For some reason this question just occurred to me. The sentinel robots in the X-men are 20 or 50 feet tall. Why so big? They are for the most part after human size mutants and they can't move too fast. It'd be like me trying to catch a mouse running along the floor. Why did they make them so big?

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  • That's a really good question. You'd think they would be really extra scary to the non-mutant humans who see them as protection. Imagine how scary they would be to children and old ladies.

  • I'm guessing that's all there is to it: Stan and Jack just wanted them to look scary. If it helps, Sentinel tech keeps getting smaller and smaller. The Nimrod series was all human-sized, and after that someone launched Sentinel swarms, tiny drone robots that swarmed mutants and neutralized them somehow. Actually, to me, the insectoid Sentinels are a lot scarier, as they are more inescapable than -- as Mark pointed out -- gigantic robots that aren't very maneuverable. Also, I don't like to think about how the swarms disabled mutants. (Stings? Bites? CRAWLING INTO THEIR EARS AND LAYING EGGS??!!!??)

    Another good question is: Why are they various shades of purple? The real-world answer there is that purple is a secondary color, which was traditionally used for villains in Golden and Silver Age villains so they'd contrast with the heroes, who traditionally wore primary colors. But in-story, there's no real good reason to use tons and tons of purple paint on robots. It's not like they have a well-developed fashion sense.

  • Captain Comics said:

    Another good question is: Why are they various shades of purple?

    OMG, Cap! If you hadn't answered that question yourself, I was going to put up a link to the essay about comic book coloring you posted yesterday! :P

  • I wasn't sure anybody read that!

  • I'm thinking that as a design by Jack Kirby, the robot Sentinels represented the state of robotics at the time...1964, right? At this time, robots had always been depicted as large and clunky...think "Robby the Robot" from Forbiden Planet  and the Robot from Lost in Space.  Also, there needed to be a man inside to make many of those suits function in movies. Therefore, they looked and functioned much like the original Iron Man suit would have looked. Large, Metal, clunky, bulky, and larger than a man. (Remember R2D2 and CP3O were light years away yet....)

    It appears quite clearly in the original Sentinel's story (X-men #14-15-16) that the basic Sentinel model was but a drone to service the queen bee...'Master Mold' who ruled or coordinated the whole thing. So, their hidden HQ was basically a bee-hive.  And the massive image of this Celestial-sized robot on his throne may have been intended to be imposing like God on his throne or Santa Claus or a King...etc.

    As far as their ability to be large and move fast, see the second appearance of the Sentinels, (X-men #56-57-58-59) where Neal Adams refined them to be fast-moving hunters, who could react to mutants with speed and surprise.   The next time they show up is in Avengers #105 or so, and they appear to move quite easily, only slightly larger than a man, and the image of climbing out of a volcano crater, again calls to mind a beehive or a compact HQ where they use stealth and guile to hide and begin their assault.   

    Until they appear again in about X-men #97-99 or so, they aren't terribly large or slow. But the image in Falcon #2 or 3 minieseries is again one of speed and surprise.  So I wouldn't say we should assume just because they are larger than human size that they are slow. or dumb.



    Wandering Sensei: Emeritus said:

    That's a really good question. You'd think they would be really extra scary to the non-mutant humans who see them as protection. Imagine how scary they would be to children and old ladies.

  • They are scary. On thought that occurred to me was that the size was needed for the power source and mechanical gears. They were certainly effective battle robots over the years and scary enough. I remember Nimrod but I've never seen the insect ones. Looking at those and all of the other weapons the US and anti-mutant foes have come up with from bio-warfare to internment camps the sentinel robots from back then look almost quaint.

  • Post the link, Jeff.   I just went looking for it, and it's SO good that it deserves more exposure.  How about a permanent link or archieval place of honor??!!!

    Jeff of Earth-J said:

    Captain Comics said:

    Another good question is: Why are they various shades of purple?

    OMG, Cap! If you hadn't answered that question yourself, I was going to put up a link to the essay about comic book coloring you posted yesterday! :P



  • Kirk G said:

    I wouldn't say we should assume just because they are larger than human size that they are slow. or dumb.

     

    You're right, Kirk. I remember a scene -- it must have been in X-Men #56-59, because I see it in my head drawn by Neal Adams -- where a Sentinel was essentially catching Quicksilver.

  • My assumption was simply,(along the same lines as Mark said) back in the 60s, they were basically prototypes meant to take on any mutants they ran in to with a variety of powers. So you had steel cables, you had freeze jets, you had steam pipes to take down Iceman, you had blasters in the hands and jets in the boots. Basically what I am saying is, all that crap had to go somewhere in there. ;)
  • Kirk G said:

    Post the link, Jeff.   I just went looking for it, and it's SO good that it deserves more exposure.

    Actually, he posted it Saturday; I read it yesterday. If anyone else is looking for it, it’s on page 10 of “The Baron Reads A Bunch of Comics With the Justice Society of America in Them” in the "In Depth Comics Discussions” forum.

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