1996 Marvel Collectors Edition 12 Inch Black Cat Doll by Toy Biz

              http://marveluniverse.mex.tl/1517900_Black-Cat.html

In 1996 Toy Biz released their Marvel Collectors Edition range of 12 inch dolls. I have to admit I was too busy bringing up a 1 year old to know this had even happened and it wasn't until a few years ago when I found a listing for an interesting looking doll on Ebay that I discovered it had...

 I must also confess like the seller I hadn't the faintest notion what the doll was supposed to be - I should have clicked straight away to that outfit but I was obviously in "Derp Mode" but not so derpy that I didn't know that she most certainly wasn't the "Friend of Barbie" that she was listed as.

She has such an interesting face mould and I just loved the fact that she had white hair instead of the more usual blonde that so many dolls have. I decided to try for her and in the meantime, while I waited to discover if I had been successful or not, I did some research on her, sadly there wasn't much available information on the doll range at the time so I guess she's kind of rare.

I'll check again before I finish this post, but first let me tell you a little bit about the character known as The Black Cat...

http://marvel.wikia.com/Amazing_Spider-Man_Vol_1_194

"The Black Cat" is the alter ego of Felicity Hardy, the daughter of a doctor and a cat burglar and villainess / Spidey love interest. She first appeared in Marvel's The Amazing Spider-Man Comic number 194,in 1979.

Intent on revenge against her ex boyfriend for reasons I won't go into, she trained in martial & acrobatics, due to events beyond her control she never got the opportunity to use her new found skills against him. Instead she decided to follow in her Father's footsteps and become a cat burglar herself - hence the costume.

http://www.writeups.org/fiche.php?id=1039

It was on one of her crime sprees that she met Spiderman and felt a kinship with him, this developed into infatuation and love. Spiderman saw the good in her and attempted to help her, she in turn helped him and the two teamed up at times to fight crime together!

She now uses her skills as a crime fighter in her own right and has yet to revert back to her old villainous ways.

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As you can see from the illustrations above and below she is portrayed as a strong, sexy woman who is a powerful ally or enemy.

 She is a perpetrator of crime and also a crime fighter.

She has a vulnerability about her and has been the victim of an horrendous crime (hence her need for revenge) and yet she is in no way a weak woman and instead of allowing this to break her she instead draws a strength of will and a determination instead.

 All in all she's a pretty good role model figure for young girls - minus the villainy of course!

background-pictures.picphotos.net - website address no longer active

Seeing as I'm not prepared to give anymore of her story away - I just hate spoilers - I guess it's now about time for some photographs of her doll form, afterall that's what this post is about!

Her mask is removable but as I haven't tried I can't say if the rest of her outfit is, but it fits her so snuggly I really don't want to attempt it in case I rip it like the clumsy oaf I am.

 Also I bought her as a loose collector's doll, so I photograph and display her only, therefore I have no reason to even try.

Just look at the length of her hair, it's really good quality too and holds position well while removing or replacing her mask.

Her gloves are a bit of a problem for me though, they look so oversized - I haven't tried to remove them either as I hate trying to get dolls gloves back on, it's such a pain.

Here she is unmasked... Just look at that face mould, isn't she something?

There is a kind of masculinity to the shape of her jaw but that can possibly be explained away as an attempt to show the inner strength that this character possesses, after all, men are supposed to be the stronger of the two sexes - in terms of physicality this true, but the Feminist in me knows that women have an inner strength that most men are grateful for in times of hardship, or at least that is the case within my family.

I said earlier that I would have another search for information on this doll, but apart from a few Ebay listings of boxed dolls I can't really find anything.

I thought it would be cool to add a picture of what she looked like boxed but nagdabbit all the images I could find were either too small or taken at a funny angle - Sorry about that.