Package Description
None.
Appearance
Mattel really went for the realistic look here, making him look as much as a real gorilla as possible. The shape and proportions look realistic, and the sculpted hair everywhere is what makes this figure looks as good as it does. There are different textures all over the figures like the sculpted in hair and paint wash. The color choices are excellent, even if the grey coloring isn’t what you would find on a real gorilla. Everything from the body outline to the details on the figure are excellently done. It is obvious too that the joints were designed to interfere as little as possible with the appearance of the figure. The joints are hardly noticeable.
The device he wears is the least realistic looking, and if I was to display Grodd by himself would look incredibly odd. The figure really looks like you took an ordinary Gorilla and stuck a helmet on his head, which is how he should look. Stylistically he is more realistic looking than other figures in this line, but it’s not a big enough difference to cause problems. As long as he looks good with the Flash that will come out at some point in this line, I won’t have a problem with him. When it comes to this figure, I really think the pictures speak for themselves for appearance. This is how Gorilla Grodd should look in my opinion.
Articulation
Articulation is really lacking in several areas, and it will come back to haunt Grodd later in poseability. Grodd has a “V” crotch, and the feet only twist, which makes it really hard to balance Grodd if the legs are moved at all. The arms have standard ball and pin joints with an adequate range of motion, while the torso has not joint at all. Finally the head moves very little up and down, and twists at an angle.
Poseability
It is hard to do any sort of dynamic pose at all with Gorilla Grodd. As mentioned before the balance in the legs is awful. There’s only so much you can do with the arms that looks good when you can’t move the legs much at all. The head not being able to look where you want also makes poses not look good. For such a good looking figure, it’s a little bit disappointing that he’s going to end up just standing stoically on the shelf. The argument can be made that he doesn’t need as much poseability when he has other people do his fighting for him, but I’m not expecting to get a gorilla army.
Final Judgment: 5
Considering that Gorilla Grodd looks so good, it’s disappointing his articulation is virtually useless. I’m not expecting any epic battles with the Flash when Mattel makes one. And in the end, that’s the real reason I wanted Grodd. He’ll look good on the shelf, but that’s not enough by itself to give him a high score when he’s in a line of figures with great poseability. As much as I hate to do it, I’m giving Gorilla Grodd a score of “adequate” because despite how good he looks, I’m not satisfied at all with his poseability.
SCALE
10. My favorite possession.
9. My favorite action figure.
8. One of my favorite action figures.
7. An excellent action figure.
6. A good, but not exceptional action figure.
5. An adequate action figure.
4. Not worth the money I spent.
3. I'll give it to somebody's kid.
2. I'll give it to somebody's dog.
1. It's going to lose a fight with my car.
