When I first saw the Masters of the Universe Origins x ThunderCats toys, Battle Cat Man stuck out as the best one. It's a new character... but not? Making a humanoid figure out of a vehicle or a figure or a playset pushes my buttons, so Castle Grayskullman or Vypor remain favorites. Making He-Man's friend/pet/steed into a dude? OK, sure, why not! I'm not a super big fan of ThunderCats - no shade, it just didn't click with me like other stuff did - so I'm only planning to pick up Battle Cat Man and Panthor. And it took me a while to open the green furry.
To answer your first question, yes I put him on Origins Battle Cat almost immediately. His large crotch makes it hard to put him in the saddle, even with the loincloth removed. The loincloth and all red armor are removable, so if you want to make him another dude or customize his appearance you may do so. The claws clamp over the back of his hands... it's an elegant solution.
From the thin mini-comic, he seems like a new guy who lives on Third Eternia. What does this mean? I have no idea, I didn't much "get" this comic - so I just have to accept that the figure is neat on its own merits. I could totally imagine an episode where Cringer gets turned into a man somehow, so this concept works for me. A basic body gets augmented with slide-on armor and a helmet. There's no furry sculpted bits, so he's smooth with painted yellow stripes. I think he'd have been right at home in the TMNT crossover, too. Articulation is the same as other figures in the line and he has a fun face with the painted light fur around the snout and two stalagmites coming out of his lower lip. He doesn't look scared - he just looks like a cat guy, there's really nothing tying this in to any specific interpretation of the kitty cat.
The figure is light on paint. There's a big red circle and ThunderCats head in his armor, a little paint on the boots, his stripes, and his face. That's it. It's a simple deal for simple times. The shoulder armor gets in the way of some movement, but you can pop it off, or slide it around. The helmet has a little wiggle to it, but you can fix it. It's a nice toy, and the customizable costume is probably a smart move for parts reuse more than allowing collectors to modify their toys.
The not-terror claws are nice, not too big, and clip safely on the back of his green hands. I got no complaints. They just plain work.
I don't have an axe to grind with crossovers, but I need to be mindful of my space and what's going to stick around - and Battle Cat Man is interesting to me in ways He-Man with lion armor isn't. (I do appreciate the Eternia Tower motif, though, and may buy it later some day.) I like this because I don't have a lot of green cat guys in my toy collection, and I'd be very likely to buy this figure even if I didn't collect He-Man stuff. He's just neat and weird. I'd recommend it. As far as I can tell Panthor Man is just a recolor with no tooling changes, and I'll be opening him shortly.
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