Beast Man
Beast Man is a character in the popular toy line and cartoon series Masters of the Universe (MOTU).
He is a member of the Evil Warriors and Skeletor's main henchman. He is a savage and feral man of the wild covered in deep red fur, and wears tribal warpaint on his face. He possesses power over all wild animals and can control them at will. He is constantly being bossed around by Skeletor and feeling the evil warlord's wrath and is always the first person to take the blame when one of Skeletor's schemes goes wrong.
Character History
The 1980s
Mini-comics
Beast Man was one of the first toys to be developed for the Masters of the Universe toy line by Mattel. He made his debut in Mattel's mini-comics as Skeletor's loyal but incompetent sidekick who could summon all the beasts and demons of Eternia to aid Skeletor's schemes.
Cartoon
Beast Man appeared frequently in the toy line's accompanying cartoon series by Filmation, introduced in the first episode "Diamond Ray of Disappearance". His cartoon portrayal was generally consistent with his mini-comic portrayal, although in early episodes the show's writers added extra dimensions to his character in that despite his loyalty, he clearly resented being bossed around by Skeletor and secretly desired to someday overthrow his master.
This side of his character was brought to the forefront in the episode "Prince Adam No More", in which he was finally thrown out of Skeletor's crew. Feeling useless without the power of Snake Mountain behind him, he set out to prove his worth by capturing King Randor by himself and bringing him to Snake Mountain. Although he succeeded in capturing the King, when He-Man came to the rescue he was subjected once again to Skeletor's wrath and admitted back into his ranks purely so Skeletor could have someone to vent his anger on. But his final line in the episode "It's kind of nice to be home" indicated he now felt he belonged as Skeletor's underling, and subsequent episodes portrayed him mostly for comedy value, willingly succumbing to Skeletor's abuse and constantly bungling his schemes. Notable episodes for Beast Man in the show's later stages include "The Shadow of Skeletor" and "Orko's Return" which restore him to his original, darker portrayal, working independently and craftily to achieve his aims.
His background was never mentioned in the cartoon, although the series bible stated a surprising origin for him, explaining he was once a thuggish human from Earth called Biff Beastman who owned a farmyard on which he constantly abused the animals. He was recruited as chief technician on the spacecraft piloted by Marlena which crashlanded on Eternia, but wound up on Skeletor's homeworld of Infinita, where he was mutated into Beast Man and recruited by Skeletor. This origin story appeared in a storybook entitled "New Champions of Eternia" but was unpopular with most of the show's writers and therefore excluded from the series.
Other Mediums
Beast Man was included in numerous MOTU storybooks throughout the '80s. One such range of storybooks was the UK Ladybird Books which revealed he was the leader of a tribe of Beast People from the Vine Jungle. Although this background has never been mentioned in any of the more prominent MOTU incarnations, it is generally the most popular idea among the fans, that he hails from a jungle tribe.
The Movie
Beast Man also appeared in the live action Masters of the Universe movie in 1987. Played by Tony Carroll, he was portrayed as a mindless, savage minion of Skeletor's, who merely growled instead of speaking.
2002 series
Beast Man returned in the 2002 relaunch of the MOTU toy line and series. His portrayal in the new cartoon series was much the same as the old, although in this incarantion he never showed any signs of desire to overthrow Skeletor, remaining permanently loyal to his master. Although he still possessed power over all wild animals, he had difficulty controlling dragons, as was showcased in the episode "Dragon's Brood".
A couple of episodes make references to his terrible body odor. Even Mer-Man dislikes Beast Man's b.o., though one would think a man who was part fish would smell terribly himself when out of water. In fact, it was actually an attempt to rid him of his stink that was responsible for the "birth" of Stinkor. Ironically, Beast Man seems to be the only one not terribly bothered by Stinkor's stench; even Skeletor is covering his nose!
Although his background was not mentioned in the show, the accompanying comic series published an origin story for him in which he was revealed to originate from the Berserker Islands, where he first encountered Keldor before his transformation into Skeletor. He has remained subservient to Skeletor ever since he saved his life for the sake of recruiting him as his servant.
Trivia
- When the character of Beast Man was developed by Mattel, the name of Beast Man was reused from a figure in Mattel's earlier Flash Gordon toy line.
- Interestingly, both the original and 2002 versions of the Beast Man toy depict the character as having the furless portion of his face painted with a white tribal facepaint (with blue details), as do many of the minicomics and comic book adaptations. Yet in their accompanying animated series; both the original Filmation cartoon and the 2002 Mike Young Productions series; Beast Man is depicted without facepaint and a merely dark Caucasian skin showing on his face instead.
- Perhaps the most ridiculous comedic abuse of Beast-Man is the music video produced by Bam Margera for his band Gnar Kill. This video features Brandon DiCamillo dressed as Skeletor and Beast-Man. The costumes and props are incredibly crude. For example Skeletor’s desk is a cardboard box with the words "Castle Grayskull" written on it. The video/song is effectively Skeletor and Beast-Man making rather graphic homoerotic and sadomasochistic overtures to one another in a musical style that bears passing resemblance to rap or hip hop. Despite the amateurish nature of the video and the rather out of character behaviour exhibited by Beast-Man and Skeletor, DiCamillo achieves a surprisingly accurate simulation of the voices and mannerisms of the two characters as they appeared on the Filmation series. Everything from Beast-Man's trademark grunt to Skeletor's use of the phrase "Furry Fool" is present.