Beast Man vintage figure review thread

[Spacedust]

Last week's vintage figure review thread Man-At-Arms was the quietest one to date; maybe Matt at x-entertainment is right that Man-At-Arms is a bit too lame for anyone to really care about.

Well, maybe this week's thread will see a return to usual form. Last week it was MAA, the original side-kick of He-Man; so this week it's turn to look at Skeletor's original henchman, the ferocious, the savage... BEAST MAN.

I'm slightly ashamed to say, I never originally had a Beast Man figure. I started to save up for him many times, but never got around to buying him.
I remember in the late 1980s, when the line had just about finished and very few stores still stocked MOTU, with a few end-of-line remnants at most, going with my Mum into a department store in a High Street we didn't often visit, and seeing both Beast Man and Evil-Lyn as old stock being sold off at dirt cheap prices. I tried and begged my Mum to buy me one, but she wasn't having any of it. As it wasn't a shop we frequented, I never saw them again.

Of course, I have collected multiple examples of every figure; Beast Man is one of the most common second-hand finds, so I have got many examples of him. Although not a variant as such, the face markings can be found to vary in detail and accuracy on some figures. I have also found the green belt to vary very slightly in depth. I have still yet to acquire a hard head version though.

The thing I really like about the figure is the bright, bold colours. Face-wise it looked a bit like Beasty was in mid-song, but it wasn't bad at all. I liked his feral chest dress / armor; his arm armor was okay but was a little clunky and bulky, and hard to pose well. It's interesting to note that, with his chest armor, left and right arm armor, and whip, the figure had four accessories, as did the other three original figures.

The Weapons Pak came with yellow versions of Beast Man's chest and arm armor; and as a result, a number of second hand BM figures can be found incorrectly wearing these yellow versions.
And, of course, the whole body and head of Beast Man was later recycled for Moss Man.

In the mini-comics and other material, Beast Man was nearly always present as Skeletor's right-hand man.
This continued as he was one of Skeletor's most regular warriors in the Filmation cartoon series. He was presented as one of Skelly's dumbest henchmen (and they were all pretty dopey); in early appearances he occasionally showed plans to one day overthrow Skeletor, but these faded as the series progressed.
Although a regular throughout the show's run, in a number of second season episodes Beast Man was replaced as Skeletor's right-hand man by some newer characters (Clawful, Whiplash, Two Bad, etc.), very much due to whichever new figure was being pushed at the time.

Other than Skeletor and Evil-Lyn, Beast Man was the only existing Evil Warrior to appear in the 1987 movie - the other three of his squad (Blade, Saurod and Karg) all being new creations. Although clearly feral and savage, the movie version Beast Man only had a distant resemblance to his original appearance.

Beastie was given a good revamp for the 200x update. As many have commented, the figure felt like a huge chunk of plastic. As I have mentioned on other threads, it is rumored that originally the Four Horsemen had planned to give the figure a 'roaring' sound effect, but this was dropped, presumably due to production budgets. Either way, the final figure was very good, and I liked his arm swinging feature - the only thing I would say that they swung the wrong way, as it is awkward when you are holding the figure, and they would have looked better swinging upwards. The colours were good, but as with many 200x figures, were dulled down, and the originals bold red armor was replaced with a dark brown. Of the (rather pointless IMO) colour variants, I would have liked to have seen a Beast Man variant with the colour scheme of the vintage figure. Oh, and on this revamp, as well as the chest dress simply fitting over the figure's head, the arm armor was this time molded on.
In the Mike Young Productions cartoon, Beast Man was often present, and given so-so treatment. He also flew around on flying beasts that he controlled. I prefer the Filmation version of the character though.

Beast Man is a great character, and one of the core characters of the original premise. In terms of the vintage figure, while it was typical of the very early releases, it was very basic in that used many standard parts (the body is the same as Stratos) and with the standard twist-waist feature. But as with the early figures, it excelled in character. I give the vintage figure a reasonable 8 out of 10.

So there is my weekly ramble.
I'd really like to hear your thoughts, comments, criticisms, memories, ideas for improvement, and anything else Beast Man-related. And whether you post or not, don't forget to rate the vintage figure in the poll!

[Orko's Magic Hat]

Beastman is one of my fave vintage figures. I think the bright colours is what's so cool about him and his face which just looks really beast-like and evil. I didn't get a Beastman figure until the end of the line (maybe 1987/1988) I remember Beastman and some of the main characters were re-stocked when the movie came out. I think the accesories which came with Beastman were great, I really liked the shoulder pads and the whip.

I also like the 4HM figure to, but I would have liked the classic colours one to be the main one used. I did like his portayal in the MYP cartoon more than the filmation one, who was just annoying and dont get me started on the boots!

I hope the 4HM release a staction of Beastman in classic colours of course and in the correct size.

Figure Rating - 9/10

[jasonwulf]

I gave it a 10 because for one he was always my favorite character, and two he looked exactly like the original barbarian style version they drew in the first mini comics. Had they gone with boots, or a more humanized face it just wasn't the same. Regardless of what we know about him, this figure in every way embodies a "beast" man.

