NAMOR — WAKANDA FOREVER
MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)
“The ruler of Talokan, an ancient civilization hidden in the depths of the ocean, Namor will stop at nothing to protect his people.”
The last time that I reviewed a Namor action figure here on the site, it early 2018, and I was reviewing the figures from the first Black Panther tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends. He was a comics-based Namor, and I remarked at the time that his presence in a Black Panther-themed set was kind of odd and hard to justify. Well, don’t I feel foolish now. Namor was introduced to the MCU last year in Wakanda Forever, where he serves as the antagonist, albeit perhaps not a totally villainous one. Tenoch Huerta’s performance in the role was an impressive one, giving us a Namor that was a little harsher than his comics counterpart tends to be. Nevertheless, it’s a good set-up for a potential future for the character within the MCU. And, he’s got another action figure in a Black Panther tie-in assortment of Marvel Legends, but this time it makes sense!
THE FIGURE ITSELF
Namor is part of the Attuma Series of Marvel Legends, which is the dedicated tie-in assortment for Wakanda forever. In an assortment that’s got a fair bit of re-hash going on, especially with its movie figures, Namor stands out as being the most noteworthy addition to the line. The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and he has 29 points of articulation. Namor’s articulation scheme is generally pretty decent, following with the current line set-up. He’s got the pinless structure on his elbows and knees, which is a little nicer looking. I’m not super crazy about the range of motion on the mid-torso joint, but otherwise, everything works out all pretty decently. Namor is sporting an all-new sculpt, courtesy of sculptor Dennis Chan. The head has a solid likeness of Huerta, albeit looking perhaps a little dryer than he really does in the film proper (it’s worth noting that Chan sculpted it with a different, more flow-y styling to the hair originally, and it was changed). Still, a good likeness is a good likeness. The body sculpt is fairly balanced in
terms of proportions. The only part of it that I feel is a little bit off is the neck, which is just a tad too long to be quite right. Not terribly off, mind you; just the slightest bit. The jewelry around the neck is a separate piece, which can be slipped off if you pop the head off, allowing for a slightly more comics-looking Namor. Of course, this does exaggerate the neck issue just a little more, but again, not the worst. Namor’s color scheme, thanks to his construction, is largely handled via molded plastic. There’s a touch of paint for the face, of course, as well as on the feet. It’s clean, and the face in particular is fairly lifelike. There’s a small spot of glue slop on the back of the hair, but he’s otherwise without blemishes. Namor is packed with two sets of hands, with one pair of flat hands, and one in a fist/gripping combo, as well as his spear, and the left arm to the Attuma Build-A-Figure.
THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION
While I largely opted to skip this round of figures, due to having previous versions of most of the characters included, I was definitely down for the first MCU version of Namor. It’s been a long path to seeing him on the big screen, and he was one of my favorite parts of Wakanda Forever. I’ve had this guy for a while, but he had the misfortune of just sort of slipping through the cracks, since there was just the one of him. He’s not top of the line or anything, but he’s a solid mid-range figure.
Thanks to my sponsors over at All Time Toys for setting me up with this figure to review. If you’re looking for cool toys both old and new, please check out their website.
What if the reason for Namor being chosen as the antagonist for Wakanda Forever is because one of the writers looked at the Black Panther 1 toyline and thought, “Huh. This guy’s a Black Panther enemy, huh? Let’s work him in!”
Probably not what actually happened, but I guess it’s possible. I think Hasbro’s official explanation for including Black Bolt and Namor as the comic figures in the original Black Panther movie line was that they were all kings, like T’Challa.