QUINTESSONS
Contents
Foreword
Types of Quintessons
Judges
Deliberata
Kledji
Sevax
Prosecutors
Scientists
Mara Al Utha
Inquirata
Al-Badur
Bio-Engineer
Executioners
Ghyrik
Jolup
Bailiffs
Guards
Alpha-Q
Violenjiger
It
Quintesson Creations
Sharkticons
Trans-Organics
Mechanoids
Dark Guardians
Drones
Aquatic Fauna
Plantobots
Quintesson Transportation
Large Spiral Starships
Medium Spiral Starships
Large Ovoid Starships
Ancient Starships
Trident Fighters
Shuttles
Escape Pods
Cars
Hover-Skiffs
Hover-Thrones
Quintesson Locations
Quintessa
Cybertron
Titan Colony
Courtrooms
Arenas
Laboratories
Quintesson Devices
Quadrant Locks
Time Window
Dimensional Portals
Data Cylinders
Somna-Probe
Quintesson Language
Quintesson History
G1 Cartoon History
Energon Cartoon History
Superlink Profile
UK Comic History
Wreckers Comic History
Blackthorne Comic History
TF Universe Profile
DW MTMTE Profile
Personal Notes
Special Thanks
Quintessons - that sociopathic race of many-faced, tentacled opportunists. Creators of bizarre mechanical lifeforms and deadly weapons. They are the ultimate capitalists and the epitome of sadism. Many have had business dealings with these aliens, but few, if any ever return from their savage homeworld, Quintessa. Since their first appearance in Transformers: The Movie, the Quintessons have brought a form of eldritch horror and macabre fascination to the world of the Transformers. Strange social castes and super-genius intellect are some of the defining marks of this race. Are they organic, or mechanical, or something in-between? No one knows for sure. Collected here is the information regarding these elusive, mysterious, and often murderous creatures.
Types of Quintessons
Judge/Imperial Magistrate
5-Faced, Ovoid
The 5-faced judges appear to hold some of the highest ranks among the Quintessons. They are the decision-makers of their race. During trials, it is a 5-faced judge that will decide whether the accused will be found guilty or innocent. Not that it matters, either verdict brings a death sentence.
One of the more odd aspects about the 5-faced variety is that they appear to have a distinct portion of their intellect and personality divided among the faces. One face tends to calculate numbers and spout statistics, while another tends to lie, and another may express anger or hatred. The most commonly seen of these 5 faces is the face of Death, which looks to be a cross between a fanged skull, a British judge's wig and a Pharaoh's headdress.
The 5-faced Quintessons ride upon a beam of energy and interact with their surroundings via their many thin, supple tentacles, which are just as dexterous, if not more, than human hands. They handle and carry weapons, as well as construct incredible devices of unimaginable sophistication, without the use of fingers or opposable thumbs. For all of their intellect and creativity, these creatures would rather face death than failure, and would gladly sacrifice anything they have, including their own lives, to assure victory.
On the same token, there is nothing they won't sacrifice to increase their profits, and will think nothing of destroying innocent beings or shattering an entire planet's ecosystem just to make a sale. Entire races have been pushed to extinction by the unquenchable thirst for money and power that is a Quintesson's greed. If the Quintessons serve any deity at all, it is no doubt avarice.
Several explanations for what each face represents have been given in official media. The script for the Movie lists the faces as "smiling, grimacing, angry, suspicious and a death's head". Bom-Bom Comics later explained them to be "Laughter, Bitterness, Rage, Doubt and Death". More recently, Simon Furman's Ultimate Guide lists the faces as "Wisdom, War, Judgement, Wrath and Death". It's possible that each face has a different meaning in each continuity, or perhaps each face represents something different in each individual Quintesson. The Face of Wisdom in one Quintesson may be the Face of Greed in another. The only constant appears to be the Face of Death.
Notable among this caste are the following individuals:
Notable Specimens
Judge Deliberata
Judge Deliberata - Quintesson Judge, who when taken hostage by Spike Witwicky, Ultra Magnus and Kup, requested that he be put to death alongside the Autobots and human, to assure that their ploy would not cause them to escape.
Lord Kledji (Large Ovoid Left) and Sevax (Smaller Ovoid Right)
Lord Kledji - Mastermind among his race, who orchestrated a two-pronged attack upon Autobot City and Cybertron, duping both the Autobots and Decepticons, in his attempt to claim Cybertron as a Quintesson world and enslave the inhabitants of Earth as a bonus. When he failed to take either planet, he chose to stay behind on his dying world, and warned the rest of his race to stay off-world, lest their entire race go extinct. His last words were filled with malice, as he encouraged the survivors to harrass and eventually destroy all Cybertronians.
Sevax - Bumbling and apologetic Quintesson, responsible for allowing the captive Wreck-Gar to escape, enabling the Junkion Leader to spread the news that the Quintessons had targeted several inhabited worlds for extermination and colonization.
Prosecutor
Single-Faced, Ovoid
The bizarre-looking Quintesson prosecutors are an enigma. Their caste appears to exercise a measure of authority, but it is hard to tell if they have authority over the 5-faced Quintessons, if they are equals or if they are subordinates. The oblong-headed Quintesson in "Transformers: The Movie" was credited as the "Quintesson Leader", but it seemed as though the judge was the authority. Of course, no real authority structure has been shown among the Quintessons (aside from the "Space Pirates" story in the UK comics) so any hierarchy could be as dubious as the fair trials the Quintessons hold.
The oblong-headed caste has more to them than the 5-faced variety. These Quintessons have broad shoulders over and around their egg-shaped bodies. Three thick sturdy tentacles protrude from each shoulder, tapering down into a whip-like appendage. Like the 5-faced type, these Quintessons also hover upon thing beams of energy that fires from the base of their ovoid bodies.
These Quintessons seem to be more fearsome and cruel than any other type. They seem to be quick to harm and even quicker to betray and/or kill. They take pleasure in the sufferings of other beings, and love to use their cunning and trickery to bring others to ruin; physically, emotionally or financially. Their single, fearsome faces do nothing to disguise the malevolence that no doubt dwells within their frames.
Scientist
Single-Faced, Ovoid
The round-headed scientist caste of the Quintessons has a body very similar to the long-headed prosecutors', but the similarities are only from the neck-down. Above the shoulders is a massive, spherical head with a face that sometimes appears to be too small. Inside that massive head is an even more enormous intellect. These Quintessons are no doubt the brains of their race, and they allow nothing to stand in the way of their ever-increasing hunger for knowledge. Their lack of morals and ethics in their scientific method has allowed them to advance far, far ahead of the other technologically advance space-faring races, but at the cost of the lives of countless innocent, sentient beings, who were the subjects of their insidious experiments.
Often they probe into depths of the unknown, seeking knowledge that is better left alone or prodding things that are best left untampered with. These creatures have attempted to bend time and space to their wills, and in some cases have cause irreparable harm to living beings and possibly the stuff of the Universe itself.
This type of Quintesson seems to be the least malevolent among their race, but the cold, passionless manner in which they dispose of life to increase their own knowledge and power shows that the Quintesson Scientists possess a heartless form of evil, that while differing from the motives of their sadistic brethren, is no less appalling or diabolical.
Notable among this caste are:
Notable Specimens
Mara Al Utha
Mara Al Utha -Quintesson who forsook the clinic path of the amoral pursuit of knowledge through science, and instead turned to the mysteries of the occult and sorcery. Since witchcraft is forbidden among the Quintessons, Mara Al Utha was banished to a world that was filled with magic and wizardry, called Minonia. There he bided his time as a pupil of the powerful thaumaturgist, the Golden One, until the day he had the chance to betray his new master. Mara Al Utha, under the pseudonym "The Red Wizard" subjugated the denizens of Minonia using foul conjurings to summon fiends as well as creating a legion of wooden automatons to not only serve his every whim, but to fight for him as well.
Additional Quintessons sentenced to exile are Merdain and Al-Badur. Merdain's caste is unknown.
Inquirata
Inquirata - Scientist who created the Time Window device in order to abduct a key figure from the rebellion that expelled the Quintessons from Cybertron, altering the past so that the rebellion would fail. His attempts to change time caused temporal anomalies to spread across the galaxy and possibly beyond.
