2018 saw the Marvel Legends contingent of Netflix MCU characters expand with new figures of Luke Cage, Iron-Fist and Colleen Wing in a SDCC 2018 exclusive pack along with tweaked figures of Daredevil and Jessica Jones. Following the SDCC set, it was confirmed that the Luke Cage sculpt was getting a general release as a 2-pack, the surprise was then the 2nd figure being the Netflix MCU regular Claire Temple (and not Iron-Fist as expected). The set was released in the US as a Walmart exclusive and elsewhere as a fan channel option.
This review is for the Claire Temple figure, checkout the corresponding Luke Cage review.
Packaging 4/5
The packaging for Luke and Claire is the standard 2 pack box with the same scooped sides as the single releases. Hasbro has then retained the same colour scheme for the packaging as the 2017 Netflix figures from the Marvel Knights wave, with deep red card back.
The two side panels are also done in the same style with a comic-noir type image in shades of black and deep red. But while the style is similar, the choice of images are not as good or as gritty as the 2017 ones, particularly the left hand spine Luke cage image with the illustrated bullet ricochets. which doesn't quite work as well as say the Elektra and Daredevil illustrations.
The rear of the box carries promotional images of both Claire and Luke and a short bio.
"When Luke Cage meets Claire Temple, he discovers even a bullet proof man sometimes needs someone to help him keep it together"
Once out of the box it is a nice touch to see a cityscape in the red of the figure card back. This is another link to the original Netflix releases which had similar imprinted city views.
Paint & Sculpt 3/5
Claire does hold a strong likeness to Rosario Dawson and uses the face print technology. The face is sculpted with a smile on Claire's face, which does work against her as we will see a bit later in some of the posing.
The hair, I think, is a re-use from another figure as its not a great match to the style Claire has in most of her Netflix appearances - it should be more towards her eyes on her right, and swept back further on the left.
The body to most likely uses some generic female parts, and puts Claire in a plain black top with some sculpting around the collar. The trousers/leggings do look off in places with the thigh cut in particular throwing the line of the leg.
Claire scales really well with the packed in Luke Cage figure, sitting a touch smaller than Mike Colter's Luke.
Accessories 5/5
Claire is packed with a whole raft of options starting with her bag - another re-use from a previous figure (Mary Jane). This is coloured in a dark plastic with silver around the clasp. It will sit over Claire's shoulder, although it is a bit too big to sit naturally.
The blue hands did throw me to start with, but then I realised these are latex medical gloves and that of course makes perfect sense considering Claire is regularly patching up one or more of the Netflix lead characters. The right gloved hand is simply the standard hand painted blue with the left being a similarly splayed version.
Claire can be armed too with the Fighting Claws she sported in her time in the Iron-Fist 1st season. These do allow Claire to take up some action poses, but when doing so her smiling expression is not quite a fit and she looks far to jolly to be sporting such dangerous weapons.
Articulation 4/5
Claire has 16 points of articulation, the usual count for a female Marvel Legend body.
Head - ball joint with pivot
Body - torso ball joint
Arms - ball joint shoulders, single jointed rotating elbows, pivot wrist
Legs - ball joint hips, thigh swivel, single joint knee, ankle rocker
Being so slim, the posing options on Claire are extensive and even with the single rotating elbows, she can get those Tiger Claws up in some good fighting poses.
All the joints are tight and work well. The ankles are perhaps too tight and our figure had to have a bit of a hot water soak to get them working - there is perhaps a touch too much plastic over the joint where those leggings meet the shoes.
Summary
While she may not have been the figure we wanted packed with Luke, there is no denying that Claire Temple is a very well executed figure - even with some re-used parts from older Marvel Legends.
We can argue that the hair piece is not quite right, and I personally would have preferred a more grim faced Claire. But you then have to look at the volume of accessories and the extensive articulation, even without the double jointed elbows we see on the male figures.
I score Claire Temple a 4 out of 5.
From the perspective of the set overall, this is a also a strong 4 out of 5 set. While sum may not be pleased about the inclusion of Claire over Iron-Fist, the execution of both figures is great and a worthy addition to the Netflix MCU collection.
