I need to tell you about the three things I love most, because this story only makes sense if you understand all three of them.
First: cats. I have two — Miso and Pepper — and they are the most important residents of my flat. Second: DC Comics, specifically the Gotham characters, specifically the ones who exist in the morally complicated space between hero and villain. Third: textile art. I'm a textile artist by training and by practice, and I have a particular obsession with patchwork — the way disparate pieces of fabric can be stitched together into something coherent and beautiful, the way the seams become part of the aesthetic rather than something to hide.
The Funko Pop! Animation DC Comics Patchwork Catwoman figure sits at the exact intersection of all three of these things. I genuinely could not believe it existed when I found it. I ordered it within about ninety seconds of seeing it.
Why Catwoman, and Why Patchwork
Catwoman has always been my favourite DC character. Not because she's the most powerful or the most dramatic, but because she's the most interesting — a thief with a code, an anti-hero who operates entirely on her own terms, a character whose relationship with Batman is one of the most genuinely complex dynamics in comics. She's been written badly and she's been written brilliantly, and when she's written brilliantly she's one of the best characters in the DC universe.
The patchwork aesthetic is what makes this particular figure special. Standard Catwoman figures — and there are many — render her in the sleek, black, form-fitting look that's her most recognisable visual. That's fine. That's accurate. But the patchwork version does something different: it takes the character and reimagines her through a whimsical, stitched-together lens that feels both playful and somehow true to who she is. Catwoman is, in a sense, a patchwork character — assembled from different influences, different identities, different versions of herself across decades of comics. The aesthetic fits.
As a textile artist, I also just find it genuinely beautiful. The stitched-together visual language is one I work in every day, and seeing it applied to a character I love in a collectible format felt like something made specifically for me.
The Figure Itself
The Funko POP Animation DC Comics Catwoman Patchwork Vinyl Figure is 9cm — the standard Funko Pop! scale — in vinyl construction with the signature oversized head and stylised features of the range. What sets it apart is the patchwork design: the distinct, stitched-together aesthetic that gives the figure a texture and visual interest that standard figures don't have. It's a one-of-a-kind look within the DC Funko range, and it rewards close attention in a way that simpler figures don't.
The window display box is the collector-standard clear-front packaging that keeps the figure protected while keeping it fully visible. I display all my figures in their boxes and the window design means I can see the patchwork detail clearly without opening the packaging. The figure arrived in perfect condition — no damage to the box, no issues with the figure itself.
Where She Lives Now
She's on my studio shelf — the one above my sewing table, where I keep things that inspire me while I work. She's between a small ceramic cat I bought in Lisbon and a swatch of vintage Japanese boro fabric that I've had for years and can't bring myself to cut. The company she keeps tells you something about why she belongs there.
Miso, my older cat, has shown considerable interest in the shelf since the figure arrived. I choose to interpret this as recognition. Miso has always had good taste.
I've been working on a patchwork piece since the figure arrived that's loosely inspired by the aesthetic — dark colours, visible seams, a kind of deliberate imperfection that becomes its own kind of elegance. I'm not sure I would have started it without the figure sitting there above my table, reminding me that patchwork can be many things. That's what the best objects do: they generate ideas beyond themselves.
For the Cat People, the DC People, and the Textile People
If you are any one of these three things, this figure will appeal to you. If you are two of them, it will delight you. If you are all three — and I suspect there are more of us than you'd think — it will feel like it was made specifically for you, which is a rare and wonderful thing for a mass-produced collectible to achieve.
The Funko POP Animation DC Comics Catwoman Patchwork Vinyl Figure is available in our Toys collection and our wider Toys & Games collection. She's waiting for the right shelf. Make sure it's yours.
— Delphine Marchetti
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