I’ll admit, I was a little surprised when the Build-A-Figure was announced for the Marvel Legends Black Panther wave turned out to be Danai Gurira’s “Okoye” character. There are at least two to three other choices I would have made. My number one choice would have been the leader of the Jabari tribe, M’Baku. He played a role in at least three pivotal parts of the movie, plus he has a cameo in “Avengers: The Infinity War” movie which is out now. To me, that would have been a no-brainer.
My other choices would have been maybe a prison-breakout Erik Killmonger figure, or a Klaue figure. To me, Okoye would have been included as a figure in the regular wave, replacing yet another Iron Man figure, or even the Namor figure. But I am glad we got her nonetheless in any form or fashion, and this figure was definitely worth collecting the other five figures that included a piece of her (luckily, a Build-A-Figure piece did not come with the Iron Man in this wave, so that figure was pretty easy to ignore).
Did this figure turn out as well as the Nakia action figure? Let’s check out the review of the Marvel Legends Okoye Build-A-Figure…
As previously mentioned, the Okoye Build-A-Figure came pieced out in five other figures: Black Panther, Erik Killmonger, Nakia, a comic-based Black Bolt (thankfully not from that God-awful “Inhumans” tv series), and a comic-based Namor (the second one in so many years…the first one came out as a Walgreens’ exclusive back in 2016).
Like I mentioned in the intro, I believe that the Okoye figure deserved its own separate release, but Hasbro misread the juggernaut that was the Black Panther movie and definitely missed out on some ways to capitalize better from its toy line.
While I appreciate the opportunity to get a Black Bolt figure since I missed it from the SDCC 2014 exclusive, I really didn’t need another Namor. For that, I’m taking away 1/2 a point from my default score.
Packaging Score: 7 out of 10 
In essence, the whole “Build-A-Figure” can sort of be counted as accessories to the other five figures. Let me take this time to say that apparently smaller figures are harder to snap together…this thing was problematic to snap the legs and arms on.
Of course it’s never enough to just get the figure, but we need accessories as well. Of course we get that with this Okoye figure. It comes with a spear and a short-sword (made from pretend vibranium of course). They fit well in the figure’s hands and look nice in poses.
What else could they have included? Maybe the wig from the Korean casino scene? Nyahh…you know what? I’m good with what we got. Appropriate and accurate.
If I did have any complaints, I would say that the spearhead on the spear is a little too oversized to be accurate with the movie depictions. But a minor gripe. There are figures we have gotten way less.
Accessories Score: 9 out of 10
Like the Nakia figure, this is a beautiful, Black, female figure. I don’t think we have ever received two beautiful, Black figures from Hasbro in any of their lines. Okay, maybe Storm being the exception. But Storm has white, flowy hair and no pupils (even though Storm too is “African”).
Okoye and Nakia are unforgivably Black…and that’s a WONDERFUL thing. We see it in their hairstyles (Danai has always been sexy with her low-cut/bald hairstyle and Lupita rocked those Bantu knots). We see it in their sculpted noses and full lips. I seriously look at those figures and I’m like damn…I can’t believe Hasbro did these. They almost remind me of a SH Figuarts level of sculpting.
That being said my only complaint with this figure is that the Danai likeness only hits me when looking straight on at this figure. As soon as you get a profile shot, you lose the likeness. This is actually common for some figures. Even in the straight-on shot, some of the angles of the face are wrong. So not supremely accurate, but still a beautiful figure.
The sculpting of the outfit is mostly similar to the armor Okoye wears in the movie. While the sculpted detail is there and some of the colors are similar, there are (maybe understandably) some painted details left out and maybe a good time for customizers to break out their paint brush and get it a little more accurate.
Sculpt/Likeness Score: 8.5 out of10 
This figure has the same 27+ points of articulation as the Nakia figure. Unlike the Nakia figure, this figure does not have the shoulder armor that prevents the figure from full shoulder articulation which makes this figure slightly superior.
This figure has good balance and can hold poses well.
If anything would be missing, I would say maybe a double-hinged elbow (although it’s not common we see that with Marvel Legends female figures) and an added waist swivel. That would push the figure in the coveted 30+ points of articulation, but maybe in this case we get more with less.
Articulation Score: 8.5 out of10
Okoye is actually super-significant, even right now…
**** SPOILER ALERT ****
In “Avengers: The Infinity War,” she not only participated in the battle, but she had one of the snarkiest lines in the movie. Although she might want to rethink that “Starbucks” wish.
Even her reaction when she felt she failed her king was one of the most visceral scenes in the movie
Okoye is even featured on most of the movie posters. So to have this figure as a “Build-A-Figure” seems like an oversight…or a money grab.
If Hasbro wanted a real money grab, they should put out a generic Dora Milaje body with like three different heads…I would buy at least 10 of those…
