Toy Review - Studio Series 61 Sentinel Prime

[Magnus]

Vehicle mode

A black and red Rosenbauer Panther airport crash tender.







Next to the original leader class from the Dark of the Moon toy line. The older figure obviously has more fine detail since it's bigger, but its real advantage is having better colour separation, since it has three different colours of plastic making up the body. It also depicts the Panther's High Reach Extendable Turret more accurately than the Studio Series figure, where the turret has two hinged joints for greater reach.

On the other hand, the Studio Series figure has more detail and parts moulded into the roof and the rear of the truck, and it has a deeper, richer red that is more screen-accurate than the red on the older figure.



Next to Optimus Prime. Sentinel Prime looks undersized in vehicle mode.



With Optimus and DotM Megatron.

Transformation

Transforming Sentinel Prime into robot mode is fairly straightforward.

There are two ways to transform the windscreen and front of the roof. Sentinel comes packaged with the roof folded in behind the windscreen, but it is also possible to have the front section of roof unfolded and attached to his upper back. This looks neater when viewed from the side, as well as securing the cape, but the trade-off is the loss of the waist articulation.

Transforming to vehicle mode, on the other hand, is more of a challenge. Sentinel is one of those figures that needs a bit of pressing and 'massaging' to get everything aligned correctly, as the unfolded leg panels can collapse out of position when connecting them to the top of the truck.

Robot mode

Sentinel Prime stands just over 17.5cm tall. He has amazing screen-accuracy, but needs more colour - some more red paint and some applications of white paint would really enhance the look. Also, the use of that charcoal plastic means that he looks very dark, so perhaps having some parts moulded in a lighter grey plastic would have looked better.

Articulation is fairly good, although other figures have done better. The head is mounted on a ball joint, but movement is limited due to the shape of the head sculpt. The shoulders have the usual two axes of motion, with a rotator above the hinged elbow and a wrist rotator. If you've folded the roof panel down, the waist has limited rotation. The hips have two axes of motion, there is a rotator just above the knee, and the knee itself is hinged. The feet are static, although the toes can angle down if the foot isn't flat against a surface. Even if the feet can't move to sit flat if the legs are angled, the feet themselves are large enough that Sentinel should be stable in a variety of poses.





As previously mentioned, it is possible to do two different things with the front section of roof - one can either have it folded in behind the windscreen, or have it lie flat against the back, attaching to the upper back below the cape.

His sole accessory is his double-bladed sword, consisting of two panels that detach from the sides of the vehicle during transformation. This means that he can wield a single-bladed weapon or a double-bladed one. The lack of other accessories does limit play and display options, especially since we saw Sentinel with a shield and a rust gun in the movie.



I must admit, I like this look, as it looks like Sentinel is dual-wielding machetes or even meat cleavers.



Next to Optimus Prime and Megatron. While he looks to be a good size next to Optimus, Sentinel is too short next to Megatron. This leads into another gripe I have with Sentinel - I personally would have preferred that Sentinel be a bit bigger, to make him closer in size to Megatron as well as give his vehicle mode a better scale when compared to Optimus. It would have been good if Sentinel was a small leader class figure rather than a voyager class figure, and that to help justify the leader class price point, he would come with a full set of accessories, that is, a separate (non-integrated) sword, his shield, and his rust gun.

Verdict

It feels like the old leader and the new Studio Series figure have opposite strengths and weaknesses - the DotM figure is bigger, more detailed, more articulated, has more colour variety, and has more (and better) accessories, but the Studio Series figure is more screen-accurate in its moulding and its red colour, and has a simpler and therefore faster transformation.

I've typed up quite a few gripes I have with this figure, and it kind of feels like nitpicking, because Sentinel Prime isn't a bad figure and I won't say not to get it. As Silverbolt already typed, Sentinel looks great and the simpler transformation compared to the older figure is more fun. I guess I was hoping for more.