He’s a big lad!
I bought this version of Beast Man at the same time as New Eternia Viking He-Man, which I’ve already reviewed here.
In that review I gave a quick and dirty overview of the Masterverse line and the New Eternia sub-line within that. I won’t repeat all of that here but suffice to say the New Eternia sub-line contains different takes on the classic Masters of the Universe characters, all at that 17cm/7 inch scale.
The design of the Viking He-Man figure seemed to draw inspiration from some of the He-Man prototypes in the run up to the release of the original figure in 1982. This version of Beast Man does similar and once again I’m going to lean heavily on an article on the Battle Ram blog. The excellent article about the development of Beast Man covers all of the various iterations before the release of the final figure, but check out the “Red Beast” design by original designer Mark Taylor.
It certainly looks like the Beast Man design started out as an armoured bear! Now check out these photos of the New Eternia Beast Man:
I think there’s a clear line to be drawn from that Mark Taylor design to this New Eternia version.
New Eternia Deluxe Beast Man
I bought Beast Man at the same time as Viking He-Man so this is only my second Masterverse figure and the first one I’ve got that’s been given the deluxe treatment by Mattel.
Not sure why Beast Man was singled out to be given a deluxe do over by Mattel but I’m not complaining. This is a very imposing figure!
The deluxe treatment seems to be related to the oversized stature and the extra accessories. I actually thought Viking He-Man came with a goodly amount of accessories but this version of Beast Man clearly outstrips He-Man in that department. I’ll go over the accessories below but first lets take a look at the wonderful box art.
Box Art
Once again the art is excellent. On the side is a figure of Beast Man in full armour wielding his wooden club. Over that is a rendition of his face and head minus the bear pelt head gear and looking a bit more traditional.
The back of the box has a scene with Beast Man swinging through the trees. In the foreground is another beast man (lower case I guess?) but more interestingly is a beast woman in the background. From my reading around, this character has been teased a couple of times in box art so might be someone we could see some time in figure form.
Figure Basics
If I haven’t stressed this already, this figure is big! Bearing in mind the Masterverse line as a whole is at the 17cm/7 inch scale, this figure of Beast Man sails past that and stands at almost 20cm/7.9 inches in full regalia or about 19cm/7.5 inches without the bear pelt head gear.
This Beast Man is also very beefy which is exaggerated further by the furry “pelt” armour.
Comparing him to Viking He-Man, you can see just how much taller this version of Beast Man is.
Without his armour, Beast Man is a little bit less imposing but still stands about a head taller than He-Man.
Articulation
Despite his size, Beast Man still boasts the same articulation as other figures in the line and is easy to position into fun poses. In full armour, his movement is a little bit restricted though but nothing too terrible.
The leg joints are all nice and solid without being too tough to move. So along with his big feet, Beast Man is easy to stand!
I was surprised at the amount of movement the mid-torso joint allows. However, the torso does have a hollow plastic feel to it which makes it feel less solid than it probably is.
The shoulder joints stick out from the upper torso which is unfortunate as this means there is a gap between his shoulder and upper arms. Not too much of a problem when Beast Man is set up in all of his armour but does make me worry how well these joints will do over time.
Paint Applications
When you take the armour off, you can really appreciate the detail in all of the fur that’s been molded into Beast Man’s body. Even his feet!
All of Beast Man’s body has a painted wash over it bringing out the detail. Unfortunately it does look as though the various parts were painted separately and then assembled. This means that different parts are lighter or darker, depending on the wash.
This is most noticeable on my figure on the knees and torso. Particularly the latter, as the wash on the front doesn’t match the wash on the back. Again, not much of a problem if you have Beast Man in full armour, but it does detract a little if you choose to display the figure in a more stripped down look.
Beast Man’s Head is really detailed and is sculpted in an angry shout or roar. It features white and blue face paint which is a look that goes back to the original vintage figure. It sits quite far forward on his torso due to the way the neck has been molded and gives him a distinct hunch. The head does look a bit odd from the side if you’ve taken all of the armour off – see the photo in the gallery above – but it’s absolutely fine from the front and in any case, the neck is covered up once you’ve put the armour back on.
Accessories
As a deluxe figure there are a lot of accessories:
- Bear pelt head dress,
- Two sets of torso armour,
- Two pairs of arm armour,
- A pair of shin guards,
- A huge wooden spiked club,
- A whip and
- Four swappable hands.
The head is removable too but there’s only one in this set unlike Viking He-Man.
