Vault Review:
MOTU Classics Granamyr

I feel that Granamyr is one of the more recognizable characters to spring forth from MOTU.  Not everyone may know his name, but a large dragon with a pot belly and horned helmet tends to leave a lasting impression.  (Heck, even my mom recognized him.)

As a kid, I’d always seen dragons as sleek reptilian beasts.  Granamyr challenged those notions with his visibly old and mostly civil demeanor.  I was also a bit thrown by his helmet.  While I liked how it looked, my younger self was a bit confused as to why a dragon really needs to wear a helmet.  It wasn’t until I looked back at him from my adult years that I could truly appreciate the complexity of his character.

Unlike most Filmation characters, Granamyr couldn’t be easily separated into either the good or bad category.  Sure he saved Man-At-Arms, but he also wanted the first tree on Eternia chopped down and burned just because it was older than him.  He’s also openly racist against humans, and in his third appearance almost makes three of them fight to the death for his amusement until He-Man convinced him not to.

Granamyr’s multifaceted personality may have been an influence from his original creation in the mini-comics, but it was John Erwin’s amazing voice acting that really brought the character to life.  With his perfect blend of elderly yet strong, and regal with a hint of annoyance, Granamyr’s voice was so unique that I easily remembered it from childhood.

Like the character, Granamyr’s figure is gigantic. Standing about twenty two inches tall he easily dwarfs the likes of Megator and Procrustus, not to mention the regular six inch that now look tiny by comparison.  But even with his great size, the Four Horsemen didn’t skimp at all on the detail work.  Granamyr is covered head to tail in craggy looking scales, wrinkles, and spikes.  The patterns are broken up even more with scars, cracks, and warts.  Even a couple of the spines that run down his back have been broken off.

Granny’s head is just as detailed as his body.  The wrinkles and warts are multiplied and do a great job adding to the dragon’s overall annoyed disposition.  Even his mouth, with all those crooked teeth poking out, looks like it’s grimacing in displeasure.  The 4H also brought more detail to the helmet than I expected.  There are dents and little chunks taken out around the edges, while the horns have a cracked and timeworn look.  Continue to page 2…

29 thoughts on “Vault Review:
MOTU Classics Granamyr

  1. I like your last point about fitting into any era. I’m in the process of trading/selling most of my MOTUC, mostly retaining figures that fit into my preferred line of 200X. The giants are excellent stand-ins in the 200X line, as they are much more angular and leaner looking than the standard MOTUC figures. And you’re right–Granamyr, with all his detail looks quite good with the 200X line as well.

  2. Skeletor: He torches me all the time though!

    Great review, currently no place to put him if got him though. Seen tons of pics of him but I have to saybIbhear Walter (jeff dunham fame) come out of him at times. I do feel ol’Dunham could turn Granny into a dummy too.

    I really have to find some dvds of the series to catch up and also remember some things from it.

  3. I have to say Even though Granamyr is the biggest & tallest figure right now in Classics he is also the LAZIEST lol of them all. He’s so damn big really for nothing. But I was always a fan Granny when I was kid so I to make sure I brought of him. My $160 was well spent on both of them. Cool review as always…..

  4. First timer.

    I have every classics figure and this one is by far the coolest one out of all of them. Worth every penny.

  5. Excellent review and pics, hilarious comics. As usual. Definitely a great, complex character that neeed to be made into plastic form. If only they could’ve done it without so many foul-ups in the joint mechanisms. Eighty bucks (not counting shipping to England and customs and processing charges), and his right arm socket’s broken and locked up. Thus, my bliss has been spoiled. Had that not been the case, I would’ve agreed wholeheartedly with Galvin that he’s worth every penny. Unfortunately, he didn’t arrive until after the return-for-a-refund window had expired. [Mutters darkly and menacingly under his breath.]

    I always liked how John Erwin would go to older actors for his inspiration. Kothos was obviously Sydney Greenstreet, and it wasn’t until I was watching “Scrooged” last year that it hit me: Granamyr is based on John Houseman.

    I believe Granamyr’s horns are actually his own, either grown through the helmet, ot with the helmet magically wrapped around them. And, no, he doesn’t actually need it, but I suppose he gets some kind of statisfaction from showing off his huge, glistening, purple helmet.

    1. “I suppose he gets some kind of statisfaction from showing off his huge, glistening, purple helmet.”

      Amen to that, Brutha!

  6. I don’t remember this guy from the classic cartoon AT ALL. 😕

    The figure looks cool, and I know a couple have been customed into green Grannys, but I don’t get the love.

    also, no GoT “Khaleesi” jokes with Sorceress? :/

    1. I’m with you 100%. I’m a big MOTU fan, but I barely remember the Filmation cartoon (I’ve only been able to bring myself to watch a few episodes as an adult, and was mostly mad at myself for having done so), and I have no memory of this guy. I can’t really agree with Vault that he’s “one of the more recognizable characters to spring forth from the MOTU-verse.” I had no idea who he was when he was announced, and even now I can’t dig up any vague memories of having seen him as a child.

