Let me tell you a little something about the responsibility of wielding the Power of Grayskull: while defending good and doing heroic things are first and foremost, “looking” the part is also a major component of the Power and Honor. You carry a badass sword, you can wear tough-looking animal pelts or dazzling gold boots, your form is absolutely flawless, and you better not be caught having to walk about to stop the latest incursion from Snake Mountain or Horde World. So, while He-Man and She-Ra have been roaming atop Battle Cat and Swift Wind for some time in the Classic collection, the man that started it all, King Grayskull, has had to hoof it on his own. Well, no more, I say! That’s right, May is finally bringing us Cringer’s ancestor in the form of the massive Battle Lion, so old Devan can finally rest his legs while his faithful steed carries him about and munches on Snake Men.
The Power of Grayskull mythology has been established to have some pretty rich traditions, so when King Grayskull was introduced in the MYP series, it made perfect sense that he would have a mighty animal companion to compliment the likes of Battle Cat. Thus, Battle Lion was born, and his was indeed a mighty cat and his stature had to be something of legend in Eternia ever after because in the show, that green kitty was HUGE. Well, like all figures in the MOTUC line, he has now been adapted into the Classics style, so while he is not as big as he was portrayed in the show, he is still a big boy, and I think his weight alone will surprise and impress a lot of people.
I will admit that when Battle Lion was first unveiled, I was a little disappointed. I think that came mostly from the fact that I had amped myself up for a figure like an interchangeable Evilseed or Stridor (two figures higher on my wish list), but being revealed alongside heavy hitters like Blade and Scorpia kind of left me cold on the big cat. However, like a lot of the Classics, having the actual toy in-hand gives better perspective on what is really being brought to the table, so, that said, I like this guy a lot more than what I was anticipating. I was afraid his coloring and design would fall a bit flat up against the likes of Battle Cat, Panthor, and the Griffin, but he certainly brings his own set of strengths to the table.
So by strengths I really mean his head sculpt – it is really dynamite. As I said, he is not as big as he was in the MYP cartoon, and I think he was actually too big there, so this scale works better for me. However, Battle Lion’s head/mane is still massive and makes him look especially imposing. It is heavy, but the neck joint of the borrowed Battle Cat body is strong enough to keep it in position. The mane has a lot of sculpted detail to it and it is worthy decoration for the king of the kings of the Eternian jungles. Surprisingly, it doesn’t inhibit the range of movement in the neck joint much at all, and while the mane sculpt extends to the movable jaw, he can still “roar” quite convincingly. He has some ridiculous fangs that would make even the mightiest sabre tooth tiger jealous, but they are perfect for some snake-skewering.
Battle Lion’s face also resembles Battle Cat quite a bit, and I am positive that is no mere coincidence. The eyes, ears and snout are all very similar, so the ancestral lineage can been seen from Granger (BL’s real name) through 5,000 years to Cringer. Speaking of, I know what it is to “cringe,” so that ties perfectly to Cringers personality, but a “grange” is a farm building or a granary, so I guess that means that when he is not running over Horde Troopers, Granger is a beast of burden around Grayskull farms. I suppose he could pull a plow with the best of them. Most of the rest of the bio gives some pretty expected information about how Battle Lion was King Grayskull’s trusted steed, and, while he is call Battle LION, he is actually a liger (which is pretty much Napoleon Dynamite’s favorite animal) of a tiger clan… so make of that what you will. I think people have pretty much set how they deal with and incorporate the Classics bios into their own stories, so your thoughts on this will vary depending on how canonical you are with the formalities.
One thing I do want to find out is why the bio includes that Granger is enhanced by the Power of Grayskull, when in the MYP show he was just huge on his own. The change for the sake of change is fine by me, but thought the actual Power of Grayskull was imparted to the Sword when King Grayskull was killed by Hordak. The sword absorbed his essence, so to speak. Perhaps I am wrong about that, but if not, then now it seems the Power of Grayskull was present in the form it exists in Adam’s time for King Grayskull as well. Or maybe I am just overthinking it all at this point. At any rate, it looks like that might be a good question for Ask Matty.
Getting back to the actual figure, though, past the head, most of the rest of Battle Lion is an ever-so-slightly repurposed Battle Cat body. He does have the appropriate lion’s tail, but the rest is pretty much exactly the same as BC, even down to the hue of green used for the fur. He is (appropriately) missing the orange tiger stripes, but with that goes some of the interesting visual cues of the color scheme. I am not sure some supplemental highlighting would have enhanced the look, but the giant wall of green just keeps him from being as cool as Battle Cat. He does not look back by any stretch of the imagination, just not as dynamic.
Additionally, Battle Lion does come with his armor, and if you are paying attention, it is the same as what Battle Cat’s 200x armor would look like in Classics. So, if it is your preference, you can absolutely swap the saddle, mask and techno-claws onto Battle Cat. Personally, I don’t think this more “techy” version holds a candle to the vintage mask and saddle, but, again, if you are into that kind of thing, then there you go. All of the armor pieces fit on the figure well, and the mask and claw covers stay in place just by snapping over the head and feet. There is a lot of nice paint detail highlighting the mechanical spots, and the strap holds the saddle on much better than the corresponding one for Battle Cat. I do like that the bio adds a magical element to the technological aspect of the armor (see: techno-virus similarity) to deflect snake powers. Personally, I think Battle Lion looks better without any mask because his face and mane are so impressive, and the vintage saddle fits him better too. It is all about options in this line, so you can take your pick, but now I might have tempted myself into getting another Battle Cat just for the saddle…
I also want to mention that the saddle does allow for King Grayskull, even with his longer loin cloth, to sit convincingly atop Battle Lion. There is a small hole in the top of the saddle that allows for the furry shorts to line up flush with the actual seat. I was worried about that, but this solution solves the issue well. The one thing that is still a challenge is that there is no real way of having King Grayskull’s cape hang naturally while in the saddle. It is plastic, so it just slants off of his back and onto the back of the saddle. So, if you are going to display your KG on Battle Lion, I think he looks better without the cape.
Finally, King Grayskull can rest his muscly legs and let his trained animal do the walking around. More importantly, he does not have to be ashamed amongst the other Power wielders. I was not all that jazzed about Battle Lion when he was unveiled, but now that I have him, I dig him. His head and mane are really impressive, so I think I will leave him without the mask, and while his color scheme is not as cool as Battle Cat’s, he is far from a boring figure. I will be picking up at least one extra of these on sale because if Mattel never gets around to making Clawdeen, I plan on repainting a Battle Lion in bright shades of pink. But they should really make a Clawdeen. Additionally, if you have an extra Granamyr lying around, you could put BL’s head on him, paint him purple and have a pretty convincing Gryphon from Filmation. Hmm… how much does Granamyr go for these days? Anyhow, I think most people will be pleasantly surprised by this figure, MOTU needs all of the important steeds, so I am looking at you, Stridor and Nightstalker. We are making good progress on the Preternia sect, so maybe we will see Veena show up soon. Battle Lion goes on sale and ships to subscribers in May.
*Thanks for reading and thanks to Mattel for sending this sample along for preview.
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*Channelling RoboKillah* Oh, and then there is this…
