Marvel Legends Legacy Collection Black Panther review

The MCU has been a frequent factory of shit chugged out on a regular basis. It wasn't always like that in the past, as Phase 1 was fairly spaced out even if we had 2 MCU films in 2008 and 2011, before it started to increase over time with Disney increasing it to 3 movies per year in 2017 and then 4 movies per year starting with 2021. People will eat up the MCU regardless of its quality and continue consooming even if Phase 4 was doing poorly. Black Panther is, for the most part, one of the exceptions since it strived to stand out from all of the other movies that came and went, as apart from it having a nearly Black cast, it tried to have some substance to the story that made it much more intriguing and deep in comparison to all of the other MCU movies that were the same types of mindless action movies that the average critic would accuse other movies of. Some of the jokes sucked and the VFX were pretty bad, and the MCU fans being MCU fans oversold the movie as if it was the best thing since sliced bread, but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt for trying to be unique. Sadly, Chadwick Boseman passed away, and I'll give them credit for not recasting the actor though the decision to say T'Challa also having died is a your-mileage-may-vary thing. Anyways, review time.

Here we have Black Panther in-hand. Based on the suit her wore in Civil War, this design is my favorite one he used, as it was actually pretty subtle with the details he wears in the movie as well as it being a good mix between classic and modern, kind of like the Superman suits in Man of Steel, BvS, etc. The textures on the outfit make for a more interesting set of patterns that would normally not be present on the normal suit design, and I appreciate it having a few silver accents to make it a look little less plain, with the mask, necklace, soles, and the edges of the gloves all having silver on them. As far as proportions are concerned, I think they mostly work, though perhaps the shoulders hang low from the rest of the body, or the head sits up too high? The torso itself makes the way the arms work a little annoying, as they can't really go down straight and kind of make him a little less naturalistic in a vanilla pose (though you can remedy that by posing him constantly). 

Head sculpt gets the same level of treatment that the rest of the body has for sculptwork and subtle paint apps. Annoyingly, the left eye is so close to being aligned right but it barely makes it a la the most recent Amazing Fantasy #15 Spider-Man. As for his articulation, the head is on a ball joint on the top and can look up and down on a hinge, the shoulders move front and back, in and out, swivel at the bicep, double-bend at the elbows; the wrists can swivel and hinge in and out. There is an ab crunch as well as a waist swivel. The hips move front and back, in and out, swivel at the thighs, bend at the knees, and the feet can hinge up and down as well as pivot at the ankles. He has a pair of splayed-open hands that thankfully have the claws painted silver, and he includes a T'Challa head that has a so-so likeness to Chadwick. I honestly think it's in-between the proper look for the actor and the original unmasked head that came with the 2016 release. 

For a comparison with some fellow MCU characters, here he is with Mark III Iron Man and Endgame Captain America, both of whom I think have their best suits IMO (though I still like the First Avenger suit more for Cap). IDK if I will make an Avengers display as I'm not a big fan of the MCU of late, but I do at least want to make a team of the original 6 characters and some bonus additions depending on my mood. Annoyingly, I wanted to pose him doing the Wakanda Forever pose but the arms are missing the right joints necessary to have him do that pose. I know not every character needs butterfly joints, but I don't get how Black Panther can't have them since his athleticism is perfect for action figures. But apart from that, while I don't plan to go all-in on the Wakanda Forever merchandise, I didn't mind owning this figure nonetheless since it is a design I like for a character that I tolerated pretty well among the current MCU invasion of mediocrity and quantity over quality. The figure could use more articulation points and maybe some effect pieces, though.

Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