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Clayburn Moore still sculpts hotter females than anyone else in the toy industry, but a few others are beginning to nip at his figures' well-turned heels.
Whether possessing probability-altering powers or forced to rely solely on her athletic prowess, this reformed cat burglar is bad news. Shedding her criminal tendencies, feline fatale Felicia Hardy fell in love with the Amazing Spider-Man and joined his heroic crusade - wrapping the web-slinger around her pretty little paw. But when their relationship ended, she proved there's truth to the ages-old superstition: It's bad luck to cross paths with a black cat!
The Black Cat is seen here in the midst of a heist - probably an office building or apartment, she's just cracked the safe and is admiring the goods, seemingly unaware that a certain little Spider has his eye on her. She's got a feminine stance, balancing her weight on her left foot while the toes of her right point out to the side.
The concept of Marvel Select is that the figures are intended to be representations of a specific artist's work, and the Black Cat is a fine example of this. Taken from the (still-unfinished) mini-series written by Kevin Smith and drawn by noted cheesecake artist Terry Dodson, Felicia's hourglass figure is more an hour and a half - the girl's got more curves than Mulholland Drive, on top as well as on the bottom. Think "Anna Nichole Smith" before she ballooned out all over.
The Marvel Select figures are all created in a 7" scale, and Felicia stands 6 12/" tall. Her measurements work out to be about 37-25-36, which is fairly close to the "ideal." A lot of comicbook heroines have tremendous chests, so it's nice to see a figure that comes close to representing the proper sort of proportions all over, even at a plus size. So "plus sized," in fact, that her costume doesn't fit right.
Unzipped to reveal her chest - or maybe just allow her to breathe - the suit has been sculpted very well by Steve Kiwus. The leather folds and wrinkles as it should, and you can even see distinct outlines of her anatomy pressing against the material (her feet, you pervs). The paint apps do a great job of bringing out the detail; the leather, rather than being painted flat black, has lighter blue highlights to simulate light reflecing off the surface.
The Black Cat's chest is molded from a softer plastic than the rest of the figure, giving it a somewhat "lifelike" feel. Her hair is also molded from this material, and serves as a sort of counter-balance to keep her standing upright. She moves at the neck, shoulders, biceps, wrists, waist and hips.
The base included with this figure is quite impressive: a section of floor and wall that snap together, the base represents whatever building Felicia is robbing. The front features a smooth blue wall and wood flooring, while the rear has a brick texture to simulate the exterior of the building. There's a window that slides open and closed, and two pegs on the back of the base that allow the included (unarticulated) Spider-Man figure to "stick" to the wall and peer inside at this former love of his life.
No thief would be complete without something to steal, and the Black Cat's accessories provide that for her. The large safe features a handle that turns and a door that opens to reveal several shelves within. The set also includes a gaudy diamond on a chain, a pile of money, a stack of papers with Kevin Smith's name on them (hey, maybe that's where the Black Cat and Bullseye scripts went) and, in what must be somebody's idea of a joke, a pearl necklace.
The Marvel Select series is intended to eventually have 36 figures released one per month for three years. All the Select figures share the same oversized blister cards with nice graphics on the spine, allowing MOCers to display them like books on a shelf.
The biggest factor working against the Marvel Select line is its large pricetag - if Marvel Legends can get to shelves with five times the articulation for one-third the cost, why do these cost so much? They're as bad as DC Direct! These would all be pretty good $10 figures, but right now Marvel and Diamond aren't giving us very much for our money.
So, whose bright idea was it to give the big-chested girl a pearl necklace? Tell us on our message board, The Loafing Lounge.
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