Marvel Legends Black Panther T’Chaka figure review – M’Baku BAF wave
I’m closing in on this Marvel Legends M’Baku wave. This is the price to pay when Hasbro releases 3,426 in a year — not a complaint. Today, I’m looking at T’Chaka, the 90s Black Panther in the MCU who held things down in Wakanda before his son, T’Challa. Let’s see how Papa Panther’s figure turned out.
Packaging: It’s the same blue and orange color scheme we’ve seen with the rest of the BP wave. It’s a smart color choice that helps the figure to pop in the packaging. The bio adequately explains his history and background.
Likeness: I loved the T’Chaka sequence in Black Panther as I thought his attire was really cool. His costume reflected the early 90s hip-hop trend of wearing African grab.
Hasbro designed a separate Kente cloth piece for T’Chaka and it is amazingly done with dedicated sculpting for the various layers and patterns. It’s very impressive and certainly not a case where Hasbro relied on paint to handle intricate designs.
T’Chaka’s head sculpt is all new to reflective the unique nature of his helmet compared to T’Challa’s version.
The top half of the body is based off the Civil War Black Panther figure. I can’t place the lower half with cargo pants but I’m pretty sure the boots are an all-new sculpt. A lot of work was put into this figure and just from an aesthetic point of view it’s one of my favorite Marvel Legends from this year.
My only gripe is the left ear got warped in the package. That’s the second time this wave that’s happened, which is a little annoying.
Paint: Part of what helps the sculpt stand out so much is the excellent gold trim. It’s reminiscent of the Black Panther Marvel Knights look, which added gold accents to the attire. It pops against the black attire and is clean throughout save the section where the left ear got warped in the packaging.
The highlight though is the work on the Kente cloth, which is outstanding. There are so many color hits and paint applications here that it’s impressive it turned out so neat. Expect this to be one of my nominees for paint application figures this year.
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Scale: T’Chaka Black Panther is the same standard height, which is correct as he’s about eye to eye with T’Challa.
Articulation: This body works well as you’d expect from this line. The trick is the Kente cloth restricts a significant level of movement. Ideally, I’d keep it on since that’s the major distinguishable aspect of this attire.
That’ll leave some bunching in areas based on how you pose him. It is removable so if you wanted to have T’Chaka fight random goons it’s not an issue.
Black Panther T’Chaka has:
- neck
- ball-jointed shoulders
- bicep
- elbow (double-jointed)
- wrist
- wrist hinge
- torso
- waist
- hip
- thigh
- knee (double-jointed)
- ankle
Accessories: Black Panther T’Chaka’s kente cloth is removable so we’ll count that, but it is disappointing we don’t get an unmasked portrait. That’s probably a licensing issue so I get it although it would have made for an ideal extra accessory.
He does come with the left leg of the Build-A-Figure M’Baku. Almost there now.
Worth it? T’Chaka is kind of a standalone figure in the sense that there’s not a lot of characters to have him interact with beyond Dora Milaje and possibly Klaue. Still, with the incredibly ornate attire he’s well worth finding a space for in the display if you’re a Black Panther fan as the extra details fully justify the $20 price tag.
The good news is you can get him now for just $12.
Rating: 9.5 out of 10
Assuming you can get one without the bent ear this is a terrific figure from one of the best MCU films.
Where to get it? I got Black Panther from Amazon. You can still find this wave at Target, Wal-Mart and GameStop. Or you can always go the online route with LMF affiliates Amazon or order the full Build-A-Figure M’Baku wave at Entertainment Earth.
**As an Amazon affiliate I earn commission on qualifying purchases.