4.22.2014

Inside the box with Ichabod presents:

S.H. MonsterArts Battra from Tamashii Nations/Bluefin


 Every body's favorite death Moth!


 Awww yeah, here we go people. One of my favorite Heisei Original creations is finally a articulated toy. And what a lovely one at that. From 1992's Godzilla Vs Mothra we have Battra, in adult form. A giant Moth that looks like it's ready to go to a front a death metal band.

 All that glorious detail and paint work. This thing is covered in translucent plastic, and awesome paint apps. From the light touches of yellow on the thorax, to the red plates going down the abdomen, everything looks nice and crisp for the most part.

 If Tamashii has proven they can do one thing right, it is compound bug eyes. These, and the clear horns on the head look amazing. The head being cast in a total translucent plastic and then painted over is not even noticeable, they did a good job of matching the paint to the body.

 The detail on the giant wings is pretty great, besides the yellow being a tad fuzzy. I can't tell if this is a intended thing to make them look more organic, or the tampo going on poorly over the black. It's a bit of a bummer, but the red is so sharp and crisp it helps to make up for it. I love the design of the wings, and the sculpt gives them a leathery look and feel.

 So, articulation on this Battle moth is....there. The abdomen has some range side to side but it is mostly up and down. It's nice but in most poses it's not noticeable. 

 The wings have a huge range, and they are super sturdy. No problems of them breaking like on King Ghidora. They don't even feel fragile, but I'd still use caution.

 As you can see, each wing has three joints, one attaching them to the thorax, then one for the smaller wing and one for the larger. The wings can only separate so far, but it provides for a better look and added dimension where they otherwise would have been very flat.

 Each leg is connected to the thorax on a ball joint, then has three ball joints in various places. they all have a decent range, though can come detached from the main body a little easier than I'd like. I will say the paint work on all 6 arms is well done, with nice fading done on the claws and light shading throughout.

 Though they can clasp up near the mouth for a sinister villain laugh.

 The mouth opens and closes side to side, and honestly I find it looks better open.

 The neck has very little range going up, but looking down it has a huge movement. Though with how you'd normally pose it, I can't see that being super useful but still nice.

 And yes, it can stand with out a stand, but not very high. 

 Speaking of stands, Battra comes with a kick ass one. Representing the cave art seen early on in the film it shows a primitive version of Battra and Mothra fighting, as well as a nice black finish with red "power" everywhere. I really dig it.

 The clip is specially designed to hold Battra up by going on the underside and around the arms. It does a ok job but provides no rear support so posing Battra on it can get a bit tricky. a piece going the length of the abdomen might have helped.

 As for scale, It fits in with how they looked in the movie next to Godzilla, though I have no clue where the size of the Larvae form went because that thing is HUGE.

 It is as wide as Godzilla is long, or very nearly so. I think they scale together pretty well.

 And having this now makes me wish it came with effect parts, but sadly none to be had. They would have thrown in a few, as Battra and Mothra used a bunch.

 The cost of this guy is 64.99 and really that's pretty great. It is not the largest MonsterArt to date, but it is very well made and very well sculpted. Also having a giant death metal moth is pretty fantastic. Also while it isn't the most articulated, it does do a good job with what it has. If I can get my toys to look like they are realistically drinking booze, than I'm happy.  Grab yours over here.

Also this happened while shooting the review, guest starring my Roommate's cat Honey. He liked Battra so much he decided to pose with it.


2 comments:

  1. Great review! It's nice to see content still flowing to this site. Though I'm passing on Battra, it makes me hopeful about the quality of Mothra who is on the pick up list.

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  2. Great job, keep 'em coming. I dig Battra. Yellow on the wings was a little disappointing in person, but has a cool effect in photos. Looks great on the shelf and that's fine since I don't plan on running around the yard with it. I always forget how much larger wings make a figure. The eyes are fantastic. Saw a cool prototype photo of the larva with unpainted translucent head. Excited for Mothra and the larvae duo. Thanks again dude

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