Mega Man: Facts & Figures – Sentinel MegaMan.EXE Review

by Alexx

Hello, and welcome! I’m your host today; you can call me Alexx. I’ve been collecting Mega Man toys and figures for years now, and before that, I was dreaming of a solid action figure line for one of my favorite video games series. We’ve never gotten a dedicated line that lasted more than a wave or two (and hit anything but a couple Robot Masters), but one company looks to be on the way to changing that: Sentinel! You may remember them for manufacturing TruForce Collectables’ amazing Mega Man X figure. 

Now Sentinel is producing their own Mega Man figures in the form of a toyline called “4 Inch-Nel,” which lives up to its name in size. They started with Mega Man, showed further Mega Man variants –- and are even releasing Cut Man! So there’s hope floating around the fandom for more Robot Masters.

On top of that, they’ve also begun producing MegaMan.EXE and variants (as well as recently showing off an in-scale statue of Lan, who comes with extra parts for the figure we’ll be looking at today).

And here he is! MegaMan.EXE, from Mega Man Battle Network. I’m not here to go over the games, but I will cover a shorthand history on the toys: There were actually quite a few decent ones! The U.S. got a solid toyline of basic articulated figures by Mattel. They weren’t much beyond old fashioned cut joints at the shoulders and hips, along with knee and elbow joints, but this made them solid and sturdy for play. I only managed to pick up FireMan (aka TorchMan), at the time (and I couldn’t find the poor thing for this review) but I do regret not picking up more of the NetNavi viruses. Beyond that, Bandai produced model kits in Japan (that you may have seen at local import shops) and a series called “Rockin’ Action,” which you’ll see later in this review. 

Mega Man Battle Network was all over the place in many forms, in its heyday, so while it wasn’t one of those “dream toylines” for me, it still produced a number of fantastic designs that continue to deserve a shot at being made in physical form.

This figure in particular is a much welcomed replacement to my old Rockin’ Action figures, but you’ll see why later. Let’s begin!

Here we have the basic MegaMan.EXE, as you’d see him on the world map (well, the Internet world map, anyway). The first thing you should notice is detail! I had thought my older MegaMan.EXE figures were right off the game, but this one really does jump right from the artwork! Not a single proportion is out of place, to my eye. Paintwork is on point as well. One thing I always look for is cleanly painted eyes, and wow, take a look at ‘em! They look good from any angle.

Still, I’ve never been much of a detail man. I certainly want everything in its place, but the most important part to an articulated toy is the articulation!

In my style of reviews, I don’t always go over articulation in detail; mostly because I cover a lot of standard toys with articulation any collector would expect. Sentinel, however, does some interesting stuff that is definitely worthy of mention.

We get some wrists that twist and move side to side, which is nice, but not super important with just fists. The elbows are double jointed, so you can get them all the way in to touch the shoulder. Very nice!

Now, the shoulders are something you need to see! If you’re not familiar with standard toy mechanics: The shoulders and hips can make or break a figure. I don’t have the 4 Inch-Nel Mega Man, but if you’ve seen pictures, you can see an unsightly cut on the chest to allow the arms to move across the chest. With MegaMan.EXE, we get the same motion, but without the ugly cut! The pegs of the shoulder go down into the body. Here, let me show you:

This joint allows for all the motions you’d want from a shoulder without cutting the body! Trust me, it’s awesome when it comes to toys.

Now… you don’t need him to relax on a couch, but don’t you feel better knowing that you can if you want to? I know it helps me sleep at night.

When we move down to the torso, we can see a joint in the chest and one at the waist. They allow for forward and back movement, as well as side to side. It’s nice, because the double joints work to eliminate the problem of the large backpack stopping him from bending back.  Other than that, you can also do a standard twist at the waist. 

This is another one that is hard to point out unless I take it apart: It’s not broken! I repeat: Not broken! I just wanted you to see the basic ball joint inside. It’s on a “T” and attached to the torso with the crotch piece floating in between, so it doesn’t get in the way while moving the legs (that’s why the ball looks so close to the top). The leg has a twisting joint at the thigh, so you can move him how you like with little work involved.

Standing on one foot is a good sign that you’ve got a great figure!

The ankles move forward and back and side to side, or a “rocker ankle.”  Great for dynamic poses!

The backs of the knees show off the double joints. They’re a little garish, but get the job done, and you don’t see them often, since they’re on the back. You’ll appreciate them regardless of the look, when you move him around!

There aren’t many figures in this scale that can easily do this!

That’s about it for articulation, and while I highly praise it, I have one complaint: What’s with the glaring metal pins at all the joints? That’s something you don’t see everyday, on action figures. They’re very obvious and work to break up the sculpt, almost more than the articulation cuts. I’m sure there’s an explanation that makes sense, but I still have to question it, especially since you don’t see that very often.

Still…. it’s a small complaint, compared to the whole package. I feel like I have to mention it, because they’re so obvious, but when you have the figure in hand and mess around with him, you’ll find yourself noticing it less than in pictures.

So let’s get to the meat!

