2003 Overkill
In the early 2000‘s, I was still a kid. So the online exclusive BAT 6-pack was an item I had absolutely no clue existed. Had I known about it then, I can guarantee you I’d have passed on it, as I really had no interest in characters and molds that weren’t from the Sunbow cartoon. In the late 2000‘s though, my interest in older figures had broadened and I eventually came across this set floating around for some odd amount of chump change and ordered one. Chief among the figures that appealed to me in the set was this Overkill, a character I’d never owned before.
The 2003 BAT 6-pack wasn’t a bad idea from Hasbro, as back then more than ever were collector’s demanding army builders. The execution however, was far from perfect. Taken in on their own, the two varieties of BATs are interesting, fun figures and the Overkill repaint is a fine reuse of that mold. All of these things together, however, aren’t overly compelling for an army builder set. No one wanted unique characters packed with army builders, and the Inferno BAT is far too odd and niche to illicit collectors to hoard large armies of them. So, the set flopped and the figures were easy to acquire for pennies on the dollar for years after it’s release.
In a way, that means this Overkill repaint owns a good amount of the blame for killing the BAT 6-pack. Though for me, it was a cool character to expand my Cobra roster with for basically nothing, so I was rather ecstatic to own him years ago.
In a lot of ways this figure is a serious upgrade over the ‘92 version. The colors maintain some brighter shades that make a character like this fun, but are far less gaudy than on the ’92 figure. Many of the details have been highlighted on this version with paint applications not present before, which also helps me appreciate the sculpt. I think one of the best examples of this is the figure’s head, where before it was just gold plastic with red eyes, now he has separate colors for the different sections of his head. It’s surprisingly detailed honestly.
The parts are also pretty cool. All of the original Overkill’s parts are here, just now in black. I think Overkill’s gun and arm attachment are pretty strange, but there’s a lot of detail on them that’s easier to digest in black compared to fluorescent red. Plus any ARAH figure that kept his original parts in the 2000’s was something to admire.
At one time, you could buy the entire BAT army builder 6-pack for as little as $6. That however, was at the height of this item’s saturation. Now, these are a bit harder to find, and you’ll see the full set or single figures sell for random, and usually very stupid prices on eBay. Of course, you can also grab a surplus figure from China for $6.50 shipped. I think this is a pretty underrated repaint, and although that’s a lot more than he used to cost, it’s still a high quality figure I think is worth that much.
2003 Overkill Links:
Forgotten Figures (Inferno BAT post, but still relevant)
Not my favorite figure. But, in retrospect, this is a solid update. Were he included with any of the other 6 figure sets that were character heavy, he’d be a lot more appreciated. But, at the time, you could consider that you were getting 5 army building figures in the set for $3 each and this figure for free.
But, collectors of that era were kind of silly when it came to army builders and what sets were deemed worthy of their attention. It’s a double edged sword. Had we bought more of these, the TRU Cobra 6 pack would have been the next set. But, this set flopped and TRU got the blueshirts…which probably made them more available to the casual collector.
Hasbro misread fandom (big surprise!). Overkill and the entire pack were too 90’s in style and colors for what most people wanted at the time. Had Overkill ditched the neon green and been with well-colored BAT V1’s, things might have been different. Also, by the time these sets arrived to e-tailers, you had more army builder options and folks were already jumping ship to “nu-sculpt” and were leaving ARAH.
“Plus any ARAH figure that kept his original parts in the 2000’s was something to admire.”
So true!
I’m annoyed with Overkill 2003, because the last time i dug one out, I managed to break one of its knee joints by just moving it. I hate that.
I’ve got a few BAT 6-packs that I never did anything with. Early 2000’s were the golden age of GI JOE army building, in terms of price and availability. Now days we have fans paying $20 a figure for non-Hasbro troopers. There’s probably no going back to the days of cheap armies.
I love the look of this cyborg. I just bought a carded 1992 version off eBay.