[Spacedust]

I gave it a 10 because for one he was always my favorite character, and two he looked exactly like the original barbarian style version they drew in the first mini comics. Had they gone with boots, or a more humanized face it just wasn't the same. Regardless of what we know about him, this figure in every way embodies a "beast" man.

Although in some of the second wave (D.C.) comics they did play around with drawing him though (though he still looked cool). I agree though, he definately lookes like a "beast man". In terms of character, he is on of the key ones in MOTU.

[Arkan]

I give him 7/10. I don´t like the characther very much because he is shown as a complete idiot. But the idea of controlling animals is fantastic.
The figure has very bright colours and a whip, very cool weapon. And his face is awesome, very wild and a savage. The yellow armour of the Weapon Pack is a good idea considering that this figure has no variants.

[Spacedust]

I give him 7/10. I don´t like the characther very much because he is shown as a complete idiot. But the idea of controlling animals is fantastic.

Although he was never over-bright, the "complete idiot" thing is very much Filmation's doing, as was rather typical with them; Although in a couple of his earliest appearances, Beast Man was shown as a bit more sly, even planning to one-day over-throw Skeletor. But in some of the earlier comics, he was shown more as more savage than out-and-out stupid. I would have liked to have seen this version more in the MYP cartoon series.

[Arkan]

Agree. It´s a character with a lot of potencial.

Surely everyone noticed it, but in Battlecat´s box art Beast Man is riding a big green cat just like Battlecat.

[Spacedust]

Agree. It´s a character with a lot of potencial.

Surely everyone noticed it, but in Battlecat´s box art Beast Man is riding a big green cat just like Battlecat.

Yes. Originally Battle Cats were designed as generic steeds (can "steeds" be used for tigers?) for all of the warriors, but soon it became just one Battle Cat, belonging to He-Man.
Which ties in nicely to this coming Friday's review thread....

Sorry to double-post, but I've been thinking... what do you think Beast Man was based on?

In the U.K. Ladybird books, his Beast People followers (which I would have loved to have seen appear in other mediums) seemed to have some tiger elements to them. But the figure itself seems to have some monkey influences. (Interestingly, the Stratos figure uses the same body parts, and I've seen naked Stratos figures on e-bay severeal times listed as "a grey monkey man" by novice sellers).

[Louis649]

I gave Beastman a 10 because he has been one of the MOTU figures I played with the most in my childhood. He is one of the top Skeletor's evil warriors along with Evil Lynn in the old toyline and cartoon. Plus he comes with a red armor, a pair of red armpads and with his black whip to battle the heroic warriors and domain his monster goons. What else you could want from him?

[bcrduke]

Beast Man gets a 10 from me too... he was one of my first figures, he had cool armor and and a cool weapon... he was strong, and scary, and the face paint on this figure was ALWAYS cool to look at...

when the cartoon came along, he wasn't scary, BUT he was kind of funny, and not as dumb as people think... his jokes at Skeletor's expense always made me laugh.

Cool colors too!

[Dave-Man]

Beast Man was always one of my favorites too. I didn't view him as a buffoon, merely as not too bright as befitted an ape-man hybrid. I always pictured him as a vicious killer, maybe even in He-Man's strength range. (Of course, most of my MOTU fandom came before the Filmation toon in which He-Man was put firmly in Superman's weight class if not beyond so I never saw him as that all-powerful.)

In my personal MOTU universe, Beast Man is Skeletor's overseer. It's his job to abuse... er... motivate the people that Skeletor conquers to work for his master. He enjoys his job a little too much. Of course, he also has the animal empathy powers that the Filmation version had, but unlike the Filmation version he is a vicious, effective villain

[braxsis364]

I allways liked Beast man as well, he was allways Skelertors right hand man. and I never went by the cartoon version, of him. he was a real tough evil warrior. whos favoret method of atack was a slaming soulder smash. with his shoulder armor. I never used his whip, didint work right. used every thing else tho lazer guns, swords, clubs.and he was a good head butter with that boney head of his.so ill say a 9 for Beast man simply because he did get kinda forgoten about.

[He-bro]

When I first saw Beast Man I didn't like him, I thought he looked like a clown with the white face and all. As time went on I bought one, and I started to like him. As I read more of the mini comics he became one of my favorites.

Now years latter I still like Beast man and had mine flocked even:

[-= SupernovA =-]

When I first saw Beast Man I didn't like him, I thought he looked like a clown with the white face and all. As time went on I bought one, and I started to like him. As I read more of the mini comics he became one of my favorites.

Now years latter I still like Beast man and had mine flocked even:

WOW! That is so nice! How did you do that? What did you use?
I always loved Moss Man and never understood why they didn't do that with BeastMan, Was it just because he was released earlier and they invented/got the idea years later for the 1985 wave? Well I have to say, it looked like moss to me as a kid.. Hmmm... Anyway, very cool! And one of a kind!?

