting. That's some dang fine research you did.

[@warsmithkorath5882]

Freelance peacekeeping agent ,Yes

[@triphazard6802]

Insightful and intriguing dive into a character that I believe is the greatest Marvel/Hasbro creation ever. Ironic that it's Hasbro that now slavishly make his action figure for Marvel. Oh, and I would read the hell out of a DH book if you were to be commissioned to write it.

[@darthdavlo9516]

while it may be true that Marvel may have done more for DH than Hasbro would ever do, I still think it´s unfair that a character that contributed so much to the original comics isn´t available to Hasbro. Sure, Lockdown is a good replacement, but wouldn´t it have been so cool if they could make a reference to the comics by having DH in animated be a traveler from another universe? I think Marvel and Simon did bad on stealing the character, it´s already bad enough that they also did the same with Circuit Breaker who to this day hasn´t had a good replacement on the franchise and I doubt she'll ever have beyond the occasional references they make to her in random comics. But I don´t think Hasbro should sue Marvel or fight for the character, if they had just arranged shared rights over the character things could've gone completely different. I still don't see Hasbro seeing Marvel for DH, if it hasn't happened already I doubt they'll ever do it, I even doubt they really care about the character, if they had the license they most likely wouldn't have used him as much as we wish, I doubt they would've made him the villain of TF4 for example or making the ROTF figure they released of him, so while I think it's unfair they lost the character I don't think it's a tragic lost.

[@SyntheticHuman01]

I ❤ characters that was supposed to be a one and done, just to be loved by all....

[@ua_rez6169]

Deserves so much more views, even if I am cursed with this insane knowledge now, too....

[@HistorySkate]

I’m more confused as to why there hasn’t been any pushback from hasbro. Like why hide it if both parties agree. Not to mention hasbro has the license for marvel legends. Where they recently released a hasbro marvel legends death head figure.

[@QueenStodge]

I just wish Transformers got to keep Circuit Braker, as she was amazing in the comics but never made an appearance in the Marvel Comics despite them having the rights

[@unintelligentdesign2644]

If I recall correctly, I am pretty sure the guy doing my Clownworld book (Russ Leach) had something to do with Death's Head editorial, I think I remember him telling me something about the issue being over something to do with the fact the character was created at Marvel UK instead of the main Marvel Office? Its been years, I'll have to ask again. As for Marvel hiring you to do Death's Head. They won't. Its unlikely we will see him again. Its like Rom the Space Knight. Marvel has changed how it operates from the old days. Most issues don't even get past #6 issue runs anymore, so asking for a 17 issue run is probably the most unhinged thing in this while twisted conspiracy theory video. ;) That said, if you do think there is demand for a character like Death's Head... why not make your own character, your own comic universe, and hire an artist to make it? The crowdfunding space is robust and I am always a big fan of cool new robot stuff. I'd promote it so long as it didn't look like trash. God's Speed, Wizhael!

[@lunchbot1]

That is an interesting point that it was Marvel UK instead of Marvel US. Aside from possible differences in the contracts, the UK does have different IP laws and practices regarding ownership of characters created in fictional works. As for new Death's Head comics--the original Death's Head has been making guest appearances in various Marvel comics throughout the past decade. And yeah, while an ongoing solo DH title is surely out of the question these days, he had his own 4-issue miniseries as recently as 2019. Writers who are fans of the character keep bringing him back.

[@brownmims2311]

This conspiracy soars above me like some kind of predatory bird.

[@andrewgrant6516]

And shits on you like a pigeon.

[@Number_1_Rated_Salesman1997]

“That was a great video.” *_341 Views_* WHAT THE FU

[@KasumiKenshirou]

KZbin is always promoting AI-generated crap.

[@j0rtsy]

Oh, this video is going to explode.

[@NQR-9000]

So... can we at least blackmail Marvel into making a "ROM Space Knight X Death's Head" crossover movie or something?

[@thedeadpoolwhochuckles.6852]

A Rom Com?

[@artwithmichael5547]

Dude!!! We know this! You are blowing the conspiracy of silence!

[@ToaDaGardeKat]

As a TF fan I'm too zoomer, I grew up with Lockdown The Death's Head in IDW looks more like Lockdown in design, dunno about behavior or role

[@Wixhael]

I grew up with Lockdown too, he's great! Fun fact, Lockdown was actually made as a substitute for Death's Head because they wanted to use him in Animated but couldn't get the rights!