Al-Badur
Al-Badur - Scientist exiled to a frigid ice world for political reasons. Al-Badur stood up against his brethren and advocated better treatment for their robotic slaves, and was banished from Cybertron as a criminal for his views. Al-Badur foresaw the coming rebellion, though his warnings fell on deaf ears.
Bio-Engineer
3-Faced Ovoid
The 3-faced Quintesson responsible for the creation of the Transorganics, and most notably the Dweller, was only seen once, and is quite possibly unique among his race, though his caste may just be rare and/or highly elusive. One of his three faces was destroyed by his creation, and he covered the damaged face up with a featureless mask. As cunning as he was intelligent, he tricked the Decepticons into releasing his ancient creations upon the unsuspecting populace of Cybertron. In the end, though, he fell victim to his darkest creation: the vampiric energy leech called The Dweller.
His body is similar to that of the long-headed prosecutors and the round-headed scientists. He possesses 3 identical faces on a rotating conical head. Two of his faces remain hidden behind a high, metal collar when one face is exposed. He has an ovoid body and also rides upon a streaming beam of energy from the base of his body. Two tentacles emerge from each of his shoulders and four more extend from his waist.
Executioner
Single-Faced, Bipedal, Thin
The first of the bipedal Quintessons we examine is the strange mantis-like caste, that functions as executioners and officers among the Quintesson warriors castes. This caste has only one face, sharp serrated ridges protruding from various parts of their bodies and energy weapons instead of hands or tentacles.
Their lithe forms belie a physical cunning few of the other Quintessons have. Though they are not robust, they are deadly. Like the rest of their brethren, they enjoy watching creatures suffer and die. They also prefer to use their victims to create grotesque displays to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies and demoralize rival troops.
Notable Specimens
General Ghyrik
General Ghyrik - under orders of Lord Kledji, this Quintesson General led the sneak attack upon Autobot City. Ghyrik's assault was so fast and deadly that the Autobot stronghold fell with little resistance. He then used Arcee to lure Rodimus Prime into a trap, where Ghyrik stole the Matrix of Leadership and turned it's power against the Autobots. Rodimus was able to activate Metroplex and repel Ghyrik's forces and defeated Ghyrik to regain the Matrix.
Jolup
Jolup - Under orders of Lord Kledji, this Quintesson led a suprise attack upon the Decepticons on Cybertron. The Quintessons pretended that the main Autobot forces were assualting the Quintessons, and requested help from the Decepticons. The Decepticons refused, and instead chose to attack Autobase while it lay unprotected. Their attack plans against the Autobot base led them directly into a Quintesson ambush. Only an intentionally garbled distress call and a joint effort with the Autobots repelled the Quintesson invasion force and saved the lives of the Decepticons.
Bailiff
Single-Faced, Bipedal, Stout
The sturdy, bipdeal polearm bearing warrior caste of Quintessons are rarely seen outside of Quintesson settlements. They function as guards and Bailiffs within the Quintesson judicial system and also man the defenses of Quintesson fortifications. It appears that this caste works to protect the ovoid Quintessons from attack, as a sort of national guard or a domestic army, wheras the other warrior castes are often seen abroad invading various worlds or perfroming duties aboard roaming ships. Little is known about these brutal warriors, as they are seldom seen outside of the Quintesson Court, and even then they rarely speak.
Guard
Single-Faced, Bipedal, Reptilian Mode
This is the lowest caste of Quintesson warriors, as well as possibly being the lowest caste of Quintessons. They do the dirty work that the other Quintessons refuse to do. They are the foot soldiers and the common guardsmen. They are the most commonly encountered Quintessons, as they perform most of the menial tasks that are too complicated for the slave classes, though some would argue that this caste of Quintessons is no better than slaves. Some have been outfitted with submission devices that prevent them from disobeying orders from their superiors (though it is possible that all Quintessons have the same). They are the only Quintessons with the ability to transform. Their alternate mode is an aquatic reptilian mode that functions in dry or in liquid environments. This caste seems to lack the intelligence that so marks the other types of Quintessons, though they may just be strong silent types. They are much smarter than the Quintesson slaves, and are often the heart and soul of a Quintesson operation, performing duties such as piloting ships and running the more mundane operations. That alone should indicate that this caste is much more intelligent than they appear. Of course, with the Quintessons, looks are always deceiving.
Alpha-Q
Multi-Faced, Ovoid with Exosuit
Alpha-Q (also called Alpha-Quintesson) is the sole survivor of his world, which was devoured by Unicron. Since its destruction, he sought the chaos-bringer and a means to restore his homeworld. After Unicron was defeated, Alpha-Q took up residence in his remains and studied the planet-gobbling behemoth. He discovered that not only could individuals consumed by Unicron be restored, but potentially the planets devoured by Unicron could be reformed as well. All Alpha-Q would need would be enough Energon to power the process. Alpha-Q revived various mechanoids to serve his purpose, namely Scorponok and many Terrorcon drones. He had them gather Energon from various worlds to stockpile. He also gained assistance from Rodimus.
Alpha-Q seems to be a unique form of Quintesson, or perhaps a previously unseen caste. He dwells within what appears to be a large exosuit that resembles the reptilian mode of the lowest warrior caste, but with many tentacles, with various implements at the end of each tendril, as well as two large clawed arms from the exosuit's shoulders. Inside, though, he has an ovoid body with at least 4 faces. He may have more faces, but no more have been shown. It is said that he has a 5th face, but that he keeps it well hidden behind the closed jaws of his reptilian exo-suit. Also, each face seems to have a distinct personality, rather than just a single aspect, like the 5-faced variety has, and often the faces will argue and disagree with one another. It is also possible that Alpha-Q has gone mad and that he truly only has one core consciousness and a variety of mental illnesses, caused by his years of solitude since his homeworld was destroyed.
Violenjiger
3-Faced, Ethereal Form
Another mysterious individual is known only as Violenjiger. This Quintesson (if indeed it is a Quintesson at all) gathered together 9 Generals from the ranks of the Destrons (Decepticons) to go forth and claim the Zodiac power source for him. He battled Dai Atlas, Roadfire and Sonic Bomber and seemed to be destroyed, but later he returned in a phoenix-like form. He then battled the trio of Cybertrons (Autobots) again, but was again defeated, and possibly destroyed, when the trio merged to form Big Powered.
Violenjiger showed three chaotic-looking faces when he would appear to his generals. His form didn't appear to be solid, though it may have been a projection of some sort. The only other parts visible on Violenjiger were two clawed hands protruding from beneath a massive cape. There is some matter of debate over whether Violenjiger is truly a Quintesson. There are factors that seem to relate Violenjiger to the Quintesson race, and if he is not actually a Quintesson, he is related to them somehow.
It
Single-Faced, Ancient Intelligence
Deep within the Matrix of Leadership (or perhaps within Vector Sigma, since the two artifacts are somehow connected) is a strange Quintesson-like intelligence. It is only residual, or at the very least rudimentary, and could represent and early Quintesson AI program that somehow became mingled with the Transformers most sacred databases. The oldest and most obscure information seems to be held by this "It", as it is able to provide information that none of the other collective minds of the Matrix or Vector Sigma have or of which they are even aware. It shows that at the root of all that the Transformers are, and will be, that the Quintessons have an influence long after the slave-masters were deposed and sent to flight.
Quintesson Creations
Sharkticons
Slave, Humanoid and Aquatic Modes
It's unknown when exactly the Quintessons gained their slave race of Sharkticons, or how they gained the ability to transform. Perhaps the Quintessons abducted Transformers after they had refined the art of transforming or perhaps the Quintessons developed the shape-shifting capabilities independent of the Cybertronian races. In any case, the Quintessons now command an endless supply of dim-witted but bloodthirsty monsters that live to destroy and devour on a whim. Sharkticons function as expendable troops in Quintesson campaigns, and are thrown at their enemies without regard to the numbers lost. More often than not, these efficient killing machines are the instrument of Quintesson executions. Victims dropped into a pit of Sharkticons are shredded and devoured in a matter of seconds. The Sharkticons know no mercy, only endless hunger and will single-mindedly follow the orders of their Quintesson masters, even if it means their own destruction.
