Tag Archives: Shuri

#3298: Black Panther — Wakanda Forever

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , , ,

BLACK PANTHER — WAKANDA FOREVER

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

The success of the first Black Panther film understandably fast-tracked the turnaround on a sequel, but with both Infinity War and Endgame locked-in on the schedule, there was a slight wait before we could get right to it.  Things were further delayed by the pandemic in 2020, right when the movie was set to begin production.  Plans were further thrown into chaos later that same year with the passing of Chadwick Boseman, leaving the film without its star.  The film was hastily reworked to remove Chadwick’s role, with the rest of his ensemble cast taking up as much of the reins as possible.  Who would be taking over the titular mantle was a heavily discussed topic, and the actual identity of this new Panther was kept secret before the film’s release.  In the end, the person to inherit the role was T’Challa’s sister Shuri, who is truly the most natural choice for the part, especially given her history of taking over the part in the comics.  In order to preserve the film’s secret, merchandise of Shuri in her Panther suit was held off until after the movie’s release.  This included the Marvel Legends figure, which is just making its way out now.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Black Panther is a single-release Marvel Legends figure, meant to tie-in with the rest of the Wakanda Forever assortment, while also standing on her own.  She’s sold in a box that matches the others, but is billed only as “Black Panther” and also gets no bio, suggesting they were working extra hard to keep this one a secret, even once the figure got out there.  The figure stands about 6 1/4 inches tall and she has 28 points of articulation.  The articulation scheme is up to the more modernized standards for the line; she’s got double joints for the elbows and knees, which are using the pinless construction.  She also gets a decent ball-joint for the neck.  The range isn’t quite there on some of the joints, mostly around the middle of the figure, and the elbows have a tendency to stick a little bit on one end or the other.  Panther’s sculpt is an all-new one.  It does a respectable job of capturing her costume design as seen in the film…I mean, at least as far as I can tell from the limited screen shots are available for the look; some times that super secrecy really works against them, huh?  It’s a visually interesting design, with a lot of sharp detailing, and plenty of texturing.  The build seems a decent match for Letitia Wright, though she’s notably taller than the prior Shuri figure, which doesn’t quite track with her actual height.  Technically, she should be a fair bit shorter than both figures.  Maybe the heart shaped herb just makes her taller?  I’m willing to buy that, I guess.  The paint work on this figure is pretty on the mark; the gold accents go where they’re supposed to, and they look pretty sharp.  Shuri is pretty light on the accessories front, with only two sets of hands, in fists and open claw.  They’re cool and all, but her not getting an unmasked head, or even any of her blaster attachments for the wrists.  Presumably, the secrecy of the design and more than likely far quicker turnaround time resulted in less extras.  It’s a shame, but at least she got the bare minimum?  Also, an all-new sculpt, so there’s that.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

The main assortment of Wakanda Forever figures was a lot of rehash, so I didn’t pick up much of that set.  The absence of Shuri from that line-up didn’t really help matters, as it was honestly one of the few designs I really felt the desire to own.  The separate release was appreciated, and not really a surprise, I suppose.  Even so, I was a bit on the fence with this figure, just because my collecting habits are shifting a bit.  Max was having none of this, however, and decided to put an end to my hemming and hawing over this figure by just going ahead and paying for one for me in advance.  How dare he?  How absolutely dare?  Aside from a lack of accessories, she’s a rather nice figure, and one I’m certainly glad to have in my collection.

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.

#2097: Shuri

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

SHURI

MARVEL LEGENDS (HASBRO)

“The mastermind behind some of Wakanda’s most advanced technology, Shuri designs and distributes Vibranium-powered gear to Wakanda’s greatest warriors and allies.”

As far as Marvel Legends coverage goes, last year’s Black Panther is possibly one of the most fortunate films in the entirety of the MCU.  It got two dedicated assortments (one of which was purely movie figures, which pretty much never happens these days), and there was really only one major character missing from those two sets.  Said character is T’Challa’s sister, Shuri.  She was included in the basic Black Panther line at the time of the movie’s release, but now she’s finally getting her proper Legends due courtesy of Endgame.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shuri is figure 3 in the Hulk Series of Marvel Legends, and she’s the final single-carded movie character this time around.  She’s officially branded as an Endgame figure, but thanks to her re-using her battle gear from Black Panther during Endgame’s final battle, she’ll fit in just fine with either collection.  The figure stands (or at least attempts stand) 6 inches tall and she has 27 points of articulation.  Her sculpt is brand new, and it’s an immense improvement over the basic figure sculpt, but does have one major issue for me: she can’t stand.  Okay, that’s not entirely true; she can stand…for a bit, and then she’s pretty much guaranteed to fall over.  She did so numerous times for every single photo that accompanies this review.  Not a ton of fun for me, let me tell you.  On the plus side, the actual sculpting on the sculpt is pretty impressive.  The head’s the best part, with a very strong likeness of Letitia Wright, even getting her proper hair style, which the basic figure didn’t do so well on.  Her costume elements are very sharply defined and appear to be accurate to the film(s), and the build of the body they’re on is a much better match for Wright’s rather skinny frame than the prior figure.  The skirt piece is a free-floating add-on, and while I’m not super jazzed by that style of implementation, it’s still a rather nice piece, and doesn’t impact her mobility too much.  Her paintwork is pretty solidly handled; like a lot of the Panther stuff, it’s not the most eye-catching or flamboyant selection of colors, but it’s accurate and lifelike, and she looks pretty cool.  Shuri is packed with her panther-styled gauntlets, which are a slightly different piece from the basic ones, but still very cool.  She also includes the left leg of the Hulk BaF.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

