Here's artist Brian Allen's first design of the monster who would eventually become Gritty:
His name was Benny, and he had a tail!
As a cool bonus, The Creature Codex on Tumblr has statted Gritty out for D&D:
Gritty
CR 8 CG Monstrous Humanoid
This bright orange monster has a matted beard, oversized eyebrows, bulbous eyes and a pot belly. He wears a helmet and some padding, and carries an oversized sporting implement.A Gritty is a force of mostly-benevolent chaos, a bacchanalian entity that enjoys revels and riots in equal measure. Gritties believe in roughhousing to let off steam, and enjoy a good scrap more than anything else. This fighting can turn deadly, however, against those that seek to impose their wills on other creatures and the forces of tyranny. They rebel against authority figures of all types, and encourage others to do the same. Even goodly governments can draw the ire of a Gritty if they step out of line, and Gritties enforce the power of the people over that of the state. As such, they tend to be beloved by common folk and despised by elites and aristocrats.
A Gritty often dresses garishly, but they are capable of surprising stealth if they need it. If brawling for the fun of it, they prefer to attack from the open, but when resisting authority they strike from ambush. They can lay out an opponent with a single punch. Once they have knocked out an enemy, they use Intimidate checks to threaten its allies into surrendering, and then keep swinging if that fails. Although Gritties are somewhat foolish and impulsive, they are difficult to control with mind-altering magic. Many Gritties enjoy using improvised weapons in place of or in addition to their fists, as much as for novelty as anything.
Gritties are large for Medium sized creatures, being nearly seven feet tall on average and tending to be fat. Their fur and beards are of similar, but not identical shade. They can live for hundreds of years, and eat whatever scraps they can get their hands on (preserved meats and frozen desserts are a favorite).
Gritty CR 8
XP 4,800
CG Medium monstrous humanoid
Init +3; Senses darkvision 60 ft., low-light vision, Perception +9
Defense
AC 21, touch 13, flat-footed 18 (+3 Dex, +2 armor, +6 natural)
hp 97 (13d10+26)
Fort +6, Ref +11, Will +7; +4 vs. charm and compulsion effects
DR 10/piercing; SR 23 (divine spells only)
Defensive Qualities no gods, no masters
Offense
Speed 30 ft.
Melee two handed improvised weapon +16/+11/+6 (2d6+4/19-20) or 2 slams +16 (1d6+3)
Ranged improvised thrown weapon +16 (1d6+3)
Special Attacks knockout 2/day
Statistics
Str 17, Dex 17, Con 14, Int 10, Wis 9, Cha 14
Base Atk +13; CMB +16 (+18 sunder); CMD 29 (31 vs. sunder)
Feats Bludgeoner, Catch Off Guard, Improved Sunder, Improvised Weapon Mastery, Intimidating Prowess, Power Attack, Throw Anything
Skills Acrobatics +12, Climb +11, Knowledge (local) +5, Intimidate +13, Perception +8, Perform (comedy) +7, Sense Motive +5, Stealth +15, Survival +8, Swim +11; Racial Modifiers +4 Acrobatics, +4 Stealth
Languages Common
SQ favored community (+6)
Ecology
Environment urban
Organization solitary or pair
Treasure incidental (leather armor, hockey stick, three hockey pucks, ice skates, other treasure)
Special Abilities
Favored Community (Ex) A Gritty has an adopted community (of small town or larger), in which it gains benefits. While in its favored community, a Gritty gains a +6 bonus on initiative checks, as well as all Knowledge (local), Perception, Stealth and Survival checks. A Gritty leaves no trail and cannot be tracked in its favored community unless it so chooses. A Gritty can choose a new community to be its favored community through eight hours of carousing in the new community, but can only have one favored community at a time.
Knockout (Ex) Twice per day, a Gritty can declare an attack to be a knockout blow. If it hits with this attack, the opponent struck must succeed a DC 20 Fortitude save or be knocked unconscious for 1d6 rounds. Each round on its turn, the unconscious target may attempt a new saving throw to end the effect as a full-round action that does not provoke attacks of opportunity. Creatures immune to critical hits or nonlethal damage are immune to this ability.
No Gods, No Masters (Ex/Su) A Gritty gains a +4 racial bonus on all saving throws made against charm and compulsion effects. In addition, it gains spell resistance equal to 15+ its CR against divine spells. A Gritty cannot lower this spell resistance willingly.
The bit about eating preserved meats and frozen desserts is a reference to the official Gritty backstory the Philadelphia Flyers released, which said that he was found when construction at the Wells Fargo Center disturbed the hideout where he'd been living for years, surviving off stolen hot dogs and shaved ice eaten straight out of the zamboni.
