G.I. Joe Pursuit of Cobra: Cobra Jungle B.A.T. (Wave 5)

Presenting, the Cobra Jungle BAT - from Wave 5 of the G.I. Joe Pursuit of Cobra line. I've never really liked the name BAT. Call them what they are "Battle Android Troopers!" They deserve a name with the dignity worthy of their toughness and literally undying resolve (Like the "Battling Bastards of Bastogne"). The first time I saw the Cobra BAT was in the Marvel Comic Book when the PIT was compromised by Cobra Commander and Destro leading an army of Cobra BATs. And boy were they tough! They literally refused to die and just kept on coming. They only finally gave up when General Ryan blew up the PIT and buried everyone. Most of the Bastard Android Troopers probably looked as shot-up as the picture to your right. But they still just kept on coming.  Wave 5 of the G.I. Joe Pursuit Line presents a Cobra BAT Variant, the Cobra Jungle BAT which is modified to be resistant to heat and humidity - which you can read as, Hasbro took old BATs, stabbed their chest panels with pencils several times and gave repainted them with jungle cammo. 

The Cobra Jungle BAT's card reads " B.A.T.S. are the perfect Cobra troopers. They never question orders, complain about the chow, shirk duty or surrender, they require no leave time, sick pay or benefits of any kind and they are cheap and easy to replace. Jungle B.A.T.S. are one of the robotic variants designed for specific environments; this version is extremely resistant to heat and humidity, and can easily find it's way though thick jungle foliage."

Nothing new there except for the heat resistance. This is also, if I'm right, the first Cobra BAT series to come with accessories other than the traditional interchangeable hands. 

What's to like about the Cobra Jungle BAT?

Well first up is the aforementioned accessories. The Cobra Jungle BAT comes with a Micro-barrel Gatling Cannon, ammo chain and backpack (Recycled from Heavy Duty from the G.I. Joe Rise of Cobra line),  an additional ammo belt, an AK-47ish Assault rifle, a pistol that fits into a hip holster, a backpack for his traditional interchangeable hand accessories - flamethrower, laser, claw - and a machete. If you opt to give the Cobra Jungle BAT his interchangeable hands, I suggest you drop the regular hand - it's useless anyway as we'll discuss later - and just immediately equip one of the alternates since the Cobra Jungle BAT only has room for two alternates in his back-pack.

Articulation is also something to like about the Cobra Jungle BAT even if he does not have modern wrist grips that today's G.I. Joes have.

Can you imagine what an army of mini-gun toting Cobra Jungle BATs must be like? An army that feels no pain, fears no death, knows no compromise and is packing all that hardware - and brings a machete to the table when it runs out of ammo. 

I'm not really sure why they bothered with a pistol though. 

But I believe the highlight of the accessories would be the battle damage alternate head that the Cobra Jungle BAT. I am particularly fond of the damaged head because, as a gamer, I know that the best way to take an opponent down is a double-tap to the head. Obviously some random G.I. Joe has the same belief and graciously poured a few shots into that armored carapace, broke through and even shredded off a portion of it. But in testament to the Cobra Jungle BAT's endurance, it's still going! the Cobra Jungle BAT has also experienced damage to it's chest plate - which unfortunately does not have an interchangeable piece so you might as well stick to the damaged head and not the un-damaged one. 

The Cobra Jungle BAT is just like a Terminator 

Check out the before and after:

What's to NOT to like about the Cobra Jungle BAT?

The Cobra Jungle BAT does have a few flaws:

• Who bothers to dress a robot? But I suppose that's personal opinion. I would sooo love to have a regular Cobra BAT with the same battle damage accessories
• The chest-plate can't be replaced, so the COBRA Jungle BAT is always shot-up. If you want a clean and fresh COBRA Jungle BAT, build one. 
• The Cobra Jungle BAT's right hand can't hold anything. It's soo wide open that at times it was easier to substitute the Cobra Jungle BAT's claw just to hold things. The picture on your right is the only way that the COBRA Jungle BAT can hold the mini-gun. All the support is in his left hand and the rest of the run is pressing on the Cobra Jungle BAT's body. The right hand only appears to be grasping the trigger, it isn't actually helping. 
• Lack of wrists. Because both arms are interchangeable with the COBRA Jungle BAT's arm extension accessories, HASBRO didn't bother giving the Jungle BAT the new wrists that we've grown to love. 
• The Cobra Jungle BAT cannot hold his machete. Even with his left hand.

All-in-all, it's a great figure, but this would look sooo much better in it's original colors.  I do see legions of Cobra Jungle BATs getting their battle-damaged parts cannibalized for inclusion in the original Cobra BATs 

Send the BATs in first then the Grenadiers with the real punch