Thank you!  I usually go to T. Meyers - I don't know how many times I probably skimmed past it, and never thought of it!  I will be ordering it later this week.

I understand what you're saying about the sculpture being somehow "off".  I think that comes from the gorilla being in a sitting position, posing with a bomb.  In the SignedDiamond photo #2, you have the gorilla in a more gorilla-like post, with the hands on the ground.  The body structure works better here.  A gorilla has odd proportions, with the huge chest and smaller waist/legs, so sitting down will tend to look strange.  Balloon characters are looked at with a sort of cartoon-character filter, and cartoon characters are more often drawn with a round or pear-shaped body, not so much the inverted-pear-shape of a gorilla.  It's kind of like we're twisting a round peg through a square hole.  Or that's my first impression, anyway.  I could be wrong here.

I've not made the big one yet, but I have an event in july when he will be done

Here is a version in 160 and 260's

Great Kevin!

Here's a different pose.  More gorilla like?

very nice 8-)