From kendrick@io.com Wed Nov  8 16:24:35 CST 1995
Article: 25634 of alt.toys.transformers
Path: news.io.com!io.com!not-for-mail
From: kendrick@io.com (Kendrick Kerwin Chua)
Newsgroups: alt.toys.transformers
Subject: TF Weekday 11/6 - The Quintesson Journal
Date: 8 Nov 1995 16:23:11 -0600
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TF Weekday Nov 8 1995 - The Quintesson Journal

The EI/AD: Although the official Alien Device is the Quintesson
record-keeping capsule, the real Evil Invention for this episode is
political manipulation for economic gain, Quintesson style.

The plot: While Spike and Rodimus barely keep the peace at a peace
conference between the Scitaksis and the Llanark people, Predaking and
Perceptor simultaneously pick up a Quintesson distress signal. Autobots
and Decepticons happen upon the record capsule at the same time, blasting
back and forth. The Autobots grab it and discover its purpose, only to
have it snatched away by Predaking. Sky Lynx grabs it, only to have a
hole blown in him. The Decepticons also discover the playback sequence,
only to be ambushed by the Autobots who then get captured by the
Quintessons. Upon the last accidental playback, the Autobots discover
that the Quintessons have been selling arms to both the Scitakses and
Llanarkans, artificially elevating the war. As the two warring factions are
about to destroy one another with a Quintesson secret weapon, Sky Lynx
crashes in and Outback shows both sides the incriminating evidence.
Rodimus and Magnus respond to the Quint threat by blowing their cruiser
off course and into a floating asteroid, destroying their weapons and the
Quintessons. The warring races declare an uneasy peace.

The characters: What a boring episode. Predaking is supposed to be
instinctive, but they screw up and make him smart. Cyclonus is supposed
to be scary, instead they make him flat and unimaginative. Ramhorn and
Steeljaw don't talk. Outback has the wrong voice (compare with Five Faces
of Darkness). Sky Lynx seems to be able to absorb one animal mode into
the other again, but that neat feature does nothing for his lack of
dialogue. The Quintessons are actually scary, but their techno-gadgets
(like the levitating laser rays or the anti-transform beam) reduce their
creepiness considerably. And the Scitaksis/Llanark war is a thinly veiled
middle eastern conflict; check out the turbans and sand goggles on the
Scitakses, and the big conical fezzes on the Llanarkans.
   This episode, all things considered, is a pretty reasonable attempt to
make the Quintessons more of a galactic power. Why, you ask, did the
Quintessons wait so long to try and take over Cybertron? Because they
were busy running arms and destroying vegetation and otherwise making
profit off of other peoples' carelessness. In a way, the Quintessons
could be an analogue of heartless big business, concerned only with
survival and profit. This sort of amoral bad guy is what made the G2
Jhaixian Decepticons so bad, as opposed to the normal Decepticons who
have a morality all their own.

The plot holes: The only real significant plot hole is why Rodimus and
Spike are even involved in this peace negotiation. I'd like to know why
it's in the AUtobot's interests to see peace between the two races. Of
course, knowing why the Quintessons need to keep their records in a
handy-dandy asy-toaccess journal is another plot hole altogether.

Moving pictures: Blah, how big is Predaking supposed to be, and since
when is he that capable of running about? Check out the recon scene where
Cyclonus and the Sweeps are coming in to check on Halloween-boy, where
Cyclonus is flying upside-down relative to the Sweeps. Check out Blaster
and the tapes, transformed but not shrunk whilst they sit inside Sky Lynx.
Funny scene where Rodimus has the leaders of the two warring planets
under each arm, in a sort of half-nelson hold, then throwing them into
chairs to forcibly continue the peace negotiations. Cool how the
Quintessons seem to be able to use regular weapons designed for
anthropomorphic hands; maybe tentacles aren't such a bad idea after all.

The cuts: First time I saw this episode. Probably the last, too. :)

Toys they should reissue: I'm ready for a new Sky Lynx toy, but maybe the
guy should have more than the three modes. A character that's supposed to
be able to contain other Transformers deserves to be a big huge playset,
the way Fortress Maximus almost is. Perhaps a new Lynx should have an
opening cargo bay with repair arms and mission units and all sorts of
funky shuttle-type stuff in it.

Quotables:
"The Decepticons give us less trouble than this!"

KKC, ever play 'Woofenstein'? My roommate, who comes from a trailer park
popularly known as Pensacola, tells me that 'Woofenstein' is one of the
most popular computer games ever created...
--
Kendrick Kerwin Chua - "London? You put the Eiffel Tower back... in London?!"
kendrick@io.com - WTB: 1980s Transformers, US and Japanese, and GIJoe figures
Necronomcon FAQ home page at http://www.io.com/~kendrick/necronomicon or anon
FTP at io.com:/pub/usr/kendrick -Personal home at http://www.io.com/~kendrick