The Rave Corner: Bandai: Battra (Larva) Standard 8" Release Review

Bandai: Battra (Larva) Standard Release

Insert narrator's voice: "Battra "The Black Mothra," was created by Earth's life force with the sole purpose to defend this planet from anything that causes mass destruction including "Man." Thousands of years ago, an advanced human civilization lived in harmony on Earth, until they (Cobra maybe) created a device that controls the climate. This invention upset Earth, which sent Battra on a rage to destroy the device. Battra completed the mission, but continued his rampage much to the expense of Earth. Mothra arrived on time to stop Battra resulting in a battle that destroyed the existing human race in flash floods. After the war, Battra rested in the Atlantic Ocean while Mothra settled in Infant Island to stay for many years. In 1992, a small meteor struck the surface of the Earth which awoke Battra and caused him to continue his destruction since thousands of years ago."

Battra (Larva) is one of the figures I had to have when I started this hobby. One day, I will buy Mothra in it's various larval versions from different movies. But for now I'm fine with this guy. I like both Mothra and Battra in it's larval stage more than adult forms because I'm always fascinated by how they fight on ground and water before evolving. I also love the designs of their larval stages too.

Battra's special powers include shooting electrical beams from his horn and eyes. Due to his aggressive behavior, Battra can also use his massive horn as a battering ram. That is one pissed off worm!

This toy was released in 1992 in conjunction with "Godzilla vs Mothra: The Battle for Earth." Battra's tag has an image of the movie poster on one side and some written information on the other. I bought my figure online without the tags attached, so I can't provide a picture of that. If the tags were still on, I couldn't remove it. I prefer my figures to be as original as they can be and detaching the tags usually depreciates the toy's value.

Battra is molded out of hard vinyl and what looks to be a dark charcoal color, with pink and gold highlights. This toy was reissued in 1995 as part of the Godzilla Memorial Box set. The difference between that version and this one is the color of the horns and feelers. The original is painted gold, while the reissue is painted yellow.

The sculpt is superb from the tip of his horn all the way to the tip of the tail. I like the layers of wrinkles etched on the body and the rough, thorny exterior on top of the body. That is one tough worm to prey on! I mean really, if there is any monster big enough to eat this guy will probably have a hard time swallowing the thorns.

There are only two points of articulation in the neck, but the joints are stiff so movements are very limited. All the other joints on him are sealed so they shouldn't rotate at all. If you force it, you could break it.

For size comparison, Battra is half the size of a standard 8" Godzilla figure, which means this toy is out of scale. The tip of Battra's horn is 10 meters shorter than Godzilla's height in the movie.