Hasbro Made-to-Order Figures

AceofKnaves said:
For me, the “smoothness” of the ‘97 Sentinels is a feature, not a bug. I appreciate the hyper-detail of the HasLab and the old BAF and such, but this smoother, less-detailed aesthetic is what I associate with “classic”, pre-2000s, Kirby-style Sentinels, which is what I would most want in a Sentinel figure. The made-to-order design feels the most “authentic” to me.
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100%. I would've been in for the animated Sentinel if it weren't too tall for my display case.
 
AceofKnaves said:
For me, the “smoothness” of the ‘97 Sentinels is a feature, not a bug. I appreciate the hyper-detail of the HasLab and the old BAF and such, but this smoother, less-detailed aesthetic is what I associate with “classic”, pre-2000s, Kirby-style Sentinels, which is what I would most want in a Sentinel figure. The made-to-order design feels the most “authentic” to me.
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You’re close…technically The 97 sentinels are based on the Mark 2 design from the comics during the Giant Sized X-Men days and first appeared in Chapter four of the Phoenix Saga


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AceofKnaves said:
For me, the “smoothness” of the ‘97 Sentinels is a feature, not a bug. I appreciate the hyper-detail of the HasLab and the old BAF and such, but this smoother, less-detailed aesthetic is what I associate with “classic”, pre-2000s, Kirby-style Sentinels, which is what I would most want in a Sentinel figure. The made-to-order design feels the most “authentic” to me.
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I largely agree. They read as "classic" sentinels. The only part that doesn't *quite* work that way for me is the face. Specifically the eyes and cheekbone areas with the black shading. That feels very cartoon to me even though it also how they're rendered in early comic representations. Obviously, it didn't stop me ordering one, but that's the big part that i think might clash with the rest of the shelf. TBF, since it's a face plate anyway, I can probably fabricate (or wait for someone else to fabricate) a different version to sub in. Now that I think about it... that wouldn't be too hard... really I think if it was just a smidge more angular and without the big black fields it would sell perfectly.

I dunno, I'll wait to see it in hand. It might not bother me at all once I've got my grubby mitts on it.

Apocalypse I think largely dodges the issue and I have a feeling he'll slip in just fine to a comic shelf. He's basically a Kirby Celestial design anyway and they're always in that more stark graphical presentation. Less fiddly detail and more broad geometric color applications. He's just inhuman (Inhuman!?) enough that I think he will read as weird space guy more than weird cartoon guy when he's surrounded by other X-Men figures. Apparently it was mentioned on a recent Displaying Model Behavior the Hasbro team left the door open for a comic accurate repaint of Apocalypse down the road. I doubt that would happen within a year of final release, but as a long term option that's a cool thing to look forward to.
 
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AceofKnaves said:
For me, the “smoothness” of the ‘97 Sentinels is a feature, not a bug. I appreciate the hyper-detail of the HasLab and the old BAF and such, but this smoother, less-detailed aesthetic is what I associate with “classic”, pre-2000s, Kirby-style Sentinels, which is what I would most want in a Sentinel figure. The made-to-order design feels the most “authentic” to me.
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Yeah, the sentinels also looked like that in a 90s Wolverine story right before the adamantium incident. Leftovers from the outback. I will always equate them with that smooth look.
 
As noted earlier they had this simple style during most periods prior to the 2000s so they fit pretty well into plenty of classic X-Men displays. That's why I bought them; they reminded me of the cover below although they're certainly not exactly like this. Every artist changed them a little so it's fine.

clean.jpg
 
AceofKnaves said:
For me, the “smoothness” of the ‘97 Sentinels is a feature, not a bug. I appreciate the hyper-detail of the HasLab and the old BAF and such, but this smoother, less-detailed aesthetic is what I associate with “classic”, pre-2000s, Kirby-style Sentinels, which is what I would most want in a Sentinel figure. The made-to-order design feels the most “authentic” to me.
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This.
The only modern-era Sentinel figure(s) I owned up until this one shows up is the one that actually came in the Marvel Universe 4" line. I genuinely did not like the ToyBiz BAF, and the HasLab was a little overdetailed and way too expensive for me - even if I love to look at everyone else's collections that have it. This one fits exactly what I want from a Sentinel, because my best memory of Sentinels is 100% the original cartoon.
BONUS, it also serves as a modern remake of the 5" ToyBiz Sentinel 'playset.' Everyone remember that figure? I had it. I loved it.
 
