Reimagining Quintessons

[Glitch]

What you see in Rodimus vision is narrated by the wisdom of the ages so the visuals may be just for Rodimus benefit otherwise those robots contradict the kind seen in the historical video in the episode Desertion of the Dinobots.
BUT that video could have been full of actors rather then a video feed of events, and it's not unknown for the transformers to make movies like that as seen in Megatrons Master Plan where the Decepticons played Autobots to fool humans. (plus the video in question was pro Autobot)

 

[LordGigaIce]

What you see in Rodimus vision is narrated by the wisdom of the ages so the visuals may be just for Rodimus benefit otherwise those robots contradict the kind seen in the historical video in the episode Desertion of the Dinobots BUT that video could have been full of actors rather then any video feed and it's not unknown for the transformers to do this as seen in Megatrons Master Plan where the Decepticons played Autobots to fool humans.

Well let's talk about consistency and continuity in the visual storytelling of the Sunbow G1 cartoon 🫠

In Forever is a Long Time Coming we meet a young A3. He looks like this.

What a dapper young robot. Look at that mustache. Clark Gable would be jealous.

Ok. Here's Alpha Trion in War Dawn.

An older look. His mustache looks the same but it's white now, signifying aging. And his forehead crest and helmet have started to take shape as the Alpha Trion look we will know and love.

Here's Alpha Trion in the show's preset.

Full Old Man beard and mustache. Facial hair on robots is, I know, a touchy subject for some, but there's no denying that the Sunbow cartoon used it with A3/Alpha Trion to effectively convey age and time progression through various flashbacks and time travel episodes and that should be comm....

wait...

This is Alpha Trion from Five Faces of Darkness Pt 4

...oh snap. This should take place between the first and second pics above. This is well after the events of Forever is a Long Time Coming but also prior to the events of War Dawn. In fact the narration over this scene firmly places it before War Dawn, with Sentinel Prime being killed by Megatron, giving the Matrix to Alpha Trion. The narration explains that Alpha Trion kept the Matrix safe until a new Autobot leader emerged, Orion Pax who became Optimus Prime.
So why does Alpha Trion look like his present form here, and not like either his FiaLTC or WD appearances? Hell, WD was made the season prior so they clearly had that character model available. Yet instead they used Alpha Trion's present day character model.

I suppose you could rationalize this if you wanted. Depending on how robot facial hair works he either "shaved" or otherwise changed his appearance. Maybe Alpha Trion went through an Old Man phase before reverting to a young look only to go full Old Man later on.
Maybe.
Or maybe it was an 80s cartoon made to sell toys. Sure, it was staffed by people from writers to voice actors to artists who did seem to care and tried to put out the best show they could, but they were still restrained from the budgets and time constraints of an 80s cartoon made to sell toys.

Given the other continuity hiccups that happen- Constructicon origins anyone?- we're lucky it's as consistent with its own backstory as it is.

 

[Dekafox]

That last one actually does lend credence to the whole "Matrix creating visioins using what the subject knows" bit suggested earlier, as that look is probably the only way Rodimus knew Alpha trion.

 

[Sabrblade]

The Matrix itself is also drawn woefully off model in that last pic, too.

 

[LordGigaIce]

That last one actually does lend credence to the whole "Matrix creating visioins using what the subject knows" bit suggested earlier, as that look is probably the only way Rodimus knew Alpha trion.

Maybe but two things...

1- is it ever shown in the Sunbow show that Hot Rod/Rodimus ever met Alpha Trion prior to that vision quest?

and

2- isn't this explanation just more attempts to reconcile a wrong model animation error in a cartoon full of animation issues and sketchy continuity?

I'm not trying to go "GAWD IT'S NOT THAT SERIOUS, NERDS!"
I get it, we're fans of this stuff, trying to piece together info is what we do... but sometimes, yes, it does help to take a step back and go "it was the 80s G1 cartoon they couldn't even get the character models right in the season three intro, adjust expectations accordingly."

 

[Sabrblade]

Since we now have access to the episode's full script, we can see that the scene specifically called for the "War Dawn" version of Alpha Trion to appear (see Page 44), meaning the use of the more aged version was indeed a mistake on the animators' part.

 

[LordGigaIce]

Since we now have access to the episode's full script, we can see that the scene specifically called for the "War Dawn" version of Alpha Trion to appear (see Page 44), meaning the use of the more aged version was indeed a mistake on the animators' part.

