Quintessons

Quintessons

The red wizard Mara-Al-Utha, a Quintesson criminal.
Publication information
Publisher Marvel Comics, Dreamwave Productions, Fun Publications, Del Rey Books, IDW Publishing, and Devil's Due Publishing.
First appearance The Transformers (UK) #182–187
(September–October 1988)
In-story information
Base(s) Cybertron, Quintessa, and New Quintessa.
Member(s) Founders/Leaders:
Quintus Prime and later the Curator (Aquarius in Shattered Glass universe).
Other:
See: Types of Quintessons.

Quintessons are fictional aliens from the Transformers universe. Within the TV series, they are the creators of the Transformers, although in most other fictional universes featuring the Transformers, they have no such status. Although they have several body types, the name Quintesson focused on the "judge" Quintessons who have five (quint-) faces with five unique personalities.

Transformers: Generation 1

The Quintessons are sinister robotic creatures with five sided heads, each side with a different face, including the face of death. These tentacled beings, who travel on beams of energy, are cruel and emotionless, and the creators of all the Transformers on Cybertron millions of years ago. The Quintessons never intended their intelligent machines to develop emotions. But, to their horror, the Transformers rose up against their masters and drove them away from Cybertron. The Quintessons retreated to a planet they named Quintessa, where they lived a stark and barren existence with their Sharkticon guards. Sinister and vicious, lacking any individualistic intelligence, the Sharkticons usually serve as executioners for their Quintesson masters, who toss condemned victims into the Sharkticon pit. The Quintessons finally decided to blow up their planet, Quintessa, to try to prevent Autobot captives and invaders from escaping. Their plot to destroy the Autobots failed. And now, without a world of their own, they roam the universe with their Sharkticons, making victims of whatever luckless beings cross their path. Their goal is to regain control of Cybertron and eradicate all Autobots and Decepticons. Yet, so manipulative and cunning are they, that they even tricked the Decepticons into helping them achieve their aim.

Types of Quintessons

There are several different types of Quintesson, but the most commonly featured are the Judges — round, egg-shaped, tentacled beings, whose bodies are supported on beams of anti-gravity energy. Most distinctively, they bear five faces, each representing a different emotion. The original script to the movie identifies the faces as "smiling", "angry", "grimacing", "suspicious" and a "death's head", and the faces were designed to represent these emotions. Only the "death's head" was identified in the cartoon series, where it was named the "Face of Death", but an article in the Japanese magazine, Comic Bom Bom, later did the same for the other four, dubbing them the Faces of Laughter, Rage, Bitterness and Doubt. Transformers: The Ultimate Guide published by Dorling Kindersley created a new set of names for the faces other than Death — War, Wrath, Wisdom and Judgment — but the later IDW Publishing book, The Ark: A Complete Compendium of Transformers Animation Models, returned to using the original names.

In their courtroom proceedings, other types of Quintessons were employed, including snout-faced "bailiffs", an "executioner", who threw the switch to drop victims into the Sharkticon (see below) pit, and multi-tentacled "prosecutors" (known as the "Aliens Reject" to the fans[1]). To carry out their executions, the Quintessons used Sharkticons, unintelligent, rotund robots that could transform into amphibious, fanged monsters. Other transforming servants used by the Quintessons could assume alligator-like forms, though they were never given an official name besides "Quintesson guards". They have, in some fan circles, been unofficially named Alligaticons, Gatorcons, and, by Dreamwave Comics, Allicons. (The Alligaticon name is disputed by the fact that a construct built from Optimus Prime's body — minus his head and rifle-wielding right arm — by the Constructicons in the cartoon episode City of Steel was called an Alligaticon.)

Additional unique breeds of Quintesson include a single-faced scientist called Inquirata, who sought to prevent the rebellion in the past by altering history, and another scientist of the same body type who captured Ultra Magnus, Cyclonus, Wreck-Gar and Marissa Fairborne for study. A completely unique, multi-faced Quintesson scientist was also introduced as the creator of the Trans-Organics, the Quintessons' first attempt to create a subservient cybernetic life form. Also of note was the Quintesson criminal, Mara-Al-Utha, who was convicted of the crime of practicing sorcery, and banished to the mystical other-dimensional realm of Menonia.

