Sentinel Prime (ROTF)
| The name or term "Sentinel Prime" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Sentinel Prime (disambiguation). |
- Sentinel Prime is an Autobot from the live-action film continuity family.
Sentinel Prime hails from an older time, when Cybertron was the galaxy's crown jewel, and the Transformer race was full of promise and potential. The only known remaining Prime, he personified what a leader should be: wise, compassionate, and a more than worthy warrior. Revered by both Autobot and Decepticon, few would dare stand against his shield and Primax Blade.
But when Sentinel was presumably lost forever on board the Ark, Optimus Prime, his hand-picked successor, was left to fill his void. The loss of Sentinel signaled the end of Cybertron's golden age, and the planet spiraled deeper into war. Some who recall Sentinel's reign bitterly remember when Transformers were masters of their fate, rather than scattered to the stars and living as exiles.
Fiction
IDW live-action film comics
Sentinel Prime was a direct descendant of the first Cybertronian, Primus, and was believed to be the last of the Primes. He told tales to his much younger Cybertronian brethren of how the Dynasty of Primes had called upon a legendary artifact, the star-powered AllSpark, to give life to their world. But the AllSpark had been lost to history, and their world had tumbled through the cosmos without a star to orbit for eons. Sentinel Prime had plans to rectify this, and he gathered followers who believed in his path to a new age of life on Cybertron. With the help of Optimus, Megatron, and their legions, they searched the planet for the legendary artifact and a way to power it. However, there were the Thetacons, a tribe of separatist Transformers who disbelieved in Sentinel Prime's vision, and warred against him and his followers. This conflict ended when, with the help of Wheeljack, a sun to orbit was brought to Cybertron, and the AllSpark discovered and energized.
Though Sentinel Prime had finally returned the forgotten concept of "freedom" back to Cybertron, he felt he no longer had a part in its path to the future. He was old and tired, and spoke in confidence to Optimus, believing that young Autobot was also part of the Prime lineage and requesting that he take on the mantle of leadership. Though Optimus was too humble to accept, not believing Sentinel's claims about his heritage, Megatron overheard their conversation and became jealous of his "brother." Foundation #1 Sentinel formulated another plan for Cybertron's future: it would be governed by Optimus's Science Division and Megatron's Defense Force. By having Optimus investigate the remains of the Primes' civilization, it would encourage him to believe in his lineage. Foundation #2
Alas, after two generations of successful shared leadership, Megatron fell under the sway of The Fallen, and reshaped his Defense Force as the Decepticons, declaring war on Cybertron. Sentinel Prime was at the archaeological dig in Simfur when the first strike took place, and was quick to opt for a technique of self-preservation, rather than attempting to save the Science Division's work. Optimus soon arrived to fend the Decepticons off, and revealed that his studies had proven the truth of Sentinel's words: he was indeed a descendant of the Primes. He did not believe that this made him a born leader, but Sentinel impressed upon Optimus the necessity that he take up command of the Autobots, that Cybertron might be saved from Megatron's destructive ambitions.
As time passed, and the war rolled on with no signs of stopping, Sentinel invented a mysterious "torch" that he promised would end the war. Foundation #3 The torch had to be brought into contact with the AllSpark to be activated, so the Autobots launched an attack on the Simfur temple to carry out this action while Sentinel stood by with a spacecraft, the Ark, to await delivery of the active torch. Elita One soon returned with the torch, at which point Sentinel instructed Wheeljack to take the second Ark and collect the remaining Autobots from Tyger Pax, while he himself headed to Simfur to collect Optimus's forces. Upon arrival at Simfur, however, Sentinel's Ark was attacked by Starscream, and was consumed by a huge explosion, leaving all present to believe it, Sentinel, and all aboard had been destroyed. Foundation #4
In actuality, Sentinel's Ark had not been vaporized as believed: it had been teleported away by the space bridge technology it was outfitted with. With all hands knocked into stasis by the explosion, the ship automatically jinked through space and time on a series of random space bridge jumps, until at last, its sensors locked on to the energy of the AllSpark, which had since been ejected from Cybertron and had crash-landed on the planet Earth. On its penultimate jump, the Ark crossed paths with the Decepticon ship Nemesis, which had departed Cybertron just as the war was beginning, and was now also following the AllSpark's trail. The Ark materialized from its jump into the same physical space as the Nemesis, crippling both ships beyond repair; the Ark made one final bridge jump, reappearing in the immediate vicinity of Earth in 1962, where it crashed violently onto Earth's Moon. All the Autobots aboard perished save for Sentinel himself, who was in the crash vault and remained slumbering in stasis. Convergence chapter 1
Revenge of the Fallen film
When Sam Witwicky launched into a rambling lecture on the nature of space and time while in a trance brought on by the knowledge of the AllSpark entering his mind, he recalled Sentinel Prime's "expedition" to find Cybertron a new sun, commenting that it took "fourteen galactic convergences" to get an echo. Revenge of the Fallen
Titan Magazines Dark of the Moon prequels
Sentinel is a direct descendant of Primus, the first Cybertronian, and one of the last surviving Primes. With a firm but just hand, he ruled the Autobots before the war. During the war, he named Optimus his successor before departing on a mission into deep space, only for his ship to be shot down by enemy fire...
