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| “ | A new year has begun, and the age of the Transformers is over. | „ |
| ~ Harold Attinger |
| “ | Funny. I had the same dream. Somewhere along the way, you made billions of dollars. So why don't you tell me what's missing from my dream? Why don't you tell me what's missing from my boyhood dream? I have served my country for decades of unparalleled prosperity, and you are my golden parachute. So you are damn well jumping out of the plane with me! | „ |
| ~ Harold Attinger callously revealing his true nature to Joshua Joyce. |
| “ | You see, it takes patience to make a man. The patience to watch and wait, to protect all of us, quietly, for God and country, without any recognition at all! There are no "good" aliens or "bad" aliens, Yeager! It's just us... and them. And you chose them. | „ |
| ~ Harold Attinger's last words to Cade Yeager before being killed by Optimus Prime. |
Harold Attinger, also known as Mr. Attinger or more simply known by his surname Attinger, is the main antagonist of the 2014 science fiction action film Transformers: Age of Extinction, the fourth installment in Paramount Pictures‘ Transformers film series.
He is a highly decorated CIA administrator and the founder of the agency's black ops unit, Cemetery Wind, who sought to exterminate all Cybertronians from the Earth. Attinger went as far as to work alongside the Cybertronian bounty hunter known as Lockdown in order to accomplish his goals, and was later revealed to be constructing a man-made army of Transformers alongside Joshua Joyce for his own financial benefit. He is the archenemy of Cade Yeager and his family due to Attinger's campaign to hunt down the leader of the Autobots, Optimus Prime.
He was portrayed by Kelsey Grammer, who also played Stinky Pete in Toy Story 2, Rothbart in Barbie of Swan Lake, Dr. Ivan Krank in Teacher's Pet: The Movie, Hunter in Storks, Sideshow Bob in The Simpsons, and Jimmy Brynner in Wanted Man.
Personality[]
Harold Attinger was a no-nonsense man with strict objectives and zero compassion for his enemies, even if they were innocent people. Though he sought to exterminate the Transformers, identifying both Autobots and Decepticons as a public threat towards humanity, he was willing to join forces with them if it meant to further his goal; ironically, his agenda had indirectly led to the presence of non-aligned Cybertronian bounty hunter Lockdown, with whom Attinger had secretly partnered in a bid to achieve his purposes at the expense of anyone - including innocent humans besides Cybertronians - who interfered with their shared agenda. Lockdown, who disregarded both humanity and his own kind's civil war, appeared to be similar to that of Attinger's genocidal ambitions. However, despite their shared alliance and partnership, both saw this dynamic as a mere means to fulfilling their goals.
All of these traits may have arisen from his years of working in the shadows, causing him to become paranoid and fearful especially after the battle of Chicago. Strangely, despite his callousness and paranoia, he was known for his calm and patient demeanor unlike Dylan Gould and Theodore Galloway. Rarely did Attinger raise his voice or overreact to a situation, and would instead continue to plan out schemes as situations unfolded. He also proved to be quite conniving and deceitful, especially in light of his supposed partnership with Joshua Joyce and the latter's company KSI. At that moment, Attinger revealed that he had little to no regard for Joshua upon referring to him as his "golden parachute of his goal". Though it appeared that the two were respected partners working towards the same goal in "making the world a better place", Joshua was merely a tool for Attinger and his schemes. Additionally, Attinger's fanaticism in eliminating Cybertronians from Earth was so immense that he was willing to lie that any Autobots he pursued were Decepticons to his superiors in the U.S. Government. If anyone were to witness his murder of Autobots, Attinger likewise knew he would be arrested, imprisoned, or executed for his crimes; thus, he went to great lengths to hide his true goals, even willing to murder them either personally or by proxy.
Despite claiming himself to be saving the world from the threat of the Transformers, a majority of the destruction and death in the film is caused by him and his organization of Cemetery Wind. Whether he sees it or not, Attinger is a hypocrite considering that he could never allow any rescue services to recover the injured when innocent people were caught in the crossfire of Galvatron's attack on the Autobots. This was further extended to the point where Attinger even allowed Lockdown to level Hong Kong to find Optimus and hide his cooperation.
