Review: #21
Name: Sentinel Prime
Brand: Transformers
Allegiance: Autobot
Line: Dark of the Moon
Year of Release: 2011
Size Class: Leader (Wave 1)
Variations: none as of date
VEHICLE MODE:
Sentinel Prime transformers into a Rosenbauer Panther 6x6 fire truck that are primarily used in airports. It is a boxy fire truck with very detailed sculpting. The red is a great shade, but you can see the shield stored underneath.
To ruin the realism a bit, he features a big Autobot insignia at the back on each side. It's probably just me, but I love fire truck transformers, particularly "Primes" (started with Robots in Disguise Optimus Prime...), and I find this a very fitting alt mode for Sentinel.
With the transparent windows that are not tinted, you can clearly see the back of his head. Also, there's some stuff protruding from underneath that detract and ruin the clean and neat look of the boxy vehicle. The front features a flip out nozzle, that can be hard to get it out. The side mirrors are made of soft plastic, so they aren't prone to snapping off, however, with time, they might be subject to plastic rot.
With the abundance of red plastic, Sentinel really needs some paint to bring out the details, what he currently has is just enough, but it would be great if there was more. With the electronics, pressing the button on top behind his sirens will cause the said sirens to flash yellow (why it flashes yellow when the plastic of the sirens is blue I don't know, I would have assumed they could change the plastic to yellow instead to match the lights..., as such, it looks odd) and emit siren sounds. Also the MechTech port on the right hand side has a button concealed inside, when a weapon is plugged in, there is a weapon charge up sound, now pressing the button that had activated the sirens earlier will create weapon attack sounds, and removing the weapon will cause a transformation sound. I love the variety of electronics in vehicle mode, it makes Sentinel Prime less boring.
Sentinel Prime is a decent size, clearly Leader classed. If there were any cost cutting and minimization of the figure overall like the Deluxes and Voyagers, then it's not apparent here. A six wheels roll, and provided you've clipped everything together, Sentinel Prime is very secure and parts won't start to move as you handle him.
The fire fighting boom arm isn't just for show, it can extend and rotate around to aim, providing just that extra touch of realism. A great fire truck mode that I can't really find too many faults in.
MECHTECH VEHICLE MODE:
I don't know what the official name of this mode is, so I'm just calling it a "MechTech Vehicle", I've seen others call it a "Stealth Force-style vehicle", whatever floats your boat, and truth be told, that's not important. This mode is achieved by plugging the shield in expanded form on top of the vehicle (into the two Mechtech ports actually), then the sword is plugged on top of that, and finally, the boom arm rests on top. The back section is also opened up.
I had my doubts about this weird intermediate mode at first, but it really does look a lot better in real life than pictures show. The expanded shield now has a gun, as well as two hidden guns from the back. He looks good in a top down view angle from the front, but from the side and back, it is a bit dodgy due to the exposed robot bits, making it a big pile of mess.
I can't help but think the sword kinda looks like a helicopter's rotor in that position. Sentinel isn't as stable in this mode since you've flipped some panels open and the back doesn't clip together as well anymore (the roof section is also just resting there).
However, by flipping those panels at the back, it exposes two additional MechTech ports which you can plug in some weapons to make Sentinel Prime more formidable. I've plugged in Skyhammer's missile pods in the above photo.
I guess this mode adds in some play value, even though I'm not a major fan of it (I think it's alright), there are a few elements especially for this mode (the flip out guns, and additional MechTech ports) but it's pretty 'meh'. As if a fire truck needs a pincer on the roof...
TRANSFORMATION:
After ROTF Optimus Prime I wouldn't thought another toy would be as frustrating and annoying as it, but Sentinel Prime comes VERY close. Theoretically, Sentinel Prime has a fairly simple transformation, in reality, it's a major pain. The reason for this is the amount of panels that have a very fine tolerance, just a little bit misaligned and you won't be able to clip the fire truck together. I had spent most of my time trying to get the panels together and when I had finished it, I was worried the plastic might be stressed due to the way I had forced everything to peg together. There are some ingenious elements such as his arms storing inside his shins, that was something different, and the way the feet clip together diagonally. Going the other way to robot mode isn't that bad, since you're 'opening' him up (which becomes quite a mess at one point). The way his chest forms threw me off the first time and it took me a while to figure it out. Either way, the end result was worth the pain of frustration, I just wished the designer had made it easier to clip everything together, this is definitely not one for the kids (no matter what the packaging says).
