Review > Battle Cat (Masters of the Universe Classics)

I don’t have the best history with Battle Cat.

When I was six years old, my cousin (who was also my childhood best friend) received a Battle Cat for his birthday. I didn’t have one yet, and being a selfish little brat, apparently, I sulked through the whole party about it. My parents learned their lesson, and the following Christmas my cousin and I both opened Battle Rams courtesy of our respective aunts and uncles.

To be fair, I had no problems getting the 200X Battle Cat, though I don’t recall whether I bought him at a store or online.

But we all know what happened last month.

I loved the original Battle Cat toy. I think even then, part of me knew it didn’t quite fit with the rest of He-Man–that it was a re-use of some other toy, and its immobile body was odd compared to the human figures. On the other hand, the colors were eye-catching–the stuff of psychedelic 1960s sword-and-planet fantasy–and the mask gave the figure a ferocious look.

I didn’t like the 200X Battle Cat* very much, mostly because of the armor. The new mask lacked the distinctive bird-of-prey look of the vintage version, the little paw-covers fell off all the time, and the mounted guns were ludicrous. I think even the hardest-dying of diehard 200X fans have to admit MOTUC Battle Cat has it all over his 200X counterpart.

Packaging: Battle Cat comes packaged in an attractive window box that’s evocative of the vintage figure’s packaging. Unfortunately, Mattel seems to have had some trouble getting the big kitty to say put; my figure’s right back leg had somehow become free of its twist-tie, and the mask was falling off the face. I suspect MOC collectors may be compelled to cut a little tape and fix their figures in the package for display purposes.

The bio is interesting–I don’t recall ever hearing of a “Green Tiger Tribe” before, but it makes me wonder if it’s setting up something that we’ll see again with Gygor (the Yellow Ape tribe?) and some of the other beasts. The bio nicely leaves it ambiguous whether Battle Cat can talk.

Even more interesting is the idea of Adam and Cringer going on a quest to unite both halves of the Power Sword–presumably before Adam was able to become He-Man. Now that’s a story I’d like to see. I’m thinking a six-issue miniseries written by Geoff Johns.

Design & Sculpt: When the Masters of the Universe toys were first designed in 1982–before the mini-comics, before the MOTU bible by Michael Halperin and before the cartoon–Battle Cat was just one more repainted Big Jim toy being used as a large “vehicle” for the action figures. But all those media made Battle Cat one of the most iconic characters of the franchise–right behind He-Man and Skeletor. From today’s perspective, the original Battle Cat toy seems a little underwhelming.

Sculptors extraordinaire the Four Horsemen already gave Battle Cat a decent revamp in 2002, but that was just a practice run for the masterpiece that is the 2010 Battle Cat. Freed from the immobility of the original Battle Cat and even the limited articulation of the 2002 version, the newest Battle Cat is a completely articulated action figure with a wonderfully detailed sculpt and an almost flawless design.

The sculpt is lovingly detailed and walks the fine line between realism and the somewhat minimalist, slightly cartoonish MOTUC style. The bare head features the trademark snarl of the original and some great details, such as the pits on the snout for whiskers (though the whiskers themselves are understandably absent) and one of the more intricately-sculpted tongues I’ve ever run across. Even the undersides of his paws are sculpted.

The welcome return of the vintage armor gets the A+ treatment as well. The saddle is a lot more detailed, right down to the texture of the leather seat. The seat also has divots in front and back to accommodate the MOTUC figures’ stiff loincloths. Unlike the clumsy and prone-to-breakage belt buckle of the vintage Battle Cat, the armor is strapped on with two snaps on the underside of the figure. I’ve heard some people have had trouble with getting the armor to stay on, but mine is nice and tight.

Finally, there are the “weapon holders” on the armor. The Four Horsemen have confirmed they were intended to be weapon holders, not stirrups. You can slide in the Power Sword or the clip of a shield. It’s a nice feature, even if few fans make use of it.

Plastic & Paint: Like the original figure, Battle Cat is molded in green plastic with yellow stripes. His claws and the undersides of his paws are painted black, but otherwise the only real paint work is on the head. The eyes, mouth and teeth look great, with very little bleed or slop.

The “horns” on the armor are now painted a shiny red, and the leather of the seat, the belt, and the “weapon holders” are painted brown. There’s a little bleed around the horns and rivets (man, do the Horsemen love their rivets!), but the leather bits look sharp.

Articulation: Let me see if I can get this right. Battle Cat’s head is sort of a ball joint, though the range is very limited; he can move his head slightly up and down and back and forth, but really the only significant range of motion is a swivel, allowing him to tilt his head quizzically.

There’s a joint where the neck meets the chest that moves up and down, allowing Battle Cat to look straight forward or down on the ground. I’ve read that many fans have trouble getting their Cat’s next to stay up, but so far mine hasn’t had that problem.

There’s another joint in the middle of the torso which is similar to an ab crunch, but I don’t foresee a lot of use of this joint, because it’s restricted by the armor. In addition to the “up and down” motion, the joint seems to allow a slight back-and-forth.

Each leg is attached at the hip with what is basically a swivel joint with a very slight ability to move outward and inward. I’m not even 100% sure that’s intended, but the way the inside of the upper legs are sculpted makes me think it is.

The front and back legs different. The back legs simply have two swivel joints, ending in the ball/hinge joint of the paws. The front legs have the swivel/hinge combo we’ve seen on the 6″ Ghostbusters or 25th Anniversary G.I. Joe figures, as well as the ball/hinge paws.

Finally, the tail is attached with a ball/hinge joint and the jaws are a hinge joint, of course.