In reality, Attinger's main goal is not necessarily to protect humanity, but to wipe out the Cybertronians for both financial benefit and his own fanatical viewpoint on the world: by having Lockdown and Cemetery Wind slaughter Cybertronians that they came across, Attinger would sell their remains to KSI for production into man-made Transformers to sell to the US Army. Attinger additionally had no qualms with being more than willing to commit high treason against the very kind he seemingly wants to protect to satisfy his own rapacity. Attinger's unquestionable disregard for innocent lives and for those he teamed up with in a bid to complete his dastardly goals were ultimately his undoing; mere moments after receiving his fatal comeuppance, Attinger dies in vain when Optimus used Lockdown's last grenade to destroy Galvatron's remaining forces, completely destroying Attinger's remains in the process.
Biography[]
Formation of Cemetery Wind[]
Following the events from Dark of the Moon, humanity became fearful of Cybertronians in light of the Battle of Chicago. In response, the U.S. government terminated all joint operations with the Autobots. During this time, Harold Attinger was requested by his higher-ups from the CIA to eliminate the Decepticons upon forming his own CIA black ops unit "Cemetery Wind". Unbeknownst to his higher-ups, however, Attinger had secretly been hunting down Autobots as well, desiring to exterminate both factions due to his belief that Cybertronians were an existential threat to humanity.
Attinger separately appeared in both meetings with the U.S. government and the CIA where he manipulated both organizations into viewing the Autobots and the Decepticons as the true enemies. As time passes, he became notified of the presence of the non-aligned Transformer bounty hunter Lockdown, who was sent by the Creators to capture Optimus Prime and kill anyone who interfered. Attinger soon decided to form a partnership with Lockdown as he came to realize their shared commonalities, culminating in an agreement that benefitted their own campaigns; Attinger would assist Lockdown in hunting down Optimus Prime whilst killing off any aligned Transformer in the process, in exchange for a Seed which Lockdown promised to give Attinger once their deal becomes successful.
Killing Ratchet and tracking Optimus Prime[]
On one occasion, he tracked down an Autobot named Ratchet and had his second in-command named James Savoy lead his tactical squad to brutally ambush him and then allow Lockdown to finish him off after an attempt to coerce him into exposing Optimus' whereabouts. Soon afterwards, Attinger met up with Lockdown at a rendezvous point. Thereupon, he questioned Lockdown's purpose of capturing Optimus, becoming curious of his mission. Lockdown, however, was displeased with Attinger since his black ops unit had once allowed Optimus to escape Mexico City and ended up warning him about their partnership; it turned out that Lockdown wanted Optimus to be apprehended safely since the Creators had wanted him alive for unknown reasons.
Eventually, Attinger received word that Optimus was hiding at Cade Yeager's farm in Texas thanks to an anonymous phone call from Cade's friend Lucas. He gleefully responded by alerting Lockdown about this moments before sending Savoy and his tactical unit to confront them at the farm. Upon their arrival, Cade repeatedly denied knowing anything about Optimus' whereabouts, up until he inadvertently mentioned his presence by saying the word "him". This allowed Attinger to expose his secret, as well as Savoy to authorize his squad to hold Cade and his daughter Tessa at gunpoint.
After failing to coerce Cade and Tessa into exposing Optimus' whereabouts, Attinger ordered Savoy to execute Tessa in front of Cade. It was at that moment that Optimus finally revealed his presence, who ended up killing a number of Savoy's henchmen before fleeing with the Yeagers and Lucas altogether. Attinger could only watch as Optimus escaped with the Yeagers and Tessa's boyfriend, Shane, while Lucas was killed by Lockdown's grenade.
He was not only unimpressed that Savoy and his mercenaries had failed to kill the Yeagers, fearing that their corrupt activities would be exposed to the FBI and the public, but was stoked further that even Lockdown was unsuccessful in apprehending Optimus. Attinger would later confront Savoy in their private jet after receiving a message from Cade, who warns that he would be coming for him and is unaware that Optimus had vowed to kill the human who caused the deaths of countless Transformers upon creating Cemetery Wind.