Trans-Organics
Slave, Cyborg
Before the Quintessons mastered creating artificial intelligence, they attempted to create a slave race of cyborgs, part organic, part mechanical, to serve their needs. They called them the Trans-Organics. Initially the experiment seemed to be a success, but later the Trans-Organics proved to be unruly, hard to instruct and ultimately uncontrollable.
Many of the Trans-Organics were destroyed, but some were resistant to annihilation. The Quintessons managed to capture the ones they could not destroy, and contain them in a state of suspended animation deep within Cybertron.
Eons passed and the Trans-Organics became the things of myth among the Quintessons, but not to the one who created them, the 3-faced Quintesson Bio-Engineer. Now Cybertron was inhabited by the Transformers, and occupied by the Autobots, so the Bio-Engineer set a plan in motion. He tricked Galvatron into unleashing the Trans-Organics, in hopes that the ancient creations would destroy the Transformers.
The Trans-Organics proved to be more than a match for the Autobots and Decepticons, particularly the most deadly of them all, the creature known only as "the Dweller". The Dweller is a huge bio-mechanical leech with metal jaws and clawed tentacles. It functioned as an energy siphon and would drain the energy from anything it touched. Metals became inert and organic compounds would disintegrate when in contact with the Dweller. The Dweller drained and destroyed the other Trans-Organics, and then turned its attention upon the Transformers.
The Transformers battled the creature, but began to fall one by one. The Dweller had a more insidious feature, as well. It could place captives within its metallic canisters on its back and turn them into energy vampires that would obey its commands. The energy vampires would take whatever energy they drained back to the Dweller to feed its hunger. The more energy the Dweller gained, the larger it grew. The Dweller was eventually drawn towards the Autobots' new energy generating Power Core. When the creature latched onto the generator, the Autobots ejected the Power Core and the Dweller into space. Perceptor cured the Dweller's slaves of their vampirism with a massive surge of power into their systems. Unfortunately for the beast's creator, though, the Dweller passed near his starship and attached itself to it, draining it and its crew of energy.
Mechanoids
(Later known as Transformers)
Slave, Worker and Gladiator Units
After the failure of the Trans-Organics, the Quintessons focused on creating entirely mechanical slaves that could easily be programmed and controlled. The Quintessons created two types of slaves, worker robots and military robots. Both types were sold across the galaxy and brought the Quintessons much wealth.
Later the slaves were upgraded so that they could repair, construct and design newer slaves. Each subsequent generation of robotic slaves was made more efficient and adaptable. Eventually, the slaves gained sentience, and became aware of their plight. The Quintessons treated their creations cruelly and had no regard for them at all. Slaves were destroyed for amusement, often in gladiatorial combat.
Eventually the slaves rebelled against their cruel masters and fought for a million years to expel the Quintessons from Cybertron. Eventually the slaves succeeded and founded their own society. The worker robots became known as Autobots and the military robots became known as Decepticons. The Autobot symbol itself was once one of the brands with which the Quintessons marked their slaves.
Later, on Minonia, the Quintesson sorceror Mara Al Utha had a legion of wooden robot-like golems which resembled the ancient robotic slaves the Quintessons originally created.
Dark Guardians
Slave, Giant Enforcer Units
When the robotic slaves rebelled, the Quintessons created a new type of robot slave to act as enforcers of their will, and to put down any uprisings by their creations. The Dark Guardians were a force to be reckoned with, and kept the Quintessons in power for eons. Eventually, though the slaves discovered a weakness in the Dark Guardians, and one of the worker slaves, designated A-3, created a device called the Coda Remote, which deactivated the Dark Guardians and allowed the rebelling slaves to finally overthrow their masters.
Without the Dark Guardians to keep order, the Quintessons soon lost their foothold on Cybertron and were forced to flee into the depths of space. The Dark Guardians eventually became the peace-keeping Guardian Robots, who defended Cybertron from threats without as well as within.
Drones
Low-level Service Robots
Artificially Intelligent service robots that perform menial tasks that don't require higher thinking and reasoning skills. Though they have the ability to learn and adapt, they lack true sentience.
Aquatic Mechanoids
Artificial Fauna
Mechanical creatures that mimic organic lifeforms and serve similar purposes in artificial ecologies created by the Quintessons. The Quintessons have created a myriad menagerie of creatures of all shapes and sizes to exist on their world of Quintessa, as well as other worlds. Many of the creatures on Quintessa are savage, predatory creatures that double as guards. They are not limited to sea-going and amphibious forms, though the Quintessons seem to prefer those types.
Plantobots
Artificial Flora
Mechanical vegetation that mimics organic plant lifeforms. The Plantobots come in millions of varieties and not only look like organic plants, but function like them as well. Plantobots have been used to replace extinct plants on worlds that have suffered ecological disaster. They are useful in terraforming planets, and the carnivorous varieties are no doubt useful as guards or weapons.
Quintesson Transportation
Class 1 Starship
Large Spiral Vessel
One of the largest and most common Quintesson space-faring vessels are the large Spiral ships. They are used to transport the Quintessons their servants and their cargo through vast distances in space. They carry an impressive arsenal and can defend as easily as they can attack.
They are quite spacious on the inside and can accomodate many Quintessons (or other beings) as well as large amounts of cargo. They appear to twist and roll through the vacuum of space and land by turning vertical and drilling into the crust of whatever celestial or terrestrial body they land upon.
Class 2 Starship
Medium Spiral Vessel
This more compact version of the Spiral ship is commonly used among the Quintessons, particularly when stealth is needed more than overwhelming firepower. These ships don't appear to twist, as the larger ships do, but rather seem to travel and land as more conventional spacecraft do.
While not as spacious as the larger Spiral ships, this ship possesses large cargo areas. No doubt it's main function is for material or personel transport. The cargo bays can be converted into travelling laboratories for use by the Quintesson scientist castes, and they prove to me much more manuverable than the larger designs.
Class 3 Starship
Large Ovoid Vessel
These gigantic egg-shaped ships appear to have little in the way of offensive or defensive capabilities. They also appear to be the least manuverable of the Quintesson ships. But what they lack in mobility and weaponry, they make up for cargo space. The sheer volume of these ships dwarfs its creators. A ship with this much carrying capacity is vital to the nomadic Quintesson race, who is known for destroying their homeworlds on a whim. While many of these ships carry trade goods, supplies and slaves, many could be used to house the Quintesson populace that travels abroad across the galaxy and beyond.
Class 4 Starship
Ancient Transport
These ancient ships were used by the Quintessons when they fled Cybertron during the great uprising. None have been seen in more recent times, so this eons-old design is most likely only an obsolete museum piece to the Quintessons.
Trident Fighter
Small Attack Ship
Trident fighters are the main attack force of the Quintessons in space and in the atmospheres of enemy planets. They are small, but carry alot of firepower. They are quite manuverable and usually attack in swarms, giving the Quintessons fast and decisive air superiority in their battles. Trident fighters were used in the stealthy attacks upon Autobot City and Cybertron and proved quite effective in the initial battles. Tridents, or Trident-like vessels have been sighted on the planet Lithone, as well, and most likely the Quintessons either deal in these ships, selling them to other races, or perhaps stole the designs from another planet.
Shuttle
Small Spiral Vessel
This craft appears to be an even more compact version of the Spiral vessels useful for small cargo transports, personel movements and/or short-range deliveries.
Escape Pod
Emergency Spacecraft
These tiny spacecraft only have room to accomodate a single passenger and are used only in emergency situations, when abandoning ship seems to be the only option available. They are usually reserved for the Quintesson elite, since the crew to escape pod ratio seems to be badly unbalanced.
Car
Ground Vehicle
Small terrestrial transports designed to carry small groups or light cargo with speed and ease.
Hover-Skiff
Small Air-Sea-Land Vehicle
Small, short-range hovercraft, used for short stints of travel or, more often, for assaults upon enemy installations.
Hover-Throne
Personal Transport
Private transport for the Quintesson elite, most likely used as a display of power and station.
