Grizzlor is a figure my friends had growing up and I coveted. My buddies always seemed to lose every accessory, so my memory of the figure is a round potato shaped body of fur. Still, there was something appealing about the figure. As an adult collector I also coveted fellow fwoosher AFR’s staction version of Grizzlor, so my anticipation for the MOTUC figure was pretty high. I’ve gone back and forth on the MOTUC figure pre-release. I loved the proto, disliked the carded figure and liked the preview pics from VeeBee. Now that I have the final figure how does he stack up? Read on for more pics and details!
Grizzlor
Real Name: Gur’rull Gu’rrooowarrrk
Originally a peaceful creature from the planet Jungulia, at the young age of 428 Gur’rull was kidnapped by the Horde Empire who erased his memories so he would serve loyally in their armies. Renamed “Grizzlor” he travelled with Hec-Tor Kur to Eternia in search of He-Ro. His ferocious attacks were so frightening that even after being banished to Despondos along with his master, Grizzlor’s legend lived on becoming a myth told by young Eternian children. Prison guard for the Horde, Grizzlor is ready to unleash his fierce claws to attack the forces of Eternia.
The first thing I think of when I read that is some old Expanded Universe Star Wars stories I read many years back about Chewbacca’s origin. He was also an incredibly long lived furry bi-ped enslaved by a massive evil empire. Fortunately for Chewie, he had Han Solo to bust him out of there.
Accessories
Grizzlor comes with a Horde Crossbow, a machete, a short sword and an axe. He also has a removeable 200x style loincloth and a removeable harness that can hold all his weapons. I love it when figures can hold all their accessories on their person. It’s a little extra attention to detail that makes all the difference for me.
The 200x loincloth actually looks pretty good to me on Grizzlor, though it mainly serves as a reminder of the 200x style head that was not produced. I think I prefer him without the extra loincloth as the 200x redesign of Grizzlor on the Staction shrunk the Horde symbol significantly on the chest. The large vintage style horde symbol on the MOTUC figure looks a little silly next to the loincloth. I’ve heard the word ‘totem pole’ invoked to describe the effect and I have to agree with that assessment.
If Mattel ever decides to release a 200x Grizzlor, I would hope they would go back and re-do the harness as well as the adding the new head sculpt.
Articulation
Grizzlor sports the standard MOTUC articulation, though his ab crunch is hindered by his fur suit. The waist twist seems to work fine, though. It’s interesting to me that he has the standard sculpted furry loincloth under his fur suit even though it cannot be seen. It would have been nice to leave it off so the leg articulation would be completely unhindered.
Sculpt
The face is very reminiscent of the original, but with the now standard MOTUC touch of additional and sharper detail. I feel like the MOTUC headsculpt looks less silly than his vintage counterpart. The arms are from Beastman with some newly sculpted 3 finger hands and the legs are from Carnivus with some new Horde boot calves.
A great part of the figure is the fur, so as a figure he sort of lives or dies by that feature. I think they made the right call using the ‘real’ fur and it is pretty successful. It does look absolutely ridiculous carded because all the fur is just forced forward.
I’ve been able to get a look I like for the fur on the body by removing the harness and repositioning the fur underneath when I placed the harness back on. I actually had it looking a little better with more of the yellow belt showing, but messed it up trying to perfect his shoulder area a bit. My wife had a good laugh at watching me play with my ‘doll’s’ hair-do.
I do think he could have used a little bit more fur around his head to cover the gap between head and shoulders a bit better. I like that Grizzlor can dual wield his weapons, but would have liked to see some swappable open ‘clawing’ hands.
MOTUC Grizzlor is successful for the child in me that coveted the vintage fur potato Grizzlor, but less successful for the adult that coveted the staction. I’m not sure the inclusion of the modern face sculpt would have satisfied my staction craving due to the totem pole factor mentioned above, but I would have liked to see it included anyway. Especially since I already have the loincloth that feels pointless without the modern face. He still he looks great with Hordak and fighting She-Ra and it’s great to get more Horde members. Hopefully Dragstor is next! Yeah, I’m sure I’m alone in that one.
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