It is soon revealed that Attinger had been collaborating with Joshua Joyce, an ambitious businessman and the founder of Kinetic Solutions Incorporated, during the course of Cemetery Wind's operations. It was also uncovered that all the Transformers that Attinger and Lockdown had killed were then given to Joyce as part of his plan to produce man-made Transformers, and that the Seed would actually be given to Savoy from Attinger as the result would provide several million shares in the soon-to-be-thriving KSI. This was the complex deal that would accomplish Attinger's plot against the Transformers, while allowing Joyce to provide the United States military with an army of man-made Transformers.
Soon, Attinger later met up with Joyce to warn him about Optimus and the Yeagers that were interfering with Cemetery Wind's purposes, which has also allowed them to investigate KSI upon learning of their alliance. Joyce was infuriated with Attinger for allowing a pair of humans and some Autobots to become aware of their alliance, and also ended up warning him that Lockdown's presence has only endangered their nefarious activities even further.
Not long afterwards, Attinger witnessed Cade infiltrating KSI headquarters during his own visit of the facilities and had Savoy's bodyguards detain him. When he entered into the room where Cade and Joyce were in, he appeared before Cade while Joyce and his bodyguards returned to their business. Meeting face to face, Attinger acknowledged Cade's attempts to protect his family which was admirable; but then he expressed his own purpose to protect humanity by eliminating the Transformers and unsuccessfully tried to manipulate Cade.
After warning Cade about the danger he allowed himself and his family to be put in after getting involved in his operation, Attinger became unfazed and showed no remorse when Cade berated him for preparing to kill his daughter with some "hired help" from his black-ops. He dismissed Cade just before questioning him about Optimus' whereabouts. Moments later, the Autobots stormed into KSI at which point Bumblebee revealed himself before Attinger could further interrogate Cade, allowing the former to escape when Attinger had escaped from the scene.
Shortly after the Autobots' departure, Attinger declared the raid as a terrorist attack worthy of a CIA-military operation op in retaliation. He then demanded Joyce to respond, which the latter did by sending his two made-man Transformers Galvatron and Stinger to hunt down the remaining Autobots and the Yeagers. Attinger watched as Joyce and his team controlled the two Transformers to pursue the Yeagers and the Autobots. In the ensuing confrontation, Galvatron unexpectedly opened fire on civilians and caused massive property damage without KSI's orders.
Despite this, Attinger showed no concern about the damage Galvatron created and confronted Joyce for sending paramedics to the injured - claiming that innocent lives were lost every day. When Galvatron caught up with Optimus, the two began fighting that was soon cut-short when Lockdown intervened after firing at Optimus. Joyce and his KSI team were shocked by Lockdown's presence, but Attinger told them that Lockdown is his "asset" and ordered Joyce to have Galvatron retreat in order to allow Lockdown to personally capture Optimus himself.
Following this, Attinger arranged for Savoy to meet up with Lockdown in Chicago to collect the seed and settle their partnership while he warned his higher-ups to have the military stand down as there was no need for alarm; assuring them that Lockdown is his "asset" and that his presence is part of his CIA operation with Cemetery Wind.
Hong Kong and betraying Joyce[]
After Lockdown's departure, Attinger travelled to Hong Kong where he delivered the Seed to Joyce at his newly headquarters. Having seemingly completed their complex deal, Attinger proudly claimed that the two of them will now provide the opportunity to protect humanity without any Transformers' interference once and for all. What Attinger didn't know, however, was that Cade had been warning Joyce about Galvatron and his secret plan to use the Seed to destroy humanity; it had earlier turned out that Galvatron was actually Megatron, the Decepticons' leader who started their war against the Autobots on Earth from the beginning of it all. Because of this, Joyce had taken this into consideration and had a change of heart when he openly attempted to decline his reward. Attinger became surprised about Joyce's change of tune and reminded him the loss of countless casualties following their complex deal.
It was then that Joyce became aware that he and Attinger had a difference about their dreams to make the world a better place; with Joyce hoping to do so in creative terms whilst Attinger had merely the same in rather destructive ways. Realizing Attinger had been manipulating him all along, as well as growing disillusioned with the former's callous indifference to civilian casualties when Galvatron was unleashed, Joyce confronted him over his nefarious activities and threatened to blackmail him with all the blood on his hand. However, Attinger scathingly declared that he'd bring down Joyce with him after pinning him against the wall and telling Joyce that he cannot back out of their deal.
