Costume upgrades have become a fairly common sight on Arrow. Whether it is Oliver Queen giving up Yao Fei's original hood for a new (briefly sleeveless) suit, or Diggle donning the Spartan helmet for the very first time, the show has seldom shied away from giving a character a new look. As the show moved into Season 6, Wild Dog became the latest member of Team Arrow to get an revamped suit, but it seems that Wild Dog co-creator Terry Beatty isn't a very big fan of the Season 6 duds. Beatty took to social media and wrote:
THIS, ladies and gentlemen is what the powers that be at the Arrow TV show have decided is Wild Dog's new 'improved' look. Yup -- THIS is Wild Dog. Since the costume and name were all that survived from the comic book to begin with, this is now literally Wild Dog in name only. This change erases any trace of the original Collins/Beatty concept for the character. I would not be surprised if his name gets changed before too long, as well. Whatever was unique about his "street level" costume has been replaced with the current standard issue dark armored uniform -- a generic 'third Imperial Guard from the left/Death-Blood-Stroke-Stryke/Image big gun' look. Sigh....
So while Wild Dog indeed survived his stint on Lian Yu, he wasn't so lucky in the wardrobe department, as far as some people are concerned. While there's certainly a case to be made that Wild Dog looks more physically imposing in his new tactical suit, Terry Beatty's issue is tied to the dark look taking away some of the charm of the character, as well as the central comparison between the TV and comic iterations.
Drawing comparisons to classic Arrow characters like Brother Blood and Deathstroke, Beatty notes that the "street level" appeal of the character's homemade hockey uniform get-up (which became the standard when we received our first look at Wild Dog) is now gone. The role underwent some pretty substantial changes in its transition to live-action, and with the omission of the traditional costume, there's apparently not much left to identify him as Wild Dog anymore, at least from the perspective of the people who originated the concept.
Despite his apparent disdain for Wild Dog's new outfit, though, Terry Beatty also made sure to note in his post that he appreciated the fact that Wild Dog got to wear his classic gear for a full year, as well as the fact that he has enjoyed what actor Rick Gonzalez has done with the character. Beatty continued:
Oh well, I got a year's worth of seeing how cool my costume design looked on screen -- a validation of my work in a lot of ways. I suppose it was too much to expect it would last. I will tip my hat to Rick Gonzalez, who I feel has done a fine job in the role and has a strong screen presence. I wish him luck in going forward with this and whatever else he does down the line.
Arrow airs every Thursday night on The CW at 9 p.m. ET. Now that all of the Arrow-verse shows have returned for their new seasons, make sure to take a look at CinemaBlend's fall TV premiere guide to keep yourself in the loop on everything still to come over the course of the next few months!
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