Transformers Sets Up The Return Of A Powerful Villain Michael Bay Wasted

Warning! This post contains SPOILERS for Transformers: One

Transformers One has an opportunity to bring back a character Michael Bay largely wasted. As seen in Transformers: 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 existing Transformers lore. To that end, it’s certainly possible that Transformers One’s sequel could give “Quintessa” some much-needed redemption.

Set long before the Autobots and Decepticons bring their war to Earth, Transformers One reveals 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 that Transformers One sets 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

In Transformers One, it’s revealed that the Quintessons are a conquering alien race seeking to take over Cyberton and 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 of Transformers One.

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 try to launch a full-scale invasion of the planet in a sequel to Transformers 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 the Transformers franchise.

The Quintessons’ Return Could Include Introducing Quintessa

Revealing Their Status As The Transformers’ Creators

In Transformers One, the Transformers were said to have been created by the god-like Primus who eventually transformed into the planet Cybertron itself. That said, other continuities from past Transformers projects 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 be the core idea behind the creation of Quintessa in Michael Bay’s Transformers: 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 of The 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 previous Transformers continuities. While she does have some similarities to the alien race in The 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.

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In comparison with the rest of the established live-action Transformers canon (which isn’t all that robust to begin with), Quintessa’s debut was very much out of left field both for major Transformers fans and mainstream audiences alike. This is largely due to the introduction of magic and sorcery to the franchise, which Quintessa wields in The Last Knight as her means of corrupting Optimus into Nemesis Prime and 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 to Transformers One is currently in development, and it could be the perfect means of bringing back a Quintessa who’s more faithful to the lore, albeit in animation.

While Quintessons were featured in Transformers One, 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 from The Last Knight’s Quintessa or the Quintessons in Transformers One. Either way, there’s certainly potential for Quintessa to perhaps get another shot in the sequel to Transformers One.

Transformers One is now playing in theaters.

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

Studio(s)

Entertainment One , Hasbro , Nickelodeon Movies

Distributor(s)

Paramount Pictures

Writers

Andrew Barrer , Steve Desmond , Gabriel Ferrari

Cast

Chris Hemsworth , Brian Tyree Henry , Scarlett Johansson , Keegan-Michael Key , Steve Buscemi , Laurence Fishburne , Jon Hamm , Vanessa Liguori , Jon Bailey , Jason Konopisos-Alvarez , Evan Michael Lee , James Remar , Isaac C. Singleton Jr. , Steve Blum , Jinny Chung , Josh Cooley , Dillon Bryan

Character(s)

Orion Pax / Optimus Prime , D-16 / Megatron , Elita -1 , B-127 , Starscream , Alpha Trion , Sentinel Prime , Airachnid , Soundwave , Shockwave / Guard 2 , Jazz , Zeta Prime , Darkwing , Announcer Bot / Guard 1 , Chromia / Arcee , Control Room Guys / PA System / Skywarp , Injured Racer

Runtime

104 Minutes

Sequel(s)

Transformers

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