Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Transformers: One
Transformers Onehas an opportunity to bring back a character Michael Bay largely wasted. As seen inTransformers: Last Knight, Optimus Prime comes face to face with the supposed creator of the Cybertronians, a new villain for the franchise with connections to more established foes in the existingTransformerslore. To that end, it’s certainly possible thatTransformers One’ssequel could give “Quintessa” some much-needed redemption.
Set long before theAutobots and Decepticons bring their war to Earth,Transformers Onereveals the origins of Orion Pax and D-16, the bots and brothers who would eventually transform into Optimus Prime and Megatron on opposite sides of the Great War of Cybertron. However, the movie also features the ancient enemies of the Transformers known as the Quintessons, whose history dates back to the dawn of Cybertron itself. Keeping that in mind,it’s certainly possible thatTransformers Onesets up the return of Quintessa, a powerful villain who was largely wasted in the fifth live-action movie from Michael Bay.
Transformers One Makes The Quintessons A Key Part Of The Franchise’s Future
Enemies of Cybertron
InTransformers One, it’s revealed that theQuintessons are a conquering alien race seeking to take over Cybertonand claim its stores of energon. After betraying Cybertron’s greatest heroes and leaders known as the Primes,Sentinel Prime cut a secret deal with the multi-tentacled Quintessons in exchange for an uneasy truce, consistently giving them large portions of what little energon Cyberton was able to produce without the Matrix of Leadership. However, the truth of Sentinel Prime’s treachery was eventually revealed and exposed thanks to Orion Pax, resulting in his demise at the hands of D-16 which cemented his corruption into Megatron near the end ofTransformersOne.
Transformers One Ending Explained: Optimus Prime, Megatron & Cybertron’s Future
Transformers One explores Optimus Prime and Megatron’s origins, and the movie’s ending sets up the future for Cybertron, Autobots, and Decepticons.
That said,the Quintessons are presumably still out there as a key threat to Cybertron. Now that their deal with Sentinel is done, one can imagine that they may attempt to launch a full-scale invasion of the planetin a sequel toTransformers One, creating a three-way war for the planet with the newly created Decepticons led by Megatron and Autobots led by Optimus Prime. It would certainly be very surprising if they weren’t featured in the future of theTransformersfranchise.
The Quintessons' Return Could Include Introducing Quintessa
Revealing Their Status As The Transformers' Creators
InTransformers One, the Transformers were said to have beencreated by the god-like Primus who eventually transformed into the planet Cybertron itself. That said,other continuities from pastTransformersprojects saw the Quintessons as the true creators of the Transformers, having originally made them to serve as robotic slaves. However, the Transformers eventually rebelled, forced the Quintessons out, and created their own society on Cybertron.
To that end, this seems to bethe core idea behind the creation of Quintessa in Michael Bay’sTransformers: The Last Knight(2017). Claiming to be the “Prime of Life” who created Optimus, Quintessa uses an advanced form of sorcery to corrupt the leader of the Autobots into Nemesis Prime.While seemingly meant to connect to this original idea of the Quintessons, Quintessa was more of a singular foe rather than part of a greater force. Likewise, Quintessa is also revealed to have survived the conflict ofThe Last Knight, while also setting up ties with the massive Transformers villain known as Unicron.
Michael Bay Got Quintessa All Wrong In Transformers: The Last Knight
A New Character That Wasn’t Very Faithful To The Past
It’s also worth noting that Quintessa is the name of the Quintessons' planet in previousTransformerscontinuities. While she does have some similarities to the alien race inThe Last Knight(such as with her tentacles),Quintessa was largely a new character that was created for the Bay film. However, she could have had far more connections to the classic alien race than she did.
10 Biggest Autobots & Decepticons Missing From Transformers One
Transformers One features several classic Autobots and Decepticons, though there are some notable absences we’d like to see in the future.
In comparison with the rest of the established live-actionTransformerscanon (which isn’t all that robust to begin with),Quintessa’s debut was very much out of left field both for majorTransformersfans and mainstream audiences alike. This is largely due to the introduction of magic and sorcery to the franchise, which Quintessa wields inThe Last Knightas her means ofcorrupting Optimus into Nemesis Primeand her goals to drain the energy of Earth for the sake of Cybertron. Likewise, there was next to no exposition about where she came from, nor her true connections to the Transformers or her claim that she was the “Prime of Life”.
Quintessa’s Return In Transformers One’s Sequel Can Do Her Justice
Becoming A Better Face (Or Faces) Of The Quintessons
Essentially, Quintessa was very underutilized in live-action. It wouldn’t have been hard to keep to the creator concept (true or not), while also making Quintessa a central figure leading a greater force of Quintessions to take back Cybertron. It’s certainly an idea that connects much better to the preexisting lore. That said,a sequel toTransformers Oneis currently in development,and it could bethe perfect means of bringing back a Quintessa who’s more faithful to the lore, albeit in animation.
While Quintessons were featured inTransformersOne, there was no mention of them being the Cybertronians' creators. Primus was said to have been their creator before becoming Cybertron.However, it could be a cool twist if the Transformers are revealed to have secret origins in connection with Quintessa. She could be revealed as the leader of the Quintessons and the namesake of their planet, while also having the classic five faces that weren’t seen either fromThe Last Knight’sQuintessa or the Quintessons inTransformers One. Either way,there’s certainly potential for Quintessa to perhaps get another shot in the sequel toTransformers One.
Transformers One
Cast
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.
