King Moonracer is a character from the stop-motion children’s Christmas special Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, produced by Rankin/Bass in 1964. He is a winged lion who rules the Island of Misfit Toys. His appearance is similar to a griffin, the legendary creature who is part lion and part eagle.
P.S. Merry Christmas! I enjoyed this forum thread, which addresses King Moonracer’s possible villain status: “Was King Moonracer a fraud?” Indeed. Why was King Moonracer holding the misfit toys hostage for so long? Since he regularly flies around the world collecting unwanted toys, why wasn’t he already collaborating with Santa to find new homes for those toys? Moonracer only thought to contact Santa after Rudolph, Hermey, and Yukon showed up? Really? King Moonracer is very possibly a manipulative cult leader with megalomaniac tendencies who hoards rare, emotionally damaged toys. It seems like the unexpected arrival of visitors to his remote island shamed him into doing the right thing with his sad toy collection.
