The Arctic B.A.T. is a figure I first learned about from some early pics somebody had of the figure in-hand. I’ve seen quite a few reviewers who’ve had these in for months, so I shouldn’t have been too surprised when it hit a month earlier than estimated, but it was a pleasant surprise. Let’s take a look at the Arctic B.A.T.!
I love this newer box style. The painted portraits of the figures have a more consistent vibe and I really enjoy the little scene that depicts the figure in action on the front. I’ll be sad to see this style go.
The figure comes with a good amount of stuff, including a sniper rifle with removeable ammo and silencer, three chest covers, a pistol, a chainsaw hand, a pack, and two heads. The rifle is from the Pulsecon exclusive Zartan and has a bit of a sci-fi feel to the design which I feel fits in well with the robotic B.A.T. The barrel came a bit warped in the box, so it needed heat to straighten. It also has a plastic strap so it can be slung over the shoulder, but that doesn’t work great with the B.A.T. as the pack gets in the way. The strap is also a little awkward when in firing position because it doesn’t hang naturally.
The pistol is cast in a cool gray and fits securely in the side holster and the figure’s hand.
There is one new chest plate that has extra armor or ammo pouches and it’s probably my favorite of the bunch. I love the different feel it gives the figure. The other two chest plates are a battle damaged and clean plate as seen in previous B.A.T. figures. They are great for differentiating your squad a bit.
The classic head looks pretty great in white and I like the novelty of the written info on there and the bright, metallic fade from blue to green is striking.
The pack almost feels superfluous in this release since he has one accessory only. I really wish he came with the claw and either the flamethrower or laser attachments in this bright silver. I do like how the details of the pack are more visible in this lighter color.
The chainsaw hand is a brilliant addition to the B.A.T. and attaches well to the arm, though not as well to the pack. You have to put it on the pointed down peg hole, but it’s actually loose in there and will fall out. I really don’t understand why, but if you turn it to the side it will stay on, though it’s not very secure.
You can grab extra accessories from the original B.A.T. and place them in the the Arctic B.A.T.’s pack and arm, and while the colors don’t match exactly, it almost works. They do seem to be a slightly tighter fit onto the pack and the arm socket as well.
One thing I was looking forward too was swapping the cool new head onto the original B.A.T., but unfortunately the pegs are a different size. You can rest the original B.A.T. head on the Arctic version, but it won’t pop on. It will swap easily with the Crimson B.A.T..
There is enough gray on the Crimson B.A.T. that I think swapping all the gear from the Arctic onto him looks pretty rad. I may swap the boots to bring a little more of the warm gray from the Arctic B.A.T.’s belt onto the Crimson B.A.T.. I also really like how Arctic looks with Crimson’s more classic belt. At first the new chest piece didn’t want to fit onto the original or the Crimson B.A.T. and I think the grenades on the chest were getting in the way, but I was eventually able to finagle it in.
The sculpting is mostly re-use from the original B.A.T. with a new head, belt, shoulder armor, chest piece, and thigh pieces. The new head has a single robotic eye that lends it an even more creepy inhuman vibe than the usual B.A.T. helmet. It stood out as a great update to a classic design and made this guy so much cooler than a straight repaint.
The articulation is very good with the standard Classified scheme, however there was some weirdness in the shoulders. They are cast in such a soft plastic that the pegs that attach to the bicep start to bend when I tried to put the figure’s arms down at their sides. It’s like the arm isn’t quite stiff enough to work properly. The shoulder pad strap does get in the way a bit of the arms lying flat, but I had to heat up the shoulders to get them working properly and they are still a little stiff.
Paint is good on this figure with mostly clean separation at the color breaks and I really like the extra bright silver on the robotic arms, but it does make the elbows cast in a non-painted plastic stand out a bit. It works better for a robot than the color mismatches on human elbows, however. There is a bit of schmutz on the visor of the classic head on my figure. I do really like the bright metallic blue on the chest workings.
Overall, I like this figure quite a bit. Collecting old toy lines where they would repaint a character white for an arctic version has given me a love for this kind of environmental themed re-paint, however, the new head and gear give it a different vibe, while remaining recognizable as a B.A.T. It elevates the repaint to something even cooler. I would have gladly traded the battle damaged and regular chest plates for a couple more accessories to fill out that back pack better and I wish the chainsaw had been engineered to work better with the pack, but otherwise this is a great re-do.
Source: Fwoosh
