Tag Archives: Wildcat

#3290: Wildcat

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , ,

WILDCAT

JUSTICE LEAGUE UNLIMITED (MATTEL)

First appearing as a second fiddle of sorts to Wonder Woman in Sensation Comics #1, Wildcat became something of a journeyman hero.  He didn’t officially join the JSA until after the Golden Age had wrapped, but became quite a fixture for the team in the ensuing years.  He’s found his real footing in recent years as the old-timer hero involved in training a good chunk of DC’s street level heroes.  That was the role he found himself in for Justice League Unlimited, where his role as Black Canary’s mentor served as the basis of their shared debut episode “The Cat and the Canary.”  His part in the show got him his second time as an action figure, and I’m taking a look at that figure today.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wildcat was released in the second series of three packs for Mattel’s Justice League Unlimited line, alongside Metamorpho and a re-packed Batman figure.  He was subsequently re-packed as a single with a few extra accessories later down the line.  The figure stands about 4 3/4 inches tall and he has 5 points of articulation.  Wildcat is based on the larger male base body, which was based upon the first Superman sculpt from the line.  It’s a decent build for the character, but he does have a little bit of trouble standing.  He’s got to lean all the way back to really balance, which doesn’t quite feel very true to the character.  Wildcat got a unique head and arms.  The head’s a little bit on the tiny side, but is otherwise a nice mold, which does a respectable job of capturing the animation design.  The arms are similar to the standard ones, but with slight tufts of fur on the forearms.  It’s a small touch, but an effective one.  The figure’s paint work is fairly minimal.  Largely, he’s just the molded off-black/purple.  He does get a little bit of paint for his face and his hands.  Nothing too crazy, but it gets the job done.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

When it first launched, JLU was a rather tricky to acquire line, especially when it came to the three-packs.  After finally managing to get most of the first assortment, I actually lucked into almost all of the second series at once, while vacationing with my family back when they first dropped.  I’ve always had a soft spot for Wildcat, and I liked his appearance on the show, so I was happy to have gotten him.  He’s a pretty basic figure, but he does what he needs to, and he fits the line well.

#2136: Wildcat

Posted by Ethan Wilson in Reviews and tagged with , , , , , ,

WILDCAT

DC UNIVERSE CLASSICS (MATTEL)

“Ted Grant was a heavyweight boxing champion in the 1930s. He became a fugitive when mobsters framed him for murder in the ring. Ted donned a black costume and, adopting the name Wildcat, used his combat skills to beat a confession out of the men who framed him. Wildcat decided to remain in costume and focused his attention on mob-related crime. In his civilian identity, Ted Grant has operated a gym and trained Batman, Black Canary, and Catwoman in hand-to-hand combat arts.”

I had been tempted to start this review with a gag about how I hadn’t reviewed any DC Universe Classics figures recently, and how that was actually Mattel’s fault.  Trouble is…it’s only been two weeks since my last DCUC review, so I guess that joke doesn’t really fly so well.  Well, I’m still gonna blame Mattel…force of habit really.  For today’s review, I turn to one of the DC Universe’s older heroes, Wildcat, notable for sharing his first appearance with Wonder Woman (and Mister Terrific, but not as many people know him).  As a definite second stringer to her starring role, he found himself somewhat pushed to the sidelines, not even joining the premier Golden Age team, the Justice Society, until after the Golden Age had ended.  He found a renewed life after Earths 1 and 2 merged after Crisis on Infinite Earths, where he was retrofitted into an aged hero who had trained most of the current generation.  As a mentor, he flourished and became a fan-favorite.  And that’s how he’s become one of the most action-figured golden age heroes.

THE FIGURE ITSELF

Wildcat was released in Series 9 of DC Universe Classics.  He wasn’t technically the only JSA member in the assortment, since Black Canary was also part of the line-up, and the two actually made for a pretty sensible pairing.  He was also right at the head of the oncoming push for the JSA, and continued the DCUC trend of providing updates to characters DC Direct hadn’t touched in a while.  There were two versions of Wildcat available, though unlike a lot of the variants produced for this line, the differences between the two are menial at best.  The standard’s body suit was a straight black, while the variant (reviewed here) was instead a very dark blue.  The reasoning behind the variant was never really explained, since it’s not exactly a callback to a specific look.  Both figures went for Wildcat’s slightly modernized look, with his wrapped up hands, befitting his past as a boxer.  The figure stands 6 1/2 inches tall and he has 23 points of articulation.  Wildcat was built on the larger male body, which was in service from Series 1 to Series 20.  For a bruiser like Ted, it was a good fit.  He also got a new head, forearms, hands, and feet.  The head is definitely the most impressive piece; rather than just a solid piece, the face is separately sculpted from the mask on top of it.  It adds some nice depth to the sculpt, and makes him unique amongst the other, single-piece sculpts from the line.  Wildcat’s colorscheme is fairly monochromatic, and by extension his paintwork is pretty simple for the most part.  The variant is sort of a purplish-blue, which doesn’t look half-bad, and he gets some pretty impressive work on those hand wraps.  Wildcat was packed with the torso and head of the Series 9 CnC, Chemo, who I didn’t actually complete, but there it is.

THE ME HALF OF THE EQUATION

I feel like all of my DCUC reviews have the same “Me Half of the Equation,” but here goes: Series 9’s distribution was spotty.  Not as spotty as Series 8, but still pretty damn spotty.  I never saw either version of Wildcat at retail, and so I never got one while the line was running.  Fortunately for me, when All Time Toys got in a DCUC collection last December, I was able to find this guy among them.  He’s a strong figure, no doubt, and I’m definitely glad I was able to get ahold of him, because he really exhibits the line’s strength in simplicity very nicely.