Suddenly their argument is cut-short, however, when Galvatron awakens and orders his KSI drones to launch an assault to the headquarters. When Joyce became notified by this, he had Attinger and Savoy escorted out of the building. It was then that Attinger became aware of Joyce's betrayal and Galvatron's presence when he was shepherded to safety by Savoy, though not after he confronted Joyce outside of the carpark about his change of heart.
Final Confrontation and Death[]
The next day, Attinger was prepared to kill Joyce when he and Savoy hunted him down across Hong Kong. It was then notified to the pair that the Seed they are searching was in Joyce's possession when Galvatron arrives with his KSI army at the same request. Things become escalated when one of Lockdown's ship arrives. As Savoy questions about this in surprise, it became clear to Attinger that the Autobots were still on Earth and that Optimus had not been with Lockdown ever since he traveled to Hong Kong.
As the Autobots and Galvatron's forces began fighting, Attinger discovered that the Yeagers were also in presence and are now assisting Joyce in fleeing from Galvatron. He told Savoy to split up and kill both the Yeagers and Joyce should he encounter them, warning him that they'll expose Cemetery Wind's illict activities should they survive and the pair die. This was unsuccessful, and Attinger could only watch in horror upon seeing Savoy falling to his death after losing to Cade in a fist fight.
Attinger permits Lockdown to launch a full assault at Hong Kong
Becoming vengeful over Savoy's death, Attinger contacts Lockdown to inform him about Optimus' location in Hong Kong and tells to do whatever he wants to recapture him. Lockdown responded to Attinger's message by activating a deadly weapon that caused Hong Kong to suffer countless casualties. However, Attinger was unfazed by all the destruction that he had allowed Lockdown to cause in the process - thus showing that Attinger had all but lost what remains of his sanity because of it.
Having survived the battle in Hong Kong, which culminated with the Autobots emerging victorious following Stinger's death and Galvatron's escape, Attinger wandered off alone and ended up locating Cade in the same area where Lockdown was fighting Optimus. He confronted Cade at gunpoint shortly before the latter could help Optimus against Lockdown during their fight. Thereafter Attinger finally loses his temper as he began ranting about how it takes patience to make a man and to work in the shadows to protect all humans - proudly making false justifications for his actions for the good of his country, when everything he’s ever done wasn’t good or protecting humanity at all. He continues to berate Cade by snaring at him for supposedly siding with the Transformers over humanity, before proceeding to foolishly declare that "There are no good aliens or bad aliens, Yeager! It's just us and them. And you chose them."; henceforth Attinger could never see or realize that Cade chose to be good in this matter.
Attinger then prepares to execute Cade at gunpoint when Optimus, who having witnessed this shortly after overpowering Lockdown, intervenes; he promptly blasts Attinger in the chest, killing him instantly and fulfilling his oath to kill the person responsible for the deaths of countless Autobots and human lives during Cemetery Wind's campaign against the Transformers, while also for the first time breaking his oath for Autobots to never harm humans. And his corpse was finally blown to ashes after Optimus used Lockdown's grenade to destroy the remaining KSI drones, resulting in his ultimate demise.
Legacy[]
Shortly after Attinger's death, Optimus would go on to proceed in killing Lockdown before using his last grenade to destroy all of Galvatron's remaining forces - which all but vaporized Attinger's deceased body in the process. Consequently, Attinger's plans died with him and Lockdown as they were all but nothing in the end. Following this, Optimus would then go and find the Creators. It was then afterwards that Cemetery Wind's illicit crimes were finally exposed, resulting in the U.S. Government severing all ties with them and declaring them a terrorist group.
