Titans Return Sentinel Prime

Robot Mode: The first thing you notice about Sentinel Prime: my gawd, he’s ORANGE! As a matter of fact he is so orange that a lot of effort had to go into this pictures I took so that they would come out showing more than just an indistinct orange blob. You’re welcome. Anyway, Sentinel Prime is very, very orange. And some red and yellow, too.

As a figure Sentinel Prime looks pretty good. There is a lot of detailing to be found (you can see it once your eyes have adapted to the blinding orangeness of him), he is nicely articulated, and his face is sufficiently Prime-like, too. Sentinel comes with two dark grey guns, a smaller rifle and a bigger one that features a seat for his Titan Master companion Infinitus (see below). The two rifles can combine into a single one, too, and Sentinel also has sculpted guns on his arms. Nicely done.

Overall there is very little to complain here (MY GOD, HE’S SOOOO ORANGE!), Sentinel Prime is a good Voyager class figure. Nothing particularly outstanding here, but good.

Alternate Modes: The mold of this figure was originally created for Astrotrain, so it does not come as a surprise that he’s a triple changer with a space shuttle and train mode. Let’s start with the, to me, far superior mode, the space shuttle, or star cruiser, really. The transformation is rather basic, as Sentinel basically just lies down on his stomach with his toes becoming the nosecone of the starship, but it works nicely and the resulting craft looks just fine (still very orange, though). There are numerous ways you can attach Sentinel Prime’s rifles and a cockpit for Infinitus sit in. Overall it’s not a spectacular mode, but looking good.

His second alternate mode is a train and much like I didn’t really care for most of Astrotrain’s train modes over the years, I’m not that enamored with that one, either. Sentinel basically does the splits, the length of the train being mostly his legs. The result is a very futuristic looking train (and VERY orange, too). The cockpit remains in place, the rifles can still be attached, but overall this mode doesn’t really do it for me.

Partner: Sentinel Prime comes with Infinitus, a small Headmaster… excuse me, Titan Master figure that transforms into his head. Infinitus is pretty small, about the size of the 1988 “Junior” Headmaster figures from G1, and can move his arms at the shoulders and bend his connected legs at hip and knee. About as good as a figure this small can get, I guess. I don’t see myself transforming him out of head mode all that often, to be honest.

Remarks: In most continuities Sentinel Prime is the predecessor of Optimus Prime. Sometimes he is a good guy, but far more often he is either a bad guy or a jerk. The IDW version of Sentinel Prime, which this figure portrays, is both. In his original appearance he was shown merely as the guy Megatron killed at the beginning of the war, but subsequent flashbacks showed him to be to basically be a kind of Gestapo leader, doing the dirty work for Cybertron’s pre-war corrupt senate. In the current Titans Return crossover he returns, having survived Megatron’s attack apparently by way of becoming (or already having been) a Headmaster.

As a toy Sentinel Prime is pretty much the obligatory repaint of the mold created for Astrotrain, only coming out before Astrotrain (in the hopes more people will buy him if he comes out first, I guess). That said, the figure is good, if not spectacular, it portrays a rather obscure character, and will play a major role in IDW’s current Transformers event. So while Sentinel Prime is not a must have, especially if you plan on getting Astrotrain later on, he’s a pretty decent figure. Just remember: he’s VERY orange.

Rating: C+