Armour
This Beast Man comes with two sets of torso armour allowing you to give the figure very different looks.
One set is based on the “Red Beast” design and features a painted skull on the front, large spikes over the shoulders and a red animal “pelt” or fur. This fur really bulks out the shoulders of Beast Man when he’s wearing it. The armour also has a slot at the back where you can stow Beast Man’s whip when he’s not using it.
The alternative set is closely based on the armour the original vintage figure came with. It’s really well done and fits the figure well. It really changes up how the figure looks too. Both sets are fantastic but I’m really pleased with the alternative set. If you leave on just the upper arm armour with it, you get a Beast Man that’s an awesome homage to the original vintage version.
Head Dress
Does a bear pelt head dress count as armour? I’m not sure but I’ll mention it here anyway!
I’m calling it a bear pelt but strictly speaking it’s the upper head from a bear. It’s molded in plastic with some paint applications including on some spikes at the back. So I guess it’s an Eternian bear!
It’s a nice touch and along with the fur armour really completes the “Red Beast” look! It sits loosely on Beast Man’s head which is fine for display purposes but soon falls off when you try to change the figure’s pose or move him.
Guess who keeps forgetting that?
Arm and Leg Armour
Not quite done yet with the armour!
The figure comes with four pieces of arm armour and two pieces of leg armour. It looks to me as though they’ve been molded to look like tough, hard leather with a bit of a subtle wash on them.
The leg pieces are the same, one for each leg and they fit over the shins. The arm pieces consist of a pair for the lower arms and a pair for the upper arms. The upper pairs match each other but the lower left is much bigger than the lower right.
All of these pieces of armour are removable and can be popped off using the catch on the back of each. The plastic is quite tough though so it might be an idea to warm the catch a bit first to make it more pliable.
The arm armour pieces all fit fairly well but do have a tendency to slip down the arms. They can make posing the arms a bit fiddly but it has to be said. Once set up though, this Beast Man is really imposing looking!
If you take off the lower arm armour, you’ll be able to see the bracers better. These are glued to the wrists and are nice additions as they have a bit of detail to them.
The right hand one looks particularly wicked as it’s spiked. This must be a call back to the vintage figure which had something similar molded into the hand. The left hand bracer is more ornamental and reflects the design of the belt which I’ll touch on more below.
Weapons
This Beast Man figure comes with two weapons: a huge, spiked wooden club and a whip. Beast Man has had a whip with every version since the original and the one included here is pretty good. The whip itself is a woven piece of black string while the handle is molded in a gun metal grey with a bit of a shine to it. There’s an animal head design where the whip comes out which is a neat detail.
The wooden club is certainly a solid piece of plastic but there’s something about it that makes me feel it doesn’t fit with the rest of the figure. Perhaps it’s the lack of any paint wash on it but it feels like it was meant for a different toy line. I like the idea behind it though.
Hands
Working through the last of the accessories, we get to the hands. There are four hands in total: one in a fist, an open hand and two grippy hands.
To match the rest of the figure, these hands are big! The nails/claws are painted so it’s good to know that despite living in a jungle, Beast Man keeps up with his nail care.
The pegs that slot into the wrists are nice and big which means they shouldn’t be prone to snapping off when you’re swapping the hands about.
The plastic used is a bit pliable which means that putting the weapons into the grippy hands is no trouble.
Belt
The final thing I wanted to touch on is the belt and loin cloth area.
The belt itself is a gold colour and has a design that brings to mind another Beast Man prototype: the Lords of Power version. As before this is all detailed on the excellent Beast Man page on the Battle Ram blog.
The loin cloth is a bright blue which is a details that goes back to the original figure. The front though has an extra section that’s longer and has some designs or symbols on it.
A Beast Man Not to be Messed With!
As I mentioned a few times now, with all of it’s armour on this is a really imposing version of Beast Man! He looks much more like a savage war lord than the bumbling henchman from the 1980s Filmation cartoon!
Swapping out the armour for the alternative set and you have an awesome classic-looking Beast Man!
Final Thoughts
Overall I’m very impressed. It is such an imposing and a fierce take on Beast Man.
I’ve got some nit picks: the painted wash on the body is rather uneven, the torso feels a tad hollow and has gaps where the arms attach and the armour can be a bit fiddly.
They are just nit picks though, I love this figure!
Originally released in 2022 this figure might be a bit hard to find in stock in shops now. However, in the UK at least there are lots available on sites like eBay and for pretty good prices too.