But his Ark merely crashed somewhere near Earth in 1962, a fragment of it landing in Fiesole, Italy. When a human discovered it in 2011, Starscream and Soundwave tried to prevent the Autobots from getting that fragment and finding their way to the lost Ark. The Autobots finding Sentinel was not an option for Starscream and the concept unnerved him, while an ominous narrator told us the fragment had the power to make martyrs of the good and bad alike... Fight for Fiesole
Dark of the Moon film
- Voice actor: Leonard Nimoy (English), Arturo Casanova (Latin American Spanish)
 Plot details for Dark of the Moon (film) follow. |
| “ | So lost are you, Optimus. On Cybertron we were gods. And here... here they call us "machines." | ” |
Long ago, during the war on Cybertron, a heated battle erupted around the Ark, a shuttle commandeered by Sentinel Prime and a small crew, which carried a special, secret cargo that Sentinel claimed would end the war. However, the shuttle was hit in battle, disappeared, and presumed lost forever. In 1962, the Ark hit Earth's moon, crashing there, and its impact was detected by NASA. This event inspired the United States of America's eventual first trip to the moon in 1969, which was secretly an attempt to inspect the crashed alien ship. Though NASA astronauts would make a handful of trips to the moon in the next few years, none would stumble upon the Ark's crash vault, which contained Sentinel Prime's comatose body and a small fraction of his secret cargo.
In order for Sentinal to be revived, the Decepticons wanted the Autobots, and particularly Optimus Prime, to discover Sentinel's existence on the moon. The United States government had classified the moon missions' real purpose, even from the Autobots, and so information was leaked through a human associate of Laserbeak to Col. William Lennox. Optimus Prime and a NEST team traveled to the ruins of Chernobyl where Optimus located and identified a piece of technology from the missing Ark. After retrieving the Ark piece, he confronted the US government for hiding this information from him, and subsequently traveled to the moon with Ratchet to find and retrieve Sentinel Prime.
With Sentinel Prime's comatose body returned successfully to NEST's headquarters, along with five "pillars," Optimus Prime used his Matrix of Leadership to return Sentinel Prime to operational status. Disoriented, Sentinel attacked Optimus, pushing him to the ground and shoving his blade near his face, and after some worried protests from Optimus, Sentinel finally realized his surroundings and disengaged. Optimus tried to further console his predecessor with news that they had also recovered the five pillars that were in the crash vault with him, but Sentinel grew further frustrated, as there should have been hundreds of them. Sentinel explained that the pillars were the anchors of a new space bridge technology that he had intended to use to bring resources back to Cybertron to replenish it. National Security Director Charlotte Mearing did not like this idea at all, and announced her intent to take possession of these pillars, as they could be used to bring an army to Earth to destroy it. Sentinel did not like being condescended to by the human. The technology was his, and the humans had no right to it.
Optimus: Sentinel, why are you copying Spock from Star Trek?
Sentinel: Uhhhhm, no reason, Optimus...
Optimus gave Sentinel a tour of Earth, culminating in a view of a sunset. Sentinel marveled at the beauty and the liveliness of the planet as it reminded him of Cybertron in its prime. Optimus took this moment to offer Sentinel back the Matrix of Leadership, believing Sentinel to deserve it more. But Sentinel refused it, as Sentinel was only more experienced long ago on Cybertron, while this new world of Earth was unfamiliar to him.
