Gorilla Grodd is a funny old ape. Initially, I had no interest in him as a character. Gorillas as villains seemed silly to me. (Unless they were cyborgs with bottled brains in Hellboy!) Like it or not, Gorillas seem to run rampant in the Justice League universe. Grodd’s first appearance in “The Brave and the Bold” didn’t do much for me, but I loved his part in “Secret Society.” That clinched the deal. I had to figure out a reasonable way to make a Grodd.

When I first saw the Ultra-Humanite figure (hereafter known as UH), my first thought was converting him to Grodd. I quickly talked myself out of that. Why? I really don’t know. I then saw Doubledealer’s amazing Grodd custom/sculpt, and the fire in me was once again lit. Alas, few of us mere mortals can sculpt like Doubledealer. I was forced to think of alternative methods.

I went back to the UH figure. I was struck by how similar his legs, arms, face and upper torso are to Grodd’s model sheet and Grodd’s show appearances. So, UH went under the Dremel.

Obviously, the first thing to go was UH’s harness. It’s stuck on there good, so be careful when trying to remove it, kids. The head was then sliced off at the neck. The biggest problem with UH, then, was his height. Mattel made him far to short for UH, and thus Grodd, too. I split the figure at the waist, then added a blob of plumbing epoxy between the two halves, making sure to keep the leg articulation working. Once solid, I added Kneadatite to fill in the harness space along the torso. Grodd’s head is higher on his chest than UH, so I crammed aluminum foil into UH’s neck hole (to fill the chest cavity), then layered on epoxy putty (and later, modeling paste) to create a smooth and solid upper torso. Next, I created the protruding tummy and his back with Super Sculpey. The arms and legs needed to be beefed up, which I accomplished with Super Sculpey. Lots of sanding on this one, folks.

To make Grodd’s head, I started by obliterating UH’s oversized cranium, slicing off chunks and then sanding smooth with the Dremel, making sure to keep the ears. I also removed UH’s nose, as it sits too high on the face for Grodd. Using Super Sculpey and Kneadatite, I expanded/filled in the facial shape, creating the “line” between the eye and mouth. A new nose and “nose wrinkle” were added, as well as the re-shaped brow. Finally, his crown of hair was shaped with Super Sculpey. This took me at least four tries, as Grodd’s hair appears differently in almost every shot he’s in! (I’m still not 100% satisfied, but it’ll do.)

After lots of sanding and a paint job later, he was finished. The final product looked better than I expected, and surprisingly on- model. Now to build more members of the Secret Society so Grodd has someone to command.

Casimir
Fall 2004