Welcome to our review of the 2019 Marvel Legends T'Chaka figure. T'Chaka is part of the 2nd wave of Black Panther figures, and an entire wave of Marvel Cinematic Universe figures with a build-a-figure of M'Baku.
Packaging 4/5
The packaging remains consistent for T'Chaka with the 1st Black Panther wave with a golden backdrop for the figure and artwork drawn with a blue hue and gold highlights.
The rear of the packaging see's the most recent running change with promotional images of the figure replaced with artwork from the movie. Alongside this shot of T'Chaka sits the standard short character text
"As king of Wakanda, T'Chaka assumes the Black Panther identify and with it, the responsibility to protect the sacred metal, vibranium, and the honoured history of his kingdom."
T'Chaka arrives posed in his inner tray and is held in by the shaping of the tray with no ties or bands in place. M'Baku's leg sits to his right.
Paint & Sculpt 4/5
T'Chaka features a new Black Panther masked head with a movie accurate design that holds a number of sculpted panels and textures as we've seen on the other Panther masks across the Black Panther waves.
The helmet is cast in black plastic with gold trim and gold lenses on the eyes. The gold paint i neat, but there is some missing god on the strip that crosses the head from back to front. Alongside the gold is a very tiny amount of white paint to highlight two "teeth" on the lower jaw of the helmet. Considering their size this application is impressive.
While the helmet is a new piece, the torso and arms are a re-use from the Civil War Black Panther figure. Of course this is accurate to the movie with T'Challa obviously inheriting his fathers suit but making changes & improvements to the design. The body is cast in black with gold on the necklace and the trims around the arms and the claws.
The legs are a new sculpt too with baggier trousers tucked into strapped boots. This lower half is nicely sculpted but they have missed the strapping we see on the actual costume. The lower legs are simply left as plain black plastic with no paint added at all.
The decor budget has of course been spent on the outer robes which are cast in a rubbery purple plastic with tribal Wakandan colours and designs added on top. The patterns and level of detail is spectacular and adds a real point of difference on your MCU shelf.
If the robes are not to your liking then you will be pleased to know they can be removed. They are pegged down the side and once un-clipped the robes slide off revealing the full figure underneath.
Accessories N/A
There are no accessories packed with T'Chaka
Articulation 3/5
T'Chaka has 21 points of articulation, two more than the Black Panther figure on which he is based - with two extra joints coming in on the legs with swivels at the thigh and top of boot sitting alongside the ball jointed hip, double jointed knees and ankle rockers.
The torso, being the same as the Civil War Panther, carries the same articulation with a simple waist swivel - hidden under the robes - a torso t-joint and a ball jointed neck peg. The arms are ball jointed shoulders, bicep swivel, double joint elbows and a pivot wrist.
Because this is the Civil War Panther body, the figure suffers from the same issue around the shoulder with the joint not allowing the arms to get in flush with the body. Again this can be mitigated slightly by turning in the bicep joint.
Summary
T'Chaka was a figure we didn't necessarily need having appeared only in flashbacks. It is however a really good looking figure, adding further tribal colours and designs to your MCU Black Panther display.
It does re-use some parts, but with a new helmet and lower legs the body doesn't look like a simple repaint.
T'Chaka still suffers from some paint issues. There is very little across the main figure body, you'd therefore hope what is there would be well applied - but sadly there are issues on the gold trimming. The figure also carries over the arm articulation issue that the Civil War Panther has and that makes some of the arm posing difficult.
The biggest miss is the lack of any other parts with the figure. Considering what is packed with other figures in the same wave, T'Chaka is crying out for an unmasked head or at least some variant hand options.
I score the T'Chaka Black Panther an average 3 out of 5.
