Prince Vultan

Standing tall on the wings of a dream. Vultan is the golden-winged prince of Sky City and eventual ally of Flash in his battle against the evil Ming the Merciless! So NECA's been making King Features toys for a few years, and thus far I've got figures based on the newspaper comic strips, the cartoon, the old toyline, and now, at last, the ridiculous movie. It's definitely an esoteric collection, and yet they don't really look out of place next to each other. At least, no more than a stage magician, a superhero, and 1934's idea of a spaceman would ever look out of place next to each other. That's good art direction! Flash Gordon's Hawkmen first appeared in the comic on July 8, 1934. Their home, the Sky City, was used as a floating prison by Ming the Merciless. The planet Mongo had a whole slew of animal-races like them, including the Lion Men, the Squid Men, the Dragon Men, etc. That does mean their wings are a natural part of their bodies, not just something they wear to keep to the theme. Vultan seemed to be a willing minion of Ming, but as soon as Flash showed up and offered an alternative, he was ready to join the resistance. Living up to that old saying you know so well and have definitely heard before and we're not just making up now, "fickle as a hawk." The movie costume, which was really nothing like what was seen in the comic strip, can best be described as "viking gladiator leather-daddy." Strappy sandals, bare limbs, hotpants, suspenders and a bra... and the surface is sculpted to look like something that looks like feathers. Because this movie was made in 1980, his wings are less realistic than the angels' on Wizards of Waverly Place. It's not that they're gold, we could get used to that almost instantly; no, it's that they look like the immobile costume wings that they are. Guess it's just hard to do wings in live action. The toy duplicates the film's look well, but the film's look was not great to begin with. Vultan was played by noted timid little church mouse BRIAN BLESSED. It's weird that they got him to play a Hawk Man and not a Pig Man, because he is certifiably a large ham. He's told the story of how, as a child, he would go with his brothers to watch Buster Crabbe's Flash Gordon serial every week at the movies, and then when the movie was over, they'd naturally go out and play Flash Gordon; the way he tells it, he always chose to play Vultan, meaning getting this role was a dream come true for him. The figure includes four heads, and NECA's stock photos of them make clear something I otherwise would have missed: while it's obvious his ridiculous helmet, with its lightning-bolt horns and inexplicable lizard-spike crest, is meant to be swapped between the alternate heads (rather than wasting time and money molding the same thing repeatedly), it's less obvious that the same is true for his uncovered hair. Seriously, left to my own devices, I never would have realized the hair was supposed to be removable. The four faces include one smiling, one smiling with the teeth parted, one with the mouth in an O, and then the most perfectly BRIAN BLESSED look of them all, the mouth open wide in a boisterous yell. Remember, this is the guy who managed to make a whisper loud in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet. Since Trevor Grove is credited as one of the sculptors (listed right between Alex Heinke and Marty Henley), we're guessing these potraits are his work. What's really odd, though, is the paint. Like, yes, BRIAN BLESSED was tanned in the movie, he'd gotten some sun, but the shade of this toy is verging on brownface. And body. Brownbody. The actor is from north-central England, not India. His clothing is the same sort of dark brown as his beard, with random "feathers" picked out in gold. His actual wings are much more gold, but it's painted over brown plastic so the sculpt's depth doesn't get lost. Sadly, the wings cannot flap like they did in the movie, though they do at least get swivels so you can have them relaxed behind him or spread out slightly to the sides. Like any other NECA figure, Vultan moves well, with joints at the ankles, knees, thighs, hips, waist, chest, wrists, elbows, shoulders, and head. Everything moved fine right out of the box, and though his tunic looks like it would block the torso articulation somewhat, they were quite clever with the fabrication of it: the straps that come down from the chest aren't actually attached to the trunks, they just tuck in behind the belt so it holds them in place. Vultan gets two pairs of hands, sized to hold different accessories. The narrow ones are for his war club, while the widers ones are for either the remote control to the gladiator platform when he forces Flash and Prince Barin to fight, or the fabled Ice Jewel of Frigia he offered as a gift to Ming. Plus, thanks to the way the swappable helmet is designed, you can also have him holding that like an accessory of its own, which is always something fun for pieces of this type. The packaging is quite stylish. It's a typical NECA box, done in black with gold foil that really makes it look classy. Unfortunately, the photo illustration on the front seems to be blurry; are there no crisp promotional shots to be used? Were they relegated to blowing up a still from the film itself? You likely won't notice unless you look at it very closely - it looks fine on the shelf, it's just when it's in your hands that the low-res quality can be noticed. The insert behind the figure depicts more of Vultan's Hawkmen flapping through the maroon sky behind him, which makes for a nice backdrop. Flash Gordon is apparently a wildly huge part of pop culture in Great Britain, but out in the real world, it's a cult movie at best. I mean, come on: they think "Gordon's alive" is some kind of memorable catchphrase. [it is a deeply unserious island --ed.] The most famous thing BRIAN BLESSED's Vultan has actually done is appear in a Family Guy gag, but he's slightly more toyetic than Benjamin Disraeli, so here we are. The toy's as good as can be, for a junky 1980s sci-fi movie, with the biggest flaw being the paint color. Plus, it's not like Hasbro is in any hurry to ever make another Boss Nass figure, so when else are you going to get a BRIAN BLESSED toy? -- 09/29/24

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