Continuing the position based theme Corinthian released ProStars Series 28 Demon Defenders, which is a collection of 16 of the best defenders from 12 different countries across 3 continents.

 

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Kolo Toure is sculpted for the very first time, an excellent figure of the versatile defender, with Corinthian making 3,276 blisters. Chelsea also have a new sculpt as we have Ricardo Carvalho in home kit, with 4,167 blisters made.

 

 

Staying in London we have Noureddine Naybet for Tottenham Hotspur, with 2,368 blisters made and for Liverpool we have Josemi, with Corinthian releasing 2,556 blisters.

 

 

Manchester United fans had a first time sculpt in Gabriel Heinze and an all new sculpt of Rio Ferdinand, which is my personal favourite of all the Ferdinand sculpts. Production wise we have 3,268 for Heinze and 4,528 for Ferdinand.

 

 

Sam Allardyce had worked his magic again and convinced veteran defender Fernando Hierro to swap the sun of Spain for the gloom of Lancashire, the sculpt being the same as first seen in Series 18. Corinthian released 3,268 blisters of Hierro in Bolton Wanderers home kit. 

 

 

Stephen Carr is an all new sculpt from the one seen in Series 12, released here in Newcastle United home kit, with just 2,008 blisters made which was the 2nd lowest in this series. The lowest production volume goes to Danny Mills in Manchester City home kit, with just 2,007 blisters made of this first time sculpt.

 

 

Completing the contingent from the English Premier League is my personal favourite from this series, which is Michael Reiziger in Middlesbrough home kit, this was a first and only time sculpt with Corinthian making 2,728 blisters, they would never release Reiziger again.

 

 

The only release from Spain's La Liga is a first time release of Rafael Marquez, with Corinthian producing 4,535 blisters of the Mexican international.

 

 

Italy's Serie A was renowned for producing the vert best defenders with 5 of them included in Series 28, my favourite of those 5 is Fernando Couto in Lazio home kit, with Corinthian making 3,810 blisters. Couto's did feature in the Portugal national Headliners set but that was an entirely different sculpt.

 

 

Colombian Ivan Cordoba made his Corinthian debut, with 4,710 blisters being made, and for rivals AC Milan we have Jaap Stam, the sculpt being the same as seen in Series 2, with 5,490 blisters. We have a first time sculpt of Phillipe Mexes for Roma with 3,811 blisters and completing the line up is a fresh sculpt of Fabio Cannavaro in Juventus home kit, with him being the highest blister production with 5,850.

 

 

In total Corinthian made 58,380 blisters for Series 28 Demon Defenders, which was considerably down from Series 27 and over 10,000 fewer than Series 26, with an average blister production of 3,648 per figure.

 

 

Corinthian produced 2 special redemption figures for Series 28 Demon Defenders, which are Rio Ferdinand for Manchester United and Ricardo Carvalho for Chelsea, both in their respective club away kits. Collectors were able to directly purchase the redemption figures, which were priced at £5 and came in clear sachet with a non numbered collector card.

 

 

Series 28 Demon Defenders was released on the 11th April 2005 with blisters priced at £3 each and Corinthian also made the series available in a case assortment, which contained all 16 blisters plus the 2 redemption sachets and 1 platinum pack, with the case assortment costing £48.

 

 

Along with the regular blister packs, Corinthian produced something special called the Platinum Pack, these were produced in much lower numbers and not available for direct sale, they were given away free for money spent with Corinthian Direct. The figures are identical to those in the standard blister but are on a Silver base and assigned a PP (Platinum Pack) collector code, which was the same code as the PRO version, with the figure then placed on a specially designed Platinum Pack blister card, coming with an individually numbered collector card with just 360 of each being produced.