NECA TRU Exclusive Gears of War 3 Theron Sentinel Review

NECA’s batch of Toys “R” Us exclusives are finding their way into stores nationwide.  The Gears of War 3 “Best Of” exclusive series features a new Cog Soldier and two variations of the Theron Sentinel.  Our review today will be one of the variations of the Theron Sentinel, I’m not quite sure which one it is because I don’t think they have names.  If I had to name this one, though, it would definitely be a Larry.  Mostly because I picture a friend of mine’s dad with the same name wearing these robes as he enters the secret sex toy room in his house.

NECA TRU Exclusive Theron Sentinel

If you are a Gears of War fan you probably know what you are getting into with this guy as he is a repaint.  I’ve only ever bought one Gears of War figure and that was Carmine.  Why Carmine?  Why not?  Actually I’m not the hugest fan of the Gears of War series, as it progressed I progressively lost interest.  Carmine always stuck out to me as a fun character though and I like the mystery of a guy in a mask, and the fact that the Gears of War 3 figures are really well done.  The Theron Sentinel marks my second foray into the Gears of War action figure scene, and while he doesn’t have the articulation of Carmine he certainly has a ton of detail.

NECA TRU Exclusive Theron Sentinel

These Therons are big dudes, a little short of eight inches tall so they stand up with some of the tallest NECA video game figures.  The Theron Sentinel comes in two variations with different heads, I’m not sure how to describe the different heads so again the one I have is Larry.  Larry does not believe that eyesight is a necessary thing so he wears a helmet that covers his eyes.  I think bugs, or grubs as they call them in Gears of War, don’t necessarily need to see and rely on their other senses so I guess that makes sense.

NECA TRU Exclusive Theron Sentinel
So do I hold it sideways … like a gangter?

It wouldn’t be Gears of War without obnoxiously large boots and the Theron delivers.  His boots are strapped together by belts with huge chunks of red armor.  I can only imagine the amount of prep time the Therons need to get ready for battle, I count twelve belts just on his boots.  If I do a count of his entire armor there are over 35 belts strapping his armor in, and possibly more hidden ones.  A good majority of his belts are on his back and there is no way battle preparation for a Theron isn’t a two-person project.

NECA TRU Exclusive Theron Sentinel
Would you put that thing down, it’s gross!

Now this isn’t NECA’s fault that the Theron has so many belts, that blame goes directly to the EPIC design team.  NECA did a fantastic job getting every little unnecessary detail into the Theron Sentinel’s armor.  Every little detail is sculpted and painted into this guy and you can find yourself just looking over the armor and admiring how much detail is truly there.

NECA TRU Exclusive Theron Sentinel
A gift!

Where this figure falls a little flat is the articulation.  The actual main characters, especially in the GOW3 wave, have so much articulation that it makes you want more.  This figure is a repaint of a sculpt that was done prior to the third game so it still has a more dated articulation scheme.  While limited, the articulation is still not bad.  The only drastic improvement I think they could have made is adding ball or swivel joints to the hips.  He currently rocks a v-crotch, which if they even did something similar to Gordon Freeman and added a swivel to the “V” it would have opened him up quite a bit.

NECA TRU Exclusive Theron Sentinel

The Theron Sentinel comes with one weapon, the torque bow.  One nice thing about Gears of War stuff is that the weapons are interchangeable since in the game you pick up dead guy’s guns anyway.  So I think it is a great fit for my Carmine, but that is mostly because I can’t find his Lancer.  If you have collected this line for a while you probably have a nice arsenal of GOW weapons.

NECA TRU Exclusive Theron Sentinel

The Theron Sentinel is a nice display figure.  I’d imagine if I had been on the Gears of War toy collection since the beginning I may be more critical of him.  However I think he is a solid figure that could benefit from better articulation.  By far the best thing about him is the level of detail in the paint and sculpt, you really do not see that kind of work on the shelves these days.

As it is an exclusive, you will need to go to Toys “R” Us to pick up any of the “Best Of” exclusive wave.  However if you are looking to shop online for some other NECA Gears of War figures, here are a few suggestions:

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3 thoughts on “NECA TRU Exclusive Gears of War 3 Theron Sentinel Review”

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  3. Pingback: IAT’s Review Roundup (Nov 12th-25th) | DoomKick.com

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