Review of Shuri - Black Panther
Sixth Scale Action Figure

Introduction

Hot Toys spends the majority of their efforts these days on Star Wars, DC, and Marvel. For some of us, that trio is getting, well, old. Fortunately, they are diving into some of the other secondary characters, particularly in the MCU, giving us some figures to flesh out the display with more than just Iron Man and Captain America.

They are doing a particularly nice job with the film Black Panther. Their latest release is Shuri, Q to Panther's Bond. Based on the early prototype photos, I've been looking forward to this one, and she's finally here.

She started shipping in the last couple weeks in the States, and will run you around $230 depending on the retailer.

Packaging - ***1/2
The box has a nice profile shot of the character, along with some wonderful, colorful graphics. The interior credits card is still a tad dull, but at least the bright colors adds some pizzazz to the list of names.

It's all collector friendly too, with no damage to the package necessary to get the figure and accessories free. There's a simple instruction booklet which comes in handy with the light up feature.

Sculpting - ****
The realism in this portrait is off the charts. The skin texture, the fine detail work in the complex hair, the soft eyebrows and life-like lips - it's pretty amazing.

But it can't just be about realism. There has to be a match to the actor, and they pull that off beautifully as well. I'm betting you can still find a few nits, but any complaints I have are so minor it's not worth discussing. This is exceptional work.

Even the emotive aspects are spot on. The eyes are a little squinted, and she's looking upward ever so slightly. The face is tight, with a stern expression that means business, but isn't overly dramatic or dynamic.

Of course there's some nice work on the costume as well, particularly in the armored neck piece and footwear, but it's the head sculpt that sets her apart from the rest, even for Hot Toys. She comes in at about 11" tall.

Paint - ****
Nothing quite like an amazing paint job to support a terrific sculpt. The skin tone is good, and the match between the face and body is better than usual.  There's little to no bleed into the eyes, and they are straight and even.  The eyebrows are subtle but clear, and the lip color is natural. Even the transition from hair to skin is done well at the hairline.

The make up on the face is worth calling out special. There's a trick here that's tough to pull off. The dots and the thin line down from the lip can't be sloppy, but they can't look like a machine did it either. Too perfect and they'll look fake - any slop and it will be obvious. Hot Toys creates the magic here, getting a look that mirrors something done IRL by hand, but done by a very, very steady hand.

Articulation - ***1/2
The ball jointed neck works a bit better than I anticipated, even with the sculpted collar and neck. You can get some good personality out of it, adding some attitude to most poses.

The shoulders can pop out a bit from the body, giving the arms a ton of range. The elbows are covered by the soft rubber skin, but it's thin enough to cause little restriction. The wrists are pretty standard stuff, and the hands pop on and off cleanly (except for the weaponized hands, but more on that in the Accessories section).

The torso has lots of twist and bend, and the stretchy costume flows nicely. The hips are a bit restricted by it though, due to the low cut crotch. More on that issue in the Outfit section.  The knees and ankles work great however, and you should be able to get and maintain good shallow to medium stances without any trouble.

Accessories - ***
She's not heavily loaded, but there's a few nice extras.

There are five additional hands to go with the relaxed set she comes wearing. There's a set of fists, a set of gripping hands, and what looks like a gun grip right. I'm not sure what you'll use that last hand for, but the others come in handy with plenty of poses. They swap easily too.

There's a small cuff for each bicep, which you can slip on over the arm. They tell you in the instructions to use one of the small tubes of soft plastic they provide in between the skin and the cuff when sliding it into place. I'm assuming that's to avoid any paint rubs on the rubber skin. You can easily slip the plastic out once you have the cuff where you want it.

There's also her bracelet for the right wrist, and of course, her very cool spear. Nice detail work on all these extras makes them a bit better than the average fare.

The big extra is the two Vibranium Gauntlets. These panther head gloves have a blue light up feature, and have two additional hands already mounted inside. Getting these two hands to actually pop onto the wrist pegs is no easy task though, and it took quite a few tries before I was able to get both in place. Once they are, they look terrific, with excellent sculpting and paint work.

The final extra is the Black Panther labeled display stand and support rod.

Light Feature - ***1/2
To access the battery compartment, you simply pop off the top of either gauntlet. It works pretty easily, and doesn't feel like a connection that will wear out or break during use. Under this cover is the compartment and the switch.

You pop two batteries (provided) into each gauntlet compartment. I like how they've reoriented the batteries, making it much, much easier to insert them and more likely that they will keep a good contact with the posts. Once you have the compartment back together, flip the small switch, and the interior of the glove lights up brightly.

This light is very bright, easily seen in even a normally lit room. Because it's fairly easy to get the cover off and on again, it's one of those light up features you may actually use more than once.

Outfit - ***1/2
This was *almost* a four star outfit, but it has one problem that I just can't completely overlook.

The fit is great, and I like the sculpted texture on the plastic sections as well as the texture of the soft goods. The tribal sash looks particularly realistic and sets the rest of the outfit apart on the shelf.

So why the slight drop? When early One:12 Collective figures hit the market, they had a sagging crotch on their tight outfits. I, along with many others, noted it was an issue. They corrected the tailoring and fit, and it's no longer a problem. That saggy crotch shows up here, unfortunately.  It's cut a little too low, and try as I might to slip the material further up the leg, I couldn't correct it. However, with proper tailoring right out of the gate, it never needs to be an issue.

Fun Factor - ****
Add this figure into your Black Panther display and it will improve immediately. She's a terrific character, well deserving of her own figure, and adds a lot to the overall MCU figure collection. Thanks to the nice articulation, you should be able to find plenty of different poses to swap between, and the light up gauntlets add a whole additional level of posing potential.

Value - **1/2
Most Hot Toys figures are in that $220 - $230 range these days, with plenty of other companies using that as their guideline. This is actually one of the nicer figures they've produced lately, making it a sold average value even with slightly fewer accessories.

Things to Watch Out For -
Not a thing. You should probably follow the instructions on putting the cuffs on the biceps with the plastic, but otherwise you should be good to go.

Overall - ****
I'm really happy with this release, and Shuri might just be my favorite of the Black Panther series so far. She's going to look fantastic standing next to her brother on the shelf, and goes to show Hot Toys can do the B characters as well or better than the A's, when they set their mind to it.  Here's hoping to more of the secondaries, even if it's just within the confines of the big three licenses.

Score Recap (out of ****):
Packaging - ***1/2
Sculpting - ****
Paint - ****
Articulation - ***1/2
Accessories - ***
Light Feature - ***1/2
Outfit - ***1/2
Fun Factor - ****
Value - **1/2
Overall - ****

Where to Buy 
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Related Links -
Obviously you'll want to check out the other Hot Toys releases, including the second version of Black Panther, the first version of him, T'Chaka, and the Throne.

You should also hit the Search Reviews page, in case any other applicable reviews were done after this one was published.

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