It all works out to a good, fairly realistic representation of the range of motion an actual tiger would have. The key joints are the neck, the neck/chest, the front elbows and the paws–those are the ones I usually end up fiddling with the most and give the figure the most character.

Accessories: I counted the armor as part of the figure, so there are no accessories.

Quality Control: The back part of my Battle Cat’s armor was slightly warped, but a.) I’m sure a quick boil-and-bend would fix it, and b.) it’s so minor I’m not even going to bother doing that.

Overall: Even now, as prices in the industry have continued to go up, $20 feels like too much for a MOTUC figure. However, $30 seems just right for Battle Cat. He’s a large, detailed, heavily articulated figure who required a lot of brand-new tooling. (Of course, we’ll see this mold again–definitely as Panthor, possibly as King Grayskull’s lion and perhaps even as Clawdeen.) Of course, Mattel still needs to make these great toys available to fans with minimal trouble.

Despite Trap Jaw‘s unquestioned awesomeness, if I were to pick the Poesties right now, Battle Cat would win Best Figure of the Year. Unfortunately for BC, though, there’s still Tytus, Gygor and perhaps even another large figure to contend with before 2010 is out.

On a side note, you know what Mattel needs to make? A real Cringer. By which I mean, a smaller, un-armored tiger to go with the inevitable Prince Adam. Removing the armor on Battle Cat and calling it Cringer was always really unsatisfying to me, since the Cringer in the media–whether he spoke or not–was clearly smaller. Of course, it would require all-new tooling and I can’t think of any good re-use (except perhaps in DCUC? A green tiger Beast Boy as an exclusive, perhaps?), so this is probably a pipe dream, but if they’re going to be doing beasts on a regular basis it’s one of the more obvious ideas.

[raven 5]

* The picture’s wrong in that review, but the review was of the original Battle Cat, not the Samurai Battle Cat or whatever that thing is.

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15 Comments

  1. But then where do you keep them? I built a toy cabinet for my grandson that allows him to display his models, but the neighbor kids can only get one out at a time. They can't make a mess or be tempted to bang them into each other.

    You can see a video of how it works here:

    What do you think?

  2. My only real complaint is that he doesn't seem as bulky as the original. From the side, he almost looks like a horse. His front cheat/shoulder area could have been much thicker and larger.

  3. Griffin

    Great review as always. If I can't get him next time I might give up on this line. It was two painful last time. Also you could use the old Battlecat sans armor if you wanted a cringer maybe. He would be too ferocious and imobile but it might be the best you can do.

  4. Too-Man-E-Faces

    @Poe:

    @Helmet: as long as fiddling works that's fine with me. On most of the other pics it looked a bit deplaced and I feared that the interior of the helmet would not leave enough space to cover BC's head as it was supposed to do. I'm glad that's not the case. As for the armour, I think it was sculpted to fit as it was shown on the BC prototype. I guess the change might indeed be owing to the articulation issue – plus maybe the original artwork sort of justified the change from ptototype to the finally realised product. I don't know. To me it's just not right and the only thing that bothers me a bit. However I really cannot wait to have him in hands. Rumour has it that the snailmail BCs will have crossed the big pond by next week. Fingers crossed. Since I got the vintage Battle Cat 20 years ago for Easter, I could not be happier. 🙂

  5. dayraven

    wait, we didn't get the poe patented articulation diagram? that's sad…. but otherwise, a great review. my ONLY beef w/ the BC is a small one… BUT, the sword loops on the saddle can't accomidate the 2002 sword, just the classic one. since there's two straps on the saddle, that kind of seems like a big oversight. but it's hardly a deal breaker.

  6. Jr.

    Cringer could be re-used for Catra's panther form, no?

  7. TAO

    Great review, Poe. Even after the 47 other reviews old Battle Cat has received, this was probably the most fresh and engaging I’ve read yet.

  8. Poe

    @Too-Man-E-Faces: Honestly, I don't know. The gap between the neck and helmet doesn't bother me…seems like a necessary evil because of the neck/chest articulation. And while I haven't tried to move the saddle forward, it seems to me the belly fur would prevent that from working too well–the belt is pretty tight to the belly where it is now.

    I don't know about the mask, but I have noticed it can ride a little high on the face unless you fiddle with it a bit.

  9. Nice review. I agree about Cringer. I think Mattel could just sculpt a new head and shrink the Battle Cat mold down one size and that would work.

  10. izdawiz

    beautiuful job. Nice pics…

  11. JediCreeper

    I'm still mad I couldn't get one. when the reissue comes, it better be in numbers higher than anything Mattel has made so far…

    I really don't want to have to get a subscription next year, but I have a sinking feeling I'll have no choice..

  12. Too-Man-E-Faces

    Great BC Review.

    But… what about the saddle and the head armour? The prototype shows an armour that has almost no gap where BC's neck is. Does the actual armour fit like that or is the strap too short, does the armour slide backwards or does the headpiece not fit as it should do?

    As for the head piece of the armour: your pics seem to tell a different story than most of the others I have seen so far. The head armour seems to fit perfectly. Strange…

  13. MechaShiva

    Great review!Another henchman cat-mauling has been reported,film at eleven…

  14. Novelty

    I like the personal touch at the beginning of the review – it helps differentiate this from all the rest. Great review as usual. I was looking forward to the picture of BA HM on BC in front of the Grayskull wall backdrop…

  15. americanhyena

    Honestly, I think he's only got Gygor to worry about. Don't get me wrong, I'm looking forward to Tytus (and I'm sure Megator) but I think the roto-lack-of-articulation on the big humans will knock them out of the running for TOTY (not that I don't still expect them to be damn good toys).

    But a well articulated giant yellow and green war gorilla? That's a definite possibility. :-p

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