The Autobots' young human ally, Sam Witwicky found evidence that led him to believe that the Decepticons possessed the the missing pillars and would be coming after Sentinel Prime since they needed him to activate the technology. In an attempt to shield Sentinel from the Decepticons, several Autobots escorted Sentinel Prime back to NEST headquarters. Ironhide and the others successfully fended off a team of Decepticons, but once Sentinel reached their destination, he unveiled a terrible truth. He had been secretly (and reluctantly) working with Megatron for centuries, and the space bridge was technology Sentinel had created so that he and the Decepticons could bring Earth's resources back to Cybertron so that they could rebuild their dead homeworld. But as both Megatron and Sentinel Prime had ended up in stasis for centuries, this secret plan had gone waylaid... until now, after the Decepticons and their human allies had conspired to lead Optimus Prime to the moon where he could retrieve and revive his predecessor for them.
Sentinel punctuated his bombshell by shooting Ironhide in the back repeatedly with his cosmic rust weapon. As Ironhide crumbled away, Sentinel fired at Bumblebee as well, though the scout was able to dodge his blasts. Sentinel dove into NEST headquarters, tore the place apart, and retrieved the five remaining pillars from the compound's vault. As Megatron arrived in truck mode from his exile in Africa, Sentinel Prime set up a small space bridge portal on the Reflecting Pool facing the Lincoln Memorial. As troops hidden on the Moon began to burst through the portal and scan local vehicle forms, Optimus Prime interrupted Sentinel's work with an angry tackle. Optimus demanded an explanation for Sentinel's betrayal, and Sentinel responded that Optimus never had the resolve to make the tough choices, and that Earth must be sacrificed for Cybertron to be reborn. Sentinel left Optimus to stew in his anger, telling his former protege that he was lucky Sentinel left him alive.
Speaking to the United Nations, Sentinel demanded that the "Autobot rebels" be expelled from Earth and that he and the Decepticons be able to take what resources from Earth they required. The humans had no choice but to agree, and the Xantium was launched with Earth's remaining 11 Autobots inside... though Starscream was waiting in orbit to blast the shuttle to bits, and the Autobots were seemingly destroyed.
Decepticons around the world began positioning the pillars precisely according to Sentinel's instructions as the first brunt of the Decepticons' assault began in Chicago. Sentinel had chosen a tall, domed building in Chicago's downtown as the focal point of the space bridge. Megatron joined him on the roof of this building, and the Decepticon leader began to glow about their partnership. Sentinel, however, felt his partner was getting too chummy, and violently reminded Megatron of his place. Sentinel did not work for Megatron, Megatron worked for Sentinel. Megatron was shoved off the building into the street below.
Sentinel and the Decepticons succeeded in occupying Chicago, but the Autobots, who had managed to survive their apparent destruction through subterfuge, arrived in the city to take it back and destroy the space bridge technology. Sentinel activated the space bridge, and a large portal opened in space above Earth, through which the massive planet Cybertron began to travel. After defeating most of the Decepticon forces, the Autobots caught Sentinel Prime's attention, and their former leader descended from his building perch to battle Optimus Prime. After a prolonged fight, and the removal of one of Optimus's arms, it became obvious that Sentinel was the more powerful of the two.
Before Sentinel could deliver the killing blow, however, he came under attack by Megatron, who had been goaded into action by Sam's girlfriend Carly Spencer. Megatron realized how far he had fallen in power within the past few years, and had decided to once again take his rightful place at the top of the command chain. Sentinel was taken by surprise and amassed critical damage. Though this action by Megatron saved Optimus's life, the Autobot leader refused Megatron's offer of a truce and killed his seemingly eternal foe, leaving Optimus and Sentinel alone once more. Finally Sentinel seemed to understand how far he himself had also fallen, and apologized for betraying the Autobots. Optimus countered that Sentinel had more importantly betrayed himself and his professed ideals, and as his former mentor howled at the ruination of his plans, Optimus executed Sentinel Prime with Megatron's gun.
The deed done, Optimus Prime threw down the weapon in disgust. Dark of the Moon
Toys
Dark of the Moon
Cyberverse
- Sentinel Prime (Cyberverse Commander, 2011)
- Series 1
- Number: 002
- Japanese ID number: CV05
- Accessories: Primax blade, shield
- Sentinel Prime is in the first wave of Dark of the Moon Cyberverse Commander Class toys. He transforms from a Rosenbauer Panther 6x6 airport fire truck to robot and back.
- On some (early?) Sentinels, the Rosenbauer logo on the right side of the truck is reversed.
