Wilt

[WiltsAKGirl17]

Originally Posted by pitbulllady

Yeah, I had figured that he'd have been created around '73-'74, too. I can distinctly remember that decade, and by '76, the Afro hairstyle had pretty much gone out, finis, good-bye. That was very much an early-seventies style. '76 was the Disco Era(ugh), with the immaculate hair and leisure suits, although one aspect DOES point to Wilt-the patriotic Bicentenial fervor that peaked in that year, in which EVERYTHING was red, white and blue. Still, those socks had gone out with the early seventies, too, and they were another reason I'd had Wilt pegged as a "'73 model". One of the things, though, that pointed to that fateful game in GWH as being post-'76 is a Star Wars poster on the wall behind the basketball court, though from the screen cap, it isn't clear if it said "STAR Wars" or "STORE Wars", referencing that earlier Foster's episode. Oh, well...Craig has spoken, though, so '76 it is!

One of the reasons I started watching Foster's in the first place was out of curiosity to find out what had happened to Wilt's arm and eye, after seeing some fan art of him and realizing that his left arm was mostly missing, and his eye was, well..."wonky". I never doubted that SOMETHING traumatic had happened to him, due to the presence of suture scars and the surgical precision of the injuries, and his evasive response to Bloo's comment about "you must play basketball" in the pilot, which seemed to indicate that this was venturing into memory territory that Wilt would rather not tread. I never bought into the "he was imagined that way" theory, and I never really thought that his creator was responsible for that arm and eye. Initially, I figured that Wilt's injuries were the result of some unfortunate accident, perhaps not even connected with his creator at all, but as the series moved on, and it became more and more obvious that Wilt was struggling with more than just PHYSICAL scars, I had to wonder if his injuries hadn't resulted from deliberate violence against him, or a past that included abuse from someone, or if they'd been incurred as a result of something bad HE did. I'd always suspected that Wilt spent some time on his own before arriving at the safe haven of Foster's, and we all know that someone who is forced to cope with life-or-death survival on a daily basis will do whatever it takes to survive, and if that means involving oneself with bad and dangerous situations, so be it. I WAS right in that Wilt DID spend several years on his own, but this was after his arm and eye were injured, and the situation that resulted in those injuries was one of pure selfless heroism, not self-serving at all.

pitbulllady

I remember you mentioning that the Afro had gone out of style by the late 70?s. I don?t know much about the Disco era, except for the jokes my parents crack about it! When I heard ?76, though, I instantly thought of the Bicentennial. I never noticed the Star Wars poster in GWH, but I wasn?t paying attention to the background?I was too caught up in plot and characters! I see this the way you do?if Craig says it?s 1976, it?s 1976.

Aside from the fact that there was ABSOLUTELY NOTHING on TV at the time, Wilt was definitely one of the major reasons I started watching Foster?s. He was a very warm, friendly character, which, for reasons beyond my comprehension, caught my attention; however, I never really pondered too deeply into his arm and eye. Like I mentioned earlier, I just accepted it, although they did fascinate in some way. I had always attributed Wilt?s evasive of Bloo?s basketball comment in the pilot to Wilt not wanting to sound like he was bragging, not that he didn?t want to discuss a less-pleasant time period of his life. If I didn?t know anything about GWH, but had to guess where Wilt?s scars came from and why he has only one arm and eye, I?d definitely agree that they were the result of pure selflessness?I doubt that selfishness is in Wilt?s system, except for in ?Room with a Feud.?

Originally Posted by pitbulllady

Wilt's scars, both the ones on the stump of his arm and on his face, are very precise and "clean", not the sort of scars you'd get if you got roughed up by someone or someTHING. Only a surgical procedure will produce scars like that. Obviously, his badly broken arm would have required amputation and the stump would have been sutured/stapled closed, probably after padding the bone end with muscle from some other part of his body, which is standard procedure. It's done to prepare the stump for use of a prosthetic limb later, which in Wilt's case, would have been pretty tough to obtain.

There also were many kids back in Wilt's old 'hood wearing Afros, such as the two older kids that show up and challenge Wilt and Jordan to a game. One has a sweatband around his head, though. Believe me, I KNOW these kids, having lived and taught school in similar environments, and they are VERY fashion-conscious and aware of trends/fads, and if something is yesterday's news, they're the first ones to know and not have anything to do with it. If it's out of style, it's most definitely isn't cool, not to them.

pitbulllady

Even with what little medical knowledge I have, I never really doubted that Wilt?s scars were from a medical procedure. I figured that his arm would have been amputated?after the trauma he went through, I?d be quite surprised otherwise. I can imagine that giving Wilt a prosthetic limb would be a bit of a challenge?the first thing that comes to my mind is proportions, with cost/method of payment coming in at a close second.