[He-bro]

WOW! That is so nice! How did you do that? What did you use?
I always loved Moss Man and never understood why they didn't do that with BeastMan, Was it just because he was released earlier and they invented/got the idea years later for the 1985 wave? Well I have to say, it looked like moss to me as a kid.. Hmmm... Anyway, very cool! And one of a kind!?

This guy did it for me:
http://www.clubhairforgijoe.com/

[Spacedust]

WOW! That is so nice! How did you do that? What did you use?
I always loved Moss Man and never understood why they didn't do that with BeastMan, Was it just because he was released earlier and they invented/got the idea years later for the 1985 wave? Well I have to say, it looked like moss to me as a kid.. Hmmm... Anyway, very cool! And one of a kind!?

I always thought that some key characters, such as Beastie and Man-At-Arms, really deserved later variant versions. We got a number of He-Man and Skeletor variants, but other early central characters would have merited too, such as a flocked Beast Man.

[He-Fan]

Chris here...

I voted in this thread a while ago, but for some stupid reason never posted in it until now...

Beast Man was always one of the figures, if not the figure, that I most wanted from the MOTU line, largely influenced by his significant presence in the Filmation cartoon. For some reason, I could never find him - probably due to the fact that I started collecting MOTU very late (summer 1988), and so a lot of the early figures were hard to come by at that time.

I remember getting really upset and crying once when my family & I went to a fete or something and I found a battered, beaten-up, butt-naked Beast Man figure on a charity stall or some such, but I didn't have enough money to buy him, having already bought (of all things) a Popeye squeak toy! I finally got my Beast Man figure as a gift from a friend - he's missing his whip (which I luckily have courtesy of the MOTU Weapons Pack!) and one shoulder pad, and he's also suffering slightly from "sticky figure syndrome", but nonetheless he's one of my most treasured figures!

Take care...

[faker32828]

My third figure was Skeletor, my brother got beastman. Beast man was a cool character. I loved the arm pads. He also started a year long debate over whether or not he could control battle cat since on the box battle cat was one of many. We really dug the whole controling animals thing. the clown make-up was neat. Oh, and were we the only ones that couldn't get him to hold his whip, so stuck his fingers from his left had through the hand gaurd? Also, if anyone has a spare set of shoulder pads, e-mail me.

[Dr Bo]

Beast Man gets a 10 from me too... he was one of my first figures, he had cool armor and and a cool weapon... he was strong, and scary, and the face paint on this figure was ALWAYS cool to look at...

when the cartoon came along, he wasn't scary, BUT he was kind of funny, and not as dumb as people think... his jokes at Skeletor's expense always made me laugh.

Cool colors too!

As well I really liked the minicomics version, he looked very savage and mean. The cartoon at least had him move pretty well, but some more efficacity wouldn't have hurt either.

The figure is superb, I just love the initital lineup of undead warlock, big barbarian and monster. A Beast-Man (incidally named just that) just goes all too well with this bunch of hard-hitting demigods.
A big whip, nasty spiked shouder and big fur, emblem and spike colar made for a cool outfit. Also liked the fur sulpt on his chest, arm and face and the mandrill like color / warpaint on his face.

As a kid I had dressed mine in his yellow armor, relieved to be able to dress back one of my first MOTU figure thanks to the weapon pack!

[TriKlops1971]

I gave the Beast-Man action figure a 9. Mattel did a really good job with this character, and there was no shortage of Beast-Man appearances in the TV series.

I got a Beast-Man figure sometime in 1985, so he was one of the later figures I added to my collection. I remember taking his armor off, looking at it, and thinking that it looked like Beast-man had been wearing a toilet seat around his neck (that's one way to covet the throne of Eternia ). Seriously, I thought Beast-Man was well done as an action figure. I couldn't help but notice that the character in the mini-comics used words like "aye" and "mayhaps" while his TV persona spoke more conventional English. I know Filmation felt compelled to do this, but it's still interesting to note.

The only drawback I noticed to the action figure was that his legs seemed a little too stubby and awkward to keep him standing up straight unless his feet were pointed out to the sides (reminded me of Charlie Chaplin). Overall, I really liked him.

[motu77]

I love the beast man figure. He was always stronger than every one but He-Man and Skeletor when I played. Oh and he was definitly smater then he was in the toon.

[suckator]

10/10. I always wanted beastman as a kid but never got him. I had his armor fromt he weapons pack though! He fit well with the barbarian type theme.

[LEE-RO]

My first ever MOTU figure! I remember having to decide between beastman and stratos. I chose Beastman! All time classic figure, as iconic as He-man and skeletor.

[Beastman_Power]

I got my Beastman at the Woolworth's on the corner of Wood Ave and Blanke St in Linden NJ with my grandpa when I was a little kid. He was one of my favorites right from the start, but he's also special because hes the first figure that I remember getting with my grandpa. Sorry to sound so sentimental after all these years, but MOTU can bring a tear to anyone's eye....

[galaxy_ram]

i just got my beastman and i must say that it's a very cool figure.