Marvel Legends Black Panther figure review Build-A-Figure Okoye wave

Black Panther is easily one of my favorite Marvel characters and his movie was right at the top as far as standalone movies go. I’ve gotten more MCU Black Panther figures than I expected thanks to a pair of quality and essential Build A Figures, but I don’t mind having an extensive Black Panther collection either. This time, I’m looking at the standard updated suit Shuri made for her big brother. It’s one of the better costume updates we’ve seen so far in the MCU.

Packaging:   Nothing especially new to say here. Black Panther has a combination of blue and yellow accent colors throughout the packaging. The side portrait looks to be a hybrid drawing/stock promotional art. The back features a shot of the figure and a very basic bio.

Like all of the Black Panther figures, there’s a yellow insert with the Panther logo prominently featured. It’s the ideal color to showcase the characters in the packaging as it helps them pop.

Likeness:  This new suit features a more pronounced panther style head sculpt and is more steamlined than the first attire. There’s a complex pattern to show the vibranium stitching in addition to the obvious decorative elements like the bracelets, necklace and shin plates.

At this scale, Hasbro did a great job replicating this outfit. It looks sleeker and is engineered better than the previous figure, which I really liked.

Hasbro’s detail matches up pretty comparable as the Hot Toys version, which had more room to get more complex with the pattern. This is one of the better movie sculpts I’ve seen from Hasbro so far.

I love the claw hands as it shows Panther ready to strike.

Paint:  There’s not a lot to paint here save the silver accents. For the most part, the paint work is nice and precise. I noticed most of the paint imprecision came at the points of the silver strips. That’s a tiny area to work with so I understand why it’s not always perfect.

What overspray there is can largely be fixed thanks to the base black plastic.

Scale:   Black Panther is about average height and should look Captain America eye to eye. The figure is right from what I can see. I clearly need to get more MCU Marvel Legends figures for a better comparison.

MORE:

• Marvel Legends Family Matters – Magneto, Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver figure review
• Hot Toys reveals Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 Stan Lee figure
• DC Comics reviews for 7/3/19
• Spider-Man: Far From Home movie review – swings higher than any other Spidey film

Articulation:  This updated figure features a smoother articulation scheme allowing for better range of movement for iconic Panther poses. There’s really not much I can think of that’s missing and it’s a great reason to double dip on movie Black Panther figures.

Black Panther has:

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

And oh yeah, he can also do this, which is pretty cool.

Accessories:  This version of Black Panther comes with an unmasked T’Challa head sculpt.

The likeness to Chadwick Boseman is pretty soft even before the paintjob inexplicably has him far lighter than his skin tone. Oh well, at least now I’ve got a different head for a random goon for my villains.

He also comes with two fists. I always appreciate the display option flexibility with different hands and heads so this is appreciated.

Finally, Black Panther has the head for the Build-A-Figure Okoye.

Worth it?  I missed my window to get this figure for below $20 and ended up paying $25. Such is the life of a collector. But I did get an improved Black Panther figure and the essential head for Okoye so it was worth it.

Rating:  9.5 out of 10

The T’Challa head sculpt is lackluster, but otherwise this is the one Black Panther figure you’d need if you could only get one. And you need this figure to complete Okoye.

Where to get it?  This wave of Black Panther figures is nearly out of retail now, but GameStop keeps them in stock pretty regularly.  You can always go the Amazon or Entertainment Earth route as well.