Sentinel Prime

Sentinel Prime is the name of several fictional characters in the various Transformers series. First mention of Sentinel Prime was in issue #65 of the US Marvel Comics Transformers series, where he was mentioned to hold the Autobot Matrix of Leadership before Optimus Prime. Sentinel Prime has since appeared in a variety of forms as either Optimus Prime's mentor or friend. Fun Publications has also had a character in their comic called Sentinel Major, who is based on the Transformers Animated version of Sentinel Prime.

Generation 1 cartoon
Sentinel Major was originally one of the Quintessons' slave robots on Cybertron around twelve million years ago. Unusual among his consumer goods brethren, Sentinel Major was equipped for combat and was forced to participate in gladiatorial games for the Quintessons' amusement, wielding a spiked ball-and-chain weapon and a tire-shaped shield. He was once defeated in battle by Prima, who attacked their Quintesson masters when their match was over, only to be destroyed himself.

Subsequently, the consumer goods robots rose up against the Quintessons in a rebellion that ultimately forced the aliens off the planet. Sentinel Major survived this clash, but he and the rest of his race—now dubbed "Autobots"—were robbed of any chance of peace when the military hardware robots, now known as "Decepticons", set their sights on conquering Cybertron for themselves. Two Autobot leaders fell during the war that ensued, and Sentinel Major inherited the Matrix of Leadership and became Sentinel Prime, leader of the Autobots. Under his leadership, the Autobots realized that they would never be able to defeat the Decepticons with firepower, and they turned instead to stealth, reconfiguring their bodies to be able to transform into other forms. With the power of his new ability, Sentinel Prime defeated the Decepticons' leader, and the Autobots won the war.

The ensuing period of peace was known as the Golden Age of Cybertron, but, around nine million years BC, the Decepticon threat re-emerged when they too adopted transformation, and coupled it with robot-mode flight powers. One of the first of this new breed of Decepticons, the malevolent Megatron, killed Sentinel Prime in combat. As he died, the Sentinel Prime handed off the Matrix to Alpha Trion, who kept it safe until the emergence of the next Autobot leader, Optimus Prime.

When Rodimus Prime journeyed into the Matrix in 2005, Sentinel Prime was the sixth guide he encountered. Sentinel Prime recounted the development of transformation, the Autobot victory in the war and the rise of Megatron.

Marvel Comics
Sentinel Prime originates from the original Marvel Comics Transformers series. Sentinel is the immediate predecessor of Optimus Prime, and was killed in battle on Cybertron. He is glimpsed in issue #150 of the UK comic, passing the Autobot Matrix of Leadership on to Optimus Prime. It was not made clear in this continuity who or what caused his death. His appearance resembles Rodimus Prime.

His name is taken from issue U.S. #65 (UK #290) in which all the past Matrix holders are listed and he precedes Optimus Prime.

Dreamwave Productions
Sentinel Prime died during the early stages of the civil war on Cybertron, supposedly killed by Megatron in single combat. In this continuity, at the time of his death, Sentinel Prime was not in possession of the Matrix.

The only image of him is a yellow hand as seen in the first issue of Dreamwave Productions' The War Within. When Megatron later battled Optimus Prime for the first time, he states that Sentinel tried to talk him out of his evil ways.

IDW Publishing
Sentinel Prime receives a bit more history in the IDW Publishing's 4-issue miniseries, The Transformers: Megatron Origin. After Megatron's attack on an Autobot senator and subsequent escape, current Autobot leader, Sentinel Prime vowed to hunt them down, despite his lack of concern over the senator's fate. Sentinel took a direct interest in the underground bloodsports that Megatron was involved in, determined to shut them down and declared that Megatron "will hang". Megatron's followers were eventually captured by Sentinel's forces and Sentinel taunts Megatron before imprisoning him. However, the apprehension of the Decepticons turned out to be part of Megatron's ruse. Starscream and Soundwave killed the Autobot Senate, and a full scale revolution erupted in Kaon. Desperate to stop them, Prime donned Apex armor and confronted Megatron, but was defeated and beaten to within an inch of life by the Decepticon leader. Note: Sentinel's name was initially spelled as Sentinal Prime, later revealed to be a mis-print introduced at the lettering phase.

