The new, updated version of the Quintesson alien life form sure looks weird... although I'm sure that's the intent. Alpha Quintesson here is a very unique product to come out of the Energon line, namely because it's not a Transformer at all-- so no two modes here, folks. Just one waaacky alien! He's got two skinny arms that break off into four skinny arms at the elbows, a heavily-armored central section with little insect-like legs on the lower section, and a plated head/mouth with three head inside the mouth. Of course, this is the one part of Alpha Quintesson that is an obvious nod to the original G1 Quintessons-- the multiple, rotating heads. The problem with Alpha Quintesson, though, is that his heads are so far inside his mouth that it's hard to see them even when you're in a well-lit room-- they're always in shadow unless you pick up the figure and tilt his mouth up towards the light. The heads themselves look pretty great, and are highly detailed-- there's an orange-and-red "angry" head, a rather annoyed-looking head with an Egyptian-style headdress on, and a green crowned head, though this latter one doesn't have as much paint detailing on it as I'd like. But regardless, the switching-heads gimmick is pretty cool-- press the light green thing sticking out of Alpha Quintesson's back, and the heads rotate. (Though you think that, given that he's a QUINTesson, he'd have FIVE heads like his G1 version... that kind irks me...) Alpha Quintesson's also got a standard missile launcher sticking out of the hump on his back to give him a bit of long-range weaponry, though you can take the missile launcher out and put in the hand of any other Energon figure, as it DOES fit into the standard fistholes. Moving on down, Alpha Quintesson's body narrows out into a mass of tentacles. In particular, there are three tentacles sticking out of the mass, each ending in a weapon-- one in a chainsaw, another in a claw, and the third in an open wire with sparks coming out of it (though the only way I know that is because of the box art; it looks like a bit blob of blue stuff to me). The tentacles are fully posable, as they're made of that bendy "gumby-style" plastic, so you loop-de-loop them around each other if you so desire. Moving Alpha Quintesson along a flat surface makes his tentacles swirl around, but given that the tentacles are so long and unwieldy, they usually end up smacking into Alpha Quintesson's main body anyway. So chalk this gimmick up to a big waste of time. Because of this gimmick, as well, the tentacles also tend to sag downards, since the part that connects them to the main body of tentacles swivels around somewhat loosely (though at least the tentacles don't pop off easily). But overall, the tentacles are rather annoying-- I would have liked them a lot better if they had been a bit shorter and that tentacle-swirling gimmick wasn't there. Alpha Quintesson also has several spots where you can attach Energon chips to him-- 1 on top of each shoulder, 1 on the back of each hand, and 3 on his tentacle base, adding up to 9 slots total. That's a lotta Energon! Alpha Quintesson's color scheme overall is also fitting-- he has several different colors on him, making him stand out more, even if most of those colors are just variants of green or gray. But it gives him an appropriate "technorganic" feel, which is exemplified by his mold detailing, especially on his arms, which have organic muscles, but little wires in between those muscles. As you'd expect since he doesn't transform, Alpha also has good articulation-- he can move at two points at the shoulders, three points at the elbows, his mouth can open and close, his missile launcher can swivel around, his insect-like claws on his chest and lower back can move individually, and his main body can rotate around where it meets the tentacle base. He's also quite a big toy for a Mega, given that he's less complex-- he easily has as much plastic in him as an Ultra.
    Alpha Quintesson has some good sides to him, such as the head-rotating gimmick (even if it's only three heads), the good articulation and detaling, and the many slots for Energon chips. However, his tentacle gimmick is badly thought-out and pretty annoying, and given that he doesn't transform, he's just not as much FUN as most of the other Energon Megas. If you don't mind the fact that he doesn't transform, and you like his weird design, AND you don't mind the bad tentacle gimmick, then I'd mildly recommend him. Otherwise, keep away.

Review by Beastbot

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