It seems kind of incredible that there’s room for two iconic villains to emerge as superstars during the season of giving, peace on earth, and goodwill to men. Of course, the dude we’re gonna talk about today is the lesser known of the two. The Grinch has become as synonymous with Christmas cheerlessness as Ebenezer Scrooge. But the Heat Miser… the Heat Miser’s has a much more finicky fanbase.

When he first hit the scene in 1974, as one of the featured players in the Rankin-Bass stop animation film, The Year Without a Santa Claus, viewers immediately connected with his curmudgeonly nature and kind of goofy appearance. With bags under his eyes, a big red nose, and ridiculously poufy red-yellow-orange hair, he’s hard to take seriously as the controller of all hot weather on earth. Heat Miser, as son of Mother Nature and brother of Snow Miser, wanted to keep everyone from having a white Christmas and nearly succeeded with the help of a fabulous theme song and a home inside a volcano.

But what would a Christmas film be if the villain isn’t foiled in the end? And in that true gauge of a great villain, viewers tended to root for the Heat Miser, even knowing he’d lose in the end.

The character was originally voiced by George S. Irving.