Gorilla Mutant (Papo 2011)

As a matter of fact, today's German toy stores are boring. Just like the wooden bricks they keep selling. We (still) don't have any GI Joes over here. And we're still waiting for the release of the new ThuncerCats! From time to time I go to the Toys R' Us or Spiele Max stores, just to find out that nothing has changed. But sometimes I get suprised and find a cool toy where I didn't expect it to.

We have this massive hype of Schleich figures over here: Elves, knights, dragons, dwarves & stuff. They're not action figures though. They're stiff, about 4" tall rubber guys, that are of so called "pedagogical value"; hand painted, non-hazardous, and produced "fair trade".

It's not that I don't like the latter. I guess I'm just not a big fan of the whole Fantasy genre as long as they don't mix it up with some freaky Sci-Fi elements (btw, this is why I admire the MotU toys so much). I liked the LOTR books, but them lame Hobbits in the LOTR movies were a real pain in the ass!

Anyhow, when I passed the Fantasy shelves at Spiele Max a few days ago, one figure suddenly catched my attention. It turned out to be the Gorilla Mutant by Papo (similar to Schleich toys).

I've always been a huge fan of The Planet of the Apes. I like all sorts of cyborgs (SilverHawks, Terminator, RoboCop ...). As well, I like mutants (Toxic Crusaders, TMNT, Bucky O' Hare ...). So, what I like about the Gorilla Mutant is, that he seems to be a bald mixture of all the things I like.

He's a primate, and he's got a cyborg arm & leg. He's got some sort of butcher knife, and a samurai sword as weapons. And he's got this freaky, medieval loincloth with a (-nother ape's?) skull on it, in contrast to his worn out sneaker on the one foot.

Some might think of the Gorilla Mutant as a simple Cy-Gor (Spawn) remake. But that doesn't make him a less cool toy! Taking the pedagogical question into account, the Gorilla Mutant might be even more valuable. But just see for yourself... ;)