Transformers Review: Sentinel Prime (DOTM Leader)

Intro:

            Well boys & girls, it’s official!!! The countdown to Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon has just begun – at least it is so in Malaysia. 14^th May 2011 marked the official launch of DOTM merchandises in Malaysia, and what better way to commemorate this auspicious date with the review of one of the most highly anticipated figure from the upcoming movie – Leader-class Sentinel Prime.

            The name Sentinel Prime first appeared in the original Marvel comics Transformers series where he was depicted as the immediate predecessor to Optimus Prime, as the bearer of the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. His appearance was brief where he was seen passing the Matrix to Optimus before going offline – permanently.

            After G1, the name Sentinel Prime went on a long, long hiatus before returning as a snobbish & incompetent Autobot leader in Transformers: Animated. Truth be told, Sentinel is one irritating robot in this series.  

            This time around in DOTM, Sentinel Prime is depicted as an Autobot legendary warrior, who was thought to have been lost for time immemorial. We first caught glimpses of him in the trailer where his body was seen floating in a wrecked building on the dark side of the moon, seemingly lifeless. That brief glimpse alone should be enough to convince even non-Transformers fan to watch this movie.

            So, the movie depiction of Sentinel Prime looked promising, but how would the actual action figure fare? Let’s check him out…

Alternate Mode:

            Sentinel Prime transforms into a Rosenbauer Panther Airport Crash Tender Fire Truck, which looked awesome. The truck rolls very well on surfaces, but I just wished they had done the tyres with real rubbers like they did with the 2007 Movie Leader-class Optimus Prime instead. Well, I guess you can’t have everything.

 

            The truck itself has very nice details on it. It has the Rosenbauer logo, the word Fire Rescue, the numbers 316 (which I would appreciate it if someone would tell me what this means) and the Autobot insignia on both sides of the truck. 

 

            The protruding side mirrors are made from soft rubbers for fear of getting your eyes poked during transformations. 

 

            The water cannon arm is quite flexible in terms of movements: it rotates at the base and has 2 swivel points. 

 

            As perfect as it may sound, the truck mode isn’t without its drawbacks. While generally the kibbles are very minimal, it kinda irks me that the front windshield is transparent, which kinda reveals the robot’s head within. 

 

            Having the shield as the base of the truck is also kinda weird looking, but it beats having to expose all the legs kibble underneath the truck. Also worth to note that the blades, used by Sentinel Prime in his robot mode is kept underneath the top flap of the truck.

Mechtech Attack Mode:

            I have no idea what to call this mode, so sue me for improvising. Anyways, based on the looks of this mode, it kinda reminds me of Galaxy Force Galaxy Convoy (Cybertron Optimus Prime) figure, which also has a Flying-mode. I’m not sure whether or not this mode is the flight mode, but it kinda looked plausible. 

 

 

 

 

            In this mode, Sentinel comes with added firepower, i.e. the pair of lasers/ canons/ missiles or whatever you wanna call ‘em at the back of the truck. Sentinel is also armed with some blade and scissor-like devices sticking on top of the truck, formed by the piece detached from the bottom of the truck, i.e. the shield. I am not sure of the capabilities of those scissor-like stuff, but I could imagine Sentinel shooting some sort of a blast from it. 

             The mode looks kinda silly, but hopefully the movie itself would prove me wrong.

Robot Mode:

            The robot mode is really the gem of this figure. It is absolutely awesome. I could quite literally imagine this guy to be named Alpha Trion instead – he looks old and wise. Predominantly red and standing 9 ¼ - inch tall, this figure reeks of awesomeness. 

 

 

            The head sculpt is very nice and detailed. The legs designs kinda remind me of some chogokin robots, especially with the pointy feet. 

            The transformation is kinda tricky at first, but once you get the hang of it, it ain’t that tough after all.

           Articulation-wise, Sentinel Prime reeks of ‘em. The head unfortunately can only turn slightly to left and right. The shoulders are one ratcheting joint and so are the elbows. The arms can lift up at the shoulder pads and the lower arms rotate at the elbow joints. The wrists turns and all four fingers on each hand, excluding the fixed thumb, move in tandem. 

 

Sentinel Prime doesn’t come with any waist joint. The hips are on ratcheting universal joints, which is absolutely useful for fancy poses. The legs rotate slightly above the ratcheting knee joints.

The ankles are kinda interesting here, which contain several points of articulations. The ankles move inward and outward at two points, i.e. upper and lower ankles. The point feet bits also move upward and downward, which is very nice. 

My only complaint of the figure, apart from the lack of certain points of articulations, is that this figure is kinda back heavy.

            Otherwise, this is definitely one heckuva robot mode.

Gimmick:

            Overall, the main gimmick of the entire line is Mechtech, as mentioned previously. Another gimmick available here are the sound and lighting effects.

            In truck mode, pressing the button on top of the cockpit will produced the siren sounds and the blue emergency light will light up.

            In robot mode, pressing the button on the chest will make Sentinel announce that, “I am Sentinel Prime”, with his eyes lighting up as he says so.

Overall:

            All in all, I really love this figure. To be honest, this is the figure that I have been looking forward to since the day they announced that Sentinel Prime was going to be in the 3^rd movie. At least, this time around, HasTak made the right move in making Sentinel a Leader-class figure, unlike the ROTF The Fallen, which was only made into a Voyager-class figure, despite its legendary status.

            A good start for the line, and I can only hope for better things in this line.

Highly recommended.

Final Verdict: 9/10