Since today marks the first day of Black History Month, and the truly wonderful #28DaysOfBlackCosplay, it got me thinking about dearth of black action figures (that goes hand in hand with the lack of black characters), which made me wonder how many I had in my collection. Sadly, this won't take that long...
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| Aveline de Grandpré: Assassin's Creed McFarlane, 2014 This was the first female playable assassin in the game. Some fanbois lost their shit because cooties. |
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| Domina: Spawn Reborn McFarlane, 2003 This is a repaint of an earlier figure that is white. The character in the comics also appears to be white. The repaint is one of McFarlane's many reissued, repainted figures for that cash cow. |
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| Fatality: Green Lantern Corps DC Direct, 2002 I debated including this one. She's an alien, not from Earth, but the way she's drawn and colored she looks like she could be black, and she dated black Green Lantern John Stewart (who also destroyed her planet; comics are complicated). |
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| Gamora – played by actor Zoe Saldana: Guardians of the Galaxy Hasbro, 2014 Saldana self-identifies as black, so here she is! Even if she is painted green... Misty Knight (Heroes for Hire) Hasbro, 2015 I have to kinda wonder if Knight's character (first app. 1975) was inspired by Pam Grier (Foxy Brown, et al.)... |
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| Garona Halforcen – played by actor Paula Patton: Warcraft (movie) Jakks Pacific, 2016 This was another one I wasn't sure to include or not. Patton's father is African-American, but I don't know how she, personally, identifies. I'm erring on the side of Barack Obama and including this figure. |
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| Guinan – played by actor/comedian Whoopi Goldberg Playmates, 1994 There were a few different versions of Guinan's character. This one is from Star Trek: Generations Basic Series. |
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| Jackie Joyner-Kersee: Starting Lineup/Timeless Legends Kenner, 1996 Florence Griffith-Joyner: Starting Lineup/Timeless Legends Kenner, 1996 These are both reasonable likenesses, but they're not "action figures." There is very little articulation, and what there is is pretty meaningless. They are basically small plastic statues, that have a tiny amount of movement. |
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| Lily [Sloane] – played by actor Alfre Woodard: Star Trek: First Contact Playmates, 1996 On the card, she is merely "Lily, Zephram Cochran's Assistant," but in one Star Trek source, she is DR. Lily Sloane. |
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| Maggie: Evolve Funko, 2015 I don't know anything about this game. The fandom wiki page says her surname is Lumumba. She looks pretty badass. |
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| Martha Jones – played by actor Freema Agyeman: Doctor Who Character Options, 2013 Martha was available singly and in box sets. The one above is from the Companion Box Set. |
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| Martia – played by Iman: Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country Playmates, 1995 This character is another alien, a Chameloid, so her attractive appearance portrayed by Iman is not her "true" form. But that's the action figure they made and how many people get to boast their own action figs, eh? (Plus I kinda love her character in the movie.) |
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| Michonne – played by Danai Gurira: The Walking Dead McFarlane, 2013 Michonne has a few different iterations of her character, this one is the TV Series 3 version. |
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| Monica Rambeau: A-Force Hasbro, 2017 This character has had a few different names in the comics, including Captain Marvel! Currently, we are set to meet her mother Maria "Photon" (Photon is one of her other aliases) Rambeau in the upcoming Captain Marvel movie. w00t! |
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| Nakia – played by actor Lupita Nyong'o: Black Panther Hasbro, 2017 This particular series of action figures was a Build-a-Figure for Okoye: buy the 5 required figures, and assemble the character played by Danai Gurira. There is a forthcoming Wave 2 of Black Panther figures than includes a Dora Milaje with three different heads. |
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| Niobe – played by actor Jada Pinkett Smith: The Matrix Reloaded McFarlane, 2003 I love the detail in this figure, it's a good likeness of both the actress and the character. I hate that the pose is baked in. There's not much *action* in this action figure. |
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| Onyx: Golden Girl and the Guardians of the Gemstones Galoob, 1984 This was a "knockoff" of the Mattel She-Ra line. Great figures with real metal shields. The metallic coating on their capes have an unfortunate tendency to shed with age, though. |
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| Patty Tolan – played by actor/comedian Leslie Jones: Ghostbusters Mattel, 2016 The figures are great, a little monochromatic, but faithfully rendered. The packaging was cheap as hell, though, and when I bought mine all the boxes in the store were crushed, every one of them. Not only cheap, but ugly. So Mattel didn't commit to the packaging, didn't commit to the lame-ass build-a-fig Rowan ghost that came with buying all four. Kinda like how a lot of people didn't commit to the movie, and how awesome it really was. |
