“Evil Lord of Destruction!
Using his mastery of mystical havoc energy, the madman Skeletor uncovered the violent spell that can forge the Scimitar of Chaos – a weapon that collects souls and grants ultimate power to he who wields it. In an undisciplined hand, however, it will bring about the end of Eternia. To be a master of the universe, he must first master death. But at what cost?” – Box art bio.
Hang On! Skeletor has a Beard?!
Yes! This is another example of the New Eternia sub-line going back to early prototype designs. In this case, some of these concepts by Mark Taylor indeed gave the formative Lord of Destruction a bit of a goatie!
Now, strictly speaking this early design wasn’t actually a prototype for Skeletor. I think fans may have been led astray by the skull-like face of the concept character. Nevertheless, the New Eternia figure takes a lot of cues from it, from the beard to the scimitar which is here called the Scimitar of Chaos!
The Battle Ram Blog once again has an excellent article charting the development of the original Skeletor action figure.
Incidentally, that early concept with the beard was eventually developed into the Demo-Man figure in the Masters of the Universe Classics line and latterly the Origins line too. If you are interested, there is a very good article on the Battle Ram Blog about Demo-Man too.
Box Art
Once again the artist has done a superb job. The art really gives this version of Skeletor a very menacing look.
The bio on the back of the box also plays up the menacing nature of Skeletor calling him a “madman” and it gives the scimitar a name – “Scimitar of Chaos”. After literally minutes of research I can’t find any other reference to this name in MOTU lore. So it might be something that’s new for this version of Skeletor.
Just like with Viking He-Man, where on the box he was simply referred to as “He-Man”, there is no mention of “Barbarian” on Skeletor’s box. All of the listings on shops, fan websites, etc, call this version Barbarian Skeletor so I’m assuming it is official rather than just a nickname as a result of his look.
Figure Overview
Out of the box, Skeletor is in his barbarian outfit. The purples and light blue skin are still there from the original vintage figure, but the helmet, beard and cape combo give this version a very different look and I love it.
Comparing to Other Figures
Four figures in and I’m starting to get a feel for the general look and dimensions of the Masterverse line. This Skeletor figure fits right in with that as it stands pretty much at 17.5cm or 7 inches.
I did scratch my head a little at this figure at first and then it hit me. The legs are slightly shorter and thinner than He-Man’s. This means that this Skeletor does stand a little shorter than Viking He-Man. Being used to the vintage figures featuring a lot of reused parts, I’m pleasantly surprised that there is this amount of variation in the Masterverse line.
It goes without saying that this Skeletor is much shorter than the deluxe version of Beast Man!
Design and Details
Skeletor’s arms have the “fins” straight from the vintage figure and the biceps might be slightly smaller than He-Man’s. I’ll happily admit that perhaps I’m looking too hard for differences after spotting the legs!
Skeletor’s belt has a design that’s new to me as far as Masterverse goes. The creature head on the front is a bit bird-like and must be a nod back to the vintage figure. This had a separate belt with a creature head on the front and a lower “skirt” that fitted over the more standard figure belt and loin cloth. On Barbarian Skeletor, the belt and lower skirt are all part of the figure and very different to Viking He-Man’s.
For the lower legs, the designers have gone with a shin guards and bare feet look. Whether Skeletor wears boots or bare feet seems to vary from design to design so it’s interesting to see what camp this version falls in. The feet themselves (and yes, I am going to talk about Skeletor’s feet!!), while a bit monstrous, have the full complement of toes!
And they’re big! Compared to He-Man’s anyway. Beast Man is in a league of his own for foot size!
Articulation
Under the armour and accessories, this Skeletor figure has the standard Masterverse articulation. So that means double joints at the elbows and knees, a mid-torso ball joint, ankle tilts and more.
This figure might be the best yet for not having loose joints. They are all tight without being difficult to move. I’ve only really found two issues with the joints:
The wrist joints are too weak for holding the Havoc Staff upright. This may simply be a result of the top heavy nature of the Staff, but it does make certain poses tricky to achieve.
Despite Skeletor’s feet being nice and big, he’s a little tricky to balance. After messing about a bit, I’ve a feeling this might be due to the ankle joints. They are good and tight, but they seem to “click” into positions just either side of the feet being flat. So Skeletor either leans a bit too far back or too far forwards, resulting in him being a little unsteady.
Accessories
As with Viking He-Man, Barbarian Skeletor comes with a really good amount of accessories:
- Choice of two heads – barbarian look or classic look,
- Over armour with cape,
- Chest harness,
- Havoc Staff,
- Scimitar of Chaos and
- Four swappable hands.