Animated series

Twelve million years ago, the alien race known as the Quintessons used the planet of Cybertron as a factory to produce cybernetic lifeforms. Their early experiments in fusing organic and technological components into one being resulted in the creation of the "Trans-Organics", which proved too primitive and unstable, particularly a living energy siphon named "The Dweller", and they were all sealed away in the lowest levels of Cybertron.

Subsequently, the Quintessons turned to pure robotics for their creations, and produced lines of consumer goods and military hardware robots—which would eventually become the lineal ancestors of the Autobots and Decepticons, respectively.[2] Forging their bodies in the Plasma Energy Chamber,[3] the Quintessons programmed their robots with intelligence using Vector Sigma, to allow them to carry out their tasks on their own, thereby leaving the Quintessons to do nothing other than live in leisure. However, what they failed to realize was that their robots had developed true sentience and real feelings — after a million years of slavery, they could now feel and know the difference between it and freedom, and they struck back against their masters. The Quintessons fought back against the rebellion with their Dark Guardian robots, unconcerned and thinking themselves untouchable, but when the Coda-Remote, a device created by the rebel leader, A-3, was used to shut down the Guardians, the robots got the upper hand, eventually forcing the Quintessons to flee Cybertron.[4] They scattered through the galaxy until they became largely forgotten by the Transformers.[5]

The Quintessons took up residence on a world they named Quintessa, although it is not clear if the entire race relocated to the planet, or just one group. Here, they eked out a bitter, resentful existence, putting many unfortunate robots they captured to trial, subjecting them to a twisted form of justice as they sought retribution for the "theft" of Cybertron. Innocent or guilty, the sentence was always the same—death, in the jaws of their monstrous (new) servants, the Sharkticons.

At least one group of Quintessons also took up the role of weapons dealer to the galaxy. They would often supply arms for both sides of a war, such as the war between Xetaxxis and Lanarq. They would aid in escalating the war to line their pockets.[6] They chronicled the sale of their arms transactions in a holographic tube which they called their Journal. They kept this Journal safely hidden away, until the destruction of Quintessa sent it hurling through space. Its existence was unknown to all races until the time of a peace conference (in 2006), when it was recovered by the Autobots and used to help bring peace to the embattled Xetaxxis and Lanarq.[7]

The modern Transformers' first encounter with the Quintessons came in the Earth year 2005 (during the events of The Transformers: The Movie), when Hot Rod, Kup and the Dinobots were stranded on the planet and faced Quintesson justice, only able to escape when Grimlock intimidated the Sharkticons into revolting, and Wheelie led the marooned Autobots to a Quintesson ship to allow them to get off the planet. After the destruction of Unicron, the Quintessons launched an all-out assault on the Transformers, in an attempt to reclaim Cybertron. They first attacked the First Galactic Olympic ceremony on its opening day and kidnapped Autobots Kup and Ultra Magnus as well as human Spike Witwicky. The Autobots, commanded by Rodimus Prime rescued their companions. The Quintessons, believing that if they could destroy the Autobot Matrix of Leadership it would divide their enemies and eliminate half of their resistance, detonated their home planet of Quintessa. The Autobots managed to escape the destruction of the planet. Frustrated and outraged at their strategic failure, they realized the best hope was to forge an alliance with the Decepticons. They even promised Galvatron the non-existent Decepticon Matrix of Leadership. While the two sides battled each other, the Sharkticons were sent to activate a failsafe that would freeze all Autobots and Decepticons. However, their plan was foiled by Spike Witwicky.[8]

The alliance between the Decepticons and the Quintessons proved to be unholy to say the least, with both sides betraying one another on numerous occasions. Separately from this sporadic arrangement, the Quintessons also seemed to utilize the Predacons as agents.