[@ToaDaGardeKat]

@Wixhael yes, its why I brought it up, as I simply _only_ have experience with the substitute who has admittedly diverged a lot since then. If Animated Lockdown is still the default and not Cyberverse Lockdown, then it seems Hasbro has little reason to want Death's Head back, but I'll have to check out the IDW Death's Head to see how different he is behavior and role-wise from Animated or AoE Lockdown before I can make that declaration confidently

[@insanimal2]

@@ToaDaGardeKat I'm real confused. beyond a reference in text to a freelance peacekeeping agent, I didn't think he appeared in IDW?

[@darylmillar]

@@Wixhael Assuming Hasbro does have a claim to the Death's Head copyright because of the first appearance in Transformers, I wasn't sure if they didn't know or didn't care. But if they wanted to use Death's Head in Animated, then that seems like proof that they didn't know (I'm assuming any Hasbro-owned character could be used in Animated).

[@lucasbueno5720]

My two cents about the situation is that sometime during everything happened back in the day or even sometime after that Hasbro and Marvel definitely worked somenthing out behind the scenes and theres no real legal trouble behind the character, but the "cover up" was mainteined as the official story because well, its a nice story. It makes the character special, a character that came out so cool that they got out of their way to own it. As a creator i would love to continue to tell that origin story for the character even if its fake

[@autobottrixter]

Fun story: I have the original art for High Noon Tex… but I’m in the middle of moving, and JUST before a friend showed me this video, I dropped it off at a friend’s comic shop for safekeeping! Normally I could just walk over to my wall to look at it but I’ll have to pop over there and look for clues later in the week. 😁

[@AWW8472]

I think by 1987, Hasbro wasn't paying attention to a property that was dieing out on the toyshelves. They were focused on the next thing. Like buying Tonka.

[@MattStryker]

Someone, not me, should forward this over to the Legal Eagle guy. He has a huge following and would be able to clearly break down all the legal ramifications of all of this. Not to mention that the exposure to your channel would be INSANE. He seems to love copywrite law and stuff like this.

[@LordCornshoe]

Ironically I think Death's Head would be more popular in the alternate reality where Hasbro got ownership of him. They could fully fold him into the Transformers universe and he'd probably get more toys than he's gotten. Hell, if SENTINEL PRIME, another character Furman created and intended to be completely disposable could rise to become the main antagonist of TWO Transformers movies, than Death's Head could have gone pretty far too.

[@mr.supersentairobo455]

the goat has returned

[@smashstuff86]

Now that I think about it, Death's Head is shrunken down in High Noon Tex, unless he was on a planet of giants.

[@DegeneragentX]

The questionable ownership is probably why Marvel didn't do much with (besides that whole "II" thing) besides guest appearances with writers who remembered him. "Clone Drive" I bet was Marvels first step over the line to see if legal troubles, and/or success, come around.

[@SigmaSal9]

I’d read Death’s Head 2 when that originally came out. Had no clue about the character’s history.

[@sethputnamsghost]

Happy 40th Transformers! Yess🥳

[@davidmiddleton7958]

Death's Head, a (bounty hunter) free-lance peace keeping agent for certain financial remunerations. This character starred in a short lived British comic called Dragon's Claws! This is after the Dr. Who cross over! But, Death's Head originally starred in Transformers comics.

[@anthonyhero9605]

It's pretty obvious what happened, Hasbro didn't care enough to fight Marvel Corp. at the time for the rights of a character that wasn't too important to them since they we're more into marketing the main product, aka "The Transformers". So they just let them have him. An agreement was made, and any information disclosing about its origin and its distribution was held closed. Simple.

[@NotAvailable-_-]

Thank you! I thought I was going crazy. I heard the High Noon Tex story. I thought it was funny, and want to buy it. But no matter where I searched nothing. I thought, well Death's Head isn't that popular and it was a backup in a non-main Marvel title. That the information was just lost to time. But nope, it doesn't exist. Thank you.

[@andrewgrant6516]

What are you talking about? Of course it exists!

[@darylmillar]

High Noon Tex is a one-page story which was printed in several Marvel UK comics to promote the Death's Head comic. I'm not sure if it's in any of the Death's Head collected editions (without contents pages, it's difficult to be sure) but it is printed in the back of the Transformers: Fallen Angel graphic novel from 2002.

[@CaptainRegular]

The REAL travesty of it all? They didn't title the strip "High Noon Techs." It was RIGHT THERE.

[@VinnCapp]

inspiration tends to jump around, the face design reminds me of the Maxx from image comics...