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| Rue – played by Amandla Stenberg: The Hunger Games NECA, 2012 Another really nice rendering of a character. NECA generally does well with their figures. Rue doesn't have a whole lot of articulation, but she looks like her character. If you've read the books or seen the movies, having this one in your collection will just make you sad and angry a lot. |
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| Sasha (Williams) – played by Sonequa Martin-Green: The Walking Dead McFarlane, 2017 (Walgreens exclusive) This is an exclusive figure that was available only from Walgreens drug stores. Like most McFarlane figures, it's a good likeness of the actor. Incidentally, in order for an action figure to have a likeness of the actor, that person has to sign off on it. People have rights to whether their likeness is used (or NOT used), and if you see an action figure that looks nothing like the individual it portrays, it might be that person refused the use of their likeness. |
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| (Future) Shard: X-Men Toy Biz, 1997 I wasn't sure about including this character. According to her bio, Shard Bishop is the daughter of indigenous Australians. Some of these people refer to themselves as black, some don't. I honestly don't know how Marvel intends her to be perceived. |
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| Shonti: Tenko and the Guardians of the Magic Mattel, 1995 Fallon: Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders Hasbro/Kenner, 1995 Both of these figures came out about the same time, and were based on Magical Girl cartoon series. I have not seen either series, but the figures are cute. However, neither series caught on the way She-Ra did 10 years earlier. And neither had the popularity of Sailor Moon. |
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| Shuri – Letitia Wright: Black Panther (basic series) Hasbro, 2017 There are two versions of this character, one based on the movie and the actress, and one based on the comic book character that came in a Toys R Us exclusive 2-Pack with Klaw. I bought the 2-pack and returned it when I saw the one above, so she would be more harmonious with the other movie Black Panther figures. The one that comes in the 2-pack does look cool though, I have to admit. |
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| Stass Allie (foreground) – played by Lily Nyamwasa: Star Wars: Attack of the Clones/Revenge of the Sith Hasbro, 2005 Luminara Unduli (background) – played by Mary Oyaya: Star Wars: Attack of the Clones/Revenge of the Sith Hasbro, 2013 There are multiple versions of both these figures, but Luminara Unduli has more variations than Stass Allie. |
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| Storm: She-Force Series 2 Toy Biz, 1996 Until the batteries wear out (or corrode), the lightening bolt on her chest lights up. This same figure came in a silver chrome, silver paint, and white versions as well as the black. There have been many Storm figures. She's the one black superhero that pretty much everyone can think of even when you ask non-comic fans, along with Blade (probably). |
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| Lt. (Nyota) Uhura – played by Nichelle Nichols (and Zoe Saldana in the reboot): Star Trek Playmates, 1995 Uhura has several variations of her character. The one above is from the Classic Movie Series, from Star Trek: The Motion Picture. I liked it because she wasn't wearing that stupid impractical miniskirt. |
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| Valkyrie – played by Tessa Thompson: Thor: Ragnarok Hasbro, 2017 This figure came in a two-pack with the short-haired Thor from Ragnarok. He's out of the frame here, but Tessa is dragging Chris in sparkly net I made from sacrificed fishnet tights. Worth it. |
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| Wanda II (Simmons): The Art of Spawn McFarlane, 2005 This is a non-articulated figure, but it's so pretty I couldn't resist. If you plan to get this one for yourself, something to be aware of: the candlesticks are a fairly soft plastic, and warp easily. Mine arrived looking half-melted. I might be able to use a hair dryer to straighten them, but I haven't tried. |
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| Zoë Washburne – played by Gina Torres: Firefly Funko, 2014 A good likeness of the actor. The Funko figures are sometimes hit and miss with their joints and swivels. This one was a bit of a miss for me. Her thigh swivels are kind of obnoxious, and her head barely moves because of the hair. |
I have one dude displayed who's black. I don't typically display male figures, even if they come with the female ones, but Ty and Tandy are kinda literally codependent. They need each other, so they're displayed together.
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| Cloak: Cloak and Dagger box set Toy Biz, 1997 This was a collector's set that came out way before the tv show. This pair has been in another 2-pack, and separately as 6-inch and 3 3/4-inch figures. |
If you love diverse media, support it. If you want to see diverse characters, demand them from the studios that create them. Hollywood saw, clearly, that a black superhero movie could succeed, beyond their dreams of avarice. Black Panther shattered records, and good for them! Let's see more of that, please!
For another resource, totally dedicated to this kind of thing exclusively, visit: Black Action Figures.
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