We’ve actually got a small number of items for MegaMan.EXE: The Sword Chip arm, his standard Mega Buster, and two faceplates (regular and battle mode).

Swapping his face is a small process, but a simple one. They even show you how to do it with on the inside flap of the box:

Just pull off his “ears”, slide the face down, and swap in the other one. Each “ear” only fits to one specific side, so you can’t mix them up. Once you put it back together, you can feel free to move the head around without worrying about the parts falling off. It’s nice and sturdy!

Now this is a minor problem. The peg for his arm is tiny. You don’t have to worry about the peg itself breaking (at least, from what I can tell), but the cut joint at the bicep did pull out when I was swapping the arms. I believe it was a fluke isolated to my figure, but be warned all the same. I put a minuscule dab of super glue in the hole of the bicep and put it back on. The joint moves just fine and has survived multiple counts of posing, including this whole review. Still, I’d hold the bicep when swapping the arms. You don’t have to put too much pressure on it, and it doesn’t strike fear into my heart whenever I’m swapping, so I’m happy in the long run.

The buster is small, but correctly sized to the artwork, and looks awesome (it doesn’t light up; I just aimed a laser pointer at it for the effect).

The Sword Chip arm swaps on the same way, and is my personal favorite. At first, I was disappointed that it was molded with the flat of the blade facing forward, but then I found out that there’s a swivel joint at the base:

Great attention to detail!

Now that we’ve got the accessories out of the way, let’s take a look at some comparison shots.

Here we have the aforementioned “Rockin’ Action” figures, from Bandai. These were my top favorites, in terms of Battle Network and just toys in general. Sadly…

…they were brittle. Very brittle. It didn’t happen through use, either. It was all due to time; the plastic used on the joints couldn’t stand being in existence for too long, to the point where I’ve seen semi-recent reviews of never-opened figures breaking right out of the package. You’ve been warned! 

It was sad, too, because they were very good figures! They could be pulled apart at all the limbs and mixed around, they came with a ton of Battle Chip weapons for any figure’s arms, and they were super articulated. The only good things to come out of the line were the enemies and ProtoMan.EXE and Bass.EXE. For some reason, those two have stood the test of time without breaking, and I’m still messing with them to this day.

I did try to use the weapon arms from the “Rockin’ Action” figures on the current figure, but they are completely incompatible unless you stick them on with sticky tack or something. An expected result, but still kinda disappointing. I couldn’t find a single easy way to use them without drilling out the peg holes to fit the new figure’s whole arm.

Now, before we leave Comparison Town, we should take a look at the size compared to other figures:

Here’s a vintage G.I. Joe and a World of Nintendo Link. If you collect the World of Nintendo line, MegaMan.EXE will fit right in! He’s still a little taller than a G.I. Joe, but current figures are a bit larger, so if you absolutely need him taking out Cobra, he’ll still work.

D-Arts, on the other hand, are fairly large compared to 4 Inch-Nel figures — even the smaller D-Arts Mega Man. If you’ve already got a ton of D-Arts, I think MegaMan.EXE will feel out of place unless you’ve just got a general Mega Man collection. If Sentinel continues to make Mega Man figures (and broadens the scope) then he’ll most likely fit in with everything else that’s 4 Inch-Nel, so no problems there.

Now it’s time to wind down the review. The last piece is what I believe to be a standard Sentinel stand –- I only have the TruForce Mega Man X figure to be able to tell if it’s standard, but I’ve heard that these stands come with other Sentinel figures as well. If you have the TruForce Mega Man X, then you should be familiar!  If not:

The top comes off, and the posing arm can be placed anywhere around the edge of the base. It’s sturdy and easy to use, though a tad large for a 4 inch figure. 

The top comes off so you can (I assume) print and place whatever you want underneath for a display, so I printed out the game’s battle-mode panels (from your friendly neighborhood Sprites Inc.) and popped it inside.

The arm holds him secure, and if you have other stands, you can use the arms from those as well for more options:

Remember, though: MegaMan.EXE only comes with one of those posing arms.

That’s all there is to tell! This figure will put you back about $40, which might be a big negative for you. Everything was all sunny, and then I mention that something this small is forty dollars!  Why? 

Well, I’m not an expert in the toy industry, but I do collect a lot of toys, and I’d say that’s about the right price for the articulation, paint, and detail involved. Even when you’re making something so small, if you add all that articulation and nice paint (and it is very nice) then you’re going to run up factory prices pretty quick. Quality costs you, and this is quality. High-end figures might not be for everyone, but if you’re going to spend the money, I wouldn’t worry about buying this and keeping it around for a long while. I’ve been moving him around since I got him, and I haven’t loosened any joints or felt like I was going to break anything. If there’s one thing I want out of an expensive figure, it’s the ability to move it without fear. I feel like I’ve got that with this figure.

You be the judge! He moves well, is fun to play with, looks amazing, and employs some innovative joints to get you the best MegaMan.EXE you can get, in a tiny little package. Hand candy at its best. I call this a buy.

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Alexx is a member of The Mega Man Network’s User Content Submission System, and the views expressed here reflect the views of the authors alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Mega Man Network.