In 2006, assorted groups of Quintessons would plot various schemes to destroy both the Autobots and Decepticons alike. Some of the most noteworthy schemes involved creating a "Time Window" to go back in time and try to kill Autobot A-3, reviving Autobot legend Optimus Prime as a zombie to kill his fellow Autobots,[9] sending Galvatron to a planet that would kill him,[10] and tricking the Decepticons into unleashing the Trans-Organics on Cybertron once again.[11] As beings of logic and statistics, the Quintessons' primary weakness is non-linear thinking — the Quintessons blame Earth's humans and their unpredictability for the corruption of the Autobots that prevents them from accurately deducing their movements. Their initial scheme was, in fact, directly foiled by Spike Witwicky when the Quintessons failed to account for his presence. They later attempted to use this indefinable factor for themselves by harnessing the nightmares in the mind of Daniel Witwicky and turning them against the Autobots.[12]

The Quintessons were known as the most untrustworthy creatures in the galaxy, until during the outbreak of the Hate Plague, they were, at the time, hiding on a planet in the farthest reaches of the galaxy. One, who was fleeing infected Sharkticons, was rescued by Sky Lynx to restore Prime to working order and sanity, as well as repairing the remaining uninfected Autobots, and forced to assist as Optimus was the only leader who could oppose the Hate Plague.

Marvel Comics

The Quintessons did not appear in the American comic book series, aside from in the comic adaptations of The Transformers: The Movie and the episode "The Big Broadcast of 2006". They did, however, feature in the Transformers Universe profile books, where they are implicated as being servants of Unicron.

However, this was based on the original script of The Transformers: The Movie which was changed later but was too late to amend in the profiles, and certainly does not apply to the UK comics, where the Quintessons were featured in the story Space Pirates (which stated Big Broadcast had been completely made up by Wreck-Gar). That story saw their homeworld threatened by a growing timestorm, and so, having been compiling a list of metallic planets intended for conquest & colonization, they targeted Cybertron for emergency colonization. In a two-pronged attack, they attacked Autobot City to draw out Rodimus Prime so that, via a trap involving Arcee, they could take the Matrix from him; they also contacted the Decepticons to tip them off about the Autobot City attack, causing the Decepticons to go out in force to Autobase on Cybertron and thus run right into a Quintesson ambush designed to massacre the Decepticon army. While on the verge of victory, they were undone by Hot Rod unleashing Metroplex, Soundwave unexpectedly calling the Autobots for assistance in defeating the Cybertron-based Quintessons, and by Wreck-Gar broadcasting their plans to every planet they'd intended to colonize. The Quintessons were seen vowing to attack Cybertron again but this never occurred (presumably they were left unable once their homeworld was destroyed). The Quintessons showed a sadistic side in this story, stringing up deactivated Autobots on the walls of Autobot City for no purpose other than to demoralize Rodimus & his team.

Dreamwave Productions

The Quintessons have also appeared in Dreamwave's comic book series, manipulating events behind the scenes, at one point providing Megatron with a massive army of Seeker clones to subjugate Cybertron, although Dreamwave's bankruptcy meant this story was never finished. They also appeared in Dreamwave's G1 ongoing series, where they were manipulating events behind the scenes, including engineering discord between Hot Rod and Arcee, as part of a scheme to seize the Autobot Matrix of Leadership. This story was also never completed.

3H Enterprises

The exclusive Wreckers comic book for the Official Transformers Collectors Convention accomplished an uneasy merging of cartoon and comic continuity by presenting the Quintessons as minions of Unicron, employed long ago to seek out Primus/Cybertron. Upon locating Cybertron, instead of informing their master, they took it over and enslaved the inhabitants. The Quintessons created a shell program for the super computer Vector Sigma called the Oracle, and through it attempted to influence the development of Cybertron. The series also had the Quintessons later colonize another planet, which they named New Quintessa.

In the "Botcon" comic line, the Quintessons formed an alliance with the Predacon scientist Cryotek, a former mentor of Megatron. They worked together in attempts to cement their rule over the galaxy, attempting to destroy the powerful Transformers dispatched by the Oracle. They succeeded in the case of the Mutants and the Dinobots, but proved unable to defeat the Wreckers before the comic's cancellation. The Transformers Collectors Club Magazine later included storyline that featured the Quintessons invading Cybertron with Cryotek's aid, only to be defeated by the various Cybertronian defenders, including the survivors of the Beast Wars, Predacon Galvatron and his minions, and the returning Wreckers and surviving Dinobots.