Given how off model the Matrix is we should be lucky Alpha Trion's even recognizable at all

 

[Badgertron]

Tbf I did suggest that perhaps Primus had given/activated sparks to the Cybertronians during the occupation, which would help to explain the kickoff of the rebellion. They might have been under a shell program before, or maybe they were more of a generalized AI that got tampered with, or what, we don't really know. Maybe the Quintessons came in and removed all of their personality chips, we don't know. But we WERE shown the Cybertronians being treated like consumer goods, and passively being processed in factories etc. I don't remember if they were shown how they were transported offworld to be sold, but it's possible, even likely, that they were packed up in crates and shipped instead of troop transports/personnel carriers, which would be less efficient.

 

[Cybersnark]

it's possible, even likely, that they were packed up in crates and shipped instead of troop transports/personnel carriers,

Now I'm imagining some Quintesson logistics worker wondering why they're shipping them in robot mode when they can fold up.

 

[Superomegaprime]

The Matrix itself is also drawn woefully off model in that last pic, too.

Its not like there was this little thing called the Internet to lablast such a thing, back then, they likely expected nobody to think seriously about the show, some 38 - 40 years later, let alone go across every little detail and make notes of all of the errors, such as characters being in the wrong colours, Starscream pretending to be Optimus prime

 

[lastmaximal]

Now I'm imagining some Quintesson logistics worker wondering why they're shipping them in robot mode when they can fold up.

I think we just figured out how they also invented mass-shifting.

 

[NovaSaber]

2- isn't this explanation just more attempts to reconcile a wrong model animation error in a cartoon full of animation issues and sketchy continuity?

I'm not trying to go "GAWD IT'S NOT THAT SERIOUS, NERDS!"
I get it, we're fans of this stuff, trying to piece together info is what we do... but sometimes, yes, it does help to take a step back and go "it was the 80s G1 cartoon they couldn't even get the character models right in the season three intro, adjust expectations accordingly."

Okay, but that's still a reason not to extrapolate too much from the visuals of the flashback.

The Constructicons probably didn't actually build Megatron.
Megatron killing Sentinel Prime probably did happen, but not literally less than a minute after Megatron was activated.

 

[Sabrblade]

Cybertron is also supposed to be in the middle of its Golden Age when Alpha Trion is in ownership of the Matrix, yet the planet is certainly not colored gold in that part of the FFOD flashback.

 

[LordGigaIce]

Cybertron is also supposed to be in the middle of its Golden Age when Alpha Trion is in ownership of the Matrix, yet the planet is certainly not colored gold in that part of the FFOD flashback.

It's weird. Megs kills Sentinel, Alpha Trion gets the Matrix.
At some point after that Megatron fatally wounds Orion Pax after pretending to befriend him.

Thing is Orion specifically brushes off stories of Megatron causing havoc as just rumours because he wants to be his friend.

So it couldn't be that long, right?

 

[Xero]

I've always thought that a Vok Quintesson connection could be interesting. I know there are some fleshed out ideas about what the Vok are, but I like the idea of the single face being part of a larger 5 faced Quintesson. Random but if we're gonna reimagine lets go big

 

[Sabrblade]

I've always thought that a Vok Quintesson connection could be interesting. I know there are some fleshed out ideas about what the Vok are, but I like the idea of the single face being part of a larger 5 faced Quintesson. Random but if we're gonna reimagine lets go big

AFAIK, this is the only time any sort of awareness of each other between the two has ever been depicted:

 

[Superomegaprime]

Cybertron is also supposed to be in the middle of its Golden Age when Alpha Trion is in ownership of the Matrix, yet the planet is certainly not colored gold in that part of the FFOD flashback.

It could be at the tail end of that Golden age, but then again, does it actually have to be gold, the golden age could really refer to a time where everything was peaceful and everyone was happy and things were going well until they weren't, for all we know, the Golden age was nothing more than a slap of paint (so to speak) where everything seemed wonderful, when really, things aren't right with dark forces at play or those longing to bring about change in their own image are hiding just below the surface

 

[Sabrblade]

but then again, does it actually have to be gold,

Yes. As cheesy and literal as that sounds, the cartoon made it very clear (especially in "The Rebirth") that a Golden Age on Cybertron was signified by the planet's energy-rich gold coloration.

 

[NovaSaber]

Even if you want to say that's not the only thing they'd call a "Golden Age", it was literally gold-colored in "War Dawn", which would be the exact same Golden Age.

 

[Sabrblade]

• Cybertron not being gold
• Alpha Trion being old
• The Matrix having a skewed mold

The list of errors in that FFOD flashback scene just keeps finding more to be told.