Out of all 25 of those Empire covers we saw last night, I think the future version of the Sentinel garnered the most backlash. Well now production designer John Mayhre offers an explanation as to the robot's vastly altered appearance. Find out what he has to say after the jump.

"They’re biomechanical weapons. We had to come up with what would be the ultimate version that could actually, in principle, stop the X-Men. We started with this idea that they were almost made up of magnetic plates slapped over one another, imagining that the plates could contract or grow, so the Sentinel can be skinny to get through a small space or the plates can open up to become a bigger shape. So they have become virtually unstoppable."

The final Empire cover reveal was that of the "Future Sentinel", and I think it's safe to say the design of this mutant hunting machine didn't go over too well with most CBMers. Personally I don't really mind the look, though it obviously differs a great deal from the Sentinels we're used to seeing in the comics. There seems to be a bit of a Nimrod (the advanced sentinel from thecomic) influence in there so I'm cool with that. Anyway, production designer John Mayhre chats to Empire about the new look, giving us an idea of what these things will be capable of while he's at it.Satisfied by that? Just in case you missed any yesterday, you can see all 25 covers below.