Deadly Grell (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) Review

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Deadly Grell (Advanced Dungeons & Dragons) Review

Deadly Grell
Advanced Dungeons & Dragons (LJN)*sigh* This toy, frankly, was a mistake. Like, it shouldn't have been attempted. Gather 'round, and I'll elucidate on what happens to toys when mistakes are made.
I will give credit to the paintwork. It's got a bit of airbrushing, some wavy lines to follow, and it all looks good. A little cartoonish, but that's the house style at LJN. It's the construction I take issue with.
They went with "bendy" here, probably for a couple reasons: it's the only way a radially-symmetrical being can have any kind of size on a blister card, but still be able to flex the tentacles downward. The only other solution would be a separate "pillar" of tentacles, but even then, the head would have to be either vertically or laterally flattened- the latter would turn out pretty flea-shaped, which would've actually been a fun take.
The trouble is, most of it just doesn't work. It's far too dome-shaped, like the bug-eyed monsters that likely inspired it. The eyes are seriously large; it's very cartoony. Also, Grell don't have eyes. 1st edition art wasn't always the right way to go. The tentacles have a halfhearted leathery texture, with weirdly shallow suckers sculpted onto the underside. A ring of fat cilia hang from the center.
And the tentacles are too damn fat to hang down as they should. It has to crawl around like a red velvet mite. Or a piece of possessed playground equipment.
The fact that a doll stand is literally the only way to make it look presentable (small ones fit neatly in the ring of cilia), and even then it's weirdly splayed out, makes for little in the way of display options. Maybe if you learn it on something, it'll look like it's grappling it.
Yeah, this one isn't so hot. If I hadn't gotten it in a lot, I'd have skipped it. But for the completionist, it's not a hard pill to swallow at around $10-20 for a good cherry specimen. Or less if you get lucky like me.