I’ve long established that the COBRA B.A.T. was pretty close to the best figure in the 25th Anniversary era.  The combination of sculpted detail, articulation, vintage aesthetics and modern improvements all came together into a single package of perfection that defined what collectors should be looking for in their modern updates to vintage figures.

I loved it.

Heck, I liked it even after Hasbro re-released it three times.  I liked it a little less the fourth time.  The fifth time, yeah, kind of got a little “been there, done that”.  The sixth time?  Come on now.  Then the Club gave us the Nano B.A.T.  Then the Inferno B.A.T.

Now… in a boxed set that costs over $400, you expect collectors to invest their hard earned, too easily disposed of cash on more B.A.T.s?  Not just more B.A.T.s but essentially TEN MORE B.A.T.s?!  

Yeah, no bueno.

In fact, the whole ten B.A.T. fiasco is probably the single most reason I did not buy a Convention Set this year (you can thank noted author James Kavanaugh, Jr. for this review!) and to this day the mere idea of paying Collectors Club cash for ten figures that are essentially barely repainted versions of retail figures that were eight dollars a few years back seems pretty ridiculous.

I know, I’m an adult collector, stomping my feet and proclaiming the “unfairness” of it all.  ‘You don’t like it, don’t buy it’.

Well, I didn’t like it.  And I didn’t buy it.  But people still wanted me to review it.  🙂

The B.A.T. Squad Leader is your basic Battle Android Trooper with red parts and a version 2 head sculpt (that probably should have been originally produced for the FSS Inferno B.A.T. a short while ago).  The head looks nice and the B.A.T. is a great figure, but at the end of the day, I have around ten B.A.T.s in my collection already, (ten individual B.A.T.s, not even counting army builders) I really am struggling to find a reason to stockpile any more, especially at nearly thirty bones apiece.

I do like the shade of red here, it contrasts nicely with the black and even the bright green, but ultimately it’s just a slightly darker B.A.T. version 2.  You’d think for collector money that perhaps we could have at least gotten some semblance of an Overkill or something, but no such luck.

Accessories

The B.A.T. Squad Leader comes with the same accessory layout as every other B.A.T. so far, with the addition of a spring-loaded rocket launcher.  He has two hands, claw, flamethrower and laser attachments, his backpack, the glass covering for his chest panel as well as the shattered glass panel as well.

Don’t get me wrong, the B.A.T. is and has always been a great figure.  Pretty much everything you could be looking for.  But it gets to a point where enough is enough and expecting to pay for 10 versions of a figure we’ve already gotten 10 times at retail and elsewhere feels more than a little unreasonable.