Devil's Due Publishing

The Quintessons made a cameo appearance in Devil's Due comics. In the third volume of the Devil's Due comics G.I Joe vs the Transformers comics, the android Serpentor downloaded information on the history of Cybertron from Soundwave. Mentioned among that information were the Quintessons, Alpha Trion, Megatron and Soundwave, the planet of Junk, a warrior named Optimus Primal and the Matrix of Leadership.

IDW Publishing

Although it was originally stated that the Quintessons were not present in the IDW Transformers universe, they have since been seen in an ominous mural in the Wheelie Spotlight.

Transformers: Energon

Alpha Quintesson
Decepticon
Information
Sub-group Terrorcons
Function Terrorcon leader
Alternate modes Alternate Persona
Series Transformers: Energon
English voice actor Trevor Devall
Japanese voice actor Yūichi Nagashima
Yukie Maeda

Alpha Q (or Alpha Quintesson) is a fictional character from the Transformers: Energon TV series, comics and toyline. His usual personas are all voiced by Trevor Devall in the US version as Yūichi Nagashima in the Japanese versions. His actual persona is voiced by Yukie Maeda in the Japanese version.

Animated series

Among the many worlds that fell to the unending hunger of the world-eater, Unicron, was one little sphere known as Planet Q. But before succumbing to the world-eater, this planet valiantly fought back as its armies rallied under the command of the world's Grand Chamberlain, the Decepticon Scorponok. But soon it became apparent that they would not be able to stop Unicron, and the Grand Chamberlain resigned himself to his world's fate, choosing a suicide ploy. He instructed the planet's child ruler to detonate Planet Q's core, but when the child refused, the chamberlain committed the act himself, destroying the planet as Unicron consumed it. The explosion failed to destroy Unicron, but it did heavily damage him, forcing him into a state of dormancy. And within Unicron's slumbering husk, the spark of Planet Q's ruler continued to exist.

Driven mad by the solitary existence, the mind of Planet Q's ruler fractured, splintering into four separate personalities. From Unicron's body, the child sculpted for itself a new, armoured body, with four rotating face masks, through which each one of his personalities found voice, with his fifth personality – his original true personality – hidden away inside him, speaking only when the armour was closed, concealing his face from view. But within the shattered mind of the insane being that now called itself "Alpha Q", a kernel of genius existed – Alpha Q has discovered that, through the power of Energon, all that Unicron had consumed could be reconstituted. And so, using what little Energon he had, he recreated the armies of Planet Q as the Terrorcons, and sent them to Earth to gather Energon for his plan.

After the first few strikes by the Terrorcons, Alpha Q used a wandering Decepticon Spark to recreate the Grand Chamberlain in the form of Scorponok, in order to turn the Decepticons working with the Autobots to his side. However, when Megatron engineered his own resurrection, Alpha Q was forced to flee Unicron's body in his head, and subsequently made a failed attempt to destroy Megatron by using the last of his Energon to recreate Starscream. When Megatron flushed Scorponok out as Alpha Q's mole, Rodimus and his crew – whom Alpha Q had previously encountered and convinced of his plan – rescued him, leading to an alliance between Alpha Q and the Autobots, brokered by the human boy, Chad "Kicker" Jones, who Alpha Q felt a bond with. During Megatron's attack on Cybertron with Unicron's body, Alpha Q drove Unicron's head – now charged with the positive Energon of Earth – into the body, where it reacted with the negative Energon contained within, causing a reaction that tore open a fissure in space. In the new region of space that the fissure lead to, Alpha Q was able to recreate all the worlds, as he had set out to do, cultivating and sustaining them from his place within Unicron's head, which had now become a glowing Energon Sun. However, when Megatron succeeded in reactivating Unicron's body, he had it reclaim the chaos-bringer's head, extinguishing the sun and killing Alpha Q in the process.

