Sentinel Prime (G1)
| 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 leader from the Generation 1 continuity family.
Sentinel Prime was Optimus Prime's immediate predecessor as Autobot leader. (Except when he isn't.)
Fiction
The Transformers cartoon
- Voice actor: Jack Angel (English), Takurō Kitagawa (Japanese)
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, 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. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4
Marvel Comics continuity
Sentinel Prime was mentioned in a recitation of Primes, after Prime Nova and before Optimus Prime, by the Creation Matrix. Dark Creation
Dreamwave Generation 1 comics
Sentinel Prime was Autobot leader for the first 500,000 years of the Great War. More physically massive than Optimus Prime, Sentinel Prime's armor was made of trithyllium alloy impregnated with irradiated carbon fibers, unbreakable short of a precisely-aimed point-blank shot.
Sentinel Prime's primary weapons were his swiveling shoulder cannons, capable of firing a variety of specialized payloads including concussive and shrapnel-needle shells, and gyro-inhibiting and magnetic inducer shells. (Disruptive warheads which foul an opponent's systems.) He was also armed with a solar-energy rifle and an energon-charged sword.
Sentinel Prime used an electro-disrupter, a device capable of projecting several copies of his image, to disorient his opponents in battle. When interrupted, electro-disrupter images de-rez, leaving a visible path back to the real projector. Because using direct attacks would reveal which image was the real Sentinel Prime, he must limit himself to indirect weapons like shrapnel shells when using it.
Sentinel Prime's only physical weakness was his shoulder-cannons. A direct hit down their barrel could cause the ammunition inside to explode, causing catastrophic damage. To minimize that risk, he swivels the cannons to his back except when about to fire.[1]
8.2 million years ago, Sentinel Prime went to reason with Megatron, seeking to reach him with sermon and doctrine. He failed and was tortured and destroyed by Megatron on the battlefields of Tyrest. Transformers: The Ultimate Guide Megatron was chagrined to discover that Sentinel Prime (suspecting he might be killed) had not brought the Matrix with him into battle. The War Within #1
The Matrix used a vision of Sentinel Prime to strengthen Optimus Prime's resolve during a battle with Megatron by confronting him with the claim that Megatron had chosen Optimus to be Prime, knowing that he was weak. Megatron's alleged influence over the Prime selection process was never substantiated.
The Keepers subsequently created a robotic duplicate of Sentinel Prime to confuse Optimus and undermine his confidence. Though possessing all of Sentinel Prime's considerable abilities, Optimus eventually realized that the duplicate had been created from his own memories of Sentinel Prime, and was incapable of doing anything new. Optimus destroyed the duplicate of Sentinel Prime, having largely overcome his own doubts about his fitness to be Autobot leader. Hardwired
IDW Generation 1 continuity
Before the war, Sentinel was head of security for the Senate. One of the duties of his security force was to go around threatening and killing people who got in the Senate's way or might embarrass it. Shortly after an assassination attempt on Nominus Prime, he eagerly watched Senator Proteus announcing the implementation of the "Clampdown", which would improve security at the cost of "some of the freedoms" of the populace. He was constantly interrupted by reports that an intruder was fighting his way into the Grand Imperium, defeating all the security squadrons Sentinel sent at him. Interested in seeing how things would play out, he stood by as Orion Pax entered the Senate's chamber and confronted them over their corruption and detached relation to the populace. Proteus eventually ordered Sentinel to have him removed. Chaos Theory Part 2
As the Clampdown began, the Senate, who were behind the attack on Nominus Prime to begin with, had Sentinel try to tap into the powers of the Matrix of Leadership in the Prime's chest. Post Hoc The Chaos of Warm Things In the process, Sentinel discovered that the Matrix was merely a fake, and with this revelation the Senate decided they had no more use for Nominus and had him killed. They went on to spread rumours that Sentinel was showing signs of affinity for being a Prime Post Hoc while he got to work on planning a "Decepticon terrorist attack" that would give him an excuse to round up all proto-Decepticons and send them off for brainwashing. Patternism While Orion Pax thwarted this, Sentinel's men were still able to discover that Senator Shockwave was quietly forming an army of dissident outliers. Sentinel ordered Shockwave's academy destroyed in an "accident" and Shockwave himself subjected to empurata and brainwashing. An Intimate Beheading
Upon assuming office, Sentinel Prime operated out of the Security Services Headquarters in Kaon, generally regarded as "the worst place on Cybertron." By this point Sentinel had developed great disdain for government authority, viewing the ruling Senators to be spoiled whiners. He worked alongside Prowl, his lieutenant. Megatron Origin #1
After a surge in illegal gladiatorial bloodsports, he assigned Bumper and Fastback to stake out one of the sites associated with the matches as part of a dragnet. Unfortunately, their communications were jammed by Soundwave just prior to their untimely demises. Megatron Origin #2
Sentinel Prime vowed not to let their deaths be in vain, and at their funeral, the Autobot leader urged others to let their deaths be a call to arms. Eventually, after Senator Decimus was kidnapped by the Seekers at Megatron's orders, Sentinel Prime led a raid on Megatron's base. They captured Megatron and most of the others, but were forced to free Soundwave per Senate directive, much to Prime's frustration. Megatron Origin #3
When Starscream's "betrayal" led to the eventual eruption of the war, Sentinel Prime held the line at Kaon until he decided to take things to the next level. Thus, Prime returned with his massive "Apex" mode, a battle-armor/super-powerful/more-firepower-than-god mode. It didn't make much of a difference, seeing as Megatron tore into it and pulled Prime off a cliff. Sentinel was defeated by Megatron. Afterwards, the former Prime's barely functional body was dumped into the middle of the Autobot forces. Prowl ordered a retreat. We would too.
The next morning, Megatron discussed his next moves with Soundwave... sitting on a throne made out of Prime's Apex armor. Megatron Origin #4
He was immediately succeeded by Zeta Prime. Spotlight: Blurr
Notes
- In a few instances throughout the third season of the Generation 1 animated series, the Constructicon Long Haul appears in the U-Haul Robot's color scheme. Guess AKOM got their "Hauls" mixed up!
- Any similarities between U-Haul Robot and Spartacus are purely coincidental. No, really.
- The original IDW Sentinel Prime sketch included in "Spotlight: Optimus Prime" was clearly based on his first (and otherwise only) appearance in the Marvel comics panel shown above. Though his resemblance as drawn in Megatron Origin is less distinctly similar due to artistic interpretation and the helmet Alex Milne draws him wearing. He also definitely resembles, by and large, the Keepers description of the character, in that he is quite heavily armed. However the keen interest he shows in the use of those weapons and combat in general seem a stark contrast to the "peacetime leader unsuitable for war" portrayed in that continuity. IDW Sentinel is more likely to smash you with his Apex Armor than try to ply you with doctrine.
- G1 Sentinel Prime has yet to receive a toy of any kind. He did come close once. As revealed in the Transformers Collectors' Club roundtable panel at BotCon 2007, the original concept for the convention-exclusive redeco of Cybertron Defense Hot Shot was Sentinel Prime. The mold DOES bear a decent resemblance to his IDW appearance, but in the end it was decided that Springer was a better choice for the mold (and likely for the ongoing club comic story).
- There is another Generation 1 character called Sentinel Major, who might be considered the incarnation of Sentinel Prime in his own continuity. However, his design and role are obvious homages to Animated Sentinel Prime. What to make of this is a matter of some debate.
References
- ↑ Nearly all of his technical specifications come from descriptions found in the Keepers Trilogy.
| "Five Faces of Darkness" spirit guides | |||
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