Sentinel Prime (Transformers Original Films)

NOTE: This only covers the versions of Sentinel Prime from the Original Films continuity and novelizations as His Video Game incarnation redeemed himself and does not qualify as Pure Evil. So only Sentinel's history in the main films and novelizations should count.

Pure Evil

Full Name

Sentinel Prime

Alias

Sentinel

The Great Sentinel Prime
Master (both by Optimus Prime)

Origin

Transformers: Dark of the Moon

Allies

The Autobots

Optimus Prime
The Decepticons
Megatron †
Starscream †
Shockwave †
Dylan Gould † (all formerly)
The Fallen † (possibly)

Powers / Skills

Genius-level intelligence
Manipulation
Charisma
Intimidation
Swordsmanship
Control of the Space Bridge Pillars
Cosmic Rust Cannon
Superhuman strength
Superhuman durability
Combat proficiency
Can transform into a Rosenbauer Panther fire truck
Shield proficiency
Leadership

Goals

Arrive on Earth.
Betray the Autobots (both succeeded).
Use the Space Bridge to bring Cybertron into the Earth's atmosphere (briefly succeeded).
Kill all of the Autobots.
Sacrifice the Earth and its resources in order to restore Cybertron and become its god.
Bring Optimus Prime to his side. (all failed)
Kill Optimus for going against his wishes. (almost succeeded; but then failed)

Moral Event Horizon

Shooting Ironhide in the back with his Cosmic Rust cannon, rusting him to death.
Ordering the Decepticons to massacre the entire city of Chicago to make humanity know its place as slaves to Cybertron, resulting the relationship between Autobots and humans being irreparably shattered for a long time.
Indirectly causing Optimus to let humans in Chicago die to teach the Earth’s leaders that the Decepticons cannot be trusted to keep their word, resulting in Optimus' morality being destroyed.
Novelization exclusive:
Killing Skids and Mudflap with his Cosmic Rust.
Sadistically threatening Director Mearing to slaughter every man, woman and child he sees if she doesn't open the vault where the Pillars are being kept.

Kill Count

Thousands

Billions (attempted)

Worst Crimes

Mass murder

Enslavement
High treason
Terrorism
War crimes
Crimes against humanity
Usurpation
Populicide
Attempted genocide

Type of Villain

Fallen Usurper

“	Indeed I am. What you must realize, my Autobot brothers, is we were never going to win the war. For the sake of our planet's survival, a deal had to be made… with Megatron.	„
	~ Sentinel Prime revealing he made a deal with Megatron and betrayed the Autobots right before he kills Ironhide and his most famous quote

“	It is time for the slaves of Earth to recognize their masters... Seal off the city.	„
	~ Sentinel ordering the attack on Chicago in the film.

“	Sentinel Prime: WE WERE GODS ONCE! ALL OF US! BUT HERE... Optimus Prime: Please! Sentinel Prime: THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE!	„
	~ Sentinel's villainous breakdown as he prepares to kill Optimus Prime after severing his arm, only to be stopped by Megatron.

Sentinel Prime is the main antagonist of the 2011 film Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the third installment of the original continuity of the Transformers film series and its 2011 novelization by the late Peter David.

He was the original leader of the Autobots and Optimus Prime's mentor, before going missing in action during the Cybertronian War.

After his resurrection, it is revealed that he betrayed the Autobots and made a deal with Megatron so that he could save Cybertron. As Sentinel's alliance with the Decepticons furthered, he is slowly revealed to be less well-intentioned and more dangerous than he seems, consumed by pride and lust for dominion, eroding what remained of Optimus' noble precursor that he has supplanted Megatron as the true power over the Decepticon conquest in everything but in-name.

He was voiced by the late Leonard Nimoy, who also voiced Galvatron in The Transformers: The Movie. In the Japanese dub of the film, he was voiced by Nobuyuki Katsube, who also voiced Lots-o'-Huggin' Bear in Toy Story 3. In the Russian dub of the film, he was voiced by the late Boris Bystrov, who also voiced Emperor Palpatine in Star Wars: Episode VI - Return of the Jedi.

What Makes Him Pure Evil?[]

In General[]

Ultimately, for all his self-righteous claims of simply wanting to save his race from extinction, he has only revealed himself to be a narcissistic tyrant who betrays both sides of his race simply to ensure he remains at the top of the power hierarchy - thus abandoning the Prime code and all the things he taught Optimus in the process. Unlike Megatron, he has never demonstrated any regard for Cybertron beyond a symbol of the period he ruled over as a god and his desire to restore it is simply coincidental to his desire to subjugate humanity and Transformer alike.