However, their legacy didn't even last long as their traditions would still be continued; this was done by the formation of the Transformers Reaction Force, a worldwide paramilitary organization with the same intent as Cemetery Wind - to destroy all Transformers regardless of faction. This was because the world's governments, including the United States, began to declare all Transformers illegal as more waves continued to arrive on Earth due to the damage in Chicago and Hong Kong - with the exception of a few island countries such as Cuba. The TRF was headed by Santos, a former Delta Force operative who became the unit's leading field commander. His colleague Colonel William Lennox, a former ally Autobots and former NEST commander, also worked with TRF but was a reluctant member due to his past experience with the Autobots. TRF also wanted to apprehend or kill Cade Yeager, believing him to be an Autobots sympathizer. But in the end they would ultimately readily switch sides and gladly redeemed themselves after being injured by Optimus Prime and berated by Cade Yeager, in which they readily helped them and the Autobots to stop Lockdown's employer Quintessa from destroying Earth as well as defeating Megatron and the Decepticons once more.
Afterwards, the TRF disbanded after human-Cybertronian relations began to rebuild, ensuring what remained of Cemetery Wind's legacy and Attinger had all but perished in the end. TRF became scapegoats after everything they did as a result, and are also prohibited from creating deals with the Decepticons and only Decepticons will be outlawed and they will also be given strict orders to find and destroy only Decepticons since they are the true threat to the world.
Gallery[]
Quotes[]
| “ | It’s not their planet. Never was. Time we take it back. | „ |
| ~ Harold Attinger's genocidal ambitions. |
| “ | Lockdown: I warn you, Mr. Attinger of Earth: an alliance is a contract. And contracts, like humans... expire. Harold Attinger: In this planet, we have a saying: The enemy of my enemy is my friend. Lockdown: I also have a saying: I don't care. Harold Attinger: So what happened in Mexico City? Thought you had him! Lockdown: Three direct hits. A mortal wound. Then your men allowed him to escape! You promised me human intelligence. Or is there such a thing? Harold Attinger: You know, you still never told me. Why do you want him? Who are you working for? Lockdown: Every galaxy I've travelled, all you species are the same. You all think you're the center of the universe. You have no idea. |
„ |
| ~ Harold Attinger meets with Lockdown. |
| “ | Joshua Joyce: So what about the deal? Is it done? Did you get the Seed? Harold Attinger: We get it when the bounty hunter gets Prime. Meanwhile, there has been a complication. Joshua Joyce: Of what? [laughs] You know, at KSI, we don't use words like that. Harold Attinger: A civilian harboring the Autobots has hacked into one of your mini-drones, meaning they may know of your involvement. Joshua Joyce: What? I need more Transformium, and I need it now to build more prototypes. You tell your alien bounty hunter that I have STAKED... my company... on this deal. Harold Attinger: And I've merely staked my life. Joshua Joyce: Hey! You came to me on this, remember? You retire from the CIA, you get a seven figure piece of my company, and you and I revolutionize national defense together. But, Attinger, buddy, for both our sakes, you... need to deliver... the Seed. |
„ |
| ~ Joshua Joyce reminding Harold Attinger of their business arrangement. |
| “ | Cade Yeager: Look, I want a lawyer. The Justice Department, somebody I can trust! I'm just trying to protect my family, okay, not from your company! From the government. Harold Attinger: Mr. Yeager. Who do you think I work for? You're trying to protect your family. That's admirable. I'm trying to defend the nation from alien war. We've had a taste of what that looks like, and we're not going to tolerate another. Now, there is a version of this conversation where you get to go back to your barn. Your daughter gets to graduate with honors, and life as you know it... will go on. You have no idea what you're involved with here. Cade Yeager: Really? What's the other version of this conversation? Where you send in the hired help to murder my little girl? Or are you gonna man up and do it yourself? Harold Attinger: What's your preference? I'm gonna ask you this once: where is Optimus Prime? |
„ |
| ~ Harold Attinger attempts to coerce Cade Yeager into revealing Optimus Prime's location. |
| “ | Harold Attinger: This is our chance. We have to stop him. You have to stop him. Joshua Joyce: It's never been tested in the field. Labs, military bases, but not on civilian streets. Harold Attinger: Down there, a Defense Department contract was just attacked in a terrorist attack. This is now a CIA military op. You're indemnified. Respond! |