This figure’s been a long time coming.  I’d thoroughly expected to see her in the second Black Panther assortment, and was quite surprised by her absence.  Upon seeing her turn up with the same costume at the end of Endgame, suddenly things made a lot more sense, so I was less shocked when she turned up here.  The stability thing is a major annoyance, but beyond that there’s quite a bit I like about this figure, and at this point, I’m just happy I can finally retire the basic figure from my Legends shelf.

I purchased Shuri from my sponsors over at All Time Toys, alongside the rest of this series.  Amazingly, she’s still in stock here.  If your looking for other Legends or other toys both old and new, please check out their website and their eBay storefront.

#1590: Shuri

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , ,

SHURI

BLACK PANTHER (HASBRO)

“The sister of T’Challa, Shuri designs and wears vibranium-powered combat gear.”

You know what was a good movie?  Black Panther.  Really just a solid picture all-around.  I gotta admit, I was a little worried at first that it might not live up to all of the hype surrounding it (especially since I’m apparently one of the few people on the planet who didn’t like Wonder Woman), but it really delivered, and I think it’s one of the MCU’s strongest entries.  T’Challa had already made a pretty solid impression with his appearance in Civil War, and he lived up to that here, but what really made the movie for me was his supporting cast.  I’d picked up the Marvel Legends offerings prior to the movie, and I’m happy to have the figures offered there, but sadly two of my favorite characters from the movie haven’t yet been granted Legends releases.  One of those two was Shuri, who was at least lucky enough to find her way into the movie’s basic figure line.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Shuri is part of the first (and so far only) series of basic Black Panther figures.  In an assortment of variations on the panther suit, she certainly stands out, and, as the only character included here that’s not in the Legends assortment, she tends to be the first figure to disappear.  The figure stands right at 6 inches tall and she has 11 points of articulation.  She’s a bit shorter than your average Marvel Legend, but given Shuri’s slightly smaller stature, she blends in pretty well.  The articulation is a little disappointing, especially after the Homecoming figures got actual knee joints, but what she’s got is certainly passable.  Shuri’s design is based on her fully geared up look from the film’s final battle sequence.  It’s definitely her coolest look, and it matches up with the version of Nakia they released, so I can certainly get behind it.  The sculpt is all-new to her, and it’s decent, but not without a few glaring issues.  The biggest problem is the hair, which is just inaccurate.  The tight braids she has here almost make it look like there’s an extra piece to her hair that’s missing from the final figure.  She should definitely have more hair than this, and it really ends up throwing off the figure’s whole look.  The face has a rather generic look about it as well, making me think this figure was put together based on design sketches rather than actual footage from the film.  I’m also not a huge fan of how the head connects at the neck; it just looks very unnatural and odd.  Fortunately, below the neck, the sculpt is actually pretty solid.  The proportions are pretty balanced, and there’s a lot of really great texture work on her armor.  Her skirt piece is a free-floating add-on, which helps to maximize posablity, and looks pretty solid to boot.  The paint on Shuri is passable, but definitely a bit rudimentary when compared to something like Marvel Legends.  She could definitely use a little more detailing on the armored parts, but she generally looks pretty good.  Shuri includes her pair of arm gauntlets, which can be slipped over her forearms.  The detail work on them is surprisingly sharp, and the energy effects look pretty awesome.  Definitely better than some gimmicky missile launcher or something.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

After seeing the movie, I knew I needed at least some version of Shuri in my collection.  Of course, so did everyone else, so she was a little difficult to find.  Fortunately, when I swung by Cosmic Comix to get my comics the next day, they still had a Shuri figure on the rack, and thus I was able to add her to my collection.  She’s not a perfect figure, and I’m still hoping for a proper Legends release down the line, but this one will hold me over until then.