Cobra BAT
I think Cobra’s BAT troopers are every army’s dream. Android soldiers that you drop into battle and don’t have to worry about as casualties. They would be the ground equivalent of some of the remote operated vehicles armed force are using in the air these days.
Appearance:
I never understood why the BAT’s needed clothes. If George Lucas had dressed the Battle Droids in the prequels, fans would have been like, “WHY?!?” But none the less, the BAT has a black jumpsuit on. and that is the basis for most of the figure
He also uses bright yellow details, which to me, just paint him as a target. I don’t know if it’s intentional or not, but the web gear and yellow details don’t match up. Aside from the color the yellow strap on his legs is fairly sloppy. Bright colors on black never seem to ever be dark enough, so there’s some bleed through, as well.
The other paint mainly encompasses his mechanical bits. It’s mainly silver with a black wash. The effect is kind of steampunk, in that it adds age and wear to the metal.
Now, there is a battle damaged version of the BAT with a damaged head and cracked chest plate. This isn’t that version and I’m not sure the worn metal and clean jumpsuit really match up. I would have like to have seen the worn metal on the battle damaged version and this one be shiny.
Speaking of the chest plate, I know this figure is suppose to look comic book like, but is this the best they could come up with? Some dayglo innards? A detailed decal would’ve actually made me happier. And apparently, Cobra buys pastel grenades from the Easter Bunny.
The head looks small enough that you know it isn’t a guy in a suit. I like the head, but it looks a little Boba Fettish to me. Which isn’t bad, this guy would look perfectly at home in a Star Wars display.
Fun:
A robot trooper with swtichable limbs just has to have some degree fun. The thing I always think about when I see this figure is the Maskatron from the Six Million Dollar Man line. I’m sure it’s due to the changeable hands.
In this case, the hands make up the majority of the accessories, along with the back pack to store them in. The pack is a bit oversize to fit the extra appendages. I know it mimics the original, so the detail is somewhat lacking.
There are 5 appendages overall. Two are regular hands. If you are looking for a 3 3/4 scale Cyberdyne Terminator 2 arm, this would be perfect. Another is the flame thrower shown on the card art. It’s okay, but a flame effect would have gone a long way to helping it along. The second is a claw that resembles a giant old fashioned can opener. The one I have doesn’t want to stay closed real well.
Last is the one that I like the most, the drill arm. These things turn up in a variety of different properties. Probably the most famous recent example is the Big Daddy arm in Bioshock. While this one turns at the attachment, I would have really have loved to have seen the drill portion turn independently.
And this is where the issue comes in. The extra arms all fit well on to the pegs in his back pack. However, they don’t fit well on his arm, at least on the one I have. All of the additional arms seem to have a larger peg hole to fit the pack, but just falls off the arm.
I never intended to display this figure with two hands, but I’m probably going to have to do that or use tacky stuff to use the other hands. I bought this figure for the extra hands, and really wish they worked right.
Lastly, the BAT comes with a pretty mundane looking automatic pistol, considering the rest of his armament. A decent enough gun that I’m sure is reused from somewhere else. It tucks away pretty nicely in a holster on his left leg.
Overall:
A not too shabby troop builder to find on clearance. If I’d have paid full price for a figure that the arm gimmick didn’t work right, I’d have been have been a bit more upset. I really bought 2 of these just to fill out my Cobra ranks, much the same as I have multiple Star Wars Battle Droids.
I’d also be harder on the paint, but I know this version is suppose to be in line with the comic and original cartoon series. In short, I got what I paid for. Not bad, not great. Just a figure to fill the ranks.
Engineernerd Score: 83/100
Category: Featured, GI Joe, Toy Reviews
Yep, this is a pretty fun toy, but as you mentioned, the arm pegholes seem to be differently sized. I still like it though.