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In the multiverse of the Transformers, there were two origins:

• The Quintessons: First seen as Unicron’s kangaroo court judge in The Transformers: The Movie, the third season opener “Five Faces Of Darkness” would introduce them as the creators of the Transformers and a bunch of other things including the planet itself, who after a few million years+ now desired revenge on their creation for being forced off the planet in a slave revolt. Or…
• Primus: In the first issue of the Marvel US comics, the origins of the Cybertronians were lost to time, but Simon Furman opted to give them a god, because he pretty much treated Transformers as humans who looked like robots…or wore robot costumes based on the art by Andrew Wildman in the UK, both of which Simon brought with him to his Marvel US run. He also remade Unicron, since he considers the movie’s comic adaptation to be canon and not the rest of the cartoon, into a god of destruction, out to destroy the universe so he could get some sleep, the cranky boy. Opposing him was Primus, who forced Unicron into the universe, locking them both into planetoids. Unicron would form his prison into a mechanical body to pull a Galactus, while Primus opted for a machine world inhabited by robots who would do the fighting for him…and then they ended up in a war with each other.

As I said in today’s posting of TJ Omega’s video going over the strengths and weaknesses of both origins, I prefer the Quintessons. Making Unicron, originally a creation of a scientist who doesn’t know when to stop making weapons that don’t turn on him, and Primus into supernatural forces adds too much mysticism to the franchise, AND YES I KNOW THE CARTOONS HAD A TWO EPISODES WHERE MAGIC WAS REAL AND I DON’T CARE! I just prefer the franchise as purely science fiction, unlike Masters Of The Universe which started out mixing magic and science at the outset. I miss the robots having unique powers and weapons, but that should be the extent. The Quintessons allow for a scientific explanation for everything. I could even do that with the sparks introduced in Beast Wars, one of the showrunners preferring the comics and forgetting he was doing the cartoon. The other runner had to stop him from connecting the Vok to the Swarm of the Generation Two comic since nobody who watched the show only would get the reference.

However, Primus somehow became more than a reference in the show thanks to oddly enough Japan, who never got the Marvel comics, US or UK. We’d finally get Primus officially in Transformers Energon, as a being within Cybertron, though he never really fought Unicron. Considering Primus eventually got his own robotic form in the next series, fittingly called Transformers Cybertron, he still mostly sits out the action as much as possible even when he’s acknowledged. I don’t like it, but what can I do?

How about if I try to reconcile the Primus and Quintesson origins, explain why Primus used robots when machines do not occur naturally and I don’t know why he went that route? That’s been one of my biggest issues with Primus, while the Quintessons using robots made perfect sense as a race of cyborgs. How would I do that? Well, sit back because Grandpa Tronix has a story for you young whippersnappers, so if you’re going to keep coming on my lawn, I might as well tell it to you. Now admittedly this is a rough layout, barely a pitch because I won’t be asked to write this. Consider it an early idea, only partly off the top of my head because some of these ideas I’ve actually thought about for years.

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