Standard Mythical Creature: The Griffin (June '12)

Of course, when I say "Standard Mythical Creature" I don't mean "boring and standard", I mean that it's cool to finally get some sort of standard mythical creature in a MotU toyline.  We did have big cats, but other than the color, they were basically just big cats.  We also had big hawks, but those were also just hawks beyond the size and color.  The Griffin marks the first standard mythical creature that you can easily get an idea of when you just say the name.  It's great, because the MotU story has always had a lot of mythical creatures (or just creatures) but they've never thrown in any random monsters 'n creatures in the toyline before.

Now a traditional Griffin has the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle, but every fantasy-type story has their own ideas on standard mythical creatures.  They carried over the same basic idea here with a lion-like body and a bird beak on a sort of lionish face with four eyes and some more feathers on the side of the face.

You get the awesome detail of the Four Horsemen's sculpt (they just nail animals ALL THE TIME, without fail).  The beak is like a friggin' axe, and you know he uses it 'cause of the cracks and scratches.  The jaw also opens for your specific needs regarding awesomeness.

To add to the cool creature details you get some bird feet in the back and a forked tail.  All of this comes from the 2002 MotU cartoon, and is faithfully reproduced with much more detail and um...realistic sculpting?  You know what I mean - I ain't real, but it looks like it could be. 

The beast is a bit smaller than it appears in the 2002 cartoon, but honestly you're not gona be disappointed by that at all if you're looking for a standard mythical creature.  Especially if you've never even seen the 2002 cartoon; I mean this sucker just breaks all boundaries.

Now, in terms of sculpt and articulation, you pretty much know what you're getting if you have Battle Cat.  They used the front legs, back half, and most of the back legs of Battle Cat, but otherwise there's a whole lot of new!  The whole neck is a new piece to give it a hunched and larger look, which is brilliant.  Funny how all it takes to make it look larger is a new neck piece (and I imagine the larger head and wingspan helps as well). 

Final thing I can say about the Griffin is that it only looks more awesome next to figures, and just about anyone can fit on the saddle perfectly.  'Course I used Beastman 'cause he's the usual one associated with the Griffin, but in the 2002 cartoon there were bunches of these beasts, and the whole badguy crew usually flew in or out on the backs of a few griffins.  So it's an army builder as well, if you got the cash and the space ('cause DANG those wings take up space). 

Overall I wasn't looking forward to 'em when he was announced, but I totally changed my mind when I got him in hand.  As I've said; it's just awesome having a standard mythical creature in the toyline - FOR the toyline.  You could grab all sorts of different creatures from other toylines, but this is the first one made just for MotU from a MotU cartoon.  On top of that: I mean come on, look at 'em!  There's really only one way to look at him: as an awesome mythical creature.  If you don't have the space or can't spend the money I can totally understand, but I would think it would be hard to say anything bad about the figure otherwise.  Perhaps mythical creatures don't impress you, but you at least have to admire the quality of the details.

So I highly suggest this one if you're looking for this kinda thing.  It breaks boundaries and is basically just an awesome figure of a type of griffin.  You could honestly use it anywhere!