# Sentinel Prime

Sentinel Prime (Japanese: センチネルプライム) is a fictional character in the Transformers franchise. Generally depicted as an Autobot leader, Sentinel Prime has served as either a supporting character or antagonist in Transformers media. His first film appearance was in the 2011 film Transformers: Dark of the Moon as the main antagonist, and he eventually returns as the main antagonist in the 2024 animated film Transformers One.

## Fictional character biography
### The Transformers

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.

### Transformers: Animated

In the Cartoon Network television show Transformers: Animated, Sentinel Prime is a supporting character and an imposing figure within the Cybertron Elite Guard corps with a brash and smug demeanor as well as an obsession with following the rules of his superiors. After scanning an alternate mode as an earth disguise, he transforms into a pickup truck with a snow-plow attachment.

### Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Sentinel Prime is the main antagonist of the 2011 film Transformers: Dark of the Moon, established as Optimus's teacher and the leader of the Autobots. At the beginning of the film, Optimus and the other Autobots find him on the Ark, an Autobot spacecraft that crashed on Earth's moon after being damaged during its escape from a wartorn Cybertron. Though Sentinel initially appears as a noble character, refusing the Matrix of Leadership from Optimus and asking him to take on his role as a mentor to the Autobots, he is revealed to have allied centuries prior with Megatron and the Decepticons to conquer Earth (Unicron) and even assassinates Ironhide. At the end of the film, Sentinel Prime takes over the city of Chicago by using Decepticon pillars to bring Megatron's army to Earth, while usurping Megatron as leader of the Decepticons and planing to use the pillars to bring Cybertron itself to Earth. At the end of the film, he and Optimus Prime duel with each other, culminating with Sentinel ripping Optimus's arm off and nearly killing him, only for Megatron to intervene and injure Sentinel fatally to reclaim his leadership position. After Sentinel is defeated, Optimus takes the opportunity to rip Megatron's head off, while Sentinel begs for his life, only for Optimus to proclaim Sentinel "betrayed himself" and shoot him with Megatron's shotgun.

### Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye

Sentinel Prime appears as an antagonist in the comic Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye from IDW Publishing. Rumored to have been killed by Megatron during the early years of the Great War, Sentinel Prime later reveals that he had survived by imparting his knowledge into a smaller robot body and escaping in plain sight. Infiltrating the moon of Luna-1, he manages to outrun the Autobot guards there before taking mind control over one of them, Red Alert. They both mastermind a plot to send the reanimated Titan giants to attack Cybertron but Sentinel is eventually shot down by Red Alert, who turns on him. Sentinel then falls into a large hole by accident, killing him from the impact.

### Transformers: War for Cybertron

In the High Moon Studios video game Transformers: War for Cybertron, Sentinel Zeta Prime acts as a vassal for the Quintessons and rules over Cybertron; he eventually manages to expel the Quintessons from Cybertron with the help of the population of Cybertron, who had formed a resistance. He was later imprisoned by the Decepticons during the early days of the Great War, and the position of Prime was granted to the lowly librarian Orion Pax, who became Optimus Prime. Sentinel was eventually executed by Megatron afterwards. In his dying breath, he was able to talk to Optimus Prime and Jazz who had just come from receiving a distress signal from his prison.

### Transformers One

In the 2024 animated film, Transformers One, Sentinel Prime is voiced by Jon Hamm, where he is once again the film's main antagonist. He is the head of Cybertron and leader of Iacon, to fight the Quintessons and search for the Matrix of Leadership, but to no avail. The truth was discovered by Orion Pax, D-16, Elita-1 and B-127, when Alpha Trion reveals that Sentinel was just the assistant, until he betrayed and killed the Primes to steal the Matrix from them, which failed when it rejected him and disappeared. He allied with the Quintessons for power in return for Energon, and secretly removed the miners' transformation cogs to keep them powerless. However, Sentinel and his soldiers arrive, so Trion holds them off to allow the others to escape, resulting in him being captured and executed by Sentinel. In Iacon, Sentinel tortures D-16, who learns that he took the cog of his idol, Megatronus Prime, before being branded with his symbol. In the battle, Sentinel is seen on video before the treaty with the Quintessons and the murder of the Primes, causing all the citizens to turn against him. Eventually, Sentinel is killed by a furious D-16 by getting ripped in half, who then takes Megatronus' cog, and renames himself as "Megatron".

## Voice actors

Sentinel Prime was voiced by Townsend Coleman in the Transformers: Animated cartoon. In Dark of the Moon, Sentinel Prime was voiced by Leonard Nimoy, who previously voiced Galvatron in The Transformers: The Movie. In the video game Transformers: War for Cybertron, he is voiced by Troy Baker. In the film Transformers One he is voiced by Jon Hamm.

## Merchandise
### Transformers: Animated

Released in 2008, Sentinel Prime has a Deluxe Class action figure that converts into a dark blue pickup truck with an orange-silver snow-plow attachment and has two accessories included, which are a lance and shield.

### Movieverse toylines

* Sentinel Prime has had three new action figures released in 2011 as part of the toyline of Transformers: Dark of the Moon; which are the miniature scaled Cyberverse Commander figure, and the larger Voyager Class and Leader Class figures; all of which turn into Rosenbauer Panther fire trucks. In 2020, he received a Voyager Class action figure in the Studio Series toyline that was meant to be more accurate to his film appearance.
* Sentinel Prime has three kid-oriented figures in the toyline of Transformers One. Listings have also appeared for a new action figure of him in the Studio Series toyline for April 2025.

### Other toys

* First revealed at the 2015 SDCC event, Sentinel Prime had a Voyager Class figure in the Titans Return toyline, transforming from robot into either a freight train or spaceship modes. The head of the figure is detachable and can either be transformed into a smaller robot to pilot the vehicle modes, or be attached as a head to other figures in the Titans Return toyline.
* A redeco of the 1984 Generation One Optimus Prime in yellow was sold as Sentinel Prime in the Missing Link toyline. This uses the updated 2023 version of the G1 Optimus Prime mold, which has improved poseability.
* A lego-compatible set which can be assembled into Sentinel Prime was released in 2011, as part of the Kre-O toyline. It can be rebuilt into robot and truck forms, and two minifigures are also included.