Sunday 1 September 2013

Black Panther (Marvel Legends)

Marvel Legends Black Panther
Some people might tell you that greatness and beauty depends on how complex the details are picked up by your own naked eyes. That's not always true. We are always amazed by the amounts of paint shading and sculpt on figures created by McFarlane and NECA, but the Marvel Legends Black Panther figure begs to differ. Like the real panther itself, the blackness made this Black Panther figure majestic despite the overall simplicity. Combined with some shades of blue, it's easy to appreciate the definition of his athletic body type. This figure may be an instant favourite to any collector.














Rebranded as the "Blue Panther" by some ML collectors, the amounts of blue shading on this figure would likely surprise you by the time you lay your eyes on it, but then you would realize that it's actually part of getting the Black Panther to stand out once he is on the shelf and to be comic book accurate at the same time.


The paint application is basically the blacks and blues blending in and fading out over each other. Strikingly, Panther's pair of gloves and boots are painted with a solid colour of blue while these evenly arranged dark lines are drawn through it that made this figure more bound from the comics. In addition, his eyes are painted with silver over his traditional mask.


Then again, the body mold is from the Marvel Legends Wave 2 Bucky Cap (which I haven't done a review on yet, surprisingly) like the one they also used on the Marvel Legends Modern Hawkeye. The only difference is, obviously, the head sculpt which is thought by others to be on a larger scale. But for me, I don't see anything wrong with it and he actually looks well proportioned. Also, Panther's hands are both in "claw attack" mode and so it's nice to see him having hands specifically designed for him.


If you've already read my review on the ML Modern Hawkeye, there is no need for you to read this part because the articulation is entirely the same. No added joints but I wished Hasbro could have added the shoulder blades articulation like those on the X-Force Wolverine just to give Panther a more pronounced claw attack. So the head turns up, down and sidewards and he got ball-hinged shoulder, bicep swivel, double-jointed elbows and hinged wrist that lets you aim his claw forward. He got waist swivel, ab crunch, T-jointed hips, upper thigh swivel, double-jointed knees, mid-calf swivel and the Hasbro ankle pivot.


Same with the Modern Hawkeye, he stands at an ideal height of about 6.2 inches tall. In my opinion, I think Black Panther is more rightful to be in this body mold than Bucky Cap or Archangel. With no accessories or other stuff glued unto it and with less paint app, it's easy to visualize what type of body mold we're talking about. So I better start calling it the Black Panther body mold! I highly recommend this figure and choose it over the Toy Biz version. It is in perfect scale with the rest of my 6-inch Avengers display... and he comes with the Rocket Racoon BAF part, which I am trying to complete.


8 comments:

  1. It's a nice figure and i would of loved to have seen this one with the high collar/cape in a chase figure.

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    1. I know it would have been great if Hasbro added the ala-Dracula cape for Panther but with or without it, for me, this action figure is perfectly fine.

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  2. A clean cut straight forward design for Black Panther. Nice shades of blue. Personally, I still prefer the toybiz panther. Did they reuse Sabretooth claws on him?

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    1. I don't think Hasbro reuse the claws from any of those Toy Biz Sabretooth but I know we're going to see these claws again on the NEW ML Sabretooth that is going to be released this month.

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  3. Replies
    1. Thanks, looking forward to complete my Avengers collection and take a picture or a video of the entire team.

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  4. Really like these photos- especially the tree-shot

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    1. The tree-shot was tricky and a little tough. I have to get Panther to stand on top of this background while doing the "pouncing attack".

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