Kicker recovered Alpha Q's body from within Unicron, and laid it to rest on Grass Planet. However, Alpha Q's spirit continued to observe and comment on events until the end of the conflict.

Dreamwave Productions

Alpha Quintesson also appeared in the accompanying Dreamwave Transformers:Energon comics. Here he was the go-between for Unicron, giving orders to the Terrorcons and the Four Horsemen – Airazor, Cheetor, Rhinox and Terrorsaur, sending them to attack Earth in search of Energon and attacking Cybertron. It was he who was responsible for giving the Terrorcons their hyper modes in this continuity. It was hinted at the end of the series that he was planning to rebel against Unicron, but Dreamwave's closure meant nothing ever came of this.

Toys

One of the last toys in the Energon line, Alpha Quintesson is fairly unique in that he is one of the only toys in the history of the main Transformers line that does not transform in any manner or even come with any kind of transforming accessory (like the Action Masters). Alpha Quintesson requires quite a bit of assembly out of the box, coming in six separate pieces: his main body, a solid "bed of tentacles" that serves as a wheeled base that the body plugs into, a firing missile launcher which plugs into his back (via a standard 5mm peg that also allows other characters to wield it) and points up over his head, and three rubber, wire-poseable tentacles which attach to the base. The tentacles end in a large yellow clamp, a red chainsaw, and a purple energy arc, and spin around via a gear-wheel system when the base is rolled back and forth. The figure features nine circular ports (three on each arm and three on the base), to which either energon chips or any weapons featuring 5mm pegs can be attached.

Transformers: Timelines (Shattered Glass)

Aquarius
Decepticon ally
Information
Sub-group Quintesson Collective
Function Quintessons' Ambassador
Motto "We are all one or we are all gone..."
Alternate modes None
Series Transformers: Timelines

In the Timelines mirror-universe story Shattered Glass, the Quintessons are portrayed as an enigmatic and benevolent species that share technology and culture with other life forms. They control a large portion of space called the Quintesson Collective.[13] One Quintesson in particular, named Aquarius would appear allying the Decepticons.

Fun Publications

After Aquarius was seen being activated in "Blitzwing Bop", Aquarius allies with the Decepticons in Reunification, and started looking for all the Nexus Prime components. When Megatron died, Nexus Prime resurrected him as Galvatron. Aquarius appears in the The Coming Storm, Part 1, traveling to the "Wings Universe".

Transformers Animated

The Quintessons were mentioned by Swindle in the Transformers Animated episode "Decepticon Air" as "nice folks", with Blitzwing expressing his respect for them, as he himself is a multi-faced being.

They built themselves as a mercantile empire called the Quintesson Pan Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere (a reference to the Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere).

Transformers: Prime

Quintus Prime
Quintesson, formerly Thirteen Primes
Information
Sub-group Thirteen Primes, Quintessons
Function Quintesson God creator
Alternate modes Alternate Persona
Series Transformers: The Covenant of Primus
Transformers: Retribution

In this universe, the Quintessons were created by Quintus Prime, a member of the Thirteen Primes, who used the Emberstone and was said to be the "Experimental Dreamer". Furthermore, the Quintessons and Transformers' roles seem to be reversed to an extent. Among the known Quintessons are Inquirata (also known as the Curator) and their Sharkticon general, Tyrannicon. They originally arrived on Cyberton to "bestow" upon the populace the ability of transformation, only to be driven off by Sentinel Zeta Prime when it was revealed the planned on enslaving all Cybetronians. They later returned after the Great War, when the Autobots and the Decepticons "teamed up" to bring an end to their occupation of Aquatron and attempt to invade Cybertron. However, the Quintessons remained an active force, and the exact location of their home world of Quintessa remained unknown to the Autobots or Decepticons.

