THE BIG JIM CONNECTION
Gygor
A yellow-furred gorilla in black armor, painted over an older Mattel toy in the 1980s and not made as a figure until the Classics line.
Gygor is a giant gorilla on the side of evil that Mattel prototyped for Masters of the Universe in the 1980s but never released until the Masters of the Universe Classics figure.
The record
The facts
THE PROTOTYPE
A gorilla from another toy box
Gygor never reached a shelf in the 1980s. He began as an attempt to reuse a toy Mattel already owned: Roger Sweet repainted the Gorilla from the Big Jim Jungle Adventure set yellow, with a green face and chest, and added armor that He-Man.org's Adam McCombs believes was sheet wax, the method Sweet had used on the He-Man models he built to sell the line to Mattel's management. The Gorilla had an action of its own, a wheel on its back that raised both arms and let them drop. The name, pronounced "Jai-gore," is a squeeze of Giant Gorilla.[1]
Masters of the Universe borrowed a good deal of Big Jim tooling in its early years, for Battle Cat, Panthor, Zoar, Screeech and Beast Man's whip among others, and the Gorilla came up more than once. Mark Taylor based an early Beast Man concept on it, and Ted Mayer drew a Gygor with red fur and a harness so that He-Man could ride him. None of it went into production, and Roger Sweet later told the story of the repainted gorilla in his book Mastering the Universe.
[1] ^ He-Man.org's article on Gygor (Adam McCombs, June 9, 2026) reproduces the prototype photos from The Power and the Honor Foundation.
MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE CLASSICS
Lord of the Vine Jungle
Everything written about Gygor as a character dates from long after the vintage line, starting with his Classics release. Mattel showed the figure at Toy Fair early in 2011 and sold it online for $30. The Four Horsemen sculpted it from the prototype and its photographs, with green skin fading into dry-brushed yellow fur, removable armor and an axe, and it stands just under ten inches tall. Poe Ghostal called it "an incredible action figure." The box bills him as an evil fighting gorilla, and the backstory Poe quotes makes him a lord of the jungle who "led an army of beast men in a series of raids against the long forgotten Castle Grayskull."[2]
[2] ^ He-Man.org gives 2010 as the year of the Classics figure. Poe Ghostal's review, dated June 20, 2011, places its debut at Toy Fair that February, which puts the release in 2011.
COMICS AND THE 2026 FILM
A cover, a comic and a trophy
Dark Horse has used him twice. He is one of the crowd on Rich Woodall's wraparound variant cover for the first issue of Masters of the Universe: Revelation in 2021, and the Grand Comics Database lists Gygor in the cast of "The Sword of Flaws," the 2025 He-Man and the Masters of the Universe story written by Tim Seeley and drawn by Freddie E. Williams II.
The 2026 film found a place for him as well. He-Man.org reports that Gygor appears as a stuffed trophy in the halls of Snake Mountain, and published a photo from the set, shared by the grip Christopher "froggy" Cole, of a full-size gorilla with a green face and yellow fur looming behind him. McCombs guesses that Gygor once worked for Skeletor and displeased him.
IN BRIEF
Prototype to trophy
The prototype
Roger Sweet paints the Big Jim Gorilla yellow and green and gives it armor.
Masters of the Universe Classics
Gygor finally becomes a figure, just under ten inches tall with an axe.
A cover crowd
He is one of the faces on a variant cover for Dark Horse's Revelation #1.
The Sword of Flaws
Dark Horse's He-Man comic puts him in the cast.
Snake Mountain
The live-action film dresses Skeletor's halls with a stuffed Gygor.
Questions
Asked and answered
Who is Gygor?
A giant yellow-furred gorilla on the side of evil, made first as a Masters of the Universe prototype and later as a Classics figure.
How do you say Gygor?
"Jai-gore," according to He-Man.org. The name squeezes together Giant Gorilla.
Was there a vintage Gygor figure?
No. The 1980s Gygor exists only as a prototype.
Where did the prototype come from?
Roger Sweet repainted the Gorilla from Mattel's Big Jim Jungle Adventure set and gave it armor.
When did the Classics figure come out?
In 2011, by Poe Ghostal's dating. He-Man.org gives 2010.
Is Gygor in the cartoon or the movies?
No He-Man or She-Ra series has animated him, and he is not in the 1987 film. The 2026 film has a stuffed Gygor on the Snake Mountain set.
Which comics is he in?
Dark Horse's He-Man story The Sword of Flaws, and the crowd on a variant cover for the first issue of Dark Horse's Revelation comic.
Who sculpted the Classics Gygor?
The Four Horsemen, working from the prototype and its photos.
Can I buy a Gygor figure now?
Not new. The Classics figure has long been out of production, and Mattel has not made him in Origins.
Compiled by the heman.org desk from He-Man.org's article on Gygor (Adam McCombs, June 9, 2026), Poe Ghostal's review of the Classics figure at OAFE (June 20, 2011) and the Grand Comics Database's listings for Dark Horse's He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2025) and Masters of the Universe: Revelation (2021).
