Last week during San Diego Comic-Con, Hasbro released a barrage of exclusives, as usual. One was something we got a hint of last year, and he’s finally arrived – the Marvel Universe Masterworks Sentinel.
HALT MUTANT!
Like the Galactus from last year, this figure is enormous. Generally in scale with other Marvel Universe figures, the Sentinel comes in a large carrying box, within an over-sized blister packaged card like the general release MU figures. The packaging and amazing artwork really makes you not want to open the figure, but if you know where to cut with an exacto knife, it’s easy to remove the figure from the package without damaging it.
The general release of the figure in Toys R Us stores will come in a similar box to the Galactus, versus this oversized card and box that was exclusive to SDCC. The color scheme is the other variation on this figure from the general release. Much of this color comes from the plastic itself – the Sentinel has very little paint work, which I prefer (less to mess up). The arms legs, body and head are mostly cast in their respective colors, which are gorgeous. The purple has a metallic sparkle to it, as does the blue. To add further variation to the overall look, some panels and areas have a very nice texture in contrast to the smooth the rest of the parts have. This really makes the difference when looking at the figure up close.
The sound effects are nice and loud, and the light effect is very cool. When you press a button on the chest, he will speak one of a number of phrases, and the eyes will glow red. Interestingly, the way they achieved this glowing is by putting the LED into the top of the ball joint that the head is on, so the movement of the head cannot mess up the electronics. In fact, the head is removable!
To get the eyes to glow, they cast the entire head in clear plastic, and then painted everything except the eyes, letting the light shine through. This also means that the gold paint on the face lets a little light in, so if you are in complete darkness, the face even glows a bit, which is cool.
The articulation on this figure is also what you would come to expect from Hasbro, when they get it right. I never owned the Galactus, but I am aware that most of this figure is a reuse of Galactus, so they share a lot of articulation.
- Ball jointed head
- Hinge/swivel ball shoulders
- Double-jointed elbows
- Ball joint wrist
- Swivel bicep/forearm
- Swivel waist
- Hinge / swivel ball hips
- Swivel thighs
- Double-jointed knees
- Swivel calves
- Ball jointed ankles (side to side, up and down)
- Removable body armor
This nice range of articulation allows you to get the same kind of poseability you would out of the 3 3/4″ figures. The joints on mine were very tight and he holds poses well. I was worried about the hip joints, as the old Toy Biz build-a-figures were notorious for breaking at the hips, but these ones felt very strong and I was not worried about them breaking. The sheer scale of the figure really adds to its overall fun-factor, as piling a bunch of X-Men around him really makes for some amazing display options. Even without articulated fingers, he can generally hold onto other figures easily.
In closing, if you can get this version of the Marvel Legends Masterworks Sentinel, I highly suggest it. If you’re a big fan of the 90’s cartoon X-Men, you know this is the color scheme you want. However, based only on the figure itself, regardless of color, this is an amazing toy even if you can only get the retail release in silver and blue.
If these were a bit cheaper, I would even suggest army building, but at $50-60 each, that becomes a bit hard. If Hasbro can keep giving us some more of the original 90’s X-Men team, pretty soon we can recreate Night of the Sentinels! C’mon Hasbro, I want my 3 3/4″ Beast, Rogue, Morph & Storm!
Hey, Tin–Woodsman! I’m sending you back to Oz…in pieces!
Nice work! So many great pics.
Looks GREAT with the exception of the big damn button on the front of his chest. Deal breaker for me. They should have put the switch in the back and not the front. Way to obvious in the front.