A Los Angeles Times article about the Beirut Animated film festival in Metropolis-Empire Sofil:
Grendizer is a unifying figure for an entire generation of Lebanese who grew up during the country’s bitter 15-year civil war. When Beirut was being torn to pieces by local warlords and their foreign-funded militias, the Grendizer cartoons were a welcome distraction for children who were more likely to miss school because of shelling than chicken pox.