Both Film and Novelization[]

While he was once the heroic mentor of Optimus Prime and leader of the Autobots if not his friend, he eventually subverted this redeeming quality.
- Even as Optimus' mentor and Autobot leader, Sentinel Prime wasn't exactly the most morally pure hero as his signature weapon was the Cosmic Rust Cannon (or an acid gun in the novelization), a gun that inflicts acid on his victims that rusts them to death (melting them to death instead in the novelization), which is considered a particularly heinous war crime on Cybertron.
When he realized the Decepticons were winning the war, he secretly betrays the Autobots to retain his position at the top. Even if the war ended, he also secretly plotted to undermine Megatron's power from the beginning.
After being revived he immediately leaped onto Optimus and nearly slit his throat had he not revealed himself.
- Despite this being under insanity and showing remorse after calming down initially, he subverted it by attempting to kill him again several times in a completely clear state of mind.
Cold-bloodedly murders his old soldier Ironhide by shooting him in the back with his rust gun, which causes Ironhide to painfully rust away and crumbles on spot.
- He then announces his betrayal before attempting to shoot Bumblebee and destroys the NEST base to steal the Pillars.
On the Washington Monument, he gathers the Pillars to unleash an army of Decepticons that destroy everything on sight.
While he does spare Optimus and mutters "Forgive me" when activating the pillars, it was revealed to be nothing, but a big fat lie.
- Sentinel was feigning benevolence to make humanity and the Autobots believe his false claims of meaning the planet no harm and that Sentinel will make the Decepticons leave in peace if Earth exiles the Autobots.
  - In truth, Sentinel and the Decepticons were all plotting a trap for the Autobots and blow them up on their ship to dispose the sole threats to their plans.
    - Even if he were to make humanity exile the Autobots, he threatens to unleash the Decepticon armada to bombard them if they refuse.
    - This is made worse by the fact that Optimus did nothing to dissuade the government from exiling him and his men out of presumed fear of violating his belief that everyone has the right to their own choices (and not strictly out of guilt).
      - This would make Sentinel's accusing Optimus of being unable to make the hard decisions supremely hypocritical, as the former was the one who put the latter in this ethically cruel situation.
Arriving at the city of Chicago, he promptly orders the entire city to be sealed off and turned into a fortress, having the entire city bombarded by Decepticons causing the death of over sixty thousand people, just to show the Earth that resistance is futile under his and the Decepticons' rule, leading to the most infamously bloody scene in the entire film series.
- Among the thousands of Chicago citizens who were killed as a result of Sentinel Prime's massacre of the city were Izabella's parents (causing her to become hateful of Transformers until she befriended Canopy and Sqweeks many years later), and James Savoy's sister (causing him to join Cemetery Wind to kill all Transformers and their allies in retaliation).
When Megatron claims they will rule the planet together, Sentinel finds the thought of sharing power over the planet unacceptable and rips out a part of Megatron's head as a show of force, showcasing that Sentinel is in charge over the Decepticon invasion, their plans, and that he has usurped Megatron in his own right.
He seeks to use the Pillars to drag Cybertron to Earth, killing the latter for its resources and decimating life on the planet and enslaving any surviving humans to rebuild Cybertron.
When Optimus confronts him for his betrayal, Sentinel orders all the Decepticons to fire at Optimus and severs his arm. He then prepared to kill his former protégé until Megatron intervened.
While in the end he tells Optimus he only wanted to ensure the survival of their species and to revive Cybertron, Optimus catches on that he is simply pleading for mercy and executes him on spot - having become disappointed on how the person he admired as a father figure fell so much.
While his death is somewhat pitiful, as he screams in fear before being shot by Optimus using Megatron's shotgun, it doesn't make him sympathetic as he absolutely deserved it for his horrible crimes.
His actions during the Battle of Chicago would indirectly have several disastrous consequences because they deteriorated the relations between humans and Cybertronians even more, as it led Harold Attinger to see them as a threat, leading to the formation of Cemetery Wind. Cemetery Wind would then go on to recruit Lockdown and kill all Autobots and Decepticons alike and starting the Battle of Hong Kong. After that, the world leaders deemed all Cybertronians illegal and formed the Transformers Reaction Force in order to exterminate all Cybertronians on sight until the battle with Quintessa.

Exclusive to the Novelization[]

“	No. Because right now I require two things in this world: you and my property, locked away in your vault. And so I will simply carry you with me until you agree to do what I wish. And I will kill everyone that I encounter. Men, women, children... it makes no difference to me. And you will have to live with the knowledge that every one of those deaths are lives that you could have saved... beginning with these two.	„
	~ Sentinel Prime's threat to Director Mearing in the novelization.

