[Trivial Psychic]

I received my Defenders box set in the mail today...there were a couple of red flags and annoyances, and I just wanted to run over some thoughts in case there were any of you who hadn't picked it up yet and were on the fence.

Daredevil: I thought this would be one of my favorite figures in the set, but it turned out to be one of my least. The problem with it is that Hasbro couldn't figure out what color they wanted Daredevil to be. I get that they wanted to give a little bit of a shaded look to him, but the problem is that Hasbro used no less than three different colored plastics on the figure, creating a mish-mash of red that's jarring to look at and doesn't have any sort of flow to it. This is especially noticeable on the bottom half of the figure, as Daredevil has blood red hips and upper thighs, a much lighter red set of thighs, and a maroon colored pair of boots. The boots I don't mind so much, but the darker hips and upper thighs makes it look like Daredevil is wearing a darker pair of spandex shorts over his regular costume. The new billy clubs are nice and the details on the head are great, but those mismatched plastic colors are ugly and stand out for the wrong reasons.

Iron Fist: I actually prefer this version over the one we previously received, as the skin tones are nice, and the the tattoo on the bare chest looks cool. What's nice is that the parts from the original figure also work on this one, but if you missed out or passed on the original, then you're out of luck because Hasbro only included the fire hands clip on, and not the clear "chi" hands. Still a solid figure though, and while I wasn't high on another version of the character so soon, I do like it.

Luke Cage: This one I was most excited to get, as trying to grab the SDCC version of Luke will run you about the same as picking up this box set, which comes with 3 other figures. I actually feel this Luke is superior to the T-Bolts version, as I really like the new boots and the solid colored gauntlets, which can be removed. Not a whole lot of paint, but the paints that are there are crisp and solid, and makes this guy my favorite out of the box set. I'm really glad that Hasbro gave us a second crack at this guy, even if we had to get another box set to have that chance...

Jewel: Now...where to start...It's Silk...cosplaying as Jessica Jones. If you can get past that though, there's still some positives, mainly in that the line work is fairly clean, and Hasbro made some good choices on the white plastics used, as well as the skin tones. My only gripes, the jewel on her hip could have been painted with a few more coats of paint, as you can see the belt underneath it. I can imagine that Hasbro was going for an actual jewel effect with the lighter coats of paint, but it just comes off looking unfinished. The other issue, is her forearms...which for some reason, Hasbro casted in blue plastic, and painted the upper arms flesh colored in an attempt to match the flesh tones on the torso. The only problem is that Hasbro failed miserably in doing so, leaving her with a funky bluish tan above her gloves, and easily the most botched attempt to match plastic colors with paint since Hellcat.

Despite my complaints, it's a decent set, especially considering the value of getting Luke Cage, which I have a custom standing in my collection at the moment because the prices on the SDCC version were stupid. Jewel is a nice addition (although I may end up swapping out the hair piece like I did for the recent vintage Black Widow) and I really like this version of Iron Fist more than the Dr Strange wave version. Daredevil was easily the most disappointing of the bunch, and I might end up dissecting him for some swap parts with the original version if the plastic colors match up well enough.

Edit: They don't...