EnigmaticClarity said:
As noted earlier they had this simple style during most periods prior to the 2000s so they fit pretty well into plenty of classic X-Men displays. That's why I bought them; they reminded me of the cover below although they're certainly not exactly like this. Every artist changed them a little so it's fine.

clean.jpg
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Damn, what a cool cover. Always gets me.
 
I also prefer the more classic vibes of the 97 Sentinel. I don’t really care about the 97 cartoon. However, they remind me of the era of X-Men comics I used to read. that said, I have a pair of the Haslab Sentinels. Several of the Hasbro Masterworks Sentinels. At least a pair of the Toy Biz BAF Sentinels. So the pair of 97 Sentinels I ordered will have a family when they arrive.

i am passing on MTO Apocalypse. Dont really care enough about the cartoon to own anything so specific to it.

I am curious to see what the next MTO ML is. Guess we won’t know for another 3 months or so.
 
I'm assuming that the Punisher Mech that we've seen the rocket teasers for will be MTO. When it was first leaked, the word was that it was going to be very expensive. Since they've been teasing this for a bit now already, it might be shown as early as at the year end fan stream.
 
These Sentinels were vexing to me in terms of whether I wanted them or not. Still unsure.

I was pretty happy with the HasLab as Master Mold and the Marvel Universe versions as the drones, despite not being exactly on the classic model and the drones being slightly too small.

But if they had come out with this classic Sentinel first, I would have bought three of them and been content as they are the right size and style - even though I have reservations about the look (mainly the paint) being too cartoonish from the first pics.

So in a perfect world I would try to flip all the older Sentinels for these. I had even ordered three but then canceled - as I couldn't justify two sets of different looking Sentinels, and did like the prior ones. Just not enough room.

I feel like the perfect Sentinel has not yet been made - I am hoping these made to order versions may be done again in the color scheme/metallic look of the HasLab...
 
X-Men 98. The first issue I bought off the 7-11 rack; with a Slurpee naturally. Shit I’m old

I use the Haslab as Master Mold and the MU ones as the drones as well. I suppose with this new one coming out I should move the MU one on. This one tags more classic vibes for sure.
 
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EnigmaticClarity said:
As noted earlier they had this simple style during most periods prior to the 2000s so they fit pretty well into plenty of classic X-Men displays. That's why I bought them; they reminded me of the cover below although they're certainly not exactly like this. Every artist changed them a little so it's fine.

clean.jpg
Click to expand...

They’ve grown significantly in size too over the years. When the sentinels first debuted they were about 11-12 feet tall and for most of the 70’s they were around 25-30 ft tall and by the time Onslaught showed up in the 90’s, the sentinels grew to a whopping 80 ft tall. Then by the mid 2000’s the sentinels got wild upgrades and had Stark tech incorporated into them with advanced A.I. and suddenly they were Kaiju sized at 250 ft tall. Absolutely fantastical as it is ridiculous….


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Stoopid_Sandwich said:
They’ve grown significantly in size too over the years. When the sentinels first debuted they were about 11-12 feet tall and for most of the 70’s they were around 25-30 ft tall and by the time Onslaught showed up in the 90’s, the sentinels grew to a whopping 80 ft tall. Then by the mid 2000’s the sentinels got wild upgrades and had Stark tech incorporated into them with advanced A.I. and suddenly they were Kaiju sized at 250 ft tall. Absolutely fantastical as it is ridiculous….


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Yeah, Sentinels definitely creeped up in size over the years, and I always thought it was odd. They started off as big robots...twice the size of a grown man, then became freakin' Shogun Warriors somewhere along the way. I guess the writers thought that them getting bigger and bigger was more intimidating? To me, 30 foot tall was plenty intimidating, and at a certain point they seem more suited to battle Godzilla than a team of mutants. Maybe this is why I've just stuck with the original ToyBiz BAF in my collection...not because it is better than any other versions they've done, but I guess he's suitably imposing enough for me without taking up a huge amount of real estate on my shelves?
 
I do want something to use as Mark I Sentinels - which as noted were about 8 to 10 ft tall. The Retro Sentinel that was 8" (designed to work with the 1:18 line) was just about right but the lack of articulation hampered it. Still, I have been tempted to get a couple of them and maybe paint them to match the HasLab, but they actually could be OK as Mark I with the made-to-order colors.

I feel like 16" to 20" is the sweet spot for the Cockrum/Byrne era Sentinels.
 
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