Action Figure Overview: Flash Gordon - Beastman (Mattel, 1980)
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| Flash Gordon "Beastman" action figure (Mattel, 1980) |
In the late 1970s, a producer named Lou Scheimer got the rights to make a movie of the old 1930s comic strip character, Flash Gordon. Since the amazing success of the movie Star Wars in 1977, science fiction was extremely popular at the time and Scheimer was able to convince NBC to back a live action Flash Gordon for prime-time. Unfortunately, it would have cost too much to film what he wanted to shoot, so he reluctantly went back to NBC with the idea of switching to an animated format instead of live action. NBC agreed and Filmation was brought on board to make the cartoon.
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| Beastman poses beside the 1979 Flash Gordon card back |
Star Wars action figures had made so much money for George Lucas and Kenner that I would imagine once the cartoon was underway, it wasn't very difficult to set up a deal with Mattel to make a line of Flash Gordon action figures in scale with the Star Wars toys. In 1979, the first four Flash Gordon action figures arrived in stores with the promise of two more figures in 1980. One of the two figures promised for 1980 was Beastman.
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| Flash Gordon meets Flash Gordon! |
At roughly the same time, producer Dino De Laurentiis was also working on pre-production for the Flash Gordon live action movie starring Sam Jones (with a soundtrack by Queen) which came out in 1980. I have no idea how both Scheimer and De Laurentiis were able to get the rights to make a Flash Gordon movie at the same time, but there you go. Anyway, I wasn't familiar with the cartoon as a kid, so when I saw the action figures in the store, I didn't understand why they looked so different from the people in the movie. At some point, I assumed that Mattel didn't have the licence to make the figures based on the movie characters, so they had based them on the old 1930s comic strip, but it wasn't until years later that I would learn about the cartoon and realize that the toys were based on that rather than either the 1980 movie or the old comic strip.
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| The Mattel Beastman figure looks a lot like the characters from the cartoon! |
Not only were the figures based on the cartoon, but Mattel did a very good job of making the figures look a lot like the cartoon characters! The first four figures were Flash Gordon, Ming, a Lizard Woman, and Thun the Lion Man. Dr. Zarkov and Beastman arrived later as did Vultan and Captain Arak. Beastman wasn't actually a single character but more of a species of Ape-like humanoids from the cartoon. Technically, you could have multiple Beastman figures in your collection; just like you might have a bunch of Stormtroopers from Star Wars or Cobra Troopers from GI Joe.
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| Beastman in the wild (Mattel, 1980) |
Although the Beastman figure was clearly based on the characters from the 1970 Flash Gordon cartoon, the history of this character goes all the way back to a Flash Gordon comic strip from 1937 called "The Beast Men of Mongo." Those original Beastmen were a good bit different from the characters in the cartoon, but I suspect the original Beastmen influenced the writers The New Adventures of Flash Gordon. However, the Beastmen probably weren't the only characters from the comic strip to influence the Beastman from the cartoon. There were also a group called the Tusk-Men who were blue and wore furry shorts, so it's possible that the Beastmen from the cartoon were a combination of both the Beastmen and the Tusk-Men from the old comic strip.
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| Beastmen and Tusk-Men from the 1930s Flash Gordon comic strips |
Although the Beastmen characters in the cartoon were often carrying spears, the Beastman figure didn't come with any accessories. The figure did have black furry shorts and a yellow collar. Technically, the Beastmen in the cartoon had a light blue collar in most scenes of the cartoon, but it was occasionally colored tan. Either way, the yellow color definitely works well on the figure. The Beastman figures had four points of articulation; you could move them at the shoulders and at the hips. Their heads and body were all one solid piece, so the head wasn't poseable.
It's great that Mattel made a figure for Beastman! He's a cool figure and, even if you didn't have any of the other figures for the Flash Gordon line, you could have Beastman running around with your other lines of 3 3/4" action figures. He fit along well with figures from Star Wars (especially the cantina aliens), Battlestar Galactica, and Star Trek the Motion Picture, but he could also hide amongst your Clash of the Titans and Remco Monsters figures. Heck, with a little imagination he could even be a short Bigfoot for your Adventure People or a small Gorilla Grodd for your Pocket Super Heroes!
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| Beastman hanging out in the Star Wars cantina |
Did you have any of the Flash Gordon action figures as a kid? Do you collect them now? Who's your favorite figure in the line? Tell me in the comments below!
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