Upon murdering Ironhide, he kills Skids while trying to kill Bumblebee and later does the same to Mudflap.
He proclaimed himself to Director Mearing on how her God is unable to save her and that she is best to deal with him by threatening to drag her off with him and force her to watch as he rampages all across a city and kill everyone he sees if she refuses to open the vault where the Pillars were being kept, stating that be they men, woman, or children it makes no difference to him, beginning with Sam Witwicky and Colonel Lennox to showcase he wasn't bluffing, all with a smug and sadistic disposition as he constantly drills in the countless lives that will all be lost if she doesn't bow down to him.
During the battle at the Lincoln Memorial, unlike in the film who spares him to keep a facade, he forgoes this in an attempt to kill Optimus for not sharing his view on humanity being inferior beings to be subjugated, mocking him on how he was disappointed that his star student is "dying in ignorance" and unable to see his ways on how on Cybertron they were gods and Earth they were reduced to "mere machines", and would've succeeded had he not been forced to spare Optimus in order to protect the Pillars when they came under attack.
Immediately after Chicago was secured to their control and Megatron proclaimed that they could finally rebuild Cybertron together as they promised each other, Sentinel followed this by threatening Megatron's life to force him into submission and usurp his position as leader of the Decepticons so Cybertron could only be his to rule, subjecting him to a series of frequent abuse that reduced him to a pathetic mess.
- When Megatron angrily faced him for not letting him do anything because he himself believes that only him has the right to kill Optimus, Sentinel replied that he deserved it for doing absolutely nothing to prevent Optimus from using the arm cannon of Shockwave's corpse to shot down the Control Pillar, before knocking him off the building as punishment for talking to him that manner and that he should be thankful he wasn't reduced to a puddle by the gun. This last abuse was so painful both physically and emotionally that Megatron joined forces with Optimus to kill him after Carly Brooks-Spencer, Sam's new girlfriend, convinced him to do so.
He watched the Battle of Chicago that sees his own species tear themselves apart with wry amusement due to a feeling of superiority.
When the Autobot prisoners that were brought to him to be beaten defencelessly by Soundwave's men right were about to be executed in order to fulfill Dylan Gould's request of teaching them a lesson of respect because Bumblebee tried to kill him but killed Laserbeak instead and destroyed his apartment when helping Sam rescue Carly, Megatron, who is made a more clearer and more genuine extremist, actually batted an optic (eye) of disappointment and pity at Soundwave, who took extra time to use the decapitated head of their fallen comrade Mirage to taunt them before initiating the execution, for wasting his time, unlike Sentinel, who watched all this happening with nothing more than cold apathy.
When both Optimus Prime and Megatron joined forces to confront him for betraying them, Sentinel Prime attempted to kill them both while proclaiming himself as the only God of Cybertron.

Trivia[]

Sentinel Prime is the only Pure Evil villain from the late Peter David who isn't a character originally created by Marvel Comics: all his other Pure Evils have been from his novelizations of Marvel films.
- Though a version of Sentinel Prime did appear in Marvel's Transformers Comic however but that version isn't Pure Evil let alone evil at all.
In the beginning of Dark of the Moon itself, Sam is seen watching an episode of Star Trek, which Wheelie comments is "The one where Spock goes nuts", thus foreshadowing Sentinel's eventual betrayal.
His Animated counterpart is also painted in a negative light, and was meant to become a fully fledged villain later on, which would make the Bayverse version’s villainous nature a remnant of whatever plans were intended for Transformers Animated’s unproduced fourth season.
This version, alongside his Transformers One counterpart, are the only versions of Sentinel Prime to be Pure Evil.
- His Transformers One counterpart however is shown to be far more vile and evil then his live action counterpart due to the latter at least believing he would save Cybertron (even if it was for selfish reasons) while the One counterpart only wants power and betrayed Cybertron as a whole, even went as far to strip newborns of their ability to transform which the live action version never went that far, showing that the latter was somewhat restraint enough to not commit such a crime like that.
He, 2021 Shattered Glass Optimus Prime and Flame are the only Autobots so far to be Pure Evil.
- He is also the only Pure Evil from the Transformers Film Series to be an Autobot and the only one in the series to have blue eyes.
Him, Megatronus Prime, 2021 Shattered Glass Optimus Prime and Liege Maximo are the only Primes to be Pure Evil.
He is one of few Pure Evils to be Inconsistently Admirable alongside Light Yagami, Dr. James Sheridan, Akio Ohtori, King Edward V. Griffith and the Unicron Trilogy Megatron.
- Him and Sheridan are the only ones to not be from an Anime/Manga.
- Him and Unicron Trilogy Megatron are currently the only one to be from Transformers.
- Sentinel Prime is also the only one to come from live-action media.
His counterpart from the video game tie-ins with the movies is Inconsistently Heinous as although initially start out as evil as his film version, ultimately redeem himself and change for the better.
In the early drift of the movie, which were used in the novel and comic books, Sentinel Prime was intended to be worse than he is now:
- After killing Ironhide, he also intended to kill Bumblebee, but kill Skids for getting in his way and then Mudflaps when he try to avenge his brother's death. But said Autobots's negative reception lead to this being cut.
- In the battle at the Lincoln Memorial, he intended to kill Optimus, and only reluctantly spare him to protect the Space Bridge Pillars when they came under attack. In the film, he spare him because he was actually setting up a more effective trap to kill him and the Autobots in one fell swoop while leaving Optimus with a threat.
- After the Control Pillar was shot down from the cupola it was housed in, Sentinel falsely accused Megatron of doing nothing to prevent Optimus Prime from doing so and knocked him off from the top of the 35 East Wacker, before engaging Optimus.
- When Optimus and Megatron joined forces to fight him, Sentinel tried to kill them both.