- Dark Sentinel Prime (Cyberverse Commander, 2011)
- Series 1
- Number: 010
- Japanese ID number:
- Accessories: Primax blade, shield
Voyager Class toys
- Sentinel Prime (MechTech Voyager, 2011)
- Japanese ID number: DA20
- Accessories: MechTech Boom Lift/Fusion Cannon
- Sentinel Prime is in the third wave of Dark of the Moon MechTech Voyagers. He converts from a Rosenbauer Panther 6x6 airport fire truck to robot and back. With the pull of a lever, his vehicle mode water cannon becomes a MechTech weapon. He also features an itty-bitty flip out gun on his front. He's something of a shellformer, flopping most of his firetruck mode onto his back.
- Like the Cyberverse Dark Sentinel Prime, this figure's Autobot symbols are deliberately scratched out. However, his box bio remains coy about his true nature.
Leader Class toys
- Sentinel Prime (MechTech Leader, 2011)
- Japanese ID number: DA02
- Accessories: Primax Blade, MechTech Shield/Bladed Blaster
- MechTech Leader Class Sentinel Prime converts from a Rosenbauer Panther 6x6 airport fire truck to robot and back! In vehicle mode, he features a rotating, extending firefighting boom arm, a small flip-up nozzle on the front fender, and siren lights and sounds, activated by a small grey button on the roof of the cabin. Sentinel's double-bladed Primax Blade stores underneath the grey panels forming the roof of much of the vehicle, while the MechTech shield is stored under the truck. There are two 5mm post hole MechTech ports in this mode; the one on the right hand side of the vehicle has a button inside, that when pushed in (by plugging in a MechTech weapon), activates a weapon sound effect. Removing the MechTech weapon activates a transformation sound effect. A Stealth Force-style attack vehicle mode can be formed by opening panels on the rearward sides of the vehicle to expose hidden weapons and two more MechTech ports, activating the MechTech Shield's Bladed Blaster mode (by pressing the large panel on it marked by the Cyberglyphics) and attaching that to the vehicle MechTech ports, and clipping the Primax Blade's handle into the two tabs on top of the Shield/Bladed Blaster's turret.
- In robot mode, when the button on Sentinel Prime's chest is pushed, his eyes light up, his chin moves and he says "I am Sentinel Prime!" Two more phrases, "Good to see you alive, Optimus." and "What has happened to the AllSpark?" are heard when a weapon is inserted into the MechTech port with the button inside of it and the chest button pushed. Unfortunately, the Canadian release only says "Sentinel Prime" because of language laws. The siren lights and sounds can still be activated by pressing the grey button back and to the left of Sentinel Prime's head.
- In this mode, Sentinel has four more 5mm MechTech ports: one each on either shoulder and one each on either forearm. If that's still not enough, the screw holes under his wrists can accommodate 5mm weapons as well, for a total of eight weapons beyond those included with the figure. The Primax Blade and Shield can both be held via their respective handles in either of Sentinel's articulated hands; the shield can also be plugged into the MechTech port in Sentinel's forearms.
- The Japanese release comes packed with a character card and an accompanying transparent plastic card of his MechTech weapon for the MechTech Wars online game.
Merchandise
Speed Stars
Mini Changers
- Stealth Force Bumblebee & Sentinel Prime (2011)
- Stealth Force Sideswipe & Sentinel Prime (2011)
Notes
- In an early draft of Transformers, time stops as Sam Witwicky falls down the building Megatron smashed, and Sentinel appears to him via the AllSpark. Sentinel would've clarified the history of the war and the relationship between Optimus and Megatron (when the writers intended them to be siblings) and given him a clue to defeating Megatron with the Cube.[2]
- In the debut trailer for the film Dark of the Moon, Sentinel Prime is seen in a gold and silver color scheme. This shot was redone for the movie proper, and he consistently appears red throughout the film.
- The Rosenbauer Panther fire truck cast as Sentinel Prime was entirely repainted specifically for the film, at a cost of thousands of dollars; real-world aircraft fire-fighting vehicles are required by FAA regulations to have a much lighter color scheme.[5]
- In Dark of the Moon, Sentinel Prime says "The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few." Leonard Nimoy said the same line in the 1982 film Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan as Spock, in one of several Star Trek references in the movie.
- Fans have been noting similarities between Sentinel Prime and Galvatron. Both were voiced by Leonard Nimoy. Both take over the role of villain from Megatron in their first film appearance. Both have toys whose bios refuse to divulge a big secret about their characters.
Foreign names
- Japanese: Sentinel Prime (センチネル・プライム Senchineru Puraimu)
