The '90s was when anime influences started to show up in western comics, be it the art style of Joe Maduriera, or the proliferation of catgirls.
Feral battles alongside Cable’s band of outlaw mutants fighting for the survival of their species against Stryfe and his Mutant Liberation Front.
The '90s X-Force wa not known for its high quality. Like, Fabian Nicieza tried, but there's only so much that can be done when the story is being directed by a guy who was given carte blanche to reboot the book more to his liking but is still going to bail less than a year in. That said, interesting things did eventually come out of it. Like, Feral was a member of the Morlocks, but ended up hanging out in the former Xavier School, which is how she ended up joining X-Force when that team formed; meanwhile, her sister, Thornn, eventually joined Toad's Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. A pretty standard story at this point, but eventually it was revealed that Feral was the more vicious and villainous of the two of them, while Thornn was closer to being heroic. Nice twist!
Unless you're Jeph Loeb, you may recognize that cats and dogs are two different things. Regardless, Rob Liefeld opted to give his new
creation Wolverine hair, because Wolfsbane had just been written out of the book and Feral was just an ersatz version. But at least in this case, there's an excuse: giving cat characters big, pointy hair is nothing new. The furry muttonchop sideburns are harder to explain away, though. The angry, hissing expression is perfect for someone who was angry enough that she was constantly threatening/attacking the people she lived with and took care of her. Just like a real cat!
The torso is new, but the limbs are reused. Unfortunately, the ones chosen aren't the best available. Feral's's furry, just like Rahne, so Hasbro would have reused those molds with no complaints.
Instead, these are the arms and legs (and tail) from Tigra, which means they're mostly smooth, but have small, easily-overlooked tufts of sculpted fur. What, you can't see them? They're right there on her shoulders. And below her elbows. And on the inside of her calf muscles, for some reason? If not for the pinless joints, we'd think the shins were assmbled on the incorrect leg, because it seems like the tuft would make more sense on the outside of the calf than the inside. Of couse, it would also make more sense to sculpt all her fur and not just some spots that are basically invisible.
Feral's costume was not cat-themed. She wore a simple vest and loincloth combo, plus a pair of gloves, but no boots. What was the plan there?
Why did she need to lightly protect her fingers (she was still able to claw people, so the gloves couldn't have been that thick), but could just walk everywhere barefoot? Being a superstar artist doesn't necessarily mean you're great at costume design. The costume here is dark magenta, nearly purple, while in the comics her suit was more of a pink. Because pink and orange go great together! The orange is pretty muted, as well, so this toy will not sear your eyes. The black and white Bride of Frankenstein stripes in her hair are crisp, as is all the white trim on her suit.
The articulation is fine, but nothing surprising: swivel/hinge ankles, double-hinged knees, swivel thighs, balljoint hips,
swivel tail, balljointed chest, swivel/hinge wrists, double-hinge elbows, swivel biceps, swivel/hinge shoulders, hinged neck, and balljointed head. The head does seem to sit a little high on the neck, but at least she can top her head all the way back. Of course, that'd be more useful if her legs were capable of getting her into the sort of crouch she was often drawn in - they'd need those "drop-down" hips, like GI Joe Classified have, and a stronger ab crunch. They were already doing a new torso, that's not outside the realm of possibility.
Feral gets no accessories or BAF parts, just alternate hands so she can have fists instead of claws. This is one of the series where the figures came with those idiot "replica" comic things. This one does have an interesting twist to it, though: X-Force #1 had a wraparound cover, and this little piece duplicates that, making it the first to have something on the back other than a blank surface with a Marvel Legends logo. For what that's worth.
Feral had an action figure back in the ToyBiz days; it was a ToyFare exclusive, and was just a repainted Black Cat body with softgoods clothing. This one using the Tigra molds isn't the best choice, but that's still better than a perfectly smooth body would have been. And at least her head is more than a repainted Wolfsbane, too. With the release of Feral, we now have figures of all the original team members of X-Force - just not all in matching costumes. Hasbro really needs to rerelease that Domino/Cannonball/Rictor three-pack sometime, though. And then they can start on some of those unforgettable Mutant Liberation Front winners, like Forearm, the man with four arms. And then they can not-give-one to Rob Liefeld, so he can quit all over again.
-- 05/11/26
Why does she have Wolverine hair? Tell us on our message board, the Loafing Lounge.
|
