This burning question has been haunting me since I was a child. The character above is called Ookla the Mok, and he’s one of the main characters of the old Ruby Spears sci-fi fantasy cartoon Thundarr The Barbarian . Although most of the characters on the show were designed by Jack Kirby, Thundarr, Ariel and Ookla here were designed by Alex Toth. Apparently his name comes from a nickname for UCLA. He’s like some sort of lion-gorilla-man-thing in a speedo (three years before the first Thundercats episode), speaks in grunts like Chewbacca (though voiced by one of Fred Flinstone’s voice actors) and was an all around badass but can we seriously talk about his face?
I mean, what exactly is going on there? It’s kind of feline but kind of simian with this whole blue steel thing going on (the metal, not Zoolander). It’s completely mismatched to the rest of his body. I was pretty sure it was some sort of robot face when I was a kid but apparently all the Moks have this face-
Even the awkwardly sexy lady-Moks have it-
Considering the Moks are a sort of indigenous tribal, um, people, I’ve wondered if it was some sort of face-paint or a mask.
Kinda like the hyena people from Buffy The Vampire Slayer I’ve been compared to.
I mean, I’m probably expecting a bit too much logical consistency from a cartoon about magical post-apocalyptic barbarian tribes, but this has stuck in my craw my whole life. I feel surprised and betrayed not only that the internet hasn’t clarified this for me by now, but also that I appear to be alone in having such concerns.
Rani Baker Digs You. 
I am genuinely glad to read this webpage posts which carries lots of useful data, thanks for providing these data.
Well, for me the Moks faces always seemed more like those of bats, where one does find a some species with faces darker than the rest of the body. Or maybe something like a inversion of what happens with mandrills, that have ridiculously colorful faces.
But considering their females also have manes, i would say they are more like apes or bats than lions or other felines.
Supposing they are even related to anything on Earth and not aliens stranded on post-apocalyptic Earth or some product of weird magics or science gone awry like a bunch of critters through the series. Damn, Ookla’s “horse” is even weirder than him.
Not the only one. I too assumed a cyborg face.