 Hello, Joe fans. Max Hoodrum here. Have you tried new-new Coke? If there's one thing I love, it's Coke. Coke. Coke. You know what I hate, though? Robots. Robots. Computer people and robot people do not get along. They-they-they think there's so much better than us being three-dimensional. If there's one robot I hate the most, it's the Cobra Bat. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Slight malfunction there. The Cobra Bat! Hello, everybody. Hooded Cobra Commander 788 here. This is the show where we review every vintage G.I. Joe toy from 1982 to 1994. I'd like to thank a new patron. Thank you to Charles Wallace for adding your support. I can only continue doing these videos with the support of my friends on Patreon. If you'd like to support the channel, that's a great way to do it. Space. The Final Front Rear. Since the dawn of time, mankind has gazed up at the stars and thought, there's not enough war up there. That problem was finally solved in 1977 by George Lucas. But that wasn't enough war in the stars. In 1993, G.I. Joe and Cobra slipped the surly bombs of Earth and brought their eternal struggle to the stars. And, of course, they had robots. Nothing says fully posable modern army figure like space robots. Yo, Joe. Cobra already had a robot army, the Cobra Bats, the battle android troopers. That's B-A-T. The Star Brigade version of the Cobra Bat added an extra A. That's B-A-A-T, the battle armored android trooper. So, is it pronounced the same or is it bat? Let's take a look at those Star War robots from space. That have no relation to those other Star War robots from space. Or those other Star War robots from space. HCC788 presents the Cobra Bat. This is the Cobra Bat. That's B-A-A-T, the battle armored android trooper from 1993. This figure was available only in 1993. It was discontinued for 1994. This is the only version of the Bat, the B-A-A-T, in any era. It was in the Star Brigade subset that was introduced in 1993. That was a series of space themed GI Joe toys. The Bat was an armor tech figure, which means he had a different construction than the standard GI Joe action figure. You may consider this Bat to be an update of the original Bat, the battle android trooper from 1986. There were two versions of the Cobra Bat in the vintage era, version 1 from 1986 and version 2 from 1991. There were numerous post-vintage versions of the Bat. In addition, in 1992 Overkill, the Bat leader, was introduced as part of the Talking Battle Commander's subset. Is the 1993 Bat a later model of the 1986 Bat? I definitely consider it to be in the same design family, but it has a different construction and a different purpose than the earlier Bat. It is the first version of a new series of androids, not the third version of the earlier series of androids. I feel the same way about Overkill. He's not a Bat, exactly, but he draws from the same technology. If you consider the 1983 Cobra Snake to be an autonomous robot, you could consider the Bat to be a continuation of that technology. The Snake was also a suit of armor that you could put a figure inside, so it really depends on how you want to play with it. When the Snake appeared in the animated series, it was a robot, not an armored suit. Cobra's robotic technology gets more sophisticated in later years, but when Cobra goes to space, they need a radical new design. Thus, we get the battle armored android trooper. It's too bad this isn't a battery powered toy, because it would take double A's. One common feature of earlier Bats is the removable parts. They had hands that could be removed and replaced with other weapons. Even the old Snake armor had that feature, but the 1993 Bat does not. It does have a weapon that can be attached or removed to the forearm, but that's not quite the same thing. Star Brigade was introduced in 1993 as a subset of GI Joe. It was all space themed vehicles. Star Brigade consisted of a number of standard and armor tech figures and a few vehicles. We've already looked at a couple of those vehicles. There were seven armor tech figures in 1993. The armor tech figures were bigger and less articulated than standard figures. They were meant to look like big armored spacesuits, or in this case, a big robot. Star Brigade continued to 1994. There were no new armor tech figures in 1994, but there were a few space aliens. Space themed GI Joe toys can be a bit controversial. They represent a hard break from the military theme of GI Joe. Some fans like it, while other fans strongly dislike it. Like it or not though, space themed toys have been in GI Joe for a very long time. The Defiant Shuttle Complex was introduced in 1987. After that, both GI Joe and Cobra had astronauts and space vehicles. Outer space was first integrated into GI Joe in 1966 with the introduction of the Space Capsule and Astronaut. In 1994, that capsule and astronaut were converted to three and three-quarter inch scale and released with the original action team 30th anniversary set. All this is to say, space themes have been in GI Joe for decades. Let's take a look at the Cobra Bat accessories. The Bat, like all other carted Star Brigade figures, included an accessories tree. The accessories were attached to a plastic frame and the purchaser would have to cut them off. In the case of the Bat, it was a yellow plastic tree, so all accessories except for the missile launcher are yellow. This isn't necessarily a bad color for a space toy. For a ground troop, yellow is terrible camouflage. In space though, there are no trees or rocks to hide behind. The yellow accessories are also a callback