Grizzlor: Furry or furrowed?

In the wake of the Moss-Man flocking debate, a new discussion has cropped up over on He-Man.org regarding that hairy Horde henchman, Grizzlor.

grizzlor_a
(photo courtesy He-Man.org)

The 1980s Grizzlor had rooted hair from head to crotch. I always found him to be one of the goofiest MOTU figures ever made–and that’s saying something. The hair doesn’t conform to his body shape, it just sticks out in all directions. He doesn’t look like a sasquatch or a Wookie. He’s not a “furry man”–he’s a furball. Like a muscled-up guinea pig with a crossbow.

Moreover, I hate “real fur” on my action figures. Fur, like fabric clothing, always seems so perishable to me. Plastic and rubber can be cleaned and, if necessary, repainted. If your five-year-old sticks her wad of gum in Grizzlor’s hair, it’s time to grit your teeth and get out the scissors.

But Mattel seems to be very aware that some MOTU features really aren’t negotiable with fans–such as flocking on Moss-Man. Judging from the responses on the He-Man.org thread, fans seem to feel the same way about Grizzlor’s furriness.

The NECA staction was something of an improvement:

motugriz1
(photo courtesy OAFE.net)

While I’m willing to accept the idea a MOTUC Grizzlor is going to have to have some fur, I’m skeptical about him having this much. My solution would be to work in the hair in just a few places, similar to how McFarlane did with their Viking Age figures. Sculpt him with a good amount of armor, such as shoulder pauldrons and an armored loincloth a la He-Ro, then have the fur sticking out from beneath the armor and behind the head.

My preferences be damned, I suspect the MOTUC figure will end up looking a lot like the NECA version. But how would you do it, given the chance?

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14 Comments

  1. Kid Nicky

    This dude is the one MOTU figure I would ONLY buy mint-in-the-package.

  2. Mark

    @PrfktTear: Yeah the action feature was okay but it didn't need to be that siize. Still….if Fisto or Jitsu ever gave anyone a bitch slap it would hurt LOL.

    If only they had given He-Man a better head and straightened his legs and he wasn't hunched over he would have been very cool…in fact that goes for about the majority of the figures. I hate preposed figures.

  3. I was paying some attention to my Stactions last night, something I haven't done in a while. I was going over Grizzy, he's been perched on top of my book shelf with the rest of my Horde stactions and he had a few dust bunnies. I don't know what the cross-sell art looks like for him, but I hope they take elements from the cartoon. The staction Grizzlor looks cool, but it didn't really evoke the true look of the character. Not to say that the original was any better, its just a furry oval with arms and legs.

  4. dayraven

    @finkrod: well, you're not far off… i do have to trim my claws, and yes, the pelt combs out nicely.

  5. finkrod

    No just half man, half bear, and half pig.

  6. Frowny McBeard

    @PrfktTear:

    What, a bear that's half man-pig? Or a man that's half bear-pig?

  7. I've always thought of Grizzlor as a man-bear-pig hybrid… πŸ˜‰

    @Mark: Yeah, next to He-Man, I think Fisto is my least favorite 2002 re-design. I just think they went waaay too big with the fist. Obv. his name is Fisto so they're going to play up that trait, but still, its a little ridiculous. Same with Jitsu… wtf is up with the giant hand? Otherwise he's cool…

  8. finkrod

    "i challenge you, dear reverend ender, can you produce a picture of an eternian grizzly?"

    From what I can see dayraven, that picture next to your name is pretty close to what I imagine a eternian grizzly would look like =)

  9. Poe

    Don't forget the smell. I can't imagine what a Grizzlor won on eBay from a smoking home would smell like.

    After reading the comments, I admit the durability issue may not be as significant as I've been thinking it is–I never even had a Grizzlor as a kid, so I can't speak for that. But I do think the fur has the potential to become matted, greasy, and smelly.

    My personal preferred solution is to use partial fur, but not as much as the staction.

  10. Mark

    Staction Grizzlor always reminded me of the movie Beastman.

    PrfktTear is correct, a few 2002 updates really sucked liek Fisto's gigantic hand….and a few other things but I am not getting into it.

    Grizzlor kicks ass, best of the whole Horde, then Leech then Hordak.

  11. dayraven

    @Reverend Ender: ah, but therein lies the rub… grizzlor is an alien bear anthropormorph. so while he may vaguely resemble an earth bear, the resemblance is pure coincidence. i challenge you, dear reverend ender, can you produce a picture of an eternian grizzly? i suspect not. therefore, while i am unable to prove his resemblance, you are unable to DISPROVE his rememblance and since the burden of proof lies on the state, my client is free to go. HA! and double HA! πŸ˜‰

    besides, he's a Grizzfolk, they don't look anything like bears, they look like people married to bears. so even the regular bear would prove inconclusive.

  12. Reverend Ender

    @Dayraven. No sir, Andrew is not wrong. Please find me a picture of a bear that looks ANYTHING like EITHER of those Grizzlors, and I will concede the point.

  13. dayraven

    @Andrew: dude, i hate telling another collector their own business… i'm a firm believer in the 1st amendment and a firm believer that everyone is entitled to their own opinion.

    but in this case…

    you're wrong andrew. patently, 100%, objectively wrong. sorry, but it happens to the best of us. both versions of grizzlor look PERFECT because the character is a giant bear-man hybrid. both versions have claws at the end of their fingertips… humans have fingers, bears have claws. bears have fur, humans have fur, so both grizzlor's have fur. grizzlies are big and strong, humans are medium, so this dude is large, but not the biggest guy in the mythos. but he looks mean, he looks angry, and he looks like he's ready to rip he-man in half… literally. if you think grizzlor looks patently ridiculous, you must really hate those pesky wookies. they look dumb too, right? it's not personal homes, but grizzlor looks perfect for the character, both versions do. i think the staction had some details that were definitely appropriate for the character, but the original captured the beastial behemoth pretty well too.

    BTW, i'm not saying that nobody had issues w/ grizzlor's fur (the original fur onesie version), but i am saying that there are folks who didn't have, and don't currently have, any issues w/ that fur. hence, i would not be opposed to a fur onesie again, if that's what we got. but i doubt we'll get one, because i'm sure mattel couldn't do that again cheaply, and in the context of the articulation scheme, i'm sure the onesie wouldn't work out well (lots of stretching and bunching.)

  14. Andrew

    I guess Poe's just a total liar, then. >_>

    And so is anyone else who had problems. >_>

    Anyway, I don't want to see fur. I would much rather have sculpted elements. Both versions of Grizzlor look patently ridiculous, no matter how you contextualize it, and neither one of them looks particularly good. The fur drags down any worthwhile elements.

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