Since his original “gimmick” was that he was the forgotten Marvel hero, maybe it makes sense Sentry would finally get a proper figure several waves later than intended.
As the Odin wave makes it’s way into stores this month, it brings with it….well, kind of a mixed bag of executions. Long awaited characters like modern Hawkeye and Machine Man are welcome additions, Scarlet Witch and Sentry re-doing lukewarm ToyBiz versions, a slightly tweaked Thor, and then we get a nice looking Iron Fist on a base body that needs to be at the bottom of the sea.
Sentry is an upgrade from the never-quite-reused-right Black Panther body, to the much bigger and cleaner-sculpted Hyperion body. This is likely due to his intended inclusion in Hyperion’s wave as the swap-in figure.
As a base body choice, I generally like the use of this one. Sentry was probably a better candidate for that “middle” body we just haven’t had yet, something between Bucky Cap and this one, but being as he’s a powerhouse and all, it doesn’t feel particularly over-sized.
He is a bit soft in the sculpting, though. While the costume itself is by design pretty standard, so it doesn’t offer a lot of opportunity, Sentry lacks some of the visual pop that other iterations of this body have. One place that could lend itself to some better detail and execution is the cape. Using the same cape pegs as his predecessor, who had two pieces that made up his, Hyperion’s cape just plugs into the bottom peg. It sucks. Being a very minimal new-parts figure, adding a collar to attach to would have been a great addition, as opposed to, you know, painting his shoulders blue.
The headsculpt is much, much better than the previous two ToyBiz attempts, though, and the belt, while simple, is a nice touch.
On the upside of using the unchanged Hyperion body is that the articulation is excellent. All the necessary points are accounted for, and the range of motion in them is very good. This is especially true of this figure’s wide ab-joints and unrestricted shoulders. The neck suffers a bit from the hard sculpt of Sentry’s hair, but it’s still there.
So was Sentry worth the wait? That’s on you, and how prominently Sentry figures into your Marvel lineup. He is a much better match for the current crop of Avengers were getting, so if he is a necessary character to line out your roster, he’ll do a much better job than his predecessor. If it’s more about filling out the parts for Odin, though, I’m a little more partial to his Avenging Ally box-mate. If you’re still on the fence, though, definitely check out Robo’s video review on the Fwooshtube channel!