Quintesson Locations
Quintessa
Surrogate Homeworld
After the Quintessons lost Cybertron, they created a new home for themselves and called it Quintessa. Quintessa was populated with all manner of savage mechanical flora and fauna and served as the base of operations for Quintesson expansion, as well as a place for them to hold their cruel trials and executions. The Quintessons destroyed Quintessa in a desperate attempt to destroy the Autobot matrix of Leadership and assassinate its bearer, Rodimus Prime.
In another reality, the Quintesson homeworld (called Quintesson instead of Quintessa) was destroyed by a temporal rift caused by Transformers tampering with the timestream.
Cybertron
Lost Homeworld
Cybertron was created as a giant factory to produce Quintesson slave robots. Over time it grew and expanded until it was a full-sized planet, and was adopted as the Quintessons' homeworld. Whether it is the birthplace of the Quintesson race is unknown. It is also unknown if the Quintessons created the powerful Vector Sigma computer, which is tied into Cybertron itself and also predates the planet's creation. If the Quintessons created Vector Sigma, then no doubt some other unknown world holds the secret of the Quintessons' origins. How long ago Cybertron was created is unknown, but 11 million years ago, the Quintessons were expelled from Cybertron, and their slaves (who later became the Transformers) made it their homeworld. Numerous times the Quintessons have made attempts to reclaim the world that was yanked from their grasp, but so far all have met with failure. The Quintessons don't give up so easily, though.
Titan Colony
Covert Base
The Quintessons constructed a hidden base of operations in the Sol System, on Saturn's large moon Titan, to use as a jumping off point for surveillance and potential assaults upon Earth and other human/Autobot installations in the Sol system. Here they used the Decepticon sub-group designated the Terrorcons as enforcers, as well as legions of Sharkticons. It is unknow what effect this colony had upon the indigenous populations of Titan, but the bases' location was discovered by trader Dirk mannix, EDC Captain Marissa Faireborn and the Technobots, when the Quintessons tried to deal with Mannix to gain the alien technology known as "The Recreator". Status of the Colony is unknown at this time.
Courtroom
Entertainment: Executions
The Quintesson Courtroom is where the Quintessons stage their judicial dramas. Here they try captives for crimes, real or imaginary, and upon the judge's decision of guilt or innocence, execute the "criminal".
Executions are usually performed by the Sharkticons, though from the appearance of the holding cells, many prisoners never make it that far. The accused are forced to stand on a plank high above a pit swimming with Sharkticons, while the judge and prosecutor stand on elevated platforms. Bailiff and guards stand at various points around the courtroom, and the execution awaits his queue to throw the switch that drops the plank. Quintesson trials hold all of the trappings of a real trial, perhaps to cruelly give the accused a false hope of exoneration. No defense attourney is present, though, and the accused are not allowed to speak for themselves. Often the prosecutor will encourage the prisoners to beg for their lives, though this is most likely just another cruel tease by the sadistic Quintessons. No matter the verdict, guilty or innocent, the sentence is always the same: Death. At every execution the Quintessons laugh with glee as their Sharkticon pets dismember their prisoners. Their deadpan delivery is reset when then next prisoner enter the courtroom.
Arena
Entertainment: Gladiatorial Combat
In addition to mock trials and very real executions, the sadistic Quintessons enjoy seeing creatures battle each other to the death. Often they have pitted their own creations against one another, but it doesn't take much to believe that the Quintessons also put other beings into the arena for their cruel amusement.
Laboratory
Research and Development
The Quintessons, above all of their cruel games, value technological advancement, and will continue growing in knowledge and creativity, no matter the cost. Here they perform technological feats unimagined by lesser races and experimental horrors that would cause sane minds to shatter. A Quintesson lab is a place of glorious wonder and unfathomable terror, all in one.
Quintesson Devices
Quadrant Lock
Pocket Dimension
A Quadrant Lock is a device that creates a pocket dimension that is able to separate a section of space away from normal space-time. It can only be opened and closed by the Quintesson devices that create and operate the Qudrant Lock, called Isolator Keys. Quadrant Locks appear to be impervious to attack and will not yield to anything but the Quintesson Isolator Key. A Universal Emulator is an important part of an Isolator Key and can be retooled to operate Quadrant Locks.
Time Window
Time-Travel Device
The Quintesson scientist Inquirata constructed the Time Window in a bowl-shaped asteroid, as a means to abduct A-3 from the past and prevent the rebel leader from using the Coda Remote against the Dark Guardians. His tampering with the timestream caused temporal events that caused time to run in reverse in some areas and in other places to warp and distort. The ripple-effect caused by the Time Window proved so dangerous that the device had to be shut down, but not before A-3 and the Coda Remote were returned to their proper place and time.
Dimensional Portal
Interplanar Transport
This device would open a portal to other planes, dimensions and realities. Its primary function was a means to exile Quintesson criminals to other realms, which would suggest that the universal death-penalty does not apply to their own kind. It was through this device that Mara Al Utha, Merdain and Al-Badur were sent to their respective exiles. The device is activated by touching the plaque of the desired destination and by stepping onto the portal. If there are ways to alter the destination or to create new target destinations, as yet, we do not know.
Data Cylinder
Information Storage
Essentially a compact unit with massive storage capabilities. The Quintessons use these for data storage of any kind. They can easily be transported. Each cylinder is equipped with a homing beacon, in case it is lost. Lost Data Cylinders are very coveted items, because there is no telling what secret, scandalous or forbidden knowledge the Quintessons may have hidden inside one. The cylinder have full translation, holographic projection and input/output capabilities and do not require any peripherals to function.
Somna-Probe
Dream Manifestation Device
This strange Quintesson device takes the mental images from a subjects mind and brings them into reality through matter-energy maniuplation and holographic projection. The images it brings forth are able to interact with the real world and inflict damage upon those they attack. They also appear to be impervious to conventional attacks and firepower, and only the subjects own mind can bring about the destruction of the images. Except, of course if the machine is destroyed, but that may place the subject's mind in jeopardy, as well.
Quintesson Language
Hieroglyphics
Written/Pictoral Communication
One of the few instances of Quintesson written language was in the chamber where the Dimensional Portal was found. It was identified as an ancient Quintesson language, so it is possible that the Quintessons have other languages and that this one is no longer in use, though there is no indication one way or the other. The language could still be a viable living language among the Quintessons, but since this is the only instance of any Quintesson language being show, it is unknown.
Contents
Foreword
Types of Quintessons
Judges
Deliberata
Kledji
Sevax
Prosecutors
Scientists
Mara Al Utha
Inquirata
Al-Badur
Bio-Engineer
Executioners
Ghyrik
Jolup
Bailiffs
Guards
Alpha-Q
Violenjiger
It
Quintesson Creations
Sharkticons
Trans-Organics
Mechanoids
Dark Guardians
Drones
Aquatic Fauna
Plantobots
Quintesson Transportation
Large Spiral Starships
Medium Spiral Starships
Large Ovoid Starships
Ancient Starships
Trident Fighters
Shuttles
Escape Pods
Cars
Hover-Skiffs
Hover-Thrones
Quintesson Locations
Quintessa
Cybertron
Titan Colony
Courtrooms
Arenas
Laboratories
Quintesson Devices
Quadrant Locks
Time Window
Dimensional Portals
Data Cylinders
Somna-Probe
Quintesson Language
Quintesson History
G1 Cartoon History
Energon Cartoon History
Superlink Profile
UK Comic History
Wreckers Comic History
Blackthorne Comic History
TF Universe Profile
DW MTMTE Profile
Personal Notes
Special Thanks
Quintessons - that sociopathic race of many-faced, tentacled opportunists. Creators of bizarre mechanical lifeforms and deadly weapons. They are the ultimate capitalists and the epitome of sadism. Many have had business dealings with these aliens, but few, if any ever return from their savage homeworld, Quintessa. Since their first appearance in Transformers: The Movie, the Quintessons have brought a form of eldritch horror and macabre fascination to the world of the Transformers. Strange social castes and super-genius intellect are some of the defining marks of this race. Are they organic, or mechanical, or something in-between? No one knows for sure. Collected here is the information regarding these elusive, mysterious, and often murderous creatures.
