Alpha Quintesson
- Alpha Quintesson is an alien from the Energon portion of the Unicron Trilogy continuity family.
A mysterious manipulator, Alpha Quintesson, also known simply as Alpha Q (tee-hee-hee!) has his tentacles spread wide, influencing the actions of both Autobot and Decepticon alike. He also has the command of armies of Terrorcon drones! His actual motives are unclear, but his goal is obvious; he plans to gather enough energon to restore the shattered remains of the planet-devouring Unicron!
Fiction
Energon cartoon
- Voice actor: Trevor Devall (English); Yūichi Nagashima, Yukie Maeda (Japanese), Johan Hedenberg/Anders Öjebo/Niclas Fransson (Swedish)
Among the many worlds that fell to the unending hunger of the world-eater, Unicron, was one little sphere known as Planet Q. This world would not go quietly, however, as its armies fought back valiantly, but it soon it became apparent that they would not be able to stop Unicron. The planet's grand chamberlain resigned himself to his world's fate, choosing a suicide ploy. The chamberlain instructed the planet's ruler to detonate Planet Q's core, but when the ruler could not, 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 over the ensuing years, the mind of Planet Q's ruler fractured, splintering into five separate personalities. From Unicron's body, it sculpted for itself a new, armored form out of the "bones" of his devoured subjects, with four rotating face masks, through which each one of his personalities found voice, with his fifth personality—his original, true face—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 had 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. Cybertron City
After the first few strikes by the Terrorcons, Alpha Q recreated the grand chamberlain in the form of Scorponok, as a general to lead the otherwise mindless Terrorcons in battle. Energon Stars Scorponok also served Alpha Q by recruiting old Decepticons to their cause. Alpha Q provided Scorponok with an image of Megatron's deactivated form, from deep within Unicron. Using this image, Scorponok was able to convince Tidal Wave, then Cyclonus, to turn against the Autobots and join the Terrorcons, claiming their goal was to gather enough energon to revive Megatron. Scorpinok Despite the steady supply of energon being brought in by the Terrorcons, Alpha Q lamented that it wasn't enough, and the Autobots were continuously getting in their way. Coming across Megatron's remains inside Unicron, Alpha Q detected traces of great power within him, and fed some energon through his circuits to retrieve a blade forged from Megatron's own spark. Alpha Q gave this sword to Scorponok to wield in battle, and destroy any Autobots in his path. Megatron's Sword
When Tidal Wave and Cyclonus began questioning Scorponok's motives, Alpha Q demanded they go out and capture more energon "for Megatron". The New Cybertron City Eventually, though, the jig was up as Megatron resurrected himself by diverting energon away from Unicron's systems. He quickly beat down Scorponok and confronted Alpha Q for control of Unicron. Megatron's connection to the Dark God appeared as strong as Alpha Q's, for he was capable of commanding the Terrorcon drones as well. Facing serious odds, Alpha Q chose the better part of valor and ran, disconnecting Unicron's head from the rest of his body and fleeing inside of it. Megatron Resurrected
Deprived of most of his resources, Alpha Q concocted a new scheme to acquire energon. He resurrected the former Decepticon known as Starscream, using energon to partially reconstruct the warrior's disintegrated body. The result was an amnesiac quasi-energy being, a "ghost" to do Alpha Q's bidding. Megatron Raid Alpha Q told Starscream he must assassinate Optimus Prime. With Prime out of the way, the energon would be freely available to revive Starscream AND Unicron to their rightful forms. Starscream the Mysterious Mercenary Alpha Q directed Scorponok and Starscream to push the Autobots and Megatron into a battle out in the asteroid belt, hoping one side would destroy the other, and leave room for him to control Unicron and the energon, but they failed. Battle of the Asteroid Belt Whent he Decepticons left Unicron's body behind to stage an attack on Earth, Alpha Q took the opportunity to send out his Terrorcons to steal some energon from them, using it to revitalize Unicron's head more. (Why he didn't just steal back the whole body of Unicron is a bit of a mystery.) Energon Tower
As Megatron recognized Unicron's energon supply was lower than it should be, Alpha Q gloated to himself over stealing the energon right out from under Megatron's nose. His winning streak didn't last long, though. Alpha Q sent Starscream into Unicron to assassinate Megatron, but the ghostly mercenary failed completely. Worse, Megatron forcibly reprogrammed Starscream to serve only him, costing Alpha Q the services of his minion. The Legend of Rodimus Alpha Q next attempted a new strategy. By outfitting his Terrorcons with "stealth mode", his dispatched them to Jungle City in the hopes that they could infiltrate the base and steal energon without alerting the Autobots. The stealth upgrade had no effect on Kicker Jones' sensitivity, however, and the Autobots began striking back against the Terrorcons. When Megatron joined in as well, the Autobots initiated a "scorched earth" strategy, sacrificing Jungle City so that no energon was recovered by anyone. Crisis in Jungle City
After Megatron learned from Demolishor about Kicker's unique sensitivity, and Alpha Q learned about it in turn from Scorponok, he was curious about the boy. In his internal struggles to deal with the concept, Alpha Q manifested his fourth face for the first time. Using a Battle Ravage as a medium, Alpha Q spoke to Kicker on the moon through the Terrorcon's voice, wanting to learn more about how Kicker could sense energon. Lunar City's new energon tower released a shockwave that destroyed the Terrorcon before the conversation could end, but Alpha Q remained interested in Kicker. Kicker Beware! Megatron soon launched a trio of artificial comets towards Earth, expecting to wipe out humanity and the Autobots and retrieve the energon from the ashes. Alpha Q initially approved of the plan, although of course he hoped to mine the devastated planet before Megatron did. Alpha Q's new, calmer face had some reservations about extinguishing humanity, however, and seized an opportunity to listen in to Kicker through a Blackout drone as he described the unique spark of humanity. To the confusion of his other faces, the calmer Alpha Q allowed his ally Rodimus to take a squadron of Shadowhawks to destroy one of the comets, which ultimately helped to save the entire Earth. Alpha Q began to orchestrate a new plan, involving Kicker. Energon Grid
In the meantime, however, Megatron finally recognized Scorponok for the spy he was, and that he was smuggling out energon for Alpha Q. In order to draw out his rival, Megatron strapped Scorponok to the outside of one of his artificial comets and launched it towards Earth. His intent was to lure Alpha Q out into the open to save Scorponok before he crashed into the deadly energon grid surrounding Earth's atmosphere. Rodimus: Friend or Foe?
