LEGO REVIEW: Marvel Super Heroes X-Men Vs. The Sentinel #76022

[thoroakenfelder]

LEGO hasn't released much for one of the flagship titles of the Marvel comics universe. Marvel Super Heroes X-Men vs. Sentinel is only the second set featuring those popular mutants. 4 Popular characters, an iconic vehicle, and the most notorious instruments of government sponsored mass murder in the Marvel Universe should lead to one of the best sets that LEGO has produced for this theme. Let's take a look and see how well they accomplished  what should be an amazing set. Let's review.

REVIEW: SET DETAILS
Set #: 76022
Name: X-Men Vs. The Sentinel
Theme: Marvel Super Heroes
Parts: 336
Price: $49.99

The general consensus is that this set is overpriced. The number of pieces is really low for the cost, but you get a lot of big pieces. That may not mean much against typical evaluation though.

BOX CONTENTS

Some people may wind up picking up a set that is open box or, want to verify the box contents before beginning a build. For this set, there are 3 numbered baggies, a sticker sheet, a comic book, 2 Hull pieces and 2 instruction books.

BUILD AND EXECUTION:

BAG 1: Along with all the parts to make the Sentinel, you get Wolverine and Magneto. Magneto has a platform that you create for him to fly on. I guess 80's Magneto couldn't just lift himself? I forget.

Magneto: You fool, attacking me when you have bones laced with metal.

Wolverine: This is the80's bub, your powers are magnetic and Adamantium is non-ferrous so I can cut you into sushi.

The first stage of the Sentinel has to be the torso. When I started, I thought for some reason that this was the shoulders.

Magneto: Maybe we should team up. I've heard of these mutant hunting super robots.

The fully printed slope for the torso is pretty great looking. It's too bad that they used up all of the printing money for the Sentinel.

Magneto: Curses, this robot is also made from non-ferrous metal. It seems like in the 80's I was much easier to defeat.

Wolverine: Don't worry about it bub, I've got claws. SNIKT

The head also looks pretty good. I could have stood for the printed area to be larger, but it really does recall the classic sentinel.

Magneto: Did you just say SNIKT?

Wolverine: I'm the best there is at what I do and what I do is say SNIKT.

I actually like the legs. He's got big stompy boots,just like the classic sentinel.

Wolverine: Let's see, where can I go berserk on this thing, bub.

Magneto: You fool, you're supposed to destroy it, not have a piggyback ride.

The shoulders are slightly bulky, but I think that's just so it can look like it has biceps. I have no idea why a robot has to have muscular biceps, but that's the way it's been shown for a long time.

Magneto: I'll use my metal hovery disk to pick up this monster.

Wolverine: Hey I just thought of something, if my bones are all covered in adamantium, are my teeth metal too? I can chew through this guy, bub.

Sentinel: ALERT! ALERT! MUTANTS DETECTED!

The hands are actually somewhat clever. His hand blast is an interesting use of the spring missile. The flick missiles on his back look somewhat awkward.

Sentinel: PRIORITY ONE! DESTROY MUTANT KNOWN AS WOLVERINE!

Wolverine: UGH Bub!

Magneto: Curse these magnetic powers that only work on magnetic metals.

Sentinel: MORE MUTANT LIFEFORMS DETECTED!

BAG 2 & 3:

You start building the bluebird sorry I mean blackbird. Cyclops comes in bag 2 and Storm in bag 3. I find it interesting that the missiles are almost the first thing you build. I kind of expected them to be last.

As with most LEGO planes, this set kind of looks like a boat when half completed. It certainly looks more like a boat than a plane. Also, here you see the first sticker from the set.

Cyclops: Hmmmm, this sticker says that there's a Sentinel around.

There's 4 seats in the bluebird, not terrible considering that technically there's only 3 X-Men.

Cyclops: I love to sing while I work. "You put the boom boom into my heart . . ."

I always assumed the blackbird would be sleek and ths build just makes it seem tubby and squat. You'd assume that with the seat being so low, the canopy would just go right there, but this big chunk  with a handle goes right there, effectively blocking line of site for the person steering the ship.

Cyclops: "Wake me up before you go go, don't leave me hanging on like a yo yo,"

Cyclops: Looking pretty good if I do say so myself

(no, no it's not.)

In bag 2, we come to one of the most consistent things in Super Hero sets, whether it's marvel or DC, there's usually a fire extinguisher. To paraphrase Tony Stark "We might not save the world, but you can be darn sure that we'll extinguish small fires."