Books

In Transformers: The Covenant of Primus, the Quintessons are noted for having interfered with the Transformers' development, and invaded Cybertron during a period historically referred to as "The Age of Wraith". They helped modify the inhabitants of Cybertron gain the ability to transform, which in reality was a dormant characteristic in their biology. Thus, they were regarded as Gods and enslaved the populace of Cybertron. They planned to master Space Bridge technology and ship Cybertronians as slaves to their colonies and the rest of the galaxy. Eventually the Cybertronians, led by Sentinel Zeta Prime, discovered what the Quintessons were planning and exiled them, stealing the Space Bridge specifications in the process. They managed to maintain a massive empire, and were not above masquerading as peaceful traders in the Quintesson "Co-Prosperity Sphere." Despite this, Sentinel eventually adopted many of the Quintessons political characteristics leading the those like Megatron to rebel and start the Great War. This war eventually led to the evacuation of Cybertron.

In the novel Transformers: Retribution, the Quintessons posed as a benevolent species with a desire to help rebuild Cybertron. Using a replica of the Matrix of Leadership, the Quintessons manipulated Optimus Prime's Autobots and Megatron's Decepticons into coming to the planet Aquatron. The Curator, hiding inside a false body so as to disguise his Quintesson identity, welcomed the Autobots, but eventually disabled both their Ark and the Decepticons' Nemesis. Revealing that Aquatron belonged to the Quintessons, he forced the two parties to come together for negotiations, under the pretense of helping them arrive at the peace that the Quintessons had achieved with their neighbors. In truth, however, he sought to play off the feuds between the various Cybertronians and destroy them with his own forces of Sharkticons. During this time, he was also secretly manipulating Megatron's regent Shockwave back on Cybertron, using his attempts to access Vector Sigma to prepare for an invasion of Cybertron. The Curator's schemes proved somewhat successful, and the invasion force arrived on Cybertron as intended. However, Megatron turned the tide when he liberated the Sharkticons using the Matrix replica. As a result, the Sharkticon forces on Cybertron were destroyed or shattered, while the Quintesson occupation of Aquatron was brought to an end.

Animated series

Quintus appeared alongside his brothers, the Thirteen, in a flashback in the Transformers: Prime episode "One Shall Rise, Part 1". Within the flashback, it is shown that the Thirteen battled Unicron when Primus found that he was evenly matched to him, using his creations he was able to defeat Unicron and cast him into space, forcing him into stasis, only for debris to collect around him and form the planet Earth.

The Quintessons are indirectly referenced in the sequel series Transformers: Robots in Disguise, where characters like Sideswipe are shown having cockpits inside their cybetronian vehicle modes.

Film

The Creators, introduced in Transformers: Age of Extinction, seem to take inspiration from the Quintessons of Generation 1 lore, though whether they are the Quintessons of the movie universe has yet to be revealed.

References

  1. ↑ ""Five Faces of Darkness" part 2 Bloopers". Inspiration Studios. 2009.
  2. ↑ The Original Transformers Season 3 part 1 boxed DVD set (Five Faces of Darkness Part 4)
  3. ↑ The Original Transformers Season 3 Part 2 Season 4 boxed DVD set (The Rebirth Part 1)
  4. ↑ The Original Transformers Season 3 Part 1 boxed DVD set (Forever Is a Long Time Coming)
  5. ↑ John R. Shook; Liz Stillwaggon Swan (2009). Transformers and Philosophy: More Than Meets the Mind. Open Court. p. 170. ISBN 978-0-8126-9667-7.
  6. ↑ Dan Fleming (1996). Powerplay: Toys as Popular Culture. Manchester University Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-0-7190-4717-6.
  7. ↑ The Original Transformers Season 3 Part 2 Season 4 boxed DVD set (The Quintesson Journal)
  8. ↑ The Original Transformers Season 3 Part 1 boxed DVD set (Five Faces of Darkness)
  9. ↑ The Original Transformers Season 3 Part 1 boxed DVD set (Dark Awakening)
  10. ↑ The Original Transformers Season 3 Part 1 boxed DVD set (Webworld)
  11. ↑ The Original Transformers Season 3 Part 2 Season 4 boxed DVD set (The Dweller In the Depths)
  12. ↑ The Original Transformers Season 3 Part 2 Season 4 boxed DVD set (Nightmare Planet)
  13. ↑ TFWiki – Quintessons (Shattered Glass)

External links

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