LEGO knows how to make money better than any other toy company on Earth, so even though their sole LEGO Marvel X-Men set wasn’t scheduled to be released until June/July 2014, there was no way that LEGO was going to miss out on the chance of moving the set more quickly by having it out in time for the release of the X-Men Days of Future Past movie debut. I spotted the LEGO X-Men vs. The Sentinel 76022 set unexpectedly last week before the movie premiered, but ended up not picking it up myself due to the outrageous amount of money LEGO and other Marvel licensees have already gotten from me this month. Luckily, it turns out that the set may actually be worth its price…

I know that this will disappoint some people, but LEGO does not have a licensing agreement with FOX and is never, ever going to make LEGO X-Men movie toys and minifigures. That said, they do have the rights to make any Marvel comics-based characters they want as part of LEGO sets.

So while we may never get LEGO Hugh Jackman and Halle Berry minifigures, that doesn’t mean LEGO would forgo the chance to cash in on one of the summer’s hottest movies. Thus, while nothing in the 76022 LEGO X-Men vs. The Sentinel set will look quite like it did in the new movie, LEGO has still given us a Summer 2014 LEGO Marvel X-Men set that is very heavily influenced by the content of this summer’s X-Men Days of Future Past movie.

Most X-Men fans are going to be more interested in the LEGO X-Men figures included in this set than anything else, and those fans are in for a real treat, as this set includes the best selection of LEGO X-Men minifigures ever (not that there’s much competition, seeing as how this is only the second LEGO Marvel X-Men set).

The set includes a LEGO Wolverine (Brown Costume) minifigure, a LEGO Storm minifigure, a LEGO Cyclops minifigure, and a LEGO Magneto minifigure (in his old Xavier School Headmaster costume). The dual-color lightning bolt attachments that Storm comes with look super cool, and it’s exciting to get LEGO minifigures of Storm and Cyclops for the first time.

There’s also a fifth figure included, but no one could call it a mini figure: the first-ever LEGO Sentinel figure! My preference is always for the classic blue and fuschia color scheme for Sentinels, but this Sentinel LEGO figure looks alright even with the pink/purple colors. He’s brick-built and easily four times the size of a typical LEGO minifigure, so the Sentinel makes quite as imposing foe for your LEGO X-Men minifigures to face off with.

The Blackbird LEGO vehicle is actually quite impressive-looking, and shows very few exterior studs. Like many of the better-looking LEGO Star Wars vehicles, the LEGO Blackbird jet is much smoother and sleeker than vintage LEGO collectors may be expecting. The front hatch and the body of the LEGO 76022 Blackbird open up so you can see inside and place your minifigures.

Perhaps the coolest feature, however, are the spring-loaded missiles! The missile launchers are ordinarily hidden away, but a hinge allows them to come up and forward to blast the LEGO Sentinel. Gone are the day of weak, lame “flickfire” missiles–the new-for-2014 spring-loaded missile launchers really shoot!

The set has a couple of downsides, but I maintain that the primary one is the price-tag. Even with there being some large and unique pieces in this set, $49.99 for a set with 336 pieces is still pretty extreme. If you can wait until a sale to snag this set, you may be better-served.

In addition, Cyclops has only one facial expression and no reversible head–so he’s permanently going to have that bland, half-smiling expression on his face. There’s also a sort of tool box all the way in the back of the cabin of the LEGO Blackbird jet, but the way the set has been engineered, you can’t actually open the toolbox without removing the back seat entirely. That’s a rare design oversight on LEGO’s part that I’m surprised by.

The 76022 LEGO Marvel X-Men vs. The Sentinel set is part of the LEGO Marvel Summer 2014 wave. Thus far it’s only shown up at Toys R Us and LEGO Stores, but it should hit all major retailers in the next week or so. Huge thanks to the Dave M. for sending in his photos and impressions of the completed LEGO X-Men vs. The Sentinel 76022 set!

What do you think, Marvel fans? Is this very movie-inspired classic X-Men LEGO set right up your alley, or will you be passing on LEGO’s finest X-Men work to date?