CopyCat is a villain from the Hamster & Gretel episode "Comic Shop CopyCat". He is a supervillain that bases himself entirely on a comic book character; a Bull Boy villain named ManCat, which eventually got his own comic book series. After earning a degree in mechanical engineering, CopyCat has thusly built his feline armor and hairball gun in his stepfather's unfinished garage using his trust funds, in order to make people respect him.
Physical appearance
CopyCat is a tall, long-faced man with a brown skin complexion, with short, dark brown hair and olive green eyes. As a civilian, he wears a white camp shirt and beige pants.
His supervillain suit is entirely feline-themed, consisting of a gray, unitard-like outfit with dark stripes and a light-gray abdomen, a dark collar with a magenta pendant, and furred boots resembling cat legs. He also wears headgear resembling a cat with yellow eyes and a light gray muzzle.
Part of his supervillain outfit is a mechanical, prehensile tail, with a claw at its tip. This and his cat-shaped hairball gun are attached to a power pack (which CopyCat carries on his back with straps) and a mechanical belt, which bears a magenta cat symbol on its buckle. The power pack supposedly also make CopyCat look more muscled than he actually is.
Given his heavy inspiration, it's very likely that CopyCat's supervillain outfit is very similar to that of ManCat.
Personality
CopyCat appears to dislike having little esteem, as he greatly desires to be respected by the people around him, resorting to creating a persona based entirely on his favorite comic book villain ManCat in order to make people do it. Despite liking ManCat to the point that he believes ManCat could absolutely destroy Hamster and Gretel, CopyCat does not know all of ManCat's lines by heart, and has to constantly pull out a ManCat comic book for reference when quoting him. Ironically, he also dislikes cats and admits he's more of a dog person; this in turn may also explain his disregard for cats when refueling his hairball gun.
Weapons and abilities
CopyCat has no actual superpowers; instead, he uses self-made weapons, modeled after those of ManCat, to terrorize the city. He is able to build these thanks to his skills in mechanical engineering, to which he earned an official degree for.
- Mechanical tail: This tail, attached to his belt and powered by the power pack on his back, is prehensile and extendable, and so can grab a variety of things from afar thanks to the claw on its tip. The tail can also be used as an extra limb to attack his opponents with, or reach toward other places.
- Hairball gun: Also powered by the power pack is an orange cat-shaped gun, which shoots sticky hairballs that can trap his targets in place. It is fueled by other cats: CopyCat would insert another cat inside of it, as the gun would epilate from the animal's fur in order to make hairballs, whenever CopyCat pulls the trigger; he needs to refuel when the cat inside has lost all of its fur.
CopyCat has copied nearly everything from ManCat except for his weakness, which is water. Despite that, CopyCat's mechanics leave a lot of wiring exposed, making them very sensitive to water, as coming in contact of water would cause them to shortcircuit. Therefor, CopyCat's weakness is still water anyway.
History
Background
A few weeks prior to the events of "Comic Shop CopyCat", CopyCat in his civilian form has visited Comics! Etc to purchase a lot of ManCat comics. Prior to doing so, however, he was arguing with Hiromi, the cashier, that ManCat would definitely be able to destroy Hamster and Gretel, to which Hiromi calmly objects, as Hamster and Gretel actually have superpowers while ManCat has not. The customer becomes enraged and stated that ManCat would have if he had trusted funds, a degree in mechanical engineering, a mechanical suit of armor and the desire for respect; all very oddly specific things that would ultimately reveal his future plans in the next couple of weeks.
Season 1
CopyCat marks his debut in "Comic Shop CopyCat", when he terrorizes the parking garage at the Dream Mall right as Gretel leaves Comics! Etc. Naturally, this causes Gretel to investigate in her superhero form (without Hamster, who is still at home watching a telenovela), and also catches the attention of Action News. CopyCat throws a couple of cars around while quoting ManCat, inadvertently trapping Kevin and Hiromi inside of the comic shop. While seeing the Action News footage on the TV installed here, Hiromi recognizes CopyCat's voice from a rowdy customer she had encountered at Comics! Etc a couple weeks prior. She and Kevin realize they could figure out his weakness by doing research on the ManCat comic books, and possibly relay it to Gretel, who could defeat CopyCat with that information in mind.
Unfortunately, Kevin and Hiromi have no success in tracking down ManCat's weakness, while Gretel struggles taking down CopyCat without Hamster. This is until Kevin realizes that ManCat originated from a Bull Boy comic: "Bull Boy in Spain". They find out that ManCat's weakness is water, which Kevin relays to Gretel, as she leads CopyCat outside the Dream Mall.
As CopyCat traps Gretel to a car with a sticky hairball, Hamster comes to her aid and douses CopyCat in water from a nearby truck. Initially, CopyCat pretends to be suffering, only to reveal he didn't copy ManCat's weakness of water, taunting the super duo for wasting their efforts. However, Gretel then points out that the exposed wiring on his person does in fact make water his weakness, as his weapons promptly shortcircuit, and he in turn gets attacked by all the cats he had harmed during the battle.
Gallery
Click here to view the image gallery for CopyCat. |
List of appearances
Season 1
- "Comic Shop CopyCat" (First appearance)
- "Exclamation Strikes Back" (Mentioned)
Shorts and spinoffs
- Chibi Tiny Tales
- "Super Pet Pals"
Trivia
- CopyCat's prehensile, mechanical tail is similar to that of Scorpion, or the mechanical arm from Dr. Octopus, both of them being villains from Spider-Man. As CopyCat based his supervillain self on the in-universe comic ManCat, this in turn would mean ManCat has a prehensile tail based on the tail of Scorpion and the arm of Dr. Octopus as well.