      I’d also like to point out that it makes the character seem much less imposing that most fans refer to him as “Granny.”

      1. you mean like when they started referring to darth vader as “annie” how that kind of sucked the wind out of his sales? yeah, with you there…

        i must say though, you gents you don’t recall granamyr, i’m left dumbfounded, as a ton of us who grew up on this cartoon not only recall him from our childhood, but pretty much since the creation of the internet, we’ve talked about him and posted links and images from the comics. i’ve had no difficulty at all following the old wyrm across the web.

  7. It’s funny, no matter how much crap I give Mattel (and I give them a LOT), I’m still amazed that they’ve given us figures like this, and giants like Procrustus and Titus, and even castle Grayskull (which I hope you guys review, so I can enjoy it vicariously.) I couldn’t budget it in myself:(

  8. Having no attachment to MOTU, I had no idea Granamyr was racist. Now every time I see him I’m singing “Albi the racist dragon” by Flight of the Conchordes.

  9. Granny here certainly seems poised to become the line’s centerpiece but I can’t remember watching any of the episodes he was in or reading his mini-comic, so the guy is a blank slate. That’s mainly why I had to pass on him a month or so back. Still an impressive figure, though.

  10. From the Wiki: Racism – defined as views, practices and actions reflecting the belief that humanity is divided into distinct biological groups called races and that members of a certain race share certain attributes which make that group as a whole less desirable, more desirable, inferior or superior.

    The term you are searching for is “bigoted”, not racist.

    1. I think that’s a fairly xenocentric view of racism. On a world inhabited by many sentient species, like Eternia has been shown to be, the term “racism” may very well have a broader definition.

    2. But see, “That’s bigoted!” doesn’t invoke the meme. It also doesn’t sound nearly as funny. This is why we don’t run the joke pics by you before we post them anymore. 🙂

    3. Well, Wiki shouldn’t really be seen as the be-all, end-all of information; it’d be easy for me to sign in and upload a picture of myself next to the entry on “Stud-Muffin.” Wouldn’t make it true.

      Also, they’re called “the human race.” Therefore, any views against them can be counted as racism. Q.E.D.

      Oh, and WE’RE TALKING ABOUT FICTIONAL CHARACTERS, so a little wiggle-room may be permitted.

      I love getting the blood flowing with a bit of pedantry first thing in the morning. };D

  11. Oh, gimmie a break. We’re talking about fictional characters but words aren’t fiction, they have meaning. As far as Wiki goes, the definition was copied for convince sake – unless you’re looking for pointless debate, we can all agree that’s what the word means. And Noisy, meme or not, it’s not that funny a joke. Since you’re down to a handful of reviews a month I would expect a little more effort be put into the few that do appear.

    OK, sycophants, pile on…

    1. If you want to see more reviews or even higher quality reviews here at IAT, then trust me when I say that positive encouragement is the only way to go. A condescending post over word choice in a picture caption really only serves as a reminder of why putting time and effort into a blog is often not worth it. With his schedule, it’s hard enough for Vault to keep up as it is without that silliness!

      Also, please don’t call the other commenters sycophants just because you expect them to disagree with you. 🙂

  12. The beauty of the English language is that it is mutable. You sass what I’m sayin’, frood? It’s totally spigot. You can even verb words that ain’t meant to be verbed.

    Now, to the matter at hand, I’m in a situation where there are loads of Eastern European immigrants flooding into my country, and causing tension by taking up jobs during a recession. (Not that any British people would stoop to doing those kinds of jobs, but they resent not having the option to refuse doing them. But that’s another rant for another time.) Anywho, a lot of the ill-feeling towards these Eastern Europeans is being branded as “racism,” even though it’s one group of white people having nasty feelings towards another group of white people who just happen to swing from a different branch of the Indo-European Language Tree. Now, in that case, I would (and do) wholeheartedly decry that usage of “racism,” and insist on referring to it as “bigotry” or “prejudice.”

    But my initial stance is unchanged: if the species is going to be called the human RACE, then any ill-feelings projected against said RACE can be called RACISM.

    As for the mutability of the English language, it can come in all forms, from gradual evolution of meaning to wholesale import of words from foreign languages.

    For example, the Nordic word TROLL.

  13. Noisy, my apologies. IAT is a great site and I enjoy reading your reviews. I posted those comments out of anger & in haste: it’s clear now they contributed nothing positive to the discussion. I can’t change that, but I can say sorry for acting like an ass. Keep up the good work and I will continue reading.

      1. ah, the joys of IAT, where brotherhood and camaraderie trump spurious debate. this is why i love this little nugget of the interweb.

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