to the yellow paint on the original 1986 Bat. These yellow accessories are also not original. They are reissued from earlier action figures. Let's start with what we will call submachine gun number one. It sort of looks like a submachine gun. This was originally issued with 1988 Voltaire. It has a magazine, it has a vintage shroud over the barrel, and it has this weird fin thing in the back. The submachine gun will sort of fit in the Bat's hand, but there's a bit of flashing on mine, so it will only fit halfway. Next we look at submachine gun number two. This is again in yellow plastic. It looks a bit like an Uzi, but it is not an exact copy of that real-world weapon. This was originally issued with Snake Eyes version three from 1989. That one was in gray plastic. It has this little hook at the back, but it doesn't really hook to anything. This submachine gun will not fit in the Bat's hand. Next we have the pistol. This is again in yellow plastic like the others, and this was originally issued with the 1988 Iron Grenadiers in red plastic. The laser pistol will not fit in the Cobra Bat's hand. Next we have the laser gun. This laser gun, I have it in the Cobra Bat's hand. It's another one of those yellow accessories. This is a reissue of the laser gun that was included with 1991 Sci-Fi version two. That one was in silver plastic. It has been modified a bit. The grip has been changed because the grip on the original would not fit in the Cobra Bat's hand. One thing they did not modify was this peg on the back. On the original, that peg connected to a black connector hose. But on this reissue, there's nothing to which it connects, but the peg is still there. The laser gun will fit in the Bat's hand pretty well. The next accessory is this knife, of course, because every robot needs a knife. It fits very firmly in the Cobra Bat's hand. I have to kind of struggle to get it out. This knife is a reissue of the one that originally came with the 1988 Hydro Viper. It has a lightning bolt shaped blade. Some sources don't list this accessory, but it definitely came on that accessory's tree. The knife will fit in the Bat's hand if you press it firmly enough. Next, we have the missile launcher. It's the only accessory that is not yellow. It has a slot that slides onto this rail on the underside of the figure's arms. There is a rail on each arm, so it can fit on either arm. The missile launcher is in red plastic. It has some technical detail. It has a black trigger, and it has two yellow missiles. These missiles are both the same, and they're in the same yellow color as those other accessories. This is a spring-loaded missile launcher, so this missile launcher will really fire this missile. To operate it, you just place the missile into the barrel of the launcher with the notch side down. Press it in until it clicks. To demonstrate the missile launcher, let's use our old friend, Dr. Meinbender. To fire the missile, you just take aim and push back on this black trigger in the back to fire. Once again, Meinbender is saved by the back wall, so let's see if we can take him out with our final missile. Let's take aim and fire. Dr. Meinbender is still standing. He survives this time. The final accessory we're going to look at is this yellow figure stand. This is a standard yellow figure stand. It has a peg to fit in the holes on the bottom of the action figure's feet. This figure does not need a figure stand. He has wide, flat feet, and he stands very well without it. Since the Cobra Bat doesn't need a figure stand, you could give this to another figure, which is handy because G.I. Joe figures did not come with figure stands before the 1990s. Let's take a look at the articulation of the Cobra Bat. He had the articulation that was standard for armor tech figures, but not for regular G.I. Joe figures. So he could turn his head from left to right. He could swivel at the shoulder all the way around. He had a hinge at the elbow, so he could bend his arm at the elbow about 90 degrees. He had a swivel at the wrist so he could swivel his hands, but the hands will not swivel all the way around because they are blocked by this guard that goes over the back of the hand. He has no articulation at the waist. He could bend his leg at the hip about 90 degrees and bend at the knee about 90 degrees, and that's it. Let's take a look at the sculpted design and color of the Cobra Bat starting with his head. On his head, he has a black helmet with three prongs on top. He has some protrusions at the jawline. He has a deep red faceplate. The torso is all one piece. It looks like it might be two pieces with the white on the bottom, but that's all one piece. He has a raised black collar on his shoulders that continues around the back of his head. He has some technical detail and some panel lines on the chest. He has a circle in the center of his chest like Iron Man. Minimal detail on the back, but there is a hole in the back, perhaps for a backpack, but he doesn't include a backpack. Also, this is not a screw hole like on a standard G-Ajo figure, so you can't unscrew this figure and take it apart. The lower part of this torso piece from the belt line down is in white plastic. This all looks fine. It looks very robot-like, which it's supposed to. His arms have white shoulders and he has black upper arms with some white piping on the outside of those upper arms. His forearms have black on the inside and around the wrists and around the elbows. And on the outside of the forearms, he has white armor. And on that armor, on the piece that goes over the back of his hand, he has blunted