New Eternia Barbarian Skeletor Masterverse Hands On Figure Review

The Rear Artwork shows Barbabarian Skeletor holding his signature Havoc Staff in a dark menacing forest scene, looking into the distance to his oncoming foes!

Barbarian Head Sculpt

Skeletor’s helmet is modeled after the Italian Barbute helmets of the Middle Ages. It was the Italians who first crafted the Barbuta, and his purple clad helmet echoes the classic look of their historic designs. The helmet consists of full-metal protection for the head, including a subtle, small ridge along the top of the helm. It has a Y-shaped opening at the front that leaves his face open, allowing for clear vision. Skeletor might not have the fanciest of helmets, but with the level of protection it provides, the trade-off of looks to function is one any warrior is sure to make.

Skeletor Classic Head Sculpt

Barbarian Skeletor’s head sculpt more closely resembles his Masters of the Universe Classics version. The paint app is a familar green that we remember and his facial features around the jawline are very well defined. The eyes have a deep red paint app and the eye sockets are not as sunken into his skull as previous version of Skeletor. Reminiscent of the look for Skeletor from the very first issue of the Minicomics in 1981, this alternate head for Skeletor is the quintessential classic head sculpt I’ve always wanted! Unlike the standard release Masterverse Skeletor that looks like the animated Revelation series, this head sculpt captures Skeletor’s minicomic look perfectly!

Head Sculpt Comparisons

Comparing the classic head sculpt packed with Barbarian Skeletor to the Masters of the Universe Classics head sculpt, you can see the added detail to the eyes and teeth that the new head gives up. Given the price of the Masters of the Universe Classics Skeletor on the after-market these days, the new Barbarian Skeletor in the “Classic Skeletor” mode is a great option for your wallet and gives you almost if not a better look!

Chest, Back, Armor, and Cape

Skeletor’s chest armor is layered so it allows you to display in both his Barbarian Skeletor New Eternia look, and his Classic Armor look as well. The cape is attached with a layered piece of armor that is placed on Skeletor by simply placing it over his head. Or by swapping the head and removing the cape, you now have an amazing looking classic Skeletor!

Barbarian Skeletor’s armor has a holster on the back of the armor for the Scimitar of Chaos sword to slide into, and you can see from the photos how nicely it fits.

Arms

Skeletor’s arms are symmetrical and harken back to his Masters of the Universe Classics design where it looks like his forearm armor is the same color as skin. This arm sculpt is new as the first Iteration of Skeletor from the Revelation series has a different design. He comes packed with a pointed finger hand on his right and a gripping hand in his left.

Legs and Boots

The legs appear to be use the standard Masterverse buck but the shin armor is another unique design to this figure. It has a blunt edge at the top of the armor with a curved piece that extends over the talus, which is the bone on top of the foot that forms a joint with the two bones of the lower leg, the tibia and fibula.

Weapons and Accessories

The New Eternia Barbarian Skeletor comes packed with several accessories. They include the cape with shoulder armor, alternate classic Skeletor head, Havoc Staff, Scimitar of Chaos sword and 2 alternate hands. We will explore each in further detail below.

Hands

Skeletor comes with a an extra set of hands, which gives him both displayability options to give him different looks.

Cape + Armor

As mentioned above, Barbarain Skeletor comes packaged with a removeable cape that attaches with a layered piece of armor that sits on Skeletor’s shoulder’s and comes on and off by placing it over Skeletor’s head. It gives you both a layered look to Skeletor shown above and allows you the option of displaying Skeletor in both his Barbarian look with cape on or his classic look with cape off!

Havoc Staff

Barbarian Skeletor’s Havoc Staff looks to have a new more detailed scuplt when compares to the standard release Revelation Skeletor. This one is of a more uniform color throught out and the top of the staff has a more ornate and classic look to it. You can see the differences in the photo below.

On the right is the standard release Revelation Skeletor Havor Staff, in the center the New Eternia Barbarian Skeletor’s Havoc Staff, and on the left the MOTO Classics Havoc Staff. Again the New Eternia version follows a more classic design, especially at the top of the staff with it’s cylindrical design,

Scimitar of Chaos

Viking He-Man’s rear box description alluded to Skeletor wielding a Scimitar of Chaos and we finally get to see what this looks like in person. It’s a typical to see Skeletor without a purple Sword of Power but this Scimitar gives him a unique look.

Displayability

This version of Skeletor gives you so many dsiplayability options and really is 2 figures in one! As mentioned above, because Skeletor’s cape and chest armor is layered, it allows you to display him in both his Barbarian Skeletor New Eternia look, and his Classic Armor look. By swapping the head and removing the cape, you now have an amazing looking classic Skeletor, so you get 2 Skeletors in 1! With all the accessories he comes packed with and the alternate head sculpt, your display options are unlimited!

MOTU Classics Skeletor Head Swap

As you can see from the photo below, we tried to swap the heads from the MOTU Classics Skeletor and the classic head sculpt of the New Eternia Skeletor, and well, they look pretty good! The Classics head sits a little high on the New Eternia neck peg, but overall, I think they both look great.

Demo Man

Coming from the earliest of concept sketches from Mark Taylor, Demo Man was a conceptual design that eventually became Skeletor. Seen below is the MOTU classics version of Demo Man.

According to the Wiki Grayskull:

Realizing his Pupil Keldor had not intention of releasing him from Despondos, Hordak merged him with an extra-dimensional being called Demo-Man. While this saved Keldor’s life, it also drove him temporarily insane, and convinced him to open a portal to Despondos and lead what he thought were “his people” to Eternia. Hordak intended to use this ruse as a means to escape once the portal was opened, but the new merged being “Skeletor” was quickly defeated by Oo-larr, the jungle He-Man, and Hordak remained trapped. Soon after, with help of Evil Lyn, Skeletor gained control of the powerful spirit inside of him, increasing his abilities ten-fold. He was now the true Overlord of Evil and one of the most dangerous men on Eternia!

Demo-Man | Wiki Grayskull | Fandom

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