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, Kicker Jones. Alpha Q initially refused to work with Kicker, but Misha, through slightly kinder and more diplomatic words, was able to sway him. 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, tearing open a fissure in space. In the new region of space that the fissure led 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.
Lost in translation
A point worth noting is that the strong affection Alpha Q feels for Scorponok is not displayed as clearly in Energon as it is in Super Link. During the episode "Scorponok's Scars" (which was never translated or shown in America), he repeatedly referred to Scorponok as "my Scorponok" and showed him images of their home planet in an effort to reverse Megatron's brainwashing. As well, during the Special Dream Match, Alpha Q responded to Scorponok's statement of "I don't know you" with "say I love you", showing what seems to be some sort of surrogate parent/child emotional connection.
Pre-production materials[1] for Super Link offer further details on Alpha Q's history that did not make it into the final version of the series. His original, true form was originally conceived as being the human-form princess of Planet Q, a young girl whose face would be the fifth and final face of Alpha Q, that would eventually be revealed when Kicker would "shatter her shell." The materials note, however, that if Hasbro vetoed the idea, the princess would be replaced with either a young prince, or simply a ball of light. Whether this veto occurred is unknown, but what is certain is that none of this was officially established in the finished show, and Alpha Q's fifth face remains hidden inside his closed armor (assuming it exists at all).
There are, however, some vague reference to this material in the series. In Super Link, when Alpha Q speaks with his true voice, it is the voice of a young child. In contrast, in these scenes in Energon, a multi-layered voice is used, professing to be the voice of all lives lost in Planet Q's destruction. The vision of Planet Q's destruction viewed by Kicker, which shows Alpha Q and Scorponok existing as the same robotic entities they are in the present day, would appear to contradict this notion, but the scene is specifically described with a modifier by Kicker as being how "Alpha Q remembers that day," leaving wiggle-room, since Alpha Q is absolutely out of his tree.
Energon comic
Alpha Quintesson began the war over Energon by providing the Terrorcon group—led by Scorponok—with enhanced powers and "Hyper Modes", sending them to the undefended Earth to drain it of the newly-discovered pure Energon ore. At the same time, he sent his boss's Four Horsemen to Cybertron to wreak havoc, preventing the Autobots from getting to Earth.
Unfortunately for Alpha, the Horsemen were repelled by the Omnicons and the newly-enhanced Autobots, which gave them the time needed to reach Earth and sink the Terrorcons' plans. For a time, Alpha Quintesson's involvement in the war was minimal, but when he returned, it was in a big way; unleashing thousands of Terrorcon drones to decimate Los Angeles, Tokyo, Toronto and Moscow.
But the Decepticons weren't the only ones Alpha Quintesson was working with toward his goal of restoring the shell of Unicron. Perhaps more dangerous than the Terrorcons was Alpha Quintesson's hidden ally, Avalon, a member of the High Council, Cybertron's ruling body!
Toys
Energon
- Alpha Quintesson (Mega, 2005)
- Accessories: Missile launcher, missile, base, three tentacles
- 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.
- The main body is notably very accurate to the CGI model from the animated series, save for its coloration and the addition of the missile launcher. As a toy that was entirely dull green from top to bottom would not have been a very interesting sight, the figure features several shades of green with yellow highlights, plus a red paint wash on its "underbelly" and arms. The main body contains its own gimmick, involving Alpha Q's spinning faces as seen in the cartoon. Opening the armor's jaws reveals Alpha Q's head, recessed within the body (though unable to move forward into a more prominent position as seen in the show), and pressing the trigger on the back of the body, disguised as one of the spinal fins, causes the head to spin from face to face. The toy only features the character's first three faces (Angry, Whiny and Crazy); the purple, calm face is not featured.
- As an allegiance was needed to brand the figure with for marketing purposes, Alpha Quintesson's toy is sold as a Decepticon, despite that faction not really being where his loyalties lie. There were also many reports of the toy coming misassembled, missing the hard point where the figure connected to the base, making it nigh impossible for the toy to stand up on its own.
Notes
- Although the Dreamwave comic books and Hasbro toy packaging refer to the character by his full name of Alpha Quintesson, the Energon cartoon series preferred instead to call him by his Japanese moniker, Alpha Q, almost all of the time.
- Heh, heh, Alpha Q.
- He speaks without moving his lips.
- He and Vector Prime apparently knew each other. [3]
Foreign names
- Japanese: Alpha Q (アルファQ Arufa Q)
- Hungarian: Alfa Q