Types of Quintessons
Judge/Imperial Magistrate
5-Faced, Ovoid
The 5-faced judges appear to hold some of the highest ranks among the Quintessons. They are the decision-makers of their race. During trials, it is a 5-faced judge that will decide whether the accused will be found guilty or innocent. Not that it matters, either verdict brings a death sentence.
One of the more odd aspects about the 5-faced variety is that they appear to have a distinct portion of their intellect and personality divided among the faces. One face tends to calculate numbers and spout statistics, while another tends to lie, and another may express anger or hatred. The most commonly seen of these 5 faces is the face of Death, which looks to be a cross between a fanged skull, a British judge's wig and a Pharaoh's headdress.
The 5-faced Quintessons ride upon a beam of energy and interact with their surroundings via their many thin, supple tentacles, which are just as dexterous, if not more, than human hands. They handle and carry weapons, as well as construct incredible devices of unimaginable sophistication, without the use of fingers or opposable thumbs. For all of their intellect and creativity, these creatures would rather face death than failure, and would gladly sacrifice anything they have, including their own lives, to assure victory.
On the same token, there is nothing they won't sacrifice to increase their profits, and will think nothing of destroying innocent beings or shattering an entire planet's ecosystem just to make a sale. Entire races have been pushed to extinction by the unquenchable thirst for money and power that is a Quintesson's greed. If the Quintessons serve any deity at all, it is no doubt avarice.
Several explanations for what each face represents have been given in official media. The script for the Movie lists the faces as "smiling, grimacing, angry, suspicious and a death's head". Bom-Bom Comics later explained them to be "Laughter, Bitterness, Rage, Doubt and Death". More recently, Simon Furman's Ultimate Guide lists the faces as "Wisdom, War, Judgement, Wrath and Death". It's possible that each face has a different meaning in each continuity, or perhaps each face represents something different in each individual Quintesson. The Face of Wisdom in one Quintesson may be the Face of Greed in another. The only constant appears to be the Face of Death.
Notable among this caste are the following individuals:
Notable Specimens
Judge Deliberata
Judge Deliberata - Quintesson Judge, who when taken hostage by Spike Witwicky, Ultra Magnus and Kup, requested that he be put to death alongside the Autobots and human, to assure that their ploy would not cause them to escape.
Lord Kledji (Large Ovoid Left) and Sevax (Smaller Ovoid Right)
Lord Kledji - Mastermind among his race, who orchestrated a two-pronged attack upon Autobot City and Cybertron, duping both the Autobots and Decepticons, in his attempt to claim Cybertron as a Quintesson world and enslave the inhabitants of Earth as a bonus. When he failed to take either planet, he chose to stay behind on his dying world, and warned the rest of his race to stay off-world, lest their entire race go extinct. His last words were filled with malice, as he encouraged the survivors to harrass and eventually destroy all Cybertronians.
Sevax - Bumbling and apologetic Quintesson, responsible for allowing the captive Wreck-Gar to escape, enabling the Junkion Leader to spread the news that the Quintessons had targeted several inhabited worlds for extermination and colonization.
Prosecutor
Single-Faced, Ovoid
The bizarre-looking Quintesson prosecutors are an enigma. Their caste appears to exercise a measure of authority, but it is hard to tell if they have authority over the 5-faced Quintessons, if they are equals or if they are subordinates. The oblong-headed Quintesson in "Transformers: The Movie" was credited as the "Quintesson Leader", but it seemed as though the judge was the authority. Of course, no real authority structure has been shown among the Quintessons (aside from the "Space Pirates" story in the UK comics) so any hierarchy could be as dubious as the fair trials the Quintessons hold.
The oblong-headed caste has more to them than the 5-faced variety. These Quintessons have broad shoulders over and around their egg-shaped bodies. Three thick sturdy tentacles protrude from each shoulder, tapering down into a whip-like appendage. Like the 5-faced type, these Quintessons also hover upon thing beams of energy that fires from the base of their ovoid bodies.
These Quintessons seem to be more fearsome and cruel than any other type. They seem to be quick to harm and even quicker to betray and/or kill. They take pleasure in the sufferings of other beings, and love to use their cunning and trickery to bring others to ruin; physically, emotionally or financially. Their single, fearsome faces do nothing to disguise the malevolence that no doubt dwells within their frames.
Scientist
Single-Faced, Ovoid
The round-headed scientist caste of the Quintessons has a body very similar to the long-headed prosecutors', but the similarities are only from the neck-down. Above the shoulders is a massive, spherical head with a face that sometimes appears to be too small. Inside that massive head is an even more enormous intellect. These Quintessons are no doubt the brains of their race, and they allow nothing to stand in the way of their ever-increasing hunger for knowledge. Their lack of morals and ethics in their scientific method has allowed them to advance far, far ahead of the other technologically advance space-faring races, but at the cost of the lives of countless innocent, sentient beings, who were the subjects of their insidious experiments.
Often they probe into depths of the unknown, seeking knowledge that is better left alone or prodding things that are best left untampered with. These creatures have attempted to bend time and space to their wills, and in some cases have cause irreparable harm to living beings and possibly the stuff of the Universe itself.
This type of Quintesson seems to be the least malevolent among their race, but the cold, passionless manner in which they dispose of life to increase their own knowledge and power shows that the Quintesson Scientists possess a heartless form of evil, that while differing from the motives of their sadistic brethren, is no less appalling or diabolical.
Notable among this caste are:
Notable Specimens
Mara Al Utha
Mara Al Utha -Quintesson who forsook the clinic path of the amoral pursuit of knowledge through science, and instead turned to the mysteries of the occult and sorcery. Since witchcraft is forbidden among the Quintessons, Mara Al Utha was banished to a world that was filled with magic and wizardry, called Minonia. There he bided his time as a pupil of the powerful thaumaturgist, the Golden One, until the day he had the chance to betray his new master. Mara Al Utha, under the pseudonym "The Red Wizard" subjugated the denizens of Minonia using foul conjurings to summon fiends as well as creating a legion of wooden automatons to not only serve his every whim, but to fight for him as well.
Additional Quintessons sentenced to exile are Merdain and Al-Badur. Merdain's caste is unknown.
Inquirata
Inquirata - Scientist who created the Time Window device in order to abduct a key figure from the rebellion that expelled the Quintessons from Cybertron, altering the past so that the rebellion would fail. His attempts to change time caused temporal anomalies to spread across the galaxy and possibly beyond.
Al-Badur
Al-Badur - Scientist exiled to a frigid ice world for political reasons. Al-Badur stood up against his brethren and advocated better treatment for their robotic slaves, and was banished from Cybertron as a criminal for his views. Al-Badur foresaw the coming rebellion, though his warnings fell on deaf ears.
Bio-Engineer
3-Faced Ovoid
The 3-faced Quintesson responsible for the creation of the Transorganics, and most notably the Dweller, was only seen once, and is quite possibly unique among his race, though his caste may just be rare and/or highly elusive. One of his three faces was destroyed by his creation, and he covered the damaged face up with a featureless mask. As cunning as he was intelligent, he tricked the Decepticons into releasing his ancient creations upon the unsuspecting populace of Cybertron. In the end, though, he fell victim to his darkest creation: the vampiric energy leech called The Dweller.
His body is similar to that of the long-headed prosecutors and the round-headed scientists. He possesses 3 identical faces on a rotating conical head. Two of his faces remain hidden behind a high, metal collar when one face is exposed. He has an ovoid body and also rides upon a streaming beam of energy from the base of his body. Two tentacles emerge from each of his shoulders and four more extend from his waist.
Executioner
Single-Faced, Bipedal, Thin
The first of the bipedal Quintessons we examine is the strange mantis-like caste, that functions as executioners and officers among the Quintesson warriors castes. This caste has only one face, sharp serrated ridges protruding from various parts of their bodies and energy weapons instead of hands or tentacles.
Their lithe forms belie a physical cunning few of the other Quintessons have. Though they are not robust, they are deadly. Like the rest of their brethren, they enjoy watching creatures suffer and die. They also prefer to use their victims to create grotesque displays to strike fear into the hearts of their enemies and demoralize rival troops.
