We’re down to a single digit number of days remaining in 2019, and since I’m not expecting too much more Marvel toy news before 2020 arrives (prove me wrong, collectibles companies!) I’ve lined up toy reviews for each day through the end of the year! And first up, it’s an appropriately long overdue review of a figure that came out long overdue following last year’s Black Panther movie! The Marvel Legends Shuri figure is 11 bucks shipped today—would she be 11 bucks well-spent for your collection…?

Once the Black Panther movie hit theaters and fans worldwide became aware of just how cool T’Challa’s little sister was, fandom immediately started crying out for Hasbro to release a super-articulated six inch figure of the MCU movie version of Shuri.

Despite Hasbro announcing Shuri would be part of the 2019 Avengers Legends series at SDCC 2018, plenty of peeps were still pissed off and outraged when she didn’t appear in the second wave of Black Panther Legends figures last winter instead.

But this summer, Princess Shuri finally hit stores as part of the Endgame Hulk Build-A-Figure series (along with the Hulk BAF’s left leg)! Was she worth the wait?

It generally takes about 18 months for an all-new action figure to go from concept to store shelves, which just so happens to be how long it took Hasbro to release this 6” Shuri Legends figure—so I think it’s rather obvious that Hasbro got caught with their pants down regarding how requested Black Panther’s sister was going to end up being.

Hasbro didn’t rush and used their development time on Shuri well, though—the finished product looks extremely detailed and well-made all-around.

While she may look a teeny bit plain from across the room, as you approach her you can see just how much impression texture is sculpted into every millimeter of her Wakandan outfit! There are easily thousands of tiny details on this Shuri figure’s costume, clearly delineating between the realism of an MCU movie toy and a comics-based toy. Great stuff.

Actress Letitia Wright’s portrait has been captured here with a near-100% likeness, which is downright crazy given how little the head on this figure is. Hasbro has really upped their game with accurate likenesses overall the last few years, and this is a wonderful example of that.

Even so, the head is also my biggest complaint with this figure: the expression Hasbro picked is just so dang boring. Even though she’s packed with Vibranium gauntlets for some good old-fashioned action, Avengers Legends Shuri looks more like she’s ready to fall asleep or watch some CNN than head out into battle. I think Hasbro went too “safe” with this portrait.

Speaking of the Vibranium Gauntlets, though—! These have been nicely sculpted to look authentic to their Black Panther movie appearance, including the shaping so that the sonic beam effects are blasting out of the panther’s mouth.

The gauntlets are fun, but also rather plain—they really would have popped with some energy deco on the sides and painted eyes on the panthers. Having the Sonic energy effects be permanently attached also limits the usability of the gauntlets for generic standing-around poses.

Moreover, Hasbro made the Panther gauntlets clip-on accessories rather than alternate hands or slide-on parts, so Marvel Legends Shuri looks ridiculous when the Vibranium Gauntlets are angled so that you can see her forearms exposed underneath.

There’s also a lot of paint deco missing from most areas of the costume. Everything has been sculpted, but presumably for cost reasons, a lot of paint applications just don’t exist here. So if you want a perfectly accurate Shuri, you’ll need to bust out some (primarily blue) paint and complete her yourself.

Articulation-wise, I think we all knew what we were in for here. Shuri has the standard ML female lacking level of upper-body articulation with no biceps joint and mere ball-jointed elbows. Increased arm articulation would have definitely helped with getting more dynamic poses with the Vibranium gauntlets.

Shuri’s feet aren’t also angled a bit oddly, making it somewhat difficult to get her to stand up in a lot of poses despite the ankle rockers.

Her complete articulation set includes:

• Ball-Hinge Neck, Shoulders and Elbows
• Ball-Jointed Upper Torso
• Swivel-Hinge Wrists
• Swivel Thighs
• Double-Hinge Knees
• Hinge Ankles with Rockers

Overall: Considering it took Hasbro an extra year and a half to release Shuri after the first wave of Marvel Legends Black Panther series figures hit, she ought to be at least pretty good. And she is. The sculpting detail on her costume is superb, the actress likeness is excellent, the scale is on-point, and the gauntlets look nice from the right angle.

On the flip-side, the facial expression Hasbro chose is the most boring (and bored-looking) Letitia Wright likeness they could have possible chosen, the clip-on gauntlets look bad from beneath (as they’re totally open), and her articulation scheme is sub-par as usual for a ML female. Just like the 6” Dazzler I reviewed yesterday, this is a great figure to display standing around—but there’s just not many fun options for actually playing with or posing her.

GRADE: B