Had a quick spike of back in the day flashback when I was looking at a picture of the BAT II.
Further back in the day, I had a BAT v1, I'm not sure if I have mentioned that figure in my old-school (more) childhood collection musings. That figure ended up with a broken crotch along the way, and possibly one of those backpack pegs that held the arm attachments snapped at some point.
Alongside Serpentor, the BAT fought against Joe with Sea Slug, Strato Viper, and Motor Viper, to name a few.
Well, when I bought the BAT II off the shelf back in the day, that was like a super BAT to me. I thought the gun attachment was great, very large bored and heavy feeling, and the hand attachment was very nice so I could use normal GIJoe accessories in both hands.
Now, in the realm of the action gimmicks that have come and gone, the BAT II has one of the better uses, I think. The BAT II backpack/ rocket launcher was also a hand attachment weapon, which still held the other attachments while it was connected to the arm.
I still think that is cool.
But not only that, I thought the BAT II had a great design, it was much more slim feeling, a few more robotic looking panel features, but with a smaller hologram sticker and smaller faceplate and other features, it definitely seemed more upgraded and advanced from the 1986 BAT.
I thought the internet exclusive BAT pack was great, when the BAT II mold was repainted like the original 1986 BAT. I just wish they had had the backpack, one of the few instances where I actually wanted an action gimmick. Huh.
The inferno BAT did not blow me away, though. I think the simple inclusion of a flame-thrower set of accessories with some fuel tanks would have been much more interesting for that concept.
Ultimately, in my slim-down of figures, the BATs were totally removed from the line up. This decision came about due to my own concept of simplicity. I felt like if I were to maintain a BAT arsenal, it would almost need a maintenance crew, and a delivery vehicle of some sort. (Hotwire is an elusive character/ figure, etc.)
And then there was the decision on how advanced my BATs would have been. Would they be fully automated like a Terminator? Would they move fast, or are they slow heavy mechanisms? Would they be unstoppable semi-armored metal monsters? Or would they get easily tripped up and burst into flames with a bump?
(And how would the Overkills fit into it all?)
The answer all came to keeping it simple.
About HQ icebreaker
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