Godzilla Lite Table Lighter (Beetland/Banning, 1985)

 

Here is one of the more unusual items from the merchandising push around the time of GODZILLA 1985, and one that you couldn't buy in a toy store!

A lighter where the flame comes out of Godzilla's mouth is a no-brainer, and in my opinion, this is the best of the various attempts over the years.  The more common one you will see is actually not as old as the one we are looking at today, and looks like this:

It's usually copper in color, and the eyes light up.  It's cool but unauthorized, and is basically a bootleg item. (We should make a whole page for unauthorized Godzilla items, and it would be pretty sizeable.)  But back to the subject at hand...

This lighter was made by Beetland, who had a large line of Godzilla items in Japan, mostly household and decorative products, and mostly awesome.  It was distributed in America by Banning Enterprises, which may sound familiar to you if you have examined our chronological list of vintage American Godzilla merchandise.  

Banning was apparently tasked with organizing a Godzilla Fan Club in the U.S., and in the past, we have looked at two of the items they produced that turned out to be for this very purpose, the pinback button and the action poster, both of which are described in the paperwork that was included with the lighter:

"The Legend" part of the text above is identical to what is included with the poster.  Speaking of the poster, the entire back of the box is utilized to show its cool artwork:

It's interesting to see (finally) how all of these items are connected together.  I have done a few cursory searches here and there, looking to see if any copies of this GODZILLA GAZETTE exist (or were even made), but haven't turned up anything yet.

The other side of the flyer gives us the instructions for the lighter itself (and you could even return it for repair if needed):

One thing that even I didn't realize was that this lighter came in two variants, black and green! It's as if they began to produce it, and then said "hey, you know, most Americans think that Godzilla is actually green; we should probably do it that way, too." I'd put money on the fact that the green one probably sold better.

Green model

And here is the bottom of the box.  I know they have to tell you not to not to give lighters or butane gas to children, but it's still amusing to read.

The GODZILLA LITE is a unique addition to your collection, but if you run across one, double-check to make sure it's complete, and the little folded flyer is included.  From my experience, they usually aren't!

ADDENDUM: For completeness, here is what Beetland's packaging looked like in Japan (below).