spikes on both sides. That's pretty cool. He has those rails on the underside of his forearms for attaching the missile launcher. He has black hands that are in the form of fists so he can hold the accessories. This right arm was used on another figure. It was used on the Star Brigade Armor Tech Destro version 4. That's the same arm, but in different colors. The legs are mostly black. He has some technical detail in white on the right upper leg. There is not a similar detail on the left leg. The lower legs are also mostly black, but he has some white armor that wraps around the back and the sides. And he has white feet. He has two toes on each feet. He has hooves. Those legs were also reused on Destro version 4. That's the same legs in different colors. I don't have a lot of love for these armor tech figures. They are clunky and poorly articulated compared to standard GI Joe figures. But in the case of the bat, it works better than others. It's supposed to be a robot, so this superhuman shape makes a bit more sense. If you can accept that Cobra could build the original 1986 bat, they could definitely build this. Let's take a look at the Cobra Bat's file card. The file card was printed with a hot pink background, which unfortunately was the standard color of Star Brigade file cards. There's a single portrait of the Cobra Bat here, and there's some text on other Star Brigade file cards, as on with a lot of other 90s file cards. There was a list of features on a diagram that is not on the Cobra Bat's file card, which is surprising. This is a robot you would think maybe they would want to put some tech specs. His codename is Cobra Bat with two A's. That's B-A-A-T, which stands for Battle Armored Android Trooper. There's a quote here that says, take a bulldozer, strap a few missile launchers and assault rifles to it, and you've got yourself a bat. This paragraph says, bats, the original battle android troopers, were totally artificial robotic troopers with primitive logic circuits. They could absorb enormous amounts of battle damage and still continue their missions, as long as their trigger finger circuits were intact. Now the new bats have been redesigned with less intelligence than before, because their circuits have been modified for weapons and assault capabilities only. Battle destruction and elimination of GI Joe forces were the only orders programmed into the circuitry of these walking space tanks. The bats are so brainless and trigger happy that they can become confused during space battles and fire at anything that moves, including other bats. The file card seems to suggest this is a continuation of the original bat line. The original bat was already not very bright. Why would you make it dumber? The hardware is an upgrade, but the software is a downgrade. Looking at how this version of the Cobra Bat was used in GI Joe media, it had no animated appearances to my knowledge. Some online references just include this figure as a version of the original bat, so it doesn't have its own entry. In the GI Joe comic book series published by Marvel Comics, Star Brigade did appear in a few issues, but I have not found an appearance of this design of the bat. In the Star Brigade comic book appearances, there was a robot army. There were robot troopers, but they were not bats. Looking at the bat overall, it is clunky, it is bulky, it is poorly articulated, and it's fine. I don't have a lot of love for armor tech figures. I rather famously ranted against Robo Joe. This is one instance where the armor tech body kind of makes sense. This is a robot. It can be any shape. It can be bulky and broad-shouldered. It can have visible mechanical joints. This body doesn't make sense for Hawk or Destro, but for a battle-armored android trooper, it works. Even though it's supposed to be a space robot, there's no reason it needs to operate in space. It would be more effective on the ground. It's a massively upscaled version of the original bat. Like the file card says, it's a bulldozer with weapons. If androids are just too science fiction for you, there's nothing I can say about this one that's going to make you like it, and I wouldn't try. The color and overall design are simple but effective. I would like to see more detail. I would like to see more paint applications. I would like to see more color variety on the figure. That's kind of done with the accessories rather than on the figure itself. The accessories suffer from the same deficiency as a lot of 90s accessories. They came on an accessories tree, so they're all the same color, except for the missile launcher. They're also reissued from earlier action figures, so there's almost nothing new here. It's another low-effort 90s affair. In this case, yellow isn't the worst color choice. It kind of reminds you of the yellow on that original 1986 Cobra Bat figure, and that's definitely what you want to do. Remind people of a better action figure. That was my review of the Star Brigade Cobra Bat. I hope you enjoyed it, and thank you again to Charles Wallace for adding your support. I could not continue doing these videos without the support of my friends on Patreon. If you'd like to support the channel, that's a great way to do it. And you can get your name in videos. You see all the names scrolling on the screen right now? Your name could be there. That's all I have for you this week. I have not taken a break since I started doing videos again, so I think I may be due for a little break, but I will see you soon with another vintage GI Joe toy review. Until then, remember, only GI Joe is GI Joe.