"Star-Lord T'Challa, leader of the Ravagers and lost Prince of Wakanda."
Following on from Season 1 of Marvel’s What If? Hasbro released a full wave of What If? Marvel Legends figures in 2021 complete with a build-a-figure of The Watcher. While some figures in the wave utilised existing MCU Marvel Legends sculpts, others like the T’Challa Star-Lord were sculpted from scratch and in the animated style of the What If? episodes.
The proportions of T’Challa are very much in the animated style in hand, with a slimmer build and over-exaggerated and elongated arms and legs. He is wearing his Season 1 Star-Lord get-up with a grey shirt and trousers, a purple jacket with gold trim, and brown boots with grey panels.
He features two head options, allowing you to display him with his helmet on or off. The helmeted head features the same design as the MCU Star-Lord but slimmer and with purple lenses on the eyes across a gold panel and a darker grey mask. The unmasked head features a likeness to the animated Chadwick Boseman seen in What If?
Star-Lord comes with his pair of Quad Blasters and these are taken directly from one of the MCU releases, repainted with the same purple and gold trim seen on the helmet and the jacket. They fit into either of T’Challa’s hands, with both inclusive of a trigger finger that locks into place. Unlike his MCU counterparts, there is no holster option on T’Challa Star-Lords belt or hips.
Articulation is pinless and there are 19 points in total to work with. The slimmer build and lack of any armour or robes makes T’Challa very poseable including having an ability to kneel and sit alongside a number of more dynamic options with or without his blasters. The figure does suffer from ankle rockers that do not pivot far enough forward, leaving T'Challa difficult to stand upright and with a tendency to fall backward unless you bend the knees further forward into a very unnatural-looking stance if viewed side on.
As a Marvel Legends release from an animated series, there are now significant issues with T’Challa other than the animated look will not suit all collectors. This issue is compounded by Hasbro not applying a set rule for their What If? figures. Rather than seat them all in the animated style like the Spider-Verse releases, the What If? collection varies between true animated style figures such as T’Challa and a selection of others that started out as MCU releases - and therefore have a real-world grounding. Side-by-side the different types do look slightly off. Considering the volume of MCU releases, I personally would have perhaps preferred a repainted MCU Star-Lord body with T’Challa head - but I do applaud Hasbro for skipping this option and developing a brand new figure.
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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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