A glimpse of Sentinel Prime was also seen in The Transformers: Spotlight issue featuring Optimus Prime. He is again the Matrix-holder preceding Optimus Prime, and succeeding Nova Prime. In bonus art following the story, Sentinel's alternate mode was revealed as a yellow and orange Cybertronian truck. In Spotlight: Blurr (November 2008), it is revealed in between Sentinel and Optimus, there was a Prime named Zeta.

Transformers Animated
In the series Transformers Animated, Sentinel Prime is a hotheaded member of the Cybertron Elite Guard. Sentinel's main weapon is a shield called the Skyboom Shield, that is able to generate force fields and can be used offensively when thrown. He also wields a laser lance, and can activate a battle mask when needed.

In December 2007, drawings were leaked on the internet of Sentinel Prime's vehicle appearance in the Transformers Animated television series. He turns into a snow plow truck. Derrick Wyatt stated that the character was originally meant to be named Rodimus Prime, after Optimus Prime's G1 Successor. However, the idea of Rodimus being portrayed as arrogant and rude was dropped in favor of Sentinel Prime. An interesting note is that Sentinel's robot mode looks a lot like The Tick, which was a result of Townsend Coleman (the voice of the animated Tick) being cast in the role.

Animated series
Once known as Sentinel Minor, he was the drill sergeant training Bumblebee, Wasp, Bulkhead, Longarm and Ironhide, who were recruited into the Autobots. When it appeared that Wasp was a secret Decepticon spy Sentinel Prime arrested the innocent Autobot, not realizing it was Longarm who was the traitor. It was also revealed that he didn't like Ultra Magnus because of the recruits he is forced to train and was friends with Cliffjumper.

Sentinel Prime and Optimus Prime have been rivals since they attended the Autobot Academy together with Elita-1 (whom Sentinel had feelings for) as seen in a flashback in "Along Came a Spider." Things changed when Sentinel brought the others to an organic planet to find a lost Decepticon warship, only to be attacked by giant alien spiders that inhabited the planet and the ship exploded during the confrontation. In spite of Sentinel's pleas, Optimus was forced to leave Elita-1 on the notion that she was killed in the explosion, both unaware of her transformation to Blackarachnia. Since then, Sentinel never forgave Optimus for the incident and developed a racial fear of organics, believing that they'd all be the same as those spiders. During the inquiry, in which both he and Optimus were accused of going to an unauthorized organic planet, Optimus took full responsibility as the senior cadet, which led to his expulsion from Autobot Academy and barred from assuming any Elite Guard position. Sentinel on the other hand, who denied being the one who caused the chain of events, wasn't punished for his involvement and later rose to prominence in the Elite Guard.

At the beginning of the series, when Optimus tried to contact Autobot High Command, Sentinel refused to allow him to see Ultra Magnus until Optimus showed him the Allspark.

Sentinel Prime (alongside Ultra Magnus and Jazz) arrived on Earth to look for the Allspark. He had Prime's crew "decontaminated" from organic infestation. He didn't believe Prime's stories about the Allspark being destroyed or their encounters with Decepticons. He did end up attempting to fend off the Dinobots on Dinobot Island when he provoked them. After the incident at one of the factories owned by Isaac Sumdac (in which the fragment of the Allspark was the cause of this), Sentinel Prime threatened to make sure Optimus was charged with treason for destroying the Allspark, however Optimus had grown tired of Sentinel's arrogance and reminded him despite being an Elite Guard washout, he and Sentinel still shared equal rank and told him he was on "his turf now". Ultra Magnus stated to Sentinel Prime that he can learn a lot of things from Optimus Prime, such as loyalty.

In "Return of The Headmaster", Sentinel Prime got a lesson in humility after his body was taken by the Headmaster and he was forced into a partnership with Optimus to get it back.