Heads
The head that comes on the figure and features most prominently in the box art is the bearded “barbarian” head. I’ve probably mentioned the beard enough times now so looking at the helmet, it’s mostly a dark purple with a shiny lighter purple applied to the details on the front. A gem stone is also moulded into the design at the front and looks to be painted either a very dark purple or a black.
Although the helmet’s face plates cover most of Skeletor’s face, what you can see is very well painted indeed. The teeth are outlined in black and the red of eyes add to the creepy look.
As with Viking He-Man, the alternative head is an excellent take on a more classic design. In Skeletor’s case, this is the hooded look. The face looks to me to be the same as the bearded head’s, except of course you can see more of it and there’s no beard! It really is well done. Lots of detail in the sculpt and fantastically painted. It’s going to be a tough choice choosing between which head to display the figure with.
Over Armour
For want of a better phrase, I’m calling the armour with the cape attached the “over armour”. It’s armour and it sits over the chest harness!
The over armour looks great and has a design that riffs off of the bat design that is on the chest harness. The way the shoulder parts are done feels a little reminiscent of Roman armour.
Although the over armour has a great design, there are no paint applications on it as far as I can spot. It is pretty fiddly to position as well. Although it’s got clips on either either that slot over the shoulder pieces on the chest harness, they don’t actually attach to anything. So it just sort of sits there and is very easy to accidentally dislodge. On the plus side however, it means this piece of armour is really simple to remove or put back on.
The cape is attached to the over armour and hangs really well. It’s made from a shiny, black material, is a good length, hanging down to Skeletor’s ankles. The edge has been cut to make it look like it’s worn and torn. A nice touch.
Chest Harness
Take off the over armour and cape and you have the chest harness. On the front is the bat and crossed bones design, very reminiscent of the vintage figure. Both are nicely picked out with lighter paint applications. The wings of the bat carry on over to the back of the harness where there is a loop to sheath the Scimitar of Chaos.
The harness fits really well and the straps can be tightened through the buckles at the back. The plastic used is quite flexible so fitting the harness on is easy on the fingers!
Havoc Staff
This version of Skeletor’s Havoc Staff looks awesome! It’s very tall, about the same height as Skeletor himself and has a good feel to it being moulded in a solid plastic. The ram’s skull at the top is very detailed and has huge horns curling back.
Despite the detail in the skull, the staff has no paint on it at all. A bit of a shame as I do feel the moulded details get a little lost in the flat purple colour of the plastic.
That large ram’s skull is a mixed blessing too. It makes the Staff very top heavy resulting in the wrist joints of the figure failing to hold it upright. You can get it just so, but it is pretty fiddly. One good thing about the Staff being so tall is that it is long enough for Skeletor to comfortably hold it in both hands.
Scimitar of Chaos
I think this is new for this version of Skeletor. However the design of the scimitar comes straight from the early concept art for Skeletor prototypes, again I’ll point you to the articles on the Battle Ram blog on Skeletor and Demo-Man.
The scimitar looks like it is moulded in a gold coloured plastic with the vicious looking blade painted over in a shiny silver. The gold in the hilt has a nice sheen and a creature head for the pommel.
It fits very nicely on the back of Skeletor’s chest harness and putting the cape over it is no problem.
Hands
Barbarian Skeletor comes with a choice of four hands: two gripping hands, a punching hand and one of those weird flat hands that Mattel seem to be quite enamoured of.
One of the gripping hands has a pointing finger which I absolutely love. It does hold the weapons a bit looser than the other gripping hand, but it still does the job.
The flat hand is actually weirder looking to me than He-Man’s. Something about the way the thumb sticks out? I guess it could be for spell casting? I think this hand will be staying in the box though!
Paint Application
Apart from the two heads where the paint application is fantastic, the rest of this figure has fairly limited applications. Bit of a shame as there is a lot of detail on this figure, from the design on the over armour, the ram’s skull on the Havoc Staff and the skirt and belt area.
I was half convinced the skin had a subtle wash over it but I think the shade of light blue was fooling me under my lights.
So where extra paint has been added, it’s really good but a wash or something on the Havoc Staff would have been welcome.
Beard or No Beard?
Or, how are you going to display Barbarian Skeletor?
Final Thoughts
I do have some minor niggles with this figure but as a companion piece to Viking He-Man, Barbarian Skeletor fits really well. Not only that but with a quick switch out of a few accessories, you have a brilliant take on classic Skeletor. I think this works even better than Viking He-Man’s more classic look too.
I am really enjoying the different takes the New Eternia line is doing with the figures. As a bonus, each figure so far can also be displayed in a more classic look too.
Where to Buy Barbarian Skeletor
Released in 2022, this version of Skeletor was in the first wave of New Eternia figures. As such, it’s probably sold out in most shops. However in the UK at least, there are lots still available on eBay at the time of writing. Pretty good prices too!
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