Cyclops: Hey Storm, can you help me finish building this thing? I think Professor X was way out of line thinking I could design, build and fly a jet all by myself.

Storm: Where does he get enough money to build his own armed stealth jet?

The cockpit canopy attaches with a pair of stickers and the blue whale is really taking shape. Check out the flick missile That doesn't look lame or anything just tacked on the outside. (Now that I called it out specifically, you're going to notice it in every picture from now on.)

Wolverine: Oof bub, SNIKT.

Cyclops: What the? where did he come from?

Storm: It sounded like a distant explosion and he just came flying from somewhere else like he had been blasted here. (Tell don't show, I learned that from George Lucas.)

There's another hatch for the back compartment. I was pleasantly surprised with how much I liked the fact that they designed it so that you could actually play with your characters back there. Not that it's innovative or any better looking than any of the rest of this thing.

Magneto: Quickly X-Fools, the Sentinel is coming, get your flying whale thing ready.

Wolverine: Yeah, he's on our side for now.

Cyclops: it's not a whale, it's a sleek blackbird.

Attach the engines and a couple of stubby wings

Magneto: Hurry fools it is coming!

Storm: You know, it would go a lot faster if you helped Magnet man.

Magneto: Unfortunately you designed this ship out of non magnetic metals so that I couldn't stop you in flight.

Wolverine: too bad your arms are broken then bub.

Magneto: But they're not.

Wolverine: They will be unless you help, bub.

The final stretch where you attach the wings provides an optical illusion. You almost think that it's sleek with those long canted wings. They're just sort of tacked on the back though. The rest of the ship is still an ungainly blob. I really wish they had made the wings more a part of the ship. The blackbird was based on the SR-71 blackbird, one of the most interesting planes of the 70's/80's. 

If you throw enough stuff around it, you might not notice how disappointing the plane is.

Wolverine: Grrrrr, the Sentinel's here bubs. SNIKT

Cyclops: Oops, why did I design this where I have to stand to fly it?

Magneto: I'm out of here, you guys have a handle on it.

Storm: Come back here you coward.

REACTION:

The Sentinel looks fine. It's not great, but it serves its purpose. I almost think that it works better than Groot. I wish it were bigger and solider looking, but what we got isn't terrible. The blue blackbird is not good though. I think it looks terrible. It's more like a blue whale than a black bird. Building this set and the Avenjet within a day of each other really makes me realize how disappointingly bulbous and goofy this set is.I was happy with the wings until I looked at the complete vehicle and realized how much more satisfying almost every other Super Hero  plane that I made is.

The minifigures are all unique. Magneto and Wolverine were both released previously in other costumes. The Brown and yellow costume is kind of classic for Wolverine. Magneto's Purple costume was a mistake from the 80's and should have been forgotten. I would have 1000x have preferred a straight repack of the previous Magneto. Cyclops hasn't worn this costume in like 30 years. I distinctly remember the last issue of X-Men that he wore it in (I think) X-Men 201 when Mohawk Storm beat him for leadership of the X-Men. Frankly, this entire set reminds me of the 80's, except that stupid plane.

Wolverine and Storm are the highlights of this set. Cyclops is sadly a little too plain to really stand out, and Magneto is just lame.

There are a lot of accessories for these guys.

The only figure in the set without a dual sided head is Cyclops. The detailing on Storm is fantastic including the painted legs. Wolverine's goggles can be used with the mask or even the hairpiece.

FINAL THOUGHTS:

There's a part of me that looks at this set and sees the disappointing Sentinel and Blackbird and the lame looking Magneto and thinks it's a loser. The larger part of me looks at the fact that LEGO is not releasing X-Men sets consistently. So far there have been only 2 X-Men sets and the previous one blew up. I feel like this set is a slow burner. In a year, people will realize there's not another X-Men set coming and go after this one. This set has lingered a long time, but I think it's just because no one has confidence. They feel like this one is overpriced, so aren't putting money into it. When X-Men Apocalypse comes out, featuring most of these characters, it will disappear from retail.

Plus, how inaccurate can it be? it looks like this toy from the 90's (gag)

EXTRA PIECES:

You get an extra missile and claws plus the standard small pieces

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[wolvergeek]

Lego needs to stop designing their products after old toy pictures and design from the comic book art. Between this Blackbird and the AOH set where they duplicated an 80's toy picture (with the wrong number of generator tubes).