[@spencergellsworth]

Yeah, I think that Death's Head was way too much fun to throw around the Marvel U for Simon Furman to let Hasbro take him.

[@the_cyberchill]

I'm of the opinion that like with circuit breaker, perhaps back when crossovers were more common, could of been a way to co-own the characters, alas like Circuit breaker, it was not to be, but at least Marvel seems to own him outright without any dispute from Hasbro, until your video game along, the age of friendly crossovers between rivals like Almalgam are long gone, with huge megacorps like Disney, Warnerbrothers-Discovery, and Hasbro seemingly never wanting to even touch the idea unless they consume one another and become a larger monopoly.

[@Mecharnie_Dobbs]

14:27 "...Legal, establishing the trademark..." "...[Marvel's] legal [department] establishing the trademark..." That's why they have the rights to the character. Surely, a trademark supersedes a copyright. Does the first person to put a previously trademarked brand of hamburger into a comic, own the rights to that brand? I don't think so! Advertising companies produce and publish the first broadcast footage of any trademarked product. And they own the copyright on the adverts they make. You can't copy them. But they don't own the copyright on the thing that was trademarked.

[@andrewgrant6516]

Oh my God. Such nonsense. Go to school. Not an American one, a proper one.

[@Draco-FishProductions]

This video is insane!

[@GuyEndore]

Most likely hasbro and marvel just made an agreement behind closed door.

[@darylmillar]

It seems copyright is secured at the point of creation, not publication. So if High Noon Tex was made as a way of securing the copyright to Death's Head for Marvel before appearing in Transformers, it would do so even if it was published later. As long as it was made before DH appeared in Transformers. The question is - was it? We'll probably never know for sure. Unless there's a dated copy in a Marvel vault somewhere, there's not enough evidence to say either way. Either a version of High Noon Tex was drawn before Transformers #113 and then redrawn before publication, or it was drawn later and the 'official' story is wrong. Transformers #113 was published in May 1987. According to Wikipedia, Bryan Hitch was given his first professional commission by Marvel UK in May or June 1987 for Action Force soon after his 17th birthday in April that year. But it's unclear precisely when he submitted his sample story to them. It's just about possible that, soon before TF#113 was published in May 1987, someone at Marvel UK - probably Richard Starkings, the editor - got Furman to write a one-page story and this was given to the new kid 16- or 17-year-old Hitch to draw as one of his very first tasks for the company. It's possible, but is it likely? As the original artist, and given the timing in 1987, would such a task more usually be given to Geoff Senior at that point? Or is it more likely that Bryan Hitch first drew High Noon Tex in 1988 as a promotional piece when he was given the job of drawing the new Death's Head series (presumably because Geoff Senior was busy with Dragon's Claws)? Again, we'll probably never know. Even if High Noon Tex was drawn after Death's Head appeared in Transformers, the story told may not have been a ploy to keep Hasbro from disputing the copyright. It may just be some people misremembering the sequence of events, making assumptions and retelling the story until it became the 'official' version.

[@MartinPittBradley]

I’m Canadian/British and would get some UK comics and have no idea WTF Death’s Head was

[@warsmithkorath5882]

Look into Killpower, warheads , Deathshead 2

[@Webhead123]

I need to read some Death's Head. It's been too long.

[@GoblinToxin]

The real conspiracy here is...why Death's Head look like The Maxx!?

[@FluxNomad678]

Okay I was wondering if they were worried about this copyright and that's why death's head2 was a thing

[@HistorySkate]

The fact that your less serious silly video about a conspiracy led to an actual conspiracy is crazy lmao

[@StuandBeyond]

*gasps* You don’t like Death’s Head II?!

[@Ali-ii8il]

Yeah...... Hasbro dose not care nor wants him back at all he is clearly own by marvel forever they already have a character inspired by him and that's lockdown the creators wanted this character to be a marvel character cause they saw great potential in him he still appears in the comics and we even another toy of him this year, like i hope he shows up in the video games and hopefully a TV show or movie like maybe he can be in a future Lego marvel game also i remember seeing him in a rocket and groot kids graphic novel by the way the people who want this character back to transformers is down right dumb and will never happen at all like death's head ain't even a transformer at all because he never you know transform! like the people who want that are the people who want ROM to be own by marvel which is something that will never happen and is dumb because ROM never was marvel to begin with because he was a toy created by Parker brothers who later on is owned by Hasbro, like yeah they got the rights to him again to reprint the comics and i guess make new comics i think? but he isn't there's at all because he is own by Hasbro also there are other marvel characters that appeared in license comics like red ronin and doctor demonicus from marvel Godzilla comics yet when they loss the rights to Godzilla years ago toho never own those two and they had been marvel characters ever since

[@dannycruz5446]

Marvel would tend to outright own any characters they created on licensed books (rom,micronauts,etc) so i believe Death's Head was Marvel's all along. The retconning of his 1st apprearance has to do with his solo series in the fall of '88.

