Hahahah! Awww you poor kid. But you know, he is kind of like the Taz of the Henson world. He's untamed, unbridled and he has such a wild look about him. Kids are either going to love him or hate him.....oh yeah, or be terrified.
That's a good comparison, Bandit. It reminded me of a MAD Magazine spoof of the WB Store Catalogue back in '99, which featured a Taz T-shirt with the caption:
"I once expressed a thought (which I now regret) that I thought Taz was 'cool,' so my friends and family keep inundating me with shoddy merchandise featuring this overrated character." (Slight paraphrase)
There are days that I worry that Animal falls into that same category from either a merchandising or character-recognition factor, and yes, he's not for everybody.
Unlike Taz, however, I think Animal has been given the care and enthusiasm by the modern Muppet folks (especially Eric Jacobsen) that has allowed him to fit like a glove in modern pop culture. Taz looked dated by the '70s and '80s, but I have yet to see a post-Frank Oz use of Animal that I truly disliked.
He was especially amazing in the new movie (which took what could have been a very cheap anger-management gag and elevated it beyond my wildest expectations, climaxing with his "Rainbow Connection" comeback scene).
Animal isn't my go-to favourite Muppet of all time, but to me he has always been a wonderful ambassador for the Muppets' cheerful anarchy (best embodied by his devouring of the Lord Grade title card at the beginning of GMC) and I hope he'll be a focal point of Muppet productions for a long time.