„ |
| ~ Harold Attinger ordering Joshya Joyce to use Galvatron to hunt down Optimus Prime and the Yeagers. |
| “ | You're making history here. For your country, for the world. Human freedom is at stake. Innocent people die all of the time. | „ |
| ~ Harold Attinger rebuking Joshua Joyce's concerns during the hunt for Optimus and the Yeager family. |
| “ | Harold Attinger: Joyce! I cannot tell you how enthused I am to deliver this. Top of your alien wishlist. It's yours, or rather... ours. I will need to see my advance. Five million shares in the company. Together, we're going to end human warfare. We're about to build a fully-automated U.S. Army. Just think of all of the American lives we're gonna save. So how soon until we can start continous production? Joshua Joyce: You know, why don't we take a beat on this for a minute? I have some new data that I discovered, and— Harold Attinger: You're not backing out on me here? Joshua Joyce: No, I'm not backing out, I just-- I want the Seed. I'm not saying I don't want the Seed, I'm just saying that I don't know if I... if I want the Seed right now. Harold Attinger: Good men have died trying to get that thing for us. For you. Joshua Joyce: I know what you did to get that thing: a lot of illegal icky sh*t. I can take you down, too, Mr. Black Ops. Don't you threaten me. I started this company when I was a boy, with a dream of making a world a better place. Harold Attinger: Funny. I had the same dream. Somewhere along the way, you made billions of dollars. So why don't you tell me what's missing from my dream? Why don't you tell me what's missing from my boyhood dream? I have served my country for decades of unparalleled prosperity, and you are my golden parachute. So you are damn well jumping out of the plane with me! |
„ |
| ~ Harold Attinger arguing with Joshua Joyce. |
| “ | Autobots at this location. Prime is close. Do whatever you have to do. | „ |
| ~ Attinger permitting Lockdown to go all out against the Autobots at Hong Kong. |
Trivia[]
- Attinger is a Swiss surname. It is implied that he is of Swiss descent.
- Despite his genocidal plot against the Transformers, he secretly made a deal with Lockdown (who seemed to share a mutual contempt towards his own kind) to obtain an item known as the "Seed", which can turn organic life into a metal called Transformium to make new Transformers for the private sector. Even though the deal was completed, he informed Lockdown of the Seed being stolen from him upon his confrontation with Joshua Joyce.
- Ironically, Lockdown despises humanity, in contrast to working with Attinger.
- Harold Attinger can also be considered as Lockdown's human counterpart.
- His deed when he has Joshua Joyce recreate Megatron into Galvatron is somewhat similar with how Unicron evolved/recreated Megatron into Galvatron. Both also tries to have them work for them, and considering the movie creators previously intended to use Cyclonus as another major antagonistic Cybertronian before they chose Lockdown instead, Harold Attinger was meant to replace Unicron as well. Ironically, the damage that Harold received when Galvatron turned on him was more severe than Unicron had, something that Joshua had been warned about by Cade before he betrayed Attinger previously.
- He is the second human antagonist in the Transformers movieverse after Dylan Gould and also the third human villain after Theodore Galloway.
- Attinger blamed the Autobots (instead of the Decepticons) for having caused the Battle of Chicago in the 3rd movie, and that humans were completely the victims of it. In fact, one human named Dylan was responsible for causing the Battle of Chicago.
- If Bumblebee had arrived earlier to save Cade by distracting Attinger, Cade would have engaged Attinger in a fist fight just like Optimus fighting Lockdown.
- His death is similar to Megatron from the 1986 film where Prime defeated him with a single punch, causing him to fall from the battle.
- Grammer is a fan of the franchise which is why he starred in the fourth film.
- It is believed by many that Sam Witwicky, the human protagonist of the first three Transformers films, was among the humans Harold Attinger and Cemetery Wind killed between Transformers: Dark of the Moon and Transformers: Age of Extinction, as Sam is indirectly confirmed to have died before Transformers: The Last Knight, which could also apply to his parents and his girlfriend Carly Spencer due to Sam's association with Bumblebee.
- Attinger is the only main antagonist in Michael Bay's live-action Transformers film series who is not robotic nor originated from outer space.
- Peter Cullens dislikes Attinger and his actor, Kelsey Grammer, saying he made his anger to be furious.