[@matthewevans107]

Marvel don’t own the rights to Micronauts or ROM. James Gunn stated he wanted ROM in GoTG but they didn’t have the license. Marvel owns the Space Knights, which is the lore around ROM. ROM is owned by whichever company bought the toy company.

[@dannycruz5446]

@matthewevans107 I said they own the characters created in the series. So they own Bug & Marionette but not Force Commander & Baron Karza.The Dire Wraiths are another one from Rom that they own. I think not having the full rights are what kept them from reprinting that stuff for decades. But something must've changed since they were able to make omnibuses for both series recently.

[@matthewevans107]

@@dannycruz5446that’s a misunderstanding on my part. The contracts aren’t universal as everyone involved acknowledges Hasbro owned any character first published in Transformers. Which given Hasbro’s greater market power than Marvel at the time, is understandable.

[@Feasco]

hell of a job application

[@VirginPrince]

Honestly, it probably really is just a case of Marvel being shady. Wouldn't be the first time.

[@TomHagen-g1d]

Does Marvel really own Circuit Breaker? People say they do because of Secret Wars II, but Marvel have never used her since the end of the first Transformers series. Years ago, Dwayne McDuffie posted on a forum asking for suggestions for obscure Marvel characters to cameo in his Beyond! Limited series. One fan suggested Circuit Breaker, explaining the legal situation as fans commonly understand it. McDuffie replied that his editor said Marvel didn’t have the rights to the character. Was it a lazy editor refusing to look past the surface level Transformers=Hasbro? Or did he have information fans don’t? After Transformers was canceled Simon Furman pitched a Neo Knights series to Marvel, with Transformers replaced with generic robot villains. But most of the Neo Knights unambiguously first appeared in the Transformers comic. How was this meant to work?

[@jaysnaystube]

bloody hell dude, im over in scotland, im 48,, i collected and still have all to transformer comics, as soon as i saw death's head a lightbulb switched on, I'm going to have to pull out the comics and have a look. just had a thought,, are you sure i wasnt in another UK franchise before hand.....2000ad

[@manuellujan666]

Wondered what that was all about

[@A_Cozey_Dunt]

Tbh Even if Hasbro had every right to Death's Head It doesn't really matter As they've since made Lockdown Who was explicitly made so they could have a bounty hunter character akin to DH

[@cesly87]

We know you aren’t suicidal.

[@shaithis77]

Super interesting, and all, but still- NAAAARRRCCCC!!!!

[@glixlplixle]

You had me until "DH II sucks."

[@cullenn2100]

I've béen on this very same attempt to reconcile this clearly false story (it was clearly false to me, at 12 years old) with my love of DH as a Marvel character for about 36 years. Seeing this video for me is like when the two Milhouses met

[@jamesalexhowlett]

11:57 - if you know, you know.

[@tennozeorymer]

Hey. I like Death's Head II. He's functionally a totally different character than our favorite Freelance Peacekeeping Agent, yes? Death's Head II is grimdark and moody and edgy and extreeeeeeeme! Thankfully they both can and do exist without problem. I I see DHII as a "variant," as they say in the MCU. Stop dumping on my lil' monster-skull-face boi!

[@gabeguterres7726]

You do a great British accent.

[@auslander7258]

Good hunting behind this video, yes?

[@davidcauley9400]

I'll be honest, if Hasbro use this to take legal control over DH I'm not going to thank you *at all*. But other than that its a great vid. Weirdly in my memory I DID see high noon Tex before DH appeared in the actual TFs storyline, but childhood memory is prone to being false.

[@darylmillar]

I'm similar. Until fairly recently, I thought I'd always "known" that Death's Head's first appearance was in High Noon Tex. But where I would have got that idea from, I have no idea. Maybe I'm just thinking of seeing High Noon Tex before the Death's Head comic launched rather than before his appearance in Transformers.

[@AxelPeter]

Whatever this is more plz

[@soniclore]

No, yes?