In order to improve morale, Sentinel tried to force Optimus Prime to declare that they hadn't encountered any Decepticons, but Optimus refused to do so. Sentinel then tried to bribe him with re-entry into the Elite Guard; when he didn't comply, he placed Optimus into custody. Sentinel later refused to believe that Ultra Magnus and Jazz were walking into a Decepticon trap, so Optimus tricked him into a pair of stasis cuffs in order to save the day. Sentinel soon learned Prime was telling the truth when Starscream fell from the sky. It was shown that he choked up under pressure and fear at the sight of a Decepticon.

He appeared again chasing Wasp in space, even though it seems that he may have forgotten all about Wasp. It is also shown that since he can still use his Cybertronian vehicle mode while chasing Wasp. Unfortunately, he let Wasp get away when he fell off the suddenly activated Space Bridge.

Later, during the episode "Where Is Thy Sting?" he had Jetfire and Jetstorm following his orders to find Wasp. His dislike for the planet Earth and organics increases, as he finds himself unable to adapt to driving in the rain. He kept ignoring Optimus when he said that Longarm was the real traitor until Wasp confessed that he and Bumblebee switched appearances.

In "Five Servos of Doom" he had seemingly captured Sunstorm, Blitzwing, Lugnut, and Swindle (though he admitted that since Swindle was trapped in vehicle mode he simply had to pay a fine and have him towed) by himself. Optimus, Jazz, and Prowl were extremely doubtful that he could have accomplished such feats, and set out to find how he did it. After following Sentinel Prime it was revealed that it was Lockdown who was capturing the Decpticons and trading them to Sentinel for Autobot upgrades. After being betrayed by Lockdown, who was working for Ramjet, Sentinel ended up becoming the Clone's hostage and shield, taking most of the Autobots attacks on himself and ending up face-first in the ground. Optimus covered for Sentinel when reporting to Cybertron, giving credit for the captures to Prowl, but he assured Sentinel that they would "talk it out" when the crisis was over.

In "Predacons Rising" Bumblebee, Jetfire, Jetstorm, Optimus Prime and Sentinel Prime chased Wasp, but lost him to Swoop while bickering about what to do with him. Following Swoop to Dinobot Island, Sentinel encountered Blackarachnia, learning the truth about what happened to her as Elita-1. Disgusted by what had happened to her, Sentinel refused to accept her as the Elita he knew and attempts to kill her before Wasp (newly changed into Waspinator) intervened. After Blackarachnia sacrificed herself to save the Autobots from a transwarp energy-overloaded Waspinator, Sentinel expressed regret for what had happened to her, even taking blame for what had happened that day, and burying the hatchet with Optimus. Sentinel and the Elite Guard returned to Cybertron soon after, with Sentinel having to take command in the wake of Shockwave's attack on Ultra Magnus.

In "Decepticon Air" Sentinel interrogated the captive Decepticons for information concerning the recent Space Bridge attacks. Sentinel's ego and recent rise in ranks gets the better of him. In order to get back to Cybertron quickly so he can take over as the new Magnus, he ordered Jazz to take the ship through an ion storm. The resulting energy discharges free Swindle from his locked vehicle mode, which allowed the other Decepticons to take over the ship. Sentinel was forced to call for help, specifically for Optimus with a secret Academy code. The Decepticons were defeated and recaptured, though Swindle and Lugnut escaped. In gratitude, Sentinel offered Optimus the Eite Guard position he would have to vacate in order to become Magnus, but Optimus declined his offer, stating that there was still work to do on Earth. So he drops him off back to Earth, salutes to him then departs. On his return to Cybertron, Sentinel paraded the remaining Decepticons in front of the citizens before assuming command as the new Magnus.

In "This is Why I Hate Machines", Sentinel had apparently spread his hatred and fear of organics to all of Cybertron, as when Ratchet and police captain Fanzone arrive, nearly every Autobot who sees Fanzone is terrified. When Omega Supreme (piloted by Megatron, Starscream and Lugnut) transwarped to Cybertron, Sentinel ordered a full-scale assault on the colossus, only for the Autobot Council to deliberate whether to strike and possibly destroy Cybertron with it (as Ratchet had pointed out) or possibly miss a chance to end the Decepticon threat. Sentinel ignored the council's wishes to wait and prepared for a strike, claiming that as acting Magnus, he had to be prepared. However, he is chastised by Alpha Trion and Perceptor when his attack missed Omega, who had transwarped elsewhere. When Ratchet and Fanzone returned to Earth with the Magnus hammer, Jazz pretended to give pursuit, but instead chose to stay with the Earth team as Sentinel's bureaucracy had finally gone too far for him.