ROBOT MODE:
Sentinel Prime's robot mode really warmed up to me ever since I first laid eyes on him. Initially I was skeptical and thought he was ugly, but after a while, the figure started to look quite magnificent, especially with his 'cape'. Then again, I was always a sucker with Transformers wielding swords and shields.
Sentinel Prime is very much a shellformer (just like Optimus coincidentally), wearing most of the fire truck panels as a cape, with only the side windows forming his chest in a fairly unique look.
Sentinel Prime is mostly about legs, as his arms are quite short in comparison, and overall stubby in proportion. The chest doesn't really peg together, and his abdomen piece desperately needs some paint to bring out the sculpted details.
The fire boom arm rests on his back, and the legs are formed by folding and compressing panels in an unusual way. It's not terribly good to look at from any angle other than the front, and is fairly unstable, particularly the feet and heels.
By far the biggest problem would be the distribution of weight. Most of it is due to the batteries which is located on his back. His feet does not have long enough heel spurs for him to stand up in many poses, even neutral ones. It took me a while before I could balance him, this back heaviness is a MAJOR flaw.
The head sculpt is accurate and detailed, too bad it's ugly and pales in comparison to Optimus Prime's. The siren sounds can still be activated here, as well as the MechTech weapon one. Pressing a button on his chest makes him say "I am Sentinel Prime", not terribly original. However, if you have the MechTech port button compressed, he will say two addition phrases, "Good to see you alive, Optimus" and "What has happened to the Allspark?". This variety in robot mode is great and way more interesting than many leaders of the past where they only had one line. Also, Sentinel Prime's eyes flash yellow, again, blue plastic is used yet it flashes yellow, so inconsistent.
The primarily weapons for Sentinel Prime is his Primax Blade and Shield. The shield looks great, but I would have traded a proper classic looking sword than the dual bladed affair we have here.
The fists are jointed to open and close to grasp the weapons. Whereas the blade is held securely, the shield is not. It swings about from side to side due to the handle being slightly smaller than the hand peg hole, just picking him up will dislodge the shield, it won't fall off, but it is still annoying.
The shield can still open up by pressing a button in the middle. You can clip back the raised middle section to make it look less weird and more impressive. This looks great as a sort of 'powered up' version. Most of the joints are ratchets, and pretty tight ones too, so they won't get loose that fast.
If it is a ranged weapon that you desire, no problem!! The fire boom arm can be lifted over as a sort of overhead cannon or a shoulder cannon, this really reminds me of the RiD Optimus who was also capable of this. Either way, it looks really cool. The shield can also plug into the MechTech port of his arms, it looks okay there, but is not screen accurate.
And finally of course, the comparison with his successor, Optimus Prime, they compliment each other a lot. If you look carefully, you'll notice the 'antennae' of the two Primes are of the same design, a really nice and subtle touch. Sentinel Prime has every inch the Prime-ness that an Autobot leader should have.
OVERALL:
As a figure overall I really like Sentinel Prime, a few things hold him back such as the painful transformation and the difficulty of making him stand up, but the pros far outweigh the cons. The shield and sword is awesome, the cape is awesome, the variety of sounds is impressive and after seeing the movie, I love the character, which boosts up this toy even higher on my favourite's list. However, I wouldn't recommend him at full retail price, rather at a sale instead, as he is lacking quite a bit of paint and isn't a stunning figure to be worth full RRP.
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My apologies for the appalling pictures in this review, I didn't notice how blurry they were, and frankly, I shouldn't have taken them in late afternoon. It's too late now as I am not planning waste my time and transform him between the three modes. However, if you think this is bad, you should have a look here for my first set of photos...
However, all is not lost! Some WAY better photos can be found at this gallery (another site).
Credit: the images and text are all my own, but I've linked a few pages to TFwiki.net
Of course, fell free to browse my other reviews from this page.
