Of course, one of the best qualities of Shang-Chi is being a great stand in for generic Asian martial artists from popular culture such as Mortal Kombat’s Liu Kang, Bruce Lee, Jet Lee, and evidently, G.I. Joe’s Quick Kick. Here is a not-so secret revelation. I bought the Shang-Chi action figure as a stand in for Quick Kick in my G.I. Joe Classified collection. As with many, I do not expect a Quick Kick action figure by Hasbro anytime soon, but the company struck gold with this generic Asian martial artist character. Many collectors have repainted Shang-Chi’s pants black and his head band white to closely match him with Quick Kick. The final addition is to put a strap on his chest and give him a sword. That should be quite easy with all the spare parts one can find to outfit an action figure these days.

The sculpt used for Shang-Chi’s torso is one Hasbro has used often in its Marvel Legends’ line. The face sculpt is great, however, the bandana around his head is long and seems to “float” permanently. The head’s connection with the neck is, unfortunately, awful. The head floats on top of a pedestal and there is little coverage of gaps. Thus, Shang-Chi will not look good when viewed from his profile. The head easily floats sideways making him look worse. The ball joint in his neck is too high up the head. The head should have been lowered so that little gaps exist with the neck. There are nice folds on his pants sculpt in. Compared to other Marvel Legends action figures such as Quicksilver and Magneto, Shang-Chi’s head is smaller but well proportioned with his body.

Shang-Chi is tall but fits in well with other Marvel Legends action figures like the Hand Ninja, Quicksilver, and the Scarlet Witch. He also looks very good with G.I. Joe Classified action figures, although he towers over Duke, Snake Eyes, and is almost as tall as Destro. If you intend to use him as a Quick Kick replacement, he will be fine, but on the taller side. He may look quite short next to either McFarlane Toys’ and Storm Collectibles’ Mortal Kombat action figures and that is a bummer as Shang-Chi is a martial artist.

If you purchased Shang-Chi recently, you would notice that Hasbro has added a peg hole in his back in newer toys so that you can use an action figure elevated stand so that you can pose him mid-air delivering a kick. The original version of Shang-Chi from Hasbro that came out in 2020 does not have a peg hole in its back.

Shang-Chi’s articulations are plenty. He has great butterfly shoulders, bicep curls, double elbow joints, wrist curls that can move up and down. Shang-Chi’s head is on a ball joint but can also go up or down. He has a ab crunch and can turn at the waist. He cannot perform a full Van Damme split with his hip articulations. Of course, Shang-Chi has double articulations, shin curls and pivoting ankles that can move up or down. The good thing about Shang-Chi is that he has many pair of hands that one can use to create great poses. He has five pairs of hands in all.

Shang-Chi comes with the torso of the Demoglobin build-a-figure villain, two nunchakus and six extra pairs of hands. He has karate hands, scratching hands, grabbing hands, grasping hands, and fists. One nunchaku is bent, as if he was holding one hand under his armpit. The other one is straight. With all these hands and nunchakus, you can create many poses. This is quite a good selection.

Shang-Chi should retail for about $19.99USD or $29.99CAD. I have seen him retail for a bit more as if he were a rare action figure. He is not at this time, a year after his release.