Notable Specimens
General Ghyrik
General Ghyrik - under orders of Lord Kledji, this Quintesson General led the sneak attack upon Autobot City. Ghyrik's assault was so fast and deadly that the Autobot stronghold fell with little resistance. He then used Arcee to lure Rodimus Prime into a trap, where Ghyrik stole the Matrix of Leadership and turned it's power against the Autobots. Rodimus was able to activate Metroplex and repel Ghyrik's forces and defeated Ghyrik to regain the Matrix.
Jolup
Jolup - Under orders of Lord Kledji, this Quintesson led a suprise attack upon the Decepticons on Cybertron. The Quintessons pretended that the main Autobot forces were assualting the Quintessons, and requested help from the Decepticons. The Decepticons refused, and instead chose to attack Autobase while it lay unprotected. Their attack plans against the Autobot base led them directly into a Quintesson ambush. Only an intentionally garbled distress call and a joint effort with the Autobots repelled the Quintesson invasion force and saved the lives of the Decepticons.
Bailiff
Single-Faced, Bipedal, Stout
The sturdy, bipdeal polearm bearing warrior caste of Quintessons are rarely seen outside of Quintesson settlements. They function as guards and Bailiffs within the Quintesson judicial system and also man the defenses of Quintesson fortifications. It appears that this caste works to protect the ovoid Quintessons from attack, as a sort of national guard or a domestic army, wheras the other warrior castes are often seen abroad invading various worlds or perfroming duties aboard roaming ships. Little is known about these brutal warriors, as they are seldom seen outside of the Quintesson Court, and even then they rarely speak.
Guard
Single-Faced, Bipedal, Reptilian Mode
This is the lowest caste of Quintesson warriors, as well as possibly being the lowest caste of Quintessons. They do the dirty work that the other Quintessons refuse to do. They are the foot soldiers and the common guardsmen. They are the most commonly encountered Quintessons, as they perform most of the menial tasks that are too complicated for the slave classes, though some would argue that this caste of Quintessons is no better than slaves. Some have been outfitted with submission devices that prevent them from disobeying orders from their superiors (though it is possible that all Quintessons have the same). They are the only Quintessons with the ability to transform. Their alternate mode is an aquatic reptilian mode that functions in dry or in liquid environments. This caste seems to lack the intelligence that so marks the other types of Quintessons, though they may just be strong silent types. They are much smarter than the Quintesson slaves, and are often the heart and soul of a Quintesson operation, performing duties such as piloting ships and running the more mundane operations. That alone should indicate that this caste is much more intelligent than they appear. Of course, with the Quintessons, looks are always deceiving.
Alpha-Q
Multi-Faced, Ovoid with Exosuit
Alpha-Q (also called Alpha-Quintesson) is the sole survivor of his world, which was devoured by Unicron. Since its destruction, he sought the chaos-bringer and a means to restore his homeworld. After Unicron was defeated, Alpha-Q took up residence in his remains and studied the planet-gobbling behemoth. He discovered that not only could individuals consumed by Unicron be restored, but potentially the planets devoured by Unicron could be reformed as well. All Alpha-Q would need would be enough Energon to power the process. Alpha-Q revived various mechanoids to serve his purpose, namely Scorponok and many Terrorcon drones. He had them gather Energon from various worlds to stockpile. He also gained assistance from Rodimus.
Alpha-Q seems to be a unique form of Quintesson, or perhaps a previously unseen caste. He dwells within what appears to be a large exosuit that resembles the reptilian mode of the lowest warrior caste, but with many tentacles, with various implements at the end of each tendril, as well as two large clawed arms from the exosuit's shoulders. Inside, though, he has an ovoid body with at least 4 faces. He may have more faces, but no more have been shown. It is said that he has a 5th face, but that he keeps it well hidden behind the closed jaws of his reptilian exo-suit. Also, each face seems to have a distinct personality, rather than just a single aspect, like the 5-faced variety has, and often the faces will argue and disagree with one another. It is also possible that Alpha-Q has gone mad and that he truly only has one core consciousness and a variety of mental illnesses, caused by his years of solitude since his homeworld was destroyed.
Violenjiger
3-Faced, Ethereal Form
Another mysterious individual is known only as Violenjiger. This Quintesson (if indeed it is a Quintesson at all) gathered together 9 Generals from the ranks of the Destrons (Decepticons) to go forth and claim the Zodiac power source for him. He battled Dai Atlas, Roadfire and Sonic Bomber and seemed to be destroyed, but later he returned in a phoenix-like form. He then battled the trio of Cybertrons (Autobots) again, but was again defeated, and possibly destroyed, when the trio merged to form Big Powered.
Violenjiger showed three chaotic-looking faces when he would appear to his generals. His form didn't appear to be solid, though it may have been a projection of some sort. The only other parts visible on Violenjiger were two clawed hands protruding from beneath a massive cape. There is some matter of debate over whether Violenjiger is truly a Quintesson. There are factors that seem to relate Violenjiger to the Quintesson race, and if he is not actually a Quintesson, he is related to them somehow.
It
Single-Faced, Ancient Intelligence
Deep within the Matrix of Leadership (or perhaps within Vector Sigma, since the two artifacts are somehow connected) is a strange Quintesson-like intelligence. It is only residual, or at the very least rudimentary, and could represent and early Quintesson AI program that somehow became mingled with the Transformers most sacred databases. The oldest and most obscure information seems to be held by this "It", as it is able to provide information that none of the other collective minds of the Matrix or Vector Sigma have or of which they are even aware. It shows that at the root of all that the Transformers are, and will be, that the Quintessons have an influence long after the slave-masters were deposed and sent to flight.
Quintesson Creations
Sharkticons
Slave, Humanoid and Aquatic Modes
It's unknown when exactly the Quintessons gained their slave race of Sharkticons, or how they gained the ability to transform. Perhaps the Quintessons abducted Transformers after they had refined the art of transforming or perhaps the Quintessons developed the shape-shifting capabilities independent of the Cybertronian races. In any case, the Quintessons now command an endless supply of dim-witted but bloodthirsty monsters that live to destroy and devour on a whim. Sharkticons function as expendable troops in Quintesson campaigns, and are thrown at their enemies without regard to the numbers lost. More often than not, these efficient killing machines are the instrument of Quintesson executions. Victims dropped into a pit of Sharkticons are shredded and devoured in a matter of seconds. The Sharkticons know no mercy, only endless hunger and will single-mindedly follow the orders of their Quintesson masters, even if it means their own destruction.
Trans-Organics
Slave, Cyborg
Before the Quintessons mastered creating artificial intelligence, they attempted to create a slave race of cyborgs, part organic, part mechanical, to serve their needs. They called them the Trans-Organics. Initially the experiment seemed to be a success, but later the Trans-Organics proved to be unruly, hard to instruct and ultimately uncontrollable.
Many of the Trans-Organics were destroyed, but some were resistant to annihilation. The Quintessons managed to capture the ones they could not destroy, and contain them in a state of suspended animation deep within Cybertron.
Eons passed and the Trans-Organics became the things of myth among the Quintessons, but not to the one who created them, the 3-faced Quintesson Bio-Engineer. Now Cybertron was inhabited by the Transformers, and occupied by the Autobots, so the Bio-Engineer set a plan in motion. He tricked Galvatron into unleashing the Trans-Organics, in hopes that the ancient creations would destroy the Transformers.
The Trans-Organics proved to be more than a match for the Autobots and Decepticons, particularly the most deadly of them all, the creature known only as "the Dweller". The Dweller is a huge bio-mechanical leech with metal jaws and clawed tentacles. It functioned as an energy siphon and would drain the energy from anything it touched. Metals became inert and organic compounds would disintegrate when in contact with the Dweller. The Dweller drained and destroyed the other Trans-Organics, and then turned its attention upon the Transformers.
