Hey little sister, what have you done?
The mastermind behind some of Wakanda's most advanced technologies, Shuri designs and distributes Vibranium-powered gear to Wakanda's greatest warriors and allies.
It's one of the great tragedies of the MCU that Tony Stark never made it to Wakanda. Imagine the world's most insufferable man, meeting a girl who's a third his age and twice as smart, and who doesn't have to put up with his self-importance, demeaning attitude and disdain for everyone around him. Suri does deliver her fair share of snark, but it's all directed at T'Challa - she's a kid fighting with her older brother, the way siblings do. While Tony Stark is busy openly insulting his underlings, Shuri's interactions with other people are at least... patient? Condescending, maybe, but not malicious. She recognizes that just because people are lagging behind her, they're not worthless. So she may talk down to them, but only in the way you would a child.
This is not the first Letitia Wright action figure, it does have some huge advantages over the first one. For one thing, the Photo Real painting process has been invented now, so there's that; but also, this time they've done her hair properly, creating those intricately interwoven braids. She's got the war paint dots on her face, too, but that's nothing new.
Shuri's costume apparently changed between Black Panther and Endgame. Yes, that's technically a gap of seven years, but she was dead for five of them. The suit she wears has echoes of her brother's in the textures, but also shows her more modern sensibilities: the bare arms, the skirt wrapped around her waist, etc. This version lacks the bit of the tall collar that goes under her chin and provides little fangs. There's more tan on the Endgame costume than there was on the Black Panther one, and the raised edges of her necklace get gold apps.
The articulation is typically good: a balljointed head, chest, and shoulders; hinged neck and knees; swivel/hinge shoulders, elbows, wrists, and ankles; and swivel thighs. The skirt-thing impedes the legs a little bit - not enough that you feel like you can't move them, but definitely enough that she's not going to be doing any deep squats or high kicks. Good thing that's not her attack style!
Since the wrap is a separate piece, you can hike it up a little if you need to make room for the legs to move, but it's not like it's actually removable - no hidden peg that you can undo to take it off easily. You might be able to work it off past the hips, but it isn't something you can do at leisure.
She comes with her Vibranium Gauntlets,
the cat-shaped gloves she uses in battle. They snap onto the arms pretty easily, and stay in place more securely than you'd expect. Translucent blue swirls of energy erupt from the mouths, stong enough to put her cousin on the ground.
She comes with the left left of the Hulk. He's this series' Build-A-Figure.
If there had been any indication this Shuri was coming, I definitely wouldn't have bought the plain version. Luckily for me, she's enough of an upgrade that it doesn't really feel like a double-dip.
-- 08/12/19
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