Of all the members from the Thirteen, Quintus Prime represents a fascination towards science like no other. possesses. Unlike his fellow Primes, Quintus tends to be a little too obsessed with the idealism his mind ended up developing, and it has led to some disagreements between them. Regardless, he has dedicated life to a pedestal worth letting it grow no matter what compromises it. As such, it is he who possesses the Emberstone, an ancient artifact that can bring life to different elements, similar to what the Allspark does but on non-mechanical things. Oh and he created the Quintessons, those 5-faced bastards that I never liked but did tolerate in later media as his creations rather than how G1 established them as the creators of the Transformers. Anyways, the show may be set aside now but this is no squid game; we're about to see if the this calamari cap thinker is worth adding to the collection or not.
Here we have Quintus Prime in his vehicle mode, which is a squid-like spaceship of some kind. I don't think we could consider this half of a beast mode just for the back section, but it does add to the alien nature of the Primes as a whole. The shape is at least there, and I like the different shades of green used to make it look somewhat organic despite being a mechanical robot. The transition from opaque to translucent at the tentacles is my favorite part of the toy, and thankfully, the PVC material actually makes sense for this sort of design element. Hopefully it will last long.
The altmode has a cockpit or something comparable that doesn't have any real compatibility with a Titan Master or Prime Master, though it's mainly because of the space for the Emberstone. While there is little to no purpose for having the extra arms paint down, you can use them for a pseudo squid mode. The 5mm port can be a mouth, after all.
Transformation is probably the easiest out of the Thirteen so far, mainly due to the fact that we're turning something as lean as a pen into a robot with the upper body being changed the most and the legs extending underneath the rotating tentacle skirt. The arm transformation vaguely reminds me of the Gosei Ultimate Megazord, though the resulting robot mode is a Generations-style version of his Covenant of Primus design. While it has an extra bit of bulk not usually seen on prior media, at least at the arms, he still retains that ancient wizard-like motif betting for a bot who's almost an elixir of life. He almost feels reminiscent of a certain Transformer that probably won't stay in a positive light even if the show she's from still beats some of the media we got in the 2020s, and her name is Botanica from Beast Machines. Yes, I think of that plant former whenever I look at Quintus. Mainly from how they both have a similar shape to their designs from not being traditional Transformers while also sharing a similar approach towards mysticism compared to their respective groups, even if the Maximals were all about going against the technological before aiming to find the harmony between it and the organic. Honestly, with how ahead of its time Beast Machines felt with the serialized writing and character development, one could see how unusual and off-putting a Transformer like Botanica was long before Quintus Prime was even a thing. Some could say that it's not worth comparing because Beast Machines sucks to them, but I digress.
His head sculpt may be close to how it appeared in the Covenant of Primus, though it is less extreme in detail and also feels closer to his appearance in Earthspark with the MF Doom mask design, only more alien. It sadly is on a limited ball joint, but the rest of the joints consist of shoulder rotation, outward arm movement, bicep rotation, hinged elbows, wrist rotation, waist rotation, universal hips, thigh rotation, hinged knees, and ankle pivot. Even his extra arms can swivel and hinge.
The Emberstone he comes with faintly has his own symbol painted on it, though it's green instead of blue likely because of the sprue the parts were molded from. I think it was green sometimes, but who would want to watch a show as bland as Earthspark to find out what color it really was? Anyways, here we have him not with the other Primes I have but his creation, a Quintesson. Space is running out for a group shot but it will be worked on once we get the final Prime from the line. Anyways, I bet Quintus is unhappy with how his creation made things unfavorable for the Cybertronian race, especially if they tried claiming they were the creators and not the Allspark. Anyways, Quintus is a decent figure, though probably the most basic out of the Primes in terms of engineering. Granted, he is a very specific design involving the squid motif versus everyone else feeling more traditional for the most part, but the transformation is what makes him loose points compared to the rest of his brothers. Not a bad toy, but not exactly mind-blowing either. Still, with the comparisons I brought up regarding Botanica, maybe this is potentially the only Prime we could get retooled into a different character?
Final ranking: ⭐⭐⭐ and a half out of ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
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