He was last seen in the third season finale, "Endgame, Part II", looking on at Optimus, Sari, the Autobots, Omega Supreme, the captured Megatron, Shockwave, and Lugnut, and Arcee with a jealous expression on his face.

IDW Publishing
Sentinel Prime appeared in the IDW Publishing Transformers Animated comic series.

Other media
Sentinel Prime appears among the characters in Re-Unification, the 2010 TFCon voice actor play prelude comic.

Toys

 * Animated Deluxe Sentinel Prime (2008)
 * A Deluxe class figure that transforms from snow plow truck to robot. Includes Energy Shield and Lance.


 * Animated TA-28 Deluxe Autobot Sentinel (Takara Tomy) (2010)
 * The Japan release version by Takara Tomy features silver wheels and a metallic finish on the truck body and snowplow. Released in Japan on July 2010.

Transformers
In the Transformers film series, Sentinel Prime is a legendary warrior thought to have been lost long ago. He once led an expedition that took him fourteen galactic convergences to get an echo of something. Sentinel Prime is Optimus Prime's direct predecessor, mentor, and father figure. His intention to restore Cybertron to its former glory after the war drove him mad and going against his ideals by siding with the Decepticons. Sentinel Prime is voiced by Leonard Nimoy, who previously did the voice of Galvatron in The Transformers: The Movie.

Movie plot
In Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, Sentinel Prime is briefly mentioned in the rambling speech given by Sam Witwicky while under an All Spark fragment-induced trance, with Sam mentioning a "mission" Sentinel led.

Sentinel Prime appears in Transformers: Dark of the Moon as the main antagonist, revealed as a rogue Autobot later in the film. Though it was believed that the Space Bridge technology he devised was to turn the tide of the war for the Autobot's benefit, Sentinel Prime made a deal with Megatron to rebuild Cybertron by finding an inhabitable world and to enslave its occupants. However, the Ark, Sentinel's ship, was hit during the war between the Autobots and Decepticons and it drifted through space until it eventually crashed on Earth's moon in 1961. Before the impact, Sentinel hid himself in the crash vault with five of his Space Bridge pillars, including the master pillar, however he soon ran out of Energon and became incapacitated. His body was then recovered by Optimus Prime and Ratchet when the two Autobots come investigating the crash landed ship and was brought to Earth, where he was resurrected with the power of the Matrix of Leadership. Sentinel was distressed that hundreds of his pillars were missing, and warned Charlotte Mearing that the Decepticons could destroy Earth with the pillars. He later went out with Optimus to admire Earth's sunset, and declined Optimus' offering of the Matrix. Eventually Sam Witwicky discovered the Decepticons had the pillars and had planned for the Autobots to revive Sentinel as he was the only one who could use the Space Bridge. Once he arrived back at their base, Sentinel betrays the Autobots, revealing his affiliation with Megatron and kills Ironhide with his acid-rust blaster. He destroys much of the NEST headquarters before bringing the pillars to Washington DC and transporting hundreds of Decepticons that were concealed on the moon. Though Optimus tries to stop him from opening the space bridge, Sentinel compromises him, but lets him live in hope that Optimus would come to accept and realize the moral of what he was doing. Soon after, Sentinel Prime takes command over the Decepticons and oversees the final phase of the plan in Chicago. He fights with Optimus, tearing up one of his arms and prepares to deliver a final blow before Megatron intervenes and badly damages him. After Optimus kills Megatron, Sentinel explains to Optimus to understand why he had to betray him and pleads for his life, but Optimus claims that he only betrayed himself of what he is meant to be: a Prime. Without hesistation, Optimus takes Megatron's cannon and shoots Sentinel, killing him.

