Review: Marvel Legends Nakia, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Attuma Build-a-Figure Wave
- Mephitsu
- Mar 11
- 4 min read
"Queen Mother, I've found her signal. It's coming from an underwater cave. If she’s down there, I'm sure I'll encounter resistance. How would you like me to proceed?"
Ahead of the cinematic release of Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, Hasbro released a mixed wave of Marvel Legends figures including those from the movie alongside comic book adjacent characters. From Wakanda Forever we got new figures of Nakia, Namor, and Okoye along with an updated Everett Ross who was badged as from the original Black Panther movie. The wave was rounded out by comic book releases of Black Panther, and Hatut Zeraze and the build-a-figure returned to the Wakanda Forever theme with Attuma, as seen in the movie. The wave was part of the short-lived plastic free packaging series, coming without any window and using artwork and photography to depict the contents.
This is Nakia’s second figure in the Cinematic Universe line of figures, with this Wakanda Forever release being completely new and based on her Subermisible gear she dons to search for Shuri in Talokan. This is cast in green with sculpted patterning which is then infilled with metallic green paint and further blue panels, particularly on the upper body and arms. The costume also features an individual belt piece in bright blue with copper repeating patterning, and Nakia’s Kimoyo bead bracelet - another individual piece, now in black plastic and enclosed around her wrist.
The figure comes with two head sculpts, the first and unmasked head with a much improved likeness to actor Lupita Nyong'o compared to her original Black Panther figure. The photo realism printing is applied to enhance the sculpted eyes, mouth, and nose in particular, while the skin tone is more natural in its finish and not overly glossy. The hair piece is an individual fixed piece with red highlights and plaited sections. It is sculpted to hang over the shoulders, but sits a bit high to look completely natural in how it flows, particularly viewing it from the sides or when the head is set to look forward at which point the rear hair segment floats above the shoulders of the figure.
The second head is when Nakia wears her submersible suit helmet. This head mirrors the colour scheme of the suit with a green base and blue highlighted panels. The helmet features a clear visor behind which sits the same core head as the unmasked version - but without the hair piece - this still features facial printing applications.
Nakia features two pairs of hands which are odd in their selection. While you get a right clenched fist, you do not get a corresponding one for the left arm. In stead the left options are two slightly different gripping options, with only one gripping option for the right.. The gripping hands are designed to hold her Ring Blades, of which we get a pair, but I cannot put my finger on why two variant left hand grips were warranted. The blades are new and not a re-use of the original figure’s weapons. They are cast in green with sculpted lines down each of the blade sections. There is no further paint or decor applied
Nakia has 18 points of articulation, all pinless, and with an extensive range of motion with no particular obstructions caused by her costume. The lack of a wider range of torso movement - she only gets a ball joint chest - does hamper some posing options. But the legs and arms are fully mobile to allow a number of display options from neutral stance to in fight mode, with or without the Ring Blades.
Nakia in her Wakanda Subermisible suit was obviously selected as a figure ahead of the movie release and while it did play a relatively substantial part in the movie there were in hindsight other figures that might have been more desirable. What we get is a faithful recreation of Nakia and her suit with a relatively decent set of accessories - although the Ring Blades needed more colour on them. She is well articulated and displays well enough - but like much of the complementary releases from the same movie, she didn’t do particularly well at retail and spent a lot of time at discounted pricing, not helped by the windowless packaging.
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About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
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