Sentinel Prime is a major figure in the backstory of The Transformers franchise, usually being depicted as the Autobot's previous leader.
Sentinel is an imposing figure, standing head and shoulders over the average Autobot. Bristling with some of the most heavy-duty weapons and armor available to the Autobot army has instilled in Sentinel Prime a supreme confidence in his own abilities as both a leader and a fighter. Unfortunately he is eventually killed by Megatron in a brutal attack, but not before safeguarding the Matrix of leadership, which eventually passes to Optimus Prime. While Sentinel's original incarnations are depicted heroically, several of his later incarnations are far more corrupt, even villainous.
Personality
Sentinel is an imposing figure, standing head and shoulders over the average deception Bristling with some of the most heavy-duty weapons and armor available to the Autobot army has instilled in Sentinel Prime a supreme confidence in his own abilities as both a leader and a fighter. Unfortunately such pride usually precedes a fall, and there will always be someone out there keen to prove a point, or who merely sees Sentinel Prime as an obstacle on the path to a bigger destiny. Joined
In The Transformers episode "Five Faces of Darkness: Part 4", Rodimus Prime journeys into the Matrix of Leadership and witnesses a series of flashbacks of Cybertron's early days. One of them shows an unnamed blue robot who was a gladiator when the Quintessons ruled Cybertron. He led the rebellion that chased them off Cybertron. He led the Autobots in their victory against the Decepticons, and led them to victory. However, he was killed by Megatron at the start of the next war. Optimus Prime's predecessor as Autobot Leader wouldn't have a name until the American comic.
History
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 under the evil Trannis.
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 a surprise attack. 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.
Comics
Sentinel Prime was said to be a successor of Prime Nova and the predecessor of Optimus Prime by the Creation Matrix in Dark Creation.
By the time Sentinel was the keeper of the Matrix, the Primes had been suplanted by the Overlords. After the Overlords died, and the Great War began, Sentinel presumably took command, along with the Council of Autobot Elders. As seen in flashback in The Legacy of Unicron, the mortally wounded Sentinel passed the Matrix onto Optimus after a fierce battle.
Dreamwave
In the novel Hardwired, Sentinel Prime was Autobot leader for the first 500,000 years of the Great War. He was armed with trithyllium alloy armor, an electro-disrupter and a large variety of other weapons, including various forms of artillery shell, a solar energy rifle and energon-charged sword. 8.2 million years ago, as mentioned inthe comic The War Within, Sentinel Prime faced Megatron on the battlefields of Tyrest. He proved no match for the Decepticon leader; with his last words, he tried in vain to reason with Megatron, but Megatron was unmoved by his "sermon and doctrine" and slew him. Sentinel, aware of his possible death, had already removed the Matrix of Leadership from his body before entering battle, preventing Megatron from acquiring it.
In Hardwired, during the war on Earth, 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. Soon after, the Keepers 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.
Other media
IDW Comics
- Main article: Sentinel Prime (IDW Comics)
Animated Universe
- Main article: Sentinel Prime (Transformers: Animated)
Aligned Universe
- Main article: Sentinel Zeta Prime
Bayverse
- Main article: Sentinel Prime (Bayverse Video Games)
Games
Transformers Legends
The last card here's a little redundant on this page if you scroll back up a ways. Following an uprising of working-class robots, Sentinel Prime sent Alpha Trion to investigate the gladiatorial pit fights in Kaon, and the emergence of the Decepticon movement. Alpha Trion uncovered Senator Ratbat's involvement in the whole affair, and reported his findings to Sentinel Prime. Megatron Origins
As Megatron's forces made their way to activate Cybertron's planetary engines in order to wipe out the Autobots, Sentinel Prime went to meet with the Decepticon leader in Tyrest, believing Megatron could be reasoned with. Instead Megatron ambushed Sentinel Prime's group and slew the Prime. Sadly for Megatron, Sentinel was not carrying the coveted Matrix of Leadership, having sensibly left it behind. The War Within
Transformers Online (2017)
During the Cybertronian Civil War, Sentinel Prime was killed. Prior to his destruction, he bestowed the Matrix of Leadership to Optimus Prime, who became the new leader of the Autobots. Transformers Online
Transformers Roleplaying Game
Sentinel Prime was a well-regarded Autobot leader.
Gallery
Trivia
- 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).
- Despite being in five continuities, he has yet to receive a toy of any kind.
- He dies a lot, but not as much as some people.
- Unlike the jerk of today and the villain of the movie, this guy is 99.9% heroic, truthful, and selfless.
- In an impressive case of size changing, U-Haul Robot's head alone forms the entire driver's section of the truck cab!
- 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!
- The retelling of Unicron's origin in the UK comics included a brief glimpse of a dying Matrix bearer passing the Matrix of Leadership to Optimus Prime. However, as he is unnamed, the only way we can presume this being is Sentinel Prime is because, as we are told later, Sentinel Prime was the leader before Optimus. Fun fact: "State Games" calling Optimus Prime "Optimus Prime" means Sentinel does this pre-war!
- Sentinel's 2007 IDW design was based on his first (and otherwise only prior) appearance in the 1988 Marvel comics panel shown above. The resemblance is a little more obvious in Spotlight: Optimus Prime than it is in his more stylized appearance in Megatron Origin, but his yellow-red-and-orange armor, crested helm, and the row of three small "windows" on his chest are all derived from his Marvel look. IDW's Sentinel is also very heavily armed, not unlike the description of the character given by the Hardwired novel.
- Sentinel Prime didn't receive a proper toy until 2016, but he did come close previously. As revealed in the Transformers Collectors' Club roundtable panel at BotCon 2007, the original concept for the convention-exclusive redeco of Deluxe Class 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).
- The resurrected Sentinel in the 2005-2018 IDW continuity appears to be wearing modular, black armor over his toy design, rather than having the toy design itself.
- According to ABN in Recordicons #9, Vector Prime "always lies about Five Faces of Darkness". If true, this would mean that the guy from Five Faces isn't necessarily Sentinel Prime; we're keeping this page as-is because there's no objective evidence either way, and Sentinel Prime is more convenient as a page title than "U-Haul Robot".
- This, Sentinel Zeta Prime, Video Game, IDW Comics and his Animated counterpart are the only versions of Sentinel Prime to be portrayed as heroic (albeit his Animated counterpart being a massive jerk).
- Ironically, despite the original Sentinel Prime being portrayed as heroic, most incarnation of Sentinel are usually villainous, most noticeable his Bayverse and One counterpart.
- Originally, the Animated Sentinel would have returned as a villain. Had this been kept, the original Sentinel and Sentinel Zeta Prime would be the only Sentinel to be heroic.
External link
- Sentinel Prime on the Heroic Benchmark Wiki
- Sentinel Prime on the Villains Wiki (For his villainous counterparts)