The Transformers battled the creature, but began to fall one by one. The Dweller had a more insidious feature, as well. It could place captives within its metallic canisters on its back and turn them into energy vampires that would obey its commands. The energy vampires would take whatever energy they drained back to the Dweller to feed its hunger. The more energy the Dweller gained, the larger it grew. The Dweller was eventually drawn towards the Autobots' new energy generating Power Core. When the creature latched onto the generator, the Autobots ejected the Power Core and the Dweller into space. Perceptor cured the Dweller's slaves of their vampirism with a massive surge of power into their systems. Unfortunately for the beast's creator, though, the Dweller passed near his starship and attached itself to it, draining it and its crew of energy.
Mechanoids
(Later known as Transformers)
Slave, Worker and Gladiator Units
After the failure of the Trans-Organics, the Quintessons focused on creating entirely mechanical slaves that could easily be programmed and controlled. The Quintessons created two types of slaves, worker robots and military robots. Both types were sold across the galaxy and brought the Quintessons much wealth.
Later the slaves were upgraded so that they could repair, construct and design newer slaves. Each subsequent generation of robotic slaves was made more efficient and adaptable. Eventually, the slaves gained sentience, and became aware of their plight. The Quintessons treated their creations cruelly and had no regard for them at all. Slaves were destroyed for amusement, often in gladiatorial combat.
Eventually the slaves rebelled against their cruel masters and fought for a million years to expel the Quintessons from Cybertron. Eventually the slaves succeeded and founded their own society. The worker robots became known as Autobots and the military robots became known as Decepticons. The Autobot symbol itself was once one of the brands with which the Quintessons marked their slaves.
Later, on Minonia, the Quintesson sorceror Mara Al Utha had a legion of wooden robot-like golems which resembled the ancient robotic slaves the Quintessons originally created.
Dark Guardians
Slave, Giant Enforcer Units
When the robotic slaves rebelled, the Quintessons created a new type of robot slave to act as enforcers of their will, and to put down any uprisings by their creations. The Dark Guardians were a force to be reckoned with, and kept the Quintessons in power for eons. Eventually, though the slaves discovered a weakness in the Dark Guardians, and one of the worker slaves, designated A-3, created a device called the Coda Remote, which deactivated the Dark Guardians and allowed the rebelling slaves to finally overthrow their masters.
Without the Dark Guardians to keep order, the Quintessons soon lost their foothold on Cybertron and were forced to flee into the depths of space. The Dark Guardians eventually became the peace-keeping Guardian Robots, who defended Cybertron from threats without as well as within.
Drones
Low-level Service Robots
Artificially Intelligent service robots that perform menial tasks that don't require higher thinking and reasoning skills. Though they have the ability to learn and adapt, they lack true sentience.
Aquatic Mechanoids
Artificial Fauna
Mechanical creatures that mimic organic lifeforms and serve similar purposes in artificial ecologies created by the Quintessons. The Quintessons have created a myriad menagerie of creatures of all shapes and sizes to exist on their world of Quintessa, as well as other worlds. Many of the creatures on Quintessa are savage, predatory creatures that double as guards. They are not limited to sea-going and amphibious forms, though the Quintessons seem to prefer those types.
Plantobots
Artificial Flora
Mechanical vegetation that mimics organic plant lifeforms. The Plantobots come in millions of varieties and not only look like organic plants, but function like them as well. Plantobots have been used to replace extinct plants on worlds that have suffered ecological disaster. They are useful in terraforming planets, and the carnivorous varieties are no doubt useful as guards or weapons.
Quintesson Transportation
Class 1 Starship
Large Spiral Vessel
One of the largest and most common Quintesson space-faring vessels are the large Spiral ships. They are used to transport the Quintessons their servants and their cargo through vast distances in space. They carry an impressive arsenal and can defend as easily as they can attack.
They are quite spacious on the inside and can accomodate many Quintessons (or other beings) as well as large amounts of cargo. They appear to twist and roll through the vacuum of space and land by turning vertical and drilling into the crust of whatever celestial or terrestrial body they land upon.
Class 2 Starship
Medium Spiral Vessel
This more compact version of the Spiral ship is commonly used among the Quintessons, particularly when stealth is needed more than overwhelming firepower. These ships don't appear to twist, as the larger ships do, but rather seem to travel and land as more conventional spacecraft do.
While not as spacious as the larger Spiral ships, this ship possesses large cargo areas. No doubt it's main function is for material or personel transport. The cargo bays can be converted into travelling laboratories for use by the Quintesson scientist castes, and they prove to me much more manuverable than the larger designs.
Class 3 Starship
Large Ovoid Vessel
These gigantic egg-shaped ships appear to have little in the way of offensive or defensive capabilities. They also appear to be the least manuverable of the Quintesson ships. But what they lack in mobility and weaponry, they make up for cargo space. The sheer volume of these ships dwarfs its creators. A ship with this much carrying capacity is vital to the nomadic Quintesson race, who is known for destroying their homeworlds on a whim. While many of these ships carry trade goods, supplies and slaves, many could be used to house the Quintesson populace that travels abroad across the galaxy and beyond.
Class 4 Starship
Ancient Transport
These ancient ships were used by the Quintessons when they fled Cybertron during the great uprising. None have been seen in more recent times, so this eons-old design is most likely only an obsolete museum piece to the Quintessons.
Trident Fighter
Small Attack Ship
Trident fighters are the main attack force of the Quintessons in space and in the atmospheres of enemy planets. They are small, but carry alot of firepower. They are quite manuverable and usually attack in swarms, giving the Quintessons fast and decisive air superiority in their battles. Trident fighters were used in the stealthy attacks upon Autobot City and Cybertron and proved quite effective in the initial battles. Tridents, or Trident-like vessels have been sighted on the planet Lithone, as well, and most likely the Quintessons either deal in these ships, selling them to other races, or perhaps stole the designs from another planet.
Shuttle
Small Spiral Vessel
This craft appears to be an even more compact version of the Spiral vessels useful for small cargo transports, personel movements and/or short-range deliveries.
Escape Pod
Emergency Spacecraft
These tiny spacecraft only have room to accomodate a single passenger and are used only in emergency situations, when abandoning ship seems to be the only option available. They are usually reserved for the Quintesson elite, since the crew to escape pod ratio seems to be badly unbalanced.
Car
Ground Vehicle
Small terrestrial transports designed to carry small groups or light cargo with speed and ease.
Hover-Skiff
Small Air-Sea-Land Vehicle
Small, short-range hovercraft, used for short stints of travel or, more often, for assaults upon enemy installations.
Hover-Throne
Personal Transport
Private transport for the Quintesson elite, most likely used as a display of power and station.
Quintesson Locations
Quintessa
Surrogate Homeworld
After the Quintessons lost Cybertron, they created a new home for themselves and called it Quintessa. Quintessa was populated with all manner of savage mechanical flora and fauna and served as the base of operations for Quintesson expansion, as well as a place for them to hold their cruel trials and executions. The Quintessons destroyed Quintessa in a desperate attempt to destroy the Autobot matrix of Leadership and assassinate its bearer, Rodimus Prime.
In another reality, the Quintesson homeworld (called Quintesson instead of Quintessa) was destroyed by a temporal rift caused by Transformers tampering with the timestream.
Cybertron
Lost Homeworld
Cybertron was created as a giant factory to produce Quintesson slave robots. Over time it grew and expanded until it was a full-sized planet, and was adopted as the Quintessons' homeworld. Whether it is the birthplace of the Quintesson race is unknown. It is also unknown if the Quintessons created the powerful Vector Sigma computer, which is tied into Cybertron itself and also predates the planet's creation. If the Quintessons created Vector Sigma, then no doubt some other unknown world holds the secret of the Quintessons' origins. How long ago Cybertron was created is unknown, but 11 million years ago, the Quintessons were expelled from Cybertron, and their slaves (who later became the Transformers) made it their homeworld. Numerous times the Quintessons have made attempts to reclaim the world that was yanked from their grasp, but so far all have met with failure. The Quintessons don't give up so easily, though.
