Marvel Legends Dora Milaje figure review

Christopher Priest came up with the idea for the Dora Milaje, who were Black Panther’s elite fighting force comprised of all women. That was a cool concept and it was very cool to see them in action in Black Panther.

With their added prominence in Avengers: Infinity War, Hasbro didn’t want to miss its window and released another Dora Milaje to join the BAF Okoye — that I still haven’t completed — and Nakia. After the second Black Panther wave, my Wakanda section has exponentially grown, which is something I never thought I’d be able to say. Let’s see if the Dora are ready for action.

Packaging:   For some reason the Dora Milaje have the Avengers: Infinity War logo instead of Black Panther. Yeah, they were in the movie, but it’s an odd switch for seemingly no reason.

Maybe retailers or Hasbro wanted to slap Avengers on some of the figures in the wave to break it up somewhat? The bio is cool as it explains the bad-a$$ focus of the Dora Milaje.

Likeness:  Hasbro was playing catch up with the original wave of figures and likely were working off of older designs. For the Dora, the intricate costume designs by Ruth E. Carter are far more elaborate and detailed. This is some impressive work as the various layers, textures, beading and armor is well represented.

It’s not an exact match, but definitely close enough at this scale. I’d love to see Hot Toys tackle the Dora in a two-pack at some point.

The figure includes two alternate heads, which I’ll discuss later, but the default one is good with a fierce expression. I dig that in this case as it will help add some variety in a display.

Paint:  I got three Dora and none had perfect pristine paint work.

The line work is way too detailed to expect no paint sprays and the occasional missed or botched line. None look ridiculously sloppy though, which was far more my concern.

None of the heads have bad paintjobs. I got three so I figured I’d find at least one ideal paintjob in one of the sets. I do hate that the trademark info is on the inside of the skirt and is in white as it really stands out here.

Scale:   The Dora ranged in height so not everyone was the same. Ayo was the tallest, but others were shorter. This figure is the standard size however.

Articulation:  I complain about this all the time, but man the missing bicep joint is so crucial here. The Dora tend to hold their weapons in deep lunging poses, which would be so much easier to accomplish with that bicep joint.

They’re hardly the first female figure that needs it, but it really feels lacking here.

 

Beyond that, we get the standard level of articulation making for a dynamic figure that’s a lot of fun to pose and maneuver.

Dora Milaje has:

• neck
• ball-jointed shoulders
• elbow
• wrist
• wrist hinge
• torso
• hip
• thigh
• knee (double-jointed)
• ankle

Accessories:  Here’s where I got into trouble with Hasbro throwing in so many extras for us.

There’s two alternate head sculpts. One is based off of Ayo, who confronted Black Widow in Captain America: Civil War. Besides the eyes looking up instead of forward (always, for my Luke Cage readers) the head sculpt looks great and the actress’ likeness is dead on. The second is more of a generic sculpt I think — we don’t get a close up on many of the other Dora for me to be 100% sure.

What’s really cool though is Hasbro added three weapons. There’s the same circular blades we saw with Nakia, but there’s also a long spear and a shorter staff. That means if you at least bought three Dora you could have them each with different weapons. The spears aren’t an exact match for the source material, but definitely close enough.

Finally, the Dora come with the right leg of the Build A Figure M’Baku.

Worth it?  I paid full price for my first Dora, but was able to get the next two for $11 and $15. That’s the ideal price for army building. I probably should have gotten some more at $11 and worry about different head sculpts later.

Rating:  9.5 out of 10

If you’re deep diving into the world of Black Panther like me getting a slew of Dora Milaje is important. I probably should get one more to balance out my army, but with this quality I could definitely see adding more when another price drop hits.

Where to get it?  This wave of Black Panther figures is nearly out of retail now, but you can still try GameStop.  If that’s a problem, give Amazon or Entertainment Earth a shot.