Sentinel Prime (TFA)


 * Sentinel Prime is an Autobot in the Transformers Animated continuity family.



Sentinel Prime is a member of the Cybertron Elite Guard under the command of Ultra Magnus. His alt-mode is a snow plow truck.

Sentinel has a history of rivalry with Optimus Prime, who attended the Autobot Academy with him. In his academy days, he was somewhat of a maverick, leading the more responsible Optimus to refer to him as a "walking malfunction." Of course, he's the one that ended up on the Elite Guard while Optimus was sent off to repair space bridges, of which fact he's all too fond of reminding his former classmate.

All things considered, he's kind of a jerk.

Animated

 * Voice actor: Townsend Coleman (English), Peter Reinhardt (German)

Sentinel Prime took Optimus and Elita-1 on a mission looking for an old Decepticon warship, hoping to get all the energon stored within. However, they ran into a pack of massive arachnids. Sentinel Prime tried to hold them off long enough for Optimus and Elita to escape. When he came across the the ship that Optimus and Elita found, Optimus had to drag him away from the exploding energon, forcing them to leave Elita-1 behind. Optimus Prime's radar couldn't find Elita's energy signature, and he assumed that she was dead. A furious Sentinel blamed Optimus Prime for what happened, even though this whole disaster had been his idea. Jerk.

Years later, he's still a jerk. When Optimus Prime rings up the Cybertron Elite Guard to tell them of the Decepticons in pursuit, he sneers that a screw-up like Optimus isn't worth the attention of Ultra Magnus. Piping through a visual of the AllSpark from the cargo hold of the Ark shuts him up quickly enough.

Trivia

 * Like another sentinel of liberty, Sentinel Prime's signature weapon is a round shield that he wears on his arm and throws around the room like a discus. The shield can also project a protective force field.
 * Sentinel Prime's blue coloration and especially pronounced chin really make him look like The Tick. He's even voiced by Townsend Coleman, who provided the voice of the Tick in his 1990s animated series. At the minute, we don't know if the character was designed to look like the Tick and the casting was done based on that, or if the casting of Coleman prompted the Tick-style design, or some other combination of factors, but its pretty evident that the writers are working with it, having him utter silly Tick-esque lines like "Energon-y goodness!"
 * This is the first time the name "Sentinel Prime" has been used outside the comics.
 * If he doesn't get a toy, there will be much sadness.