Description:

One of the steps in creating an action figure is the "2-UP" stage - where a figure is created at twice its size.

Pictured above are images of a 2-UP clay bake mold of what would eventually become the head of the original Grunt action figure. This was sculpted well in advance of the production of the original Real American Hero series and may have been the first ever Real American Hero character.

There are a few differences worthy of note with this piece. First, the helmet is part of the actual head mold of the figure. Eventually it would be decided that the figures would have removable helmets and this concept was scrapped. Also the helmet itself differs from the actually released helmets in that it has a realistic ridge detail which runs down the center of the helmet and branches off in the back.

This head was saved by Kurt Bozigian.

Additional Images:

Pictured above is a prototype Grunt figure that appeared in a Hasbro product catalog.

Action figures usually start as "Hard Copies". These models are used to create the molds, that are used to press out a run of "First shots" or "Test shots". These test shots are done in many different colors and lack a date stamp until the production run begins.

Pictured above is an unpainted test shot of the 1982 straight-arm Grunt. There is no date stamp on the figure.