Al Sharpe (bigburty) came up with this awesome little dude and approached me about sculpting it approximately a year and a half ago. Al joins this ragtag bunch of designers from England, making this an international toy line, and I'm sure adding some class to the group as well. Al enjoys collecting and customizing toys and coming up with awesome characters like this one.
Al told me about thinking up Grinade while driving home from work one day. He started with a large toothy grin, which led to "flicking through witty 'grin' related names" in his head and coming to Grinade saying, "I knew instantly how I wanted him to look--no eyes or nose, just a crazy huge grin."
The 'pulling the pin' idea came later and he was originally saluting, but we went with this second pose here--I think it was the right call.
And here's the obligatory mini figure comparison shot. Hanging out on the left we have a Laser Beast and a Monster in My pocket figure, and on the right you can compare Grinade to a Z-Bot and a M.U.S.C.L.E. figure.