Books
Sentinel Prime appears in the novelization of Transformers: Dark of the Moon, following the movie with slight changes that he also killed Skids and Mudflap before Megatron and Optimus Prime join forces to defeat him; the former distracting him while the latter shoots Sentinel with a cosmic-rust blaster.

Video games
Sentinel Prime is among the characters who appear in the flash game TRANSFORMERS CYBERVERSE Battle Builder Game.

Toys
All toys of this character (except the Kre-O kit) are officially licensed from Rosenbauer.


 * Dark of the Moon Cyberverse Commander Sentinel Prime (2011)
 * A new Commander (formerly Scout Class) mold of Sentinel Prime.


 * Dark of the Moon Cyberverse Commander Dark Sentinel Prime (not yet released)
 * A redeco of the Commander Class figure.


 * Dark of the Moon Leader Class Sentinel Prime (2011)
 * A new Leader mold of Sentinel Prime, which transforms into a Rosenbauer Panther Airport crash tender fire truck. His Mech Tech weaponry consists of a lance and a shield that transforms into a bladed blaster. The figure also features light and sound effects; some of which are triggered when his Mech Tech weapon or those from other figures are placed on the ports on the roof in vehicle mode. In robot mode, his eyes light up and he says, "I am Sentinel Prime!" when his chest is pressed downward. Also says "What has happened to the AllSpark?" and "Good to see you alive, Optimus".


 * Dark of the Moon Voyager Class Sentinel Prime (2011)
 * A new Voyager mold of Sentinel Prime. His Mech Tech weapon is a ladder/hose attachment that converts into a fusion cannon. Unlike the Leader Class figure, this figure has the Autobot symbols on truck mode scratched off - indicating his ulterior role in the film.


 * Transformers Kre-O Sentinel Prime (2011)
 * A Lego-like building block kit of Sentinel with 375 pieces to assemble in either fire truck or robot mode. Comes with 2-inch Kreon figures of Sentinel Prime, Soundwave, Thundercracker and two human drivers.

Transformers: Prime
Sentinel Zeta Prime is the predecessor of Optimus Prime. Sentinel Prime has been mentioned in the movie reviews for Transformers: Dark Of The Moon (2011) as the sole mentor to Optimus Prime. However, by mistake. The original mentor was "Alpha Trion" according to the 1985 series Transformers: Autobots, The Search for Alpha Trion. Whereas, Sentinel Prime in fact did not pass down the Matrix to Optimus Prime, who later became the Autobot leader, having received the Matrix Of Cybertron from A3, or Alpha Trion before his death in the series The Search For Alpha Trion.

Books
Sentinel Prime has been mentioned in Transformers: Exodus. He has been attacked at the Altihex Casino with other Autobots. After the battle at the casino, Sentinel Prime went missing. Starscream has taken him to a prison and told him to destroy Megatron. At a dark alley, Sentinel Prime has met Megatron there and Megatron had some other Decepticon Gladiators. Bore the sigil of the noble myth of Vector Prime. Sentinel Prime was defeated and Megatron retrieved the Code Key of Power.

Video games
Zeta Prime from Transformers: War for Cybertron has similarities towards G1 Sentinel Prime. He dies before Optimus becomes the new leader of the Autobots.

Transformers: Timelines (2011)
The character of Sentinel Major is based on the Transformers Animated Sentinel Prime, but appearing in the Generation 1 setting.

Fun Publications
The Elite Guard Alpha Team and Strike Team did battle against a horde of ferrovorous bugs in one of Cybertron's city-states. Magnum then ordered the Strike Team to escort the Alpha Team to Space Port Bravo for their next mission. The Strike Team then reported to Magnum and Sentinel Major, who introduced them to the new Elite Guard Special-Ops Team, also called the Combaticons.

Metalhawk and his Strike Team were searching for Decepticons when they ran into a crazy "empty" who ranted about the coming of the "brute". They received a distress signal from Sentinel Major ordering all Elite Guard units to return base. When Metalhawk's team arrived at the base Ricochet told them of a Decepticon attack. Among the attackers are the Combaticions, but when Sentinel Major orders them to surrender, they combine into Bruticus and crush Sentinel Major.