#134 of 365 Millennium Samurai Battle Cat

It's still the Royals week here for MotU May and today we'll take a look at Samurai Battle Cat, who, as we know is He-Man's cat/pet.  Now the millennium BC was not a talking cat, which is a pity.  Nevertheless this toy, which did show up in one episode of the cartoon (I think - please do comment and tell me if I'm wrong) is still awesome looking... at least while it's still in the box.

The red box takes the elements from the red cards and faithfully reproduces it, but modified for a box format.  The result is an attractive box, with a photo of the toy on the front, and details of its action features on the back.  The one thing about the box is that there's quite a bit of wasted space behind the cardboard (non-transparent) part of the box, which is just empty, as most of the toy is positioned such that it is visible through the "window" of the box.

Samurai Battle Cat comes with a number of pieces, including two missiles, a missile launcher and what appears to be Jitsu's sword.  The armour is not removable, which is a pity.  However, the face mask, which is made of a soft rubber, can be removed from Battle Cat's face.  The spare missile and the sword can be stored on a rack of sorts that's positioned on Battle Cat's left hindleg.

There's a button located in the front part of the saddle which when depressed, causes Battle Cat to open its mouth and to kick with its right foreleg.  Hmm... not that great an action feature.  Battle Cat is coloured in his usual green and yellow, and the Samurai armour matches the colour scheme of Samurai He-Man.

I should have dug out Samurai He-Man for the photoshoot, but I dread that figure, what with the stilts and the chest missiles that randomly fires itself.  So instead I've chosen to use Shield Strike He-Man instead.  Well, this Battle Cat is clearly made for the Millennium line - no disagreements there regarding the scale of the beast when compared with the figure.  There's no seat belt of any sort, but thanks to the design, a figure can still sit rather tightly on the cat and not drop off too easily.

Comparisons?  Well, I don't have the original millennium Battle Cat, or the Classics Battle Cat.  What I do have is the vintage Big Jim Battle Cat (minus his helmet) and that's what I'm comparing this with.  The new Battle Cat has a darker green paint and is a lot more glossy than the vintage version.  Both cats are about the same size.  The armour is a lot more detailed, and it has articulation on the forelimbs, jaws and tail.  Also, a character on the Samurai Cat doesn't fall off as easily as a character on the vintage cat does.  I guess Samurai Battle Cat is an improvement over the vintage character.