Transformers One features Sentinel Prime as its main villain, raising questions about why he betrayed the former leaders of Cybertron, the Primes. The newest film in the franchise takes a somewhat different route for the origin story of Optimus Prime. In Transformers One, Optimus is known as Orion Pax, a low-class Cybertronian who works his life away as a miner of Energon. This links to the story of Transformers One's Sentinel Prime, who claims there is an important reason as to why the miners must work as hard as they do.
However, by the time of Transformers One's climactic ending, Sentinel Prime is discovered as a traitor. It is revealed that Sentinel betrayed the old Primes, leading Orion Pax and his friend D-16 on a journey that sees them become the iconic figures of Optimus Prime and Megatron from Transformers lore. A potential sequel to Transformers Onewould build on this rivalry in typical Transformers fashion, yet none of it would have been possible in this universe had Sentinel Prime not betrayed the Primes to kickstart the journeys of Optimus and Megatron.
Sentinel Prime Was Tired Of Serving The Primes Instead Of Having Power Himself
Sentinel Simply Wanted Power
In Transformers One, Sentinel Prime's reasoning for betraying the other Primes is relatively straightforward. It is explained the Sentinel was once a servant of the Primes, helping them keep order on Cybertron. Sentinel was not a Prime, however, and desired the power that those above him possessed. As such, he orchestrated a story that led to the Primes' destruction, claiming the title for himself and ruling over Cybertron as its new leader. Voiced by Jon Hamm in Transformers One's voice cast, Sentinel unveils this to Orion Pax in the movie.
The animated Transformers movie Transformers One offers a promising cast voicing iconic Autobots, Decepticons and mythical figures of Cybertron.
In a speech in the film's third act, Sentinel explains that he betrayed the Primes out of greed. After overseeing the Primes' demise, he began selling Energon to the Quintessons, a major enemy of the Cybertronians. In doing so, Sentinel secured his position as the leader of Iacon City and falsely constructed a reason for most of his subjects into servitude. This allowed Sentinel Prime to live like a king with unlimited resources, power, and sway over the people of Iacon. Eventually, though, this backfired against him when D-16 became Megatron, subsequently killing Sentinel out of revenge.
Sentinel Prime's Betrayal In Transformers One Is Pulled From The Franchise Lore
Sentinel Tends To Be An Antagonist In Transformers
Transformers One's decision to portray Sentinel Prime as a villain is one that is somewhat consistent with the franchise's lore. Although Sentinel was a hero in the original animated series The Transformers, he was shown to be an antagonist in other iterations. For example, Sentinel Prime was the main villain of 2011's Transformers: Dark of the Moon, the third installment in the live-action Transformers movie timeline. Sentinel Prime was initially depicted as the leader of the Primes as he was in the original show, though one who harbored a dark secret.
Live-Action Transformers Movie
Main Villain(s)
Transformers
Megatron
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen
The Fallen
Transformers: Dark of the Moon
Sentinel Prime, Megatron
Transformers: Age of Extinction
Quintessa (Off-Screen), Lockdown, Galvatron
Transformers: The Last Knight
Quintessa, Galvatron, Unicron
Bumblebee
Shatter, Dropkick
Transformers: Rise of the Beasts
Scourge, Unicron
It is revealed that Sentinel made a deal with Megatron to ensure the survival of the Cybertronians. With their planet now destroyed, Sentinel and Megatron form a plan to bring Cybertron to Earth, taking it from the humans as their new home. This started a wave of Sentinel being a villain in different iterations of the series, from the IDW comics Transformers: More Than Meets The Eye to Cartoon Network's Transformers: Animated. Transformers One simply follows this trend, having Sentinel be a formerly benevolent character who betrayed his people in a grasp for power.
How Sentinel Prime Kept His Betrayal A Secret For So Long In Transformers One
Sentinel Prime Constructed A False Story To Keep His Cover
One of the main questions after Transformers One's Sentinel Prime reveal is how he kept his betrayal a secret for so long. The reason for this stems from the deal Sentinel strikes with the Quintessons, the primary enemies of the Cybertronians in Transformers One's timeline. Sentinel's treaty with the Quintessons states that they will allow Iacon City to stand with Sentinel as its leader if he regularly provides them with Energon. Sentinel provides this by taking the transformer cogs of Iacon City's miners and forcing them into a life of servitude.
This keeps the workers of Iacon City below ground and mining for Energon, as they believe it is keeping them, and all the other Cybertronians, alive...
Removing the cogs keeps the workers subservient, and the regular flow of Energon that is supplied to the Quintessons keeps Sentinel in power. Sentinel keeps this secret by not allowing anyone onto Cybertron's surface; he states that only he is allowed above ground in order to look for Transformers One's Matrix of Leadership. The Matrix of Leadership is what used to keep Energon flowing throughout Iacon City, with Sentinel stating it was lost when the Elder Primes were killed.
Transformers One features the Elder Primes as key elements of the narrative, tweaking the lore surrounding the earliest heroes of Cybertron.
This keeps the workers of Iacon City below ground and mining for Energon, as they believe it is keeping them, and all the other Cybertronians, alive. However, Sentinel is simply taking the Energon mined by them and giving it to the Quintessons, all in exchange for his unwavering power over Iacon City. After finding out about this, Orion Pax and D-16 expose Sentinel Prime's lies and his betrayal, leading to the resistance that sees Optimus Prime rise as the new Cybertronian leader in Transformers One's ending.
Transformers One is an animated action-adventure movie that marks the first animated feature-length film for the series in decades. The film will be a prequel to the franchise, and will tell the story of Optimus Prime and Megatron in their early years, how they met, and a closer look at the war on their home planet, Cybertron.
Director Josh Cooley
Release Date September 20, 2024
Writers Andrew Barrer , Steve Desmond , Gabriel Ferrari
Custom Image by Lewis Glazebrook
:quality(85):upscale()/2023/09/21/802/n/1922729/d9a11ce9650c8850437280.00070284_.jpg)
:quality(85):upscale()/2024/10/31/831/n/49351773/b7bf33836723d2f0643c55.51137847_.jpg)
:quality(85):upscale()/2024/10/30/955/n/42301552/28e49c1e6722ab5b973b38.46745005_.jpg)
English (US) ·