Sentinel (Beast Wars)

Sentinel is the name of a computer defense grid from the Transformers television series Beast Wars.

Sentinel was created by the Maximal scientist Rhinox in order to provide adequate defenses for the Axalon. The system included a wide variety of weapons, including the Axalon's external guns, internal disruptor bolts, and crusher field generators. Other defenses included stun guns, restraining coils, stasis fields, zero friction fluid, cryo fields, and the Axalon's external shield. Most of these only appeared in the episode "A Better Mousetrap", in which a malfunction causes Sentinel to recognize the Maximals as intruders, forcing Rattrap to travel through the activated defenses to shut it down. Despite Rhinox's best efforts, the defense systems prove unable to stop Rattrap, and Dinobot proves similarly able to defeat Sentinel's weapons.

Despite the fact that Sentinel was designed to make the base impregnable, the system has proven far from foolproof. Blackarachnia and Inferno have both proven themselves able to penetrate the external shields, the former using an unnamed device, the other by digging underneath the shield. The shields are also unable to stand up to intense firepower, such as that laid down by Predacon forces during the brief participation of the Decepticon Ravage in the Beast Wars. Ravage also proved himself able to access the Axalon's defenses, though he did not have to penetrate the shields as they were lowered at the time.

Sentinel was lost to the bottom of a lake near the Axalon when the ship was knocked from its perch by the Predacons. No effort was made to salvage it until sometime later, when Rhinox proved unable to use Teletran 1 to defend the new Maximal headquarters. Utilizing a submersible crafted by Blackarachnia, Rattrap descended into the lake to retrieve Sentinel's program module. However, the Predacons sought the advantage of Sentinel's defenses, and sent their own retrieval team. In the ensuing battle involving Predacons Rampage, Waspinator, Quickstrike, and Inferno and Maximals Rattrap, Silverbolt, and Depth Charge, the Predacons were able to obtain the module and install it in their own ship the Darkside, making it impossible for the Maximals to attack their stronghold. However, their newfound security was short-lived, as the ship-and Sentinel with it-were destroyed by the arriving Tigerhawk.