Review – Transformers Quintesson Prosecutor

“Throughout the galaxy, the Quintessons have become known as devious and pitiless beings who seek knowledge and power with no regard for how their quest negatively affects others. Far from oblivious to the harm their actions cause, the Quintessons actually take a perverse pleasure in the suffering of others.”
— from More Than Meets the Eye Volume 2, The Transformers Official Guidebook

If you’ve been following this blog for the past month then you’ve already seen me mention this toy a couple of times. Well, after a few weeks of playing with the opened package, and getting a good feel for the Quintesson Prosecutor, I’m ready to share my opinions. If you’re in a hurry today then let me just say that this is a great toy and one that should have been produced by Hasbro. If you have a little more time, then keep reading.

In the 1986 animated feature, Transformers The Movie, we were introduced to the Quintessons, a race of bio-mechanical beings that — as near as we could tell during the film — existed solely to setup a cool fight between Hot Rod and Kup and an army of Sharkticons. It wasn’t until the cartoon episodes following the movie that we learned that the Quintessons were a lot more important than that to the Transformers mythos.

The Quintesson Prosecutor, shown above, was also first seen in theaters; shows the Prosecutor in action, delivering his famous line:

A throw-away character, one no doubt meant to be forgotten, the writers of Transformers Season Three did an excellent job turning the Quintessons into an important part of the series, eventually revealing that the Quintessons created the Transformers. Even then, though, this guy didn’t get a lot of screen time, with most of the action devoted to the Quintesson Judge (the five-faced creatures that are most recognizably Quintessons) and the Quintesson Scientist. But rather than rattle on and on with geek history, let’s take a look at the toy I’ve got sitting beside me right now.

The Quintesson Prosecutor, a bootleg toy manufactured by a practically-unknown outfit under the name of Impossible Toys, is just one of a series of bootleg Transformers toys that they manufacture. The “Quints” series includes five pieces, but they also make accessories like energon cubes, the weird energy being known as Kremzeak (a character I had completely forgotten but my wife Gina remembered and could even tell me about the episode), and even little Spike and Sparkplug figures that can sit inside the G1 toys like Optimus Prime. I was a bit shocked to find all of the different toys these guys manufacture and, after a little reviewing of forum posts and watching this review of the Quintesson Judge toy on YouTube, I decided to go ahead and order myself the Prosecutor.

I was a little nervous ordering the Prosecutor; an unknown company and a $40 price tag left me concerned about the quality of the toy but I figured that in the interest of knowledge — and because I’m a sucker — it was worth the risk. After a short wait the Prosecutor arrived and I popped the package open . . . only to get nervous. The toy’s decently-printed box was splitting apart at one of the seams where the glue wasn’t holding. Fortunately, as soon as I pulled out the toy my fears vanished.

The Quintesson Prosecutor Toy

Standing right around 6″ tall, the Quintesson Prosecutor is a very well-manufactured toy. The figure comes in two parts: the actual toy itself and a semi-transparent base that the figure sits on (which represents the beam of light that the Quintesson stands on in the movie). The plastic feels great, hard and durable, while the toy’s “arms,” the tentacles that we see it flailing in the movie, are a rubbery material that holds its shape well and feels great when you move his arms. Now that’s not to say that each tentacle moves separately from the others — in fact the tentacles themselves don’t move; the only movement is rotating the entire “arm” assembly at the shoulder — but for display and play purposes the movement that we get is adequate. The head also moves — from left to right — and there’s a slight rotation in the toy’s “waist,” but I’m not sure if that’s intentional or a manufacturing defect.

In addition to the minimal articulation, and a shock to myself (how can a garage operation do this?), the toy also includes a light in its base. A knob on the back (see rear view of the toy, above) can be twisted one direction to activate the red light which — when the Quintesson is standing on his base — illuminates the base and gives the toy a very cool look. Two of the images above show the Quintesson Prosecutor with the light on.

Closing Thoughts

I have to keep telling myself that Impossible Toys is a garage operation and that the Quintesson Prosecutor is not a toy from a professional company. Other than the poorly-made box, everything about the toy is fantastic. It feels solid, looks great, has a built-in light, and is exactly what Hasbro should have produced in 1986 when Transformers The Movie was released to theaters. The only drawback to the toy is the cost — about $40 to $50 depending on which online store you order from — and even that is understandable when you take into account that this isn’t a mass-produced item.

I’m very impressed, and plan to order one or two more pieces from Impossible Toys.

Philip Reed is very impressed with the Quintesson Prosector and plans to snag a Judge just as soon as he can.