We interrupt this broadcast of San Diego Comic Con exclusive First Looks to bring you, well, another First Look. But this one is not for a Con exclusive. Don’t worry, we still have a couple more of those coming, but we just had to get this one to you right away because, well, it involves a monkey. Well, not quite a monkey, a gorilla, but all the same, gorillas are awesome. Especially when they are Evil Fighting Gorillas with a twist of Lymon (Lymon copyright the Coca-Cola Company). That’s right, we have the Masters of the Universe Classics September-shipping deluxe large scale beast figure, Gygor ready for your eyeballs. Come check out lots and lots of pictures after the jump.
We like to give a small history lesson with just about each one of our MOTUC First Looks, so here goes. Like Battle Cat and Zoar, Gygor was planned to be a big beasty in the original 1980s Masters of the Universe line as a repurposed and repainted carry-over from Mattel’s Big Jim line. I am not sure why it never happened but the big gorilla never got his moment in the sun like his feline and raptor counterparts. Well, much like He-Ro, 1980s concept finally comes to life thanks to the guys at Mattel and the Four Horsemen. If you are like me, you were caught completely off-guard by he unveiling at the New York Toy Fair, but again, if you are like me, you have been pretty stoked for this bad boy.
Gygor here (is it Gygor as in Guy-Gor, or Gygor as in Ji (like jive)-gor?) is a lot of things. He is big, he is green and yellow, he is pissed, he is a hybrid of traditional injection molding and roto-cast, but one thing he is NOT is DCUC Gorilla Grodd. Not at all. I would hope this would have been put to rest along time ago, but if you are still in doubt, let me make it clear: GYGOR IS NOT A REPAINTED OR REMOLDED GRODD. M’kay? Now, like Grodd, he was sculpted by the ever-talented Four Horsemen so it might look like he could be the offspring if Grodd made it with a bottle of Sprite, but they are not the same figure. Some of the sculpting is similar and the articulation is close, but Gygor is all new. Please look at the pictures to see that, hopefully in a clear light.
Gygor is one heavy beasty too, and he balances extremely well in most poses. Sure, he is not as big as Tytus from a height perspective, but he feels much bulkier. He also has a poop-load of very scary looking armor that, in battle would not only deflect an opponent’s charge, but could also do some serious battle scarring. Oh, and while we are still waiting on our Panthor, Skeletor can ride Gygor right into battle in the interim.
If you know the background on the character (of if you cleverly read the bio pictured above) you know that Gygor was a villainous gorilla who tried to break into Castle Grayskull but was instead placed in a frozen stasis only to be let out years later by that darned Evil-Lyn (man the Horde, King HSSS and Gygor, Pandora got nothing on Ms. Powers here) to beat up He-Man and his pals. I know there is still more to come on his history, he has his tribal markings on his cape so I will be interested to find out more about him in future character bios.
Gygor goes on sale at Matty Collector on September 15th (along with Chief Carnivous) and if you are a MOTUC fan, you are probably already waiting. I know that there will probably be a lot of customizers out there that will chance picking him up (for his $30.00 price tag) because there is a lot of potential for some wicked customs from this guy. Oh, and I sure hope Matty and 4H plan on using some of his parts from some Shadow Beasts!
*Thanks for checking this out and thanks to Toy Guru for sending him along. Like I said, we still have some DC and Ghostbusters goodies to bring you, so check back soon!
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@Modok: That’s how Roger Sweet pronounces it (he was interviewed recently on the MOTU Chronicles podcast) but I still say “Guy-gore” sounds better.
I’m assuming it’s pronounced “Ji” Gor, short for “giant gorilla”
Superb! I wasn’t sure about him at first but his size has won me over, I know there’s a good chance of getting stung on customs shipping him to the UK which would make his price quite steep but I really want him as part of my collection! Sep 15 could be an expensive day!!
you can clearly tell it uses the same shoulder, arm and forearm mold as grood just upsized.
Just a little FYI for those new to the Gygor character. Most fans learned he was a concept in the 80’s that was going to be a repaint of an already made figure from the Big Jim line from Mark Sweet’s book. Mr. Sweet said he was designed so He-Man could ride on his back (possibly like that Skeletor picture). So, Gygor was intended to be a Heroic character. After all, the villains have Beastman AND Gore-illa (a meteorb).
This is why there has been quite a lot of controversy among the fan base about him being an Evil Warrior. That and he basically makes Beastman look like a kitten now.