Sentinel, falsely known as Sentinel Prime, is the main antagonist of Transformers One.
In his characterisation, he was the former chief advisor to the Thirteen Primes only to later double cross them by taking rulership of Cybertron as part of a bargain with the Quintessons; this in turn led to him taking the title of Prime from his former masters for himself. He is also the key reason for D-16's descent into becoming the villainous tyrant known as Megatron.
Personality[]
Initially, Sentinel was shown to be a humble and well-loved leader who was the living manifestation of peace and prosperity. However, it would all turn out to be a farce, as in reality, he is a selfish tyrannical overlord who willingly sold out his own race to the Quintessons to claim power for himself. In addition to lacking any sort of empathy towards other Cybertronians, Sentinel was a full-blown coward and would rather hide behind his troops than fight someone head-on, even when he was fully capable of holding his own in a fight. Ultimately, Sentinel ends up outing himself as a despotic sadist with nothing that could be considered redeemable, and his hubris ultimately ends up costing him his life.
Appearance[]
Sentinel's body is primarily royal blue, with gold featured prominently as a secondary color. Along with numerous silver highlights, his profile is slender with a majestic edge, while his eyes are a bright shade of blue. He also has a golden set of wings mounted on his back, indicating his aerial alternate mode. After his true colors are revealed, Sentinel assumed a more combat-oriented battle form, or super mode, where his feet became thrusters, his wings rearranged to reveal missile launchers, and his arms became blasters while his head has a battle mask.
History[]
One of the first Cybertronians to ever come into existence, Sentinel was the chief advisor for the original Primes. Despite this position granting him respect from every other member of his race, Sentinel would grow to hunger for more power than what he already had, and eventually sold out his entire race to one of their interstellar enemies, the Quintessons, granting them all the Energon Cybertron had to offer in exchange for them giving him full control of the planet. Revolted by his blatant act of treason, the Primes lost all of their trust in Sentinel and denounced him as an imposter, and seeking to cement his own claim in power, Sentinel would seek the Matrix of Leadership, slaying the Primes in the process. During this, he would claim the transformation cog of Megatronus Prime for himself, augmenting his power to the level of the Primes. Only Alpha Trion would survive his greed, and the High Guard, the personal army working under the Primes, would reject him and his attempts to claim power.
With his first attempt at claiming power a failure, Sentinel would move Cybertronian society underground and establish a new regime with him at the top of the chain, falsely claiming the title of Prime for himself. Converting all current Cybertronians to his followers (with the exception of the High Guard, who would regularly oppose him from the shadows), Sentinel would remove the transformation cogs of all future Cybertronians before they could come online, robbing them of their species' natural ability to transform and ensuring that the only thing they could do was mine for Energon to sate the Quintessons. To cover up his tracks, Sentinel would only allow loyal followers to the surface to search for the Matrix to cement his rule as Prime, and any miners who disobeyed or acted out of line would be strictly punished to discourage any rebellion.
During an Iacon 5000 race, Sentinel started the event only to notice miners Orion Pax and D-16 using jetpacks to compete as racers in surprise. While Sentinel still falsely congratulated them for their efforts, the pair were eventually put into detainment, eventually being assigned to waste management. Unbeknownst to Sentinel, Orion, D-16, B-127 and Elita One would find a distress beacon from Alpha Trion, and eventually make their way to the surface, learning the truth about him from the Prime in the process. Upon the quartet's return to Iacon, Sentinel dropped all pretenses and began mocking them while destroying the evidence they recieved from Trion. Unfortunately for Sentinel, the truth would eventually come to light after his assistant, Airachnid, would get hacked by Elita, broadcasting his own words to the entire populace.
With the truth now revealed to all Cybertronians, Sentinel finally lost it and began efforts in quashing any rebellion that started up, beginning with the quartet who revealed it. This plan got foiled by Alpha Trion coming in to save them, though Sentinel had Alpha Trion executed while torturing a captive D-16, mocking him for his worship of Megatronus. Unfortunately for Sentinel, the miners, now fully motivated by Orion Pax, would effectively counter his troops and clear the way to him, and he ultimately gets confronted by the main quartet. Despite Orion trying to save him, D-16, fully incensed by the depravity of Sentinel's actions, would send his former friend to his doom, leaving the false Prime unable to do anything but desperately beg in front of the former miner. This would fall on deaf ears, and finally having had enough, D-16, now rechristening himself as Megatron after the fallen Megatronus, kills Sentinel by tearing his body in half, swiping the pilfered cog of Megatronus for himself to augment his body to divine levels.
Sentinel's reputation and name would forever be soured in Cybertronian history, and upon his demise, Orion Pax, now Optimus Prime, would abolish his former policies and rebuild Cybertronian society, rebranding all the miners as Autobots in honor of their newly earned autonomy. However, Sentinel's machinations and greed would eventually turn Megatron for the worst, with the former miner permanently denouncing all Primes, legitimate or false, and rebranding the former High Guard as members of his new army known as the Decepticons. As such, Sentinel's greed has robbed the Cybertronian race of permanent peace, as it would lead to Cybertron's historic perpetual Great War between the Autobots and the Decepticons.
Trivia[]
- This is the second incarnation of Sentinel Prime to be the main antagonist of a Transformers movie.