Every toy line has that guy.
You know who I mean — that one figure that everyone owned, but nobody actually wanted to play with. Be it Stratos from Masters of the Universe or Panthro from Thundercats, every toy line has that dud character who only ended up in your toy box because all of the good figures were taken. And while there are many to choose from, few classic action figures are thrown as much shade as Kenner’s Death Squad Commander. The amount of Internet smack-talk about this figure is considerable, but there’s a chance — just a chance — that this one time, the Internet is wrong. Join me now as we travel back to the twilight days of 1977, when a movie/toy-line/cultural phenomenon called Star Wars came along and changed our toy boxes forever.
My first Star Wars figure was C-3PO, who I talked about here. Threepio was great for what he was, but he was no Luke Skywalker or Darth Vader. It was obvious who the “cool” characters were — they were front and center in that first assortment of twelve figures. Kenner had yet to start strip-mining George Lucas’s beard for stray character concepts, so that initial series was pretty solid; It featured the heroes (Luke Skywalker, Princess Leia Organa, Han Solo, Chewbacca and Ben (Obi-Wan) Kenobi), the villains (Darth Vader, Stormtrooper), the robots (See-Threepio and Artoo-Detoo), and a few bit-part players who nonetheless flushed out the play experience (Sand People, Jawas). But there was one figure who didn’t quite fit the mold. Sure, he was an Imperial and technically a “bad guy,” but the Death Squad Commander had one vital quality that all of the other characters lacked: anonymity.
Decades before Family Guy immortalized him for wanting a railing, Death Squad Commander was known for… well, not much. That’s because he’s wasn’t so much a character as an amalgamation of background players blended together to produce a toy. The story goes, when Grand Moff Tarkin required an elite fighting force, he took his pick of the best of the Imperial Navy troopers and stationed them alongside him on the newly completed Death Star. Trained to occupy a wide variety of roles, the Death Star Troopers included both combat and non-combat positions, and were loyal to the Imperial Navy and Tarkin himself, as opposed to regulation Troopers loyal to Emperor Palpatine. Their loyalty would never be tested thanks to two well-placed proton torpedoes, but that didn’t stop Kenner from immortalizing them alongside some of the most recognizable characters in modern pop culture.
According to Wookieepedia, notable Commanders include Devin Cant, Tajis Durmin, and Grenwick. In other words, there are no notable Death Squad Commanders. In spite of whatever backstory fan-wank you wanna quote from, the DSC are a bunch of nobodies. And that further reinforces my point. When you have a toy of nobody, he could be anybody. And that was the real appeal of this guy to young Anthill. His militaristic design and grim demeanor gave him an intensity that even Darth Vader lacked. Unlike the heroes who came with small sidearms, the Commander came packed with an E-11 blaster, which he held with a merciless precision. These factors, combined with his mutable backstory, created the ideal character for fantasy play. A position of authority but questionable morality, a squad of Stormtroopers at his beck and call, in my play group, the Commander became more of a rogue than Han Solo. To the horror of my friends, he even commandeered the Millennium Falcon on more than one occasion. Heresy, I know, but bear with me.
In the dark days of the late 1970s, the Death Squad Commander was about as close as a kid could get to a fully-painted and articulated 3 3/4-inch soldier. G.I. Joe wouldn’t come along for another five years, which meant if you wanted military-style action on a small scale, you were stuck playing with those crummy little green men. That is, if you lacked imagination. Personally, I was willing to muddy the waters a bit for fun’s sake. X-Wing Pilot Luke make an excellent Hayata stand-in when I played Ultraman. I could look past his origins as a Star Wars character, something that was much harder to do with Jawas or R2-D2. Happily, the Death Squad Commander fit the bill for “generic action soldier” perfectly, ensuring his place at the very top of my Darth Vader carrying case. Nothing less would do.
Time has not been kind to the Death Squad Commander. He was one of the first “remaindered” Star Wars figures, warming pegs long after the better-known figures had sold through. This led to many kids receiving him instead of their wanted Lukes and Hans, resulting in a resentment that would manifest in countless bitter Internet lists decades later. Sure, he’s not a “real” character, but that doesn’t change the fact that the Death Squad Commander provides an opportunity for kids to play inside of the Star Wars universe, as a character part of, but not cemented to, the events of Episode 4. There’s just enough wiggle-room to make him interesting, railing jokes aside. While later iterations of the character saw the name on the package changed to “Star Destroyer Commander” due to historical connotations, he will always be the Death Squad Commander to me.
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