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A "retro" figure from 2021.
Martial artist and former assassin Elektra Natchios dedicates herself to fighting crime under the mantle of Daredevil when Matt Murdock is sent to prison.
Really? Matt went to prison? Again? Some characters just get locked into only having a handful of stories told over and over, and Daredevil's include "identity made public" and "sent to jail." Both those things happened during Brian Michael Bendis' 2006 run on the book, so why wouldn't Chip Zdarsky choose to repeat the exact story beat 15 years later? That's what creativity is about! Doesn't matter if the small details change, "Daredevil gets sent to prison" is a recycled idea. Imagine somebody trying to write a second, unrelated, "Doctor Octopus replaces Spider-Man" story, and thinking it was a fresh new take.
The first time Matt went to prison, "Daredevil" was still seen running
around Hell's Kitchen thanks to the efforts of an unknown party. This time there was still another Daredevil out there on the streets (or rooftops, as the case may be), but the change in identity was much more apparent. Elektra wanted to prove she was more than just an assassin, that Matt could trust her, so she adopted not only his supranym, but also his non-lethal methods. Now that's true love!
Elektra's Daredevil costume suits her very well.
It's basically her standard look, but with added black panels on the sides, arms, and legs making her more ninja-y. Like GI Joe's Akiko, her pants are very baggy above the knee, but she doesn't get the benefit of using those molds. The wraps on her arms and shins are sculpted, as are the seams between the red and black sections of her costume. Her loincloth would hang to mid-shin length if it weren't blowing to the side, and she hides her face behind a scarf that similarly drapes down behind her back. Her hair is pulled into a weird ponytail that pokes up through the crown of her horned mask, then is tied so it comes straight down to the base of her skull. Strange.
If you pop the figure's head off, you can remove her scarf and reveal
her face. Somebody remembered she's supposed to be Greek, too, because not only is her hair curly instead of straight, her skin is a nice Mediterranean shade. Always nice to see designers paying attention! There's the usual Hasbro problem with getting colors to match, but since so much of her costume is black, it's mostly just the red on her shoulders and arms that don't line up. Her double-D's look just fine, though. ...the logo. DD, Daredevil? Not... anything else.
The belt isn't attached to the figure in any way, just floating above the body, so the articulation works around it just fine. Dare-lektra has swivel/hinge ankles, swivel shins, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs, balljointed hips, balljoint chest, swivel/hinge wrists (up-and-down on the left wrist, side-to-side on the right), swivel/hinge elbows, swivel biceps, swivel/hinge shoulders, and a barbell head. You have to take the scarf off to get the full range of motion out of that last one, of course, but otherwise she's ready for all kinds of ninja moves.
The figure gets two accessories, and no points
for guessing what they are: her trademark sais. In the comics, she modified them to be blunt (which isn't really that special, since a real sai is blunt), but more importantly, to also function like Daredevil's billy clubs, snapping apart and extending a line for swinging. These don't do that, they're just normal weapons, the same mold we've seen for a few years. Her right hand is molded to point the blade between her fingers, while the left hand has the pinky out slightly. Because she's classy.
Elektra is part of Spider-Man Series 10, the "Hasbro pretended this is part of the Retro line so they can still charge us $25 without giving us any Build-A-Figure pieces" series. Which is, of course, a total scam and theft on their part, so we're not going to judge you for doing what you have to do to counter it. This is a cool costume, and it's great that she got a figure so quickly, but never let anybody convince you this is anything other than an under-accessorized standard Marvel Legend.
-- 10/23/23
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