Masters of the Universe Classics Feature

The first Masters of the Universe Classics figure finally got his mount with the release of last month’s oversized beast Battle Lion! King Grayskull’s Battle Cat-like steed may have only briefly appeared in one episode, but he made a strong impression on many fans who have been asking after this figure since the line introduced beasts. Let’s take a closer look at Battle Lion!

Battle Lion™ Bio
Real Name: Granger

During the Great Wars against King Hssss™ and the Invasion Forces of Hordak®, King Grayskull® rode into battle on top of his fierce mount Granger, a giant lygor prince from the Green Tiger Tribe. Gifted as a cub to a young Grayskull™ for saving their home from an attack by renegade Gar pirates, Granger grew up with his master, loyally protecting Grayskull™ in times of peace and war. When evil threatens Eternia®, Granger is enhanced by the Power of the Universe channeled through the Sword of He. As Battle Lion™ he wears enchanted armor that protects him against magical attacks. Battle Lion™ is the heroic steed of King Grayskull®, loyally carrying his master into combat.

Accessories

Battle Lion comes with removable face and front paw armor and a saddle. The armor can be swapped onto Battle Cat to create a more 2002-style Battle Cat. The 2002 Battle Cat armor is not my favorite design, but it’s sharply sculpted and features an interesting ’80s style technological control panel on the saddle. The claw and face armor look formidable, with sharp claws and fangs that snap onto the base body easily and securely.

The saddle does make the rider sit a little further back on the lion’s back than He-Man does on Battle Cat, but I think that is by design so that the cape can hang more naturally off the back of the saddle. Most importantly to those fans of the 2002 series, the armor can be moved to Battle Cat to get a more 2002-flavored He-Man and Battle Cat in classics.

Sculpt

Battle Lion reuses the Panthor/Battle Cat body with new armor, tail, and head sculpt. The main feature here is the savagely growling face of the lion. While very similar to Battle Cat, the massive mane and longer sabre-teeth set him apart.

Articulation

Battle Lion is well articulated, featuring:

Hinged neck, jaw, and back legs
Swivel/Hinged ankles, hips, front legs, and tail
Ball-and-socket head

So far the neck hinge is holding up the heavy head well. I was a little worried about that because some Battle Cat figures couldn’t keep their necks up and the Battle Lion head looked much heavier.

Paint

Paint is nice on Battle Lion. I especially like the metallic accents on the armor and the shading that brings out the details of the face. The body is a little more shiny than I would normally like to see. There is a slightly lighter green on the underside of the body. If it were my choice, I would have made it an even lighter dry brush to be more lion-like, but it’s not really source accurate.

Final

Battle Lion is not a figure I needed to complete the line, but he came out really nice, and I know plenty of fans wanted this figure to complete King Grayskull. In the show he is ridiculously large, so this isn’t exactly accurate to the cartoon design, but since I didn’t care for the lion being that large, I’m glad they changed that up a bit to fit in more with the MOTUC style.