The Skull Trooper Fortnite skin is back - but not everyone is happy about it

Among Fortnite players, there are some skins which are afforded a certain amount of reverence. The Skull Trooper - a male avatar clad in mostly black gear, with a white skeleton painted over his clothes and face - is one example. Everybody loves this guy! Or at least they did, until Epic Games made the skin available again just in time for Halloween. Now the Fortnite community is experiencing a bit of infighting over whether re-releasing the skin was the right move.

To understand players' frustrations, it's important to know how Fortnite has worked up to this point. The game cycles in new cosmetics roughly every 10-week period (or "season"). These visual customization options are split between the Fortnite Battle Pass and cash shop. Once a season is over, any skins and outfits that were part of the Battle Pass can't be unlocked anymore, though cash shop skins will sometimes re-appear.

The Skull Trooper was introduced as a season 2 cash shop skin, so in order to have this skin previously, you had to be playing before Fortnite became the all-encompassing phenomenon it is now. It also had not re-appeared in the cash shop until now, which made it fairly rare to see. This earned players who wore the Skull Trooper skin into battle a certain amount of prestige, and the skin itself was a desirable symbol of status. Now that the skin is back (with a female variant, as well as a neon green color option for the bones), the status quo has been shaken.

Some players are just happy they can finally have this look for their avatar, while some say it lessens the skin's value if it's not rare to see on the battlefield - though it should be noted those who already owned the skin have an exclusive purple color variant they can choose. Still others are using the re-release as a way to mock "OGs" (a nickname for veteran players), whom they see as elitist. The fighting is perhaps at its ugliest on Twitter (raise your hand if you're surprised by that), though Facebook and Reddit have seen some heated discussion as well.

If you're fine with all that and just want the skin, it's available now on the cash shop for 1,500 V-Bucks. Enjoy, and save the drama for your llama.

Want to take your love of Fortnite to the next level? Check out this list of Fortnite Halloween costumes which, yes, includes the Skull Trooper. 

Sam Prell

Sam is a former News Editor here at GamesRadar. His expert words have appeared on many of the web's well-known gaming sites, including Joystiq, Penny Arcade, Destructoid, and G4 Media, among others. Sam has a serious soft spot for MOBAs, MMOs, and emo music. Forever a farm boy, forever a '90s kid.

Latest in Fortnite
Someone is planning a joyride in Fortnite
How to complete Someone is planning a joyride in Fortnite
Fortnite Henchmen Walkie Talkies
Fortnite Henchmen Walkie Talkies: How to eavesdrop on Kane
Fortnite Gold Veins
Fortnite Gold Veins: How to mine them for Bars
Fortnite Outlaw Keycard
Fortnite Outlaw Keycard: How to upgrade it and what does it do
Fortnite's Lara croft skin in front of a building
Fortnite has had Tomb Raider's Lara Croft locked away in battle pass exclusivity jail for almost 4 years, but she's reportedly getting a new skin very soon
Fortnite Dill Bit Display Cases
Fortnite Dill Bit Display Cases: Where to search them
Latest in News
Pillars of Eternity
10 years later, in a post-Baldur's Gate 3 and Avowed world, Obsidian is giving its own throwback CRPG Pillars of Eternity a turn-based combat mode
Destiny 2 Lightfall
When Destiny 2 "weekly active users dropped lower and faster than we'd seen since 2018," Bungie assembled an A-Team to put out some fires: "We needed to do something"
Velma, Daphne, Fred, Shaggy, and Scooby-Doo looking at a giant key which is also a clue
Netflix is rebooting Scooby-Doo as a live-action series from the producer of Supergirl and The Flash centered around a "supernatural murder" at a summer camp
Astro Bot
Astro Bot went through 23 pitch iterations before its director promised PlayStation "happy gameplay" and "overflowing charm," though it did once end with robot decapitation that made "some people really upset"
Tomb Raider
5 years after Avengers, 2 years after its last layoffs, and who knows how long before Perfect Dark and Tomb Raider return, Crystal Dynamics announces another round of layoffs
AI Limit
"AI is not as effective as it might appear": Dev of AI-focused Soulslike RPG says they didn't use any AI-generated content and it can't match "genuine creativity"