Review: Marvel Legends Ultra Deluxe Sentinel from X-Men 97
- Mephitsu
- 3 hours ago
- 6 min read
"I made the Sentinels to protect normal people. 'Now I am become Death.'"
Collectors of the Marvel Legends line from Hasbro had been granted access to some significantly sized characters over recent years through the HasLab program, including Giant Man, Galactus and a Sentinel. HasLab offerings were always something that needed to be paid for upfront, a year or more out from actually receiving the product. That scenario shifted in 2024 when the Marvel Legends team announced a range of Ultra Deluxe figures. While not at the same complexity or size as HasLab offerings, these were considerably larger articulated figures to complement the Legends line, and unlike HasLab, these figures could be pre-ordered, and payment was not taken until the item shipped, approximately a year or so after the pre-order window closed.
The first of these Ultra Deluxe releases was a Dragon Man from the Fantastic Four, and soon after the announcement was made that this line would then be tackling a Sentinel as seen in the X-Men 97 animated series.
The Marvel Legends X-Men ‘97 Sentinel was finally shipped out to collectors in late November 2025, arriving in an outer shipping box and a second inner protective box. The Sentinel itself sits in a full decor closed box with an imitation window that shows off the figure and contents as artwork. The Marvel Legends logo sits at the top left of the box, while the X-Men 97 logo is front and centre just under the faux-window and sitting above the name plate of ‘Marvel’s Sentinel’.
The right-hand side of the box carries another image of the Sentinel firing an energy beam. This image is headed with the X-Men 97 logo, with the Legends logo at the base. The opposite left side is a glorious montage of the X-Men 97 characters using artwork from the show. The back of the box shows the Sentinel figure posed in battle with several of the Marvel Legends X-Men 97 figures, including Rogue, Storm, Wolverine, and Cyclops. A full, and very retro style, checklist of the released characters to date sits at the base of the box reverse.
Inside our decorated box is a simple cardboard tray with an outer cover that can be lifted off and folded down. All of the Sentinel parts, and the figure itself, are in plastic bags and positioned in the tray. For our image here, we’ve removed the bags to show where everything fits (in truth, we were too eager to open it up). You can start to get a feel of the scale for the figure when you compare the box against a standard Marvel Legends release, such as Daredevil (our nearest box figure to hand) in the other image (above).
The original HasLab Sentinel, announced in 2020 and released in 2021, stood 26 inches tall and featured electronic functionality. In contrast, this 2025 release of the X-Men 97 Sentinel is a touch over 22 inches in height and is devoid of lights. This makes it the fourth-tallest Legends release from Hasbro behind the original Sentinel, Giant Man and Galactus.
One of the benefits of size is the ability to cast parts in the base colours, with much of the X-Men 97 Sentinel cast in either a Purple/Blue or in Pink/Red, replicating the look from the show, complete with exaggerated black lining around the neck and chest reactor. This reactor is a silver and grey circular piece that slots into the main torso.
The head features the same Pink/Red armoured elements as a helmet with darker red painted rivets. The face is open to replicate the pink face of the Sentinel with black trim and markings around the mouth and eyes, with the eyes themselves picked out in red.
To mirror some of the battle scenes during Season 1 of X-Men 97, the Sentinel features three swap-out parts to give the figure a damaged look. The first of these is a damaged helmet top and a different damaged face plate. These are swapped by taking off the top of the helmet, then slotting out the face plate to reveal the blank Sentinel workings within. The damaged face plate slots in the slot, and the damaged helmet goes back on over the top. The face plate sees the sculpt expose the figure's left eye in a Terminator-esque finish and also adds damage to the mouth with visible cabling beneath. There is also damage added to the face and to the helmet, with the constructed materials visible underneath.
You can also change the central chest reactor, clicking off the working version to reveal the inner workings which are sculpted and painted and present an option of their own for display. The damaged version slots back in over the top and features scorching effects, and damage to the outer grill to expose the reactor within, and with two cables in red and yellow now snaking out.
The other accessories are blast effect pieces which are in three different parts and are designed to slot into sockets on the Sentinel’s palms. The blasts start with a lighter translucent yellow ‘splash’, into which a smaller orange ‘splash’ can be seated. The piece is completed with the ‘flame’ section in a translucent red. Using the three component parts means you can use all or some of the FX pieces to your own satisfaction, leaving out the outer or inner splashes and using the blast ‘flame’ only as the only piece that has the socket to slot into the hands.
The original HasLab Sentinel boasts 72 points of articulation. This Ultra Deluxe version has 50, which itself is impressive compared to a standard Marvel Legends figure. Much of the articulation is found in the hands with 3 joints per finger, so 15 on each hand and 30 in total. This allows the hands to close into fists, open to deploy the energy blasts, or be used to grip other figures.
The remaining 20 points are across a more standardised level of articulation, with the legs featuring ankle rockers, jointed knees, a thigh swivel, and a hip joint. Similarly, the arms have a wrist joint, elbow joint, bicep swivel, and shoulder joint. The final articulation is found on the torso with a waist ball swivel, and a ball joint neck connecting to the head.
All the joints are robust and ratcheted to support such a massive figure in standing and across quite a wide range of poses, including dynamic battle stances, firing positions with the energy weapons, and even holding other Marvel Legends in the hands. It is in the hands that there is possibly a longer-term weakness, as the fingers are not ratcheted, and overuse may see these start to lose their grip.
X-Men 97 figures not included
You do have to accept that figure of this height and bulk is going to have restrictions in its movement, but it does what it intends to do and becomes a centrepiece for a Marvel Legends X-Men 97 display, posing beautifully with the X-Men swarming around it and fighting it as they do in the show. Yes, it is arguably a lot smaller than the ones we see on screen - but the size feels perfectly adequate, and any bigger would start to pose problems for display and storage in many people’s collections.
X-Men 97 figures not included (Bastion is a Custom Figure)
The Marvel Legends Ultra Deluxe Sentinel was priced at £185.99 in the UK, but as mentioned earlier, this had to be pre-ordered back in October 2024, and payment was not taken until dispatch, giving collectors a year to save the money for this showpiece addition to their collection. The format is certainly a welcome interim position between the standard legends and their largest Deluxe and BAF releases, and the cost heavy invested HasLab’s with their usual bells and whistles. It will be interesting to see where this line heads next, with the subsequent release after the Sentinel and Dragon Man being a new Mephisto and Infernal Throne. Would this line support further 20-inch-sized figures, such as a Galactus or a Fin Fang Foom - and would the line ever be viable for an MCU release, again, such as Galactus or a properly sized giant Ant-Man?
X-Men 97 figures not included
Keep Track of all the Marvel Legends figures from Hasbro at our comprehensive
If you are reading this via a 3rd party website that is importing our newsfeed, please come and visit us directly and give us a follow on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Check out our direct news feed for more action figure news, reviews, and store reports
About Me : As a child of the 70's and 80's I grew up in a golden age for action figures and in my youth bought and sold myself through collections of Star Wars, G.I. Joe (Action Force) and M.A.S.K. while also dabbling in He-Man, Transformers and Ghostbusters. Roll forward and I am now reliving that Youth with the action figures of today and am a collector and fan of the larger 6-8 inch figures from my favourite movie and TV licences - including the ones mentioned above, but also the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Doctor Who and the Aliens. I launched The Mephitsu Archives in 2015 with a view of creating a UK focused site or these figures where fans can pick up the latest action figure news, read reviews and get information on where to buy their figures and what is currently on store shelves. I hope I am delivering that to you guys...
Comments