Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is the latest film in the long-running horror-comedy franchise — and its latest trailer is causing a major kerfuffle among dedicated fans. While the series is generally regarded as children’s entertainment, there’s a hearty contingent of adult fans who love and enjoy the films — plenty of whom have taken to Twitter to express their extreme dissatisfaction with the brand new look of Griffin, aka The Invisible Man.
In Transformania‘s latest trailer, all of the monsters are given makeovers after a transforming ray goes haywire and restores their “human” appearances.
Ancient mummy Murray is restored to his formerly pharaonic self, Wayne the werewolf turns into a human man and, most shockingly of all, Griffin the Invisible Man turns visible — and he’s apparently not much of a looker.
Griffin is presented as his character should be in the movie: an older, balding scientist. While his exact description was not given in the first films of the franchise, it was implied he has ginger hair. Fans hooked onto this fact, and David Spade’s lackadaisical voice acting, and created their own mental image of what the character actually looked like.
Since the first film released, there’s been countless interpretations of Griffin’s real face and body, many of which assumed the character was a young, fit guy in his 30s who liked wearing floral print t-shirts and sipping on daquiris.
And it turns out a lot of folks were really, really hot for this version of the Invisible Man — a character they couldn’t actually see.
In fact, they were so in love with their own mental image of Griffin that his real, middle-aged, balding face reveal has some calling for a bullying campaign to make Sony redesign the character.
What has become abundantly clear since the trailer released is that Griffin from Hotel Transylvania has a passionate, thriving fanbase — but one that’s quickly abandoning the character in droves due to his lack of “chadness”.
According to Twitter, Griffin was supposed to be a young, traditionally attractive male because he wore “hot guy glasses”.
Several people claimed Sony had ruined their lives and their “thirst”.
The thirst for Griffin was strong — but we’re only getting a chance to acknowledge its existence as the fandom slowly collapses in on itself.
What was previously a flight of fancy for many adult fans of Hotel Transylvania has become a source of great shame and disappointment. Griffin, once a hot icon of the animated horror-comedy genre, has fallen in stature.
R.I.P. to the king.
Hotel Transylvania: Transformania is set to release on January 14, 2022 in Australia. While you wait, why not check out all the other sci-fi, horror and fantasy films coming our way.