Titan Colony
Covert Base
The Quintessons constructed a hidden base of operations in the Sol System, on Saturn's large moon Titan, to use as a jumping off point for surveillance and potential assaults upon Earth and other human/Autobot installations in the Sol system. Here they used the Decepticon sub-group designated the Terrorcons as enforcers, as well as legions of Sharkticons. It is unknow what effect this colony had upon the indigenous populations of Titan, but the bases' location was discovered by trader Dirk mannix, EDC Captain Marissa Faireborn and the Technobots, when the Quintessons tried to deal with Mannix to gain the alien technology known as "The Recreator". Status of the Colony is unknown at this time.
Courtroom
Entertainment: Executions
The Quintesson Courtroom is where the Quintessons stage their judicial dramas. Here they try captives for crimes, real or imaginary, and upon the judge's decision of guilt or innocence, execute the "criminal".
Executions are usually performed by the Sharkticons, though from the appearance of the holding cells, many prisoners never make it that far. The accused are forced to stand on a plank high above a pit swimming with Sharkticons, while the judge and prosecutor stand on elevated platforms. Bailiff and guards stand at various points around the courtroom, and the execution awaits his queue to throw the switch that drops the plank. Quintesson trials hold all of the trappings of a real trial, perhaps to cruelly give the accused a false hope of exoneration. No defense attourney is present, though, and the accused are not allowed to speak for themselves. Often the prosecutor will encourage the prisoners to beg for their lives, though this is most likely just another cruel tease by the sadistic Quintessons. No matter the verdict, guilty or innocent, the sentence is always the same: Death. At every execution the Quintessons laugh with glee as their Sharkticon pets dismember their prisoners. Their deadpan delivery is reset when then next prisoner enter the courtroom.
Arena
Entertainment: Gladiatorial Combat
In addition to mock trials and very real executions, the sadistic Quintessons enjoy seeing creatures battle each other to the death. Often they have pitted their own creations against one another, but it doesn't take much to believe that the Quintessons also put other beings into the arena for their cruel amusement.
Laboratory
Research and Development
The Quintessons, above all of their cruel games, value technological advancement, and will continue growing in knowledge and creativity, no matter the cost. Here they perform technological feats unimagined by lesser races and experimental horrors that would cause sane minds to shatter. A Quintesson lab is a place of glorious wonder and unfathomable terror, all in one.
Quintesson Devices
Quadrant Lock
Pocket Dimension
A Quadrant Lock is a device that creates a pocket dimension that is able to separate a section of space away from normal space-time. It can only be opened and closed by the Quintesson devices that create and operate the Qudrant Lock, called Isolator Keys. Quadrant Locks appear to be impervious to attack and will not yield to anything but the Quintesson Isolator Key. A Universal Emulator is an important part of an Isolator Key and can be retooled to operate Quadrant Locks.
Time Window
Time-Travel Device
The Quintesson scientist Inquirata constructed the Time Window in a bowl-shaped asteroid, as a means to abduct A-3 from the past and prevent the rebel leader from using the Coda Remote against the Dark Guardians. His tampering with the timestream caused temporal events that caused time to run in reverse in some areas and in other places to warp and distort. The ripple-effect caused by the Time Window proved so dangerous that the device had to be shut down, but not before A-3 and the Coda Remote were returned to their proper place and time.
Dimensional Portal
Interplanar Transport
This device would open a portal to other planes, dimensions and realities. Its primary function was a means to exile Quintesson criminals to other realms, which would suggest that the universal death-penalty does not apply to their own kind. It was through this device that Mara Al Utha, Merdain and Al-Badur were sent to their respective exiles. The device is activated by touching the plaque of the desired destination and by stepping onto the portal. If there are ways to alter the destination or to create new target destinations, as yet, we do not know.
Data Cylinder
Information Storage
Essentially a compact unit with massive storage capabilities. The Quintessons use these for data storage of any kind. They can easily be transported. Each cylinder is equipped with a homing beacon, in case it is lost. Lost Data Cylinders are very coveted items, because there is no telling what secret, scandalous or forbidden knowledge the Quintessons may have hidden inside one. The cylinder have full translation, holographic projection and input/output capabilities and do not require any peripherals to function.
Somna-Probe
Dream Manifestation Device
This strange Quintesson device takes the mental images from a subjects mind and brings them into reality through matter-energy maniuplation and holographic projection. The images it brings forth are able to interact with the real world and inflict damage upon those they attack. They also appear to be impervious to conventional attacks and firepower, and only the subjects own mind can bring about the destruction of the images. Except, of course if the machine is destroyed, but that may place the subject's mind in jeopardy, as well.
Quintesson Language
Hieroglyphics
Written/Pictoral Communication
One of the few instances of Quintesson written language was in the chamber where the Dimensional Portal was found. It was identified as an ancient Quintesson language, so it is possible that the Quintessons have other languages and that this one is no longer in use, though there is no indication one way or the other. The language could still be a viable living language among the Quintessons, but since this is the only instance of any Quintesson language being show, it is unknown.
Quintesson History
Cartoon History
Classic Transformers Season 3
Cartoon History
Classic Transformers Season 3
The Quintessons are an ancient race whose origins are either a well-kept secret, are unknown or are lost in the depths of time. They were space-faring when most other sentient races were puddles of goo or still living in caves.
We know that sometime in that distant lost past that they constructed a planet-sized factory and named it Cybertron. For an unknown amount of time the Quintessons lived and ruled from Cybertron, creating a trade empire that spanned the galaxy. Their main product was various lines of artificially created slaves for various purposes. Initially they attempted to create cyborg slaves, the Trans-Organics, but they proved to be inefficient and uncontrollable, so they were scrapped. Some of the Trans-Organics that could not be destroyed were kept in stasis deep within the bowels of Cybertron.
The Quintessons developed a more controllable and efficient line of robot slaves. They two main lines were military hardware and consumer goods. Each line would server various functions for their clients. The Military Hardware robots were created for warfare applications, while the Consumer Goods robots were made to perform tasks as light and heavy workers, or other non-violent services.
The Quintessons designed the robot slaves to run their factories for them, so that no Quintesson had to work on the assembly lines. In time, the robots were programmed to design and create new types of robot slaves on their own. The intelligence and adaptability of the Quintesson robots was hailed as genius far and wide, and the Quiontesson coffers swelled as demand for such efficient and intelligent slaves skyrocketed.
During this time, the Quintessons banished some of the criminals to various worlds and planes. Mara Al Utha was sent to the magical world of Minonia for practicing witchcraft. Al-Badur was exiled to an ice world and Merdain was sent to a plane which had no physical form.
Eventually, though the robot slaves advanced to the point that they developed sentience. Unable to cope with the cruelty of their masters, around 12 million years ago the slaves rebelled and strove to overthrow the Quintessons. For a million years the Quintessons and their sentient creations fought for control of Cybertron. The Quintessons created new new type of slave, called Dark Guardians, whose function was to squash the rebellion and destroy the rebels with massive strength, endurance and firepower. The Dark Guardians were war machines without equal.
The future looked bleak for the rebellion, when a cunning and inventive worker robot named A-3 created a device that would deactivate the Dark Guardians, and allow the rebels to overthrow their oppressors. A-3 was able to use his device with help from Beta and the other rebels (as well as a handful of Autobots from the future) and soon the Quintessons were defeated and exiled from the world they called their home.
For millions of years the Quintessons stayed exiled to space, as their former slaves created a mechnical paradise for themselves on Cybertron. The Consumer Goods robots became known as Autobots and the Military Hardware robots became known as Decepticons. As time went on, though, the two races began to war upon each other, and the memory of the Quintessons and the rebellion were lost.
Fearing the psionic powers of the inhabitants of the planet Zimojin, the Quintessons attack the civilization, break their psychic link, separate Zimojin from the rest of the universe by using a Quadrant Lock.
Millions of years later a stray Autobot spacecraft crash landed on the world the Quintessons had made into their new home, Quintessa. Quintessa was filled with mechnical lifeforms of all varieties, and most had predatory instincts, no doubt to sate the Quintessons' thirst for life-or-death drama. Only one crew member survived on the savage planet; a small Autobot survivalist named Wheelie. Wheelie remained alive by his wits alone, as he remained unnoticed by the Quintessons and their beasts for an unknown span of time.
In the year 2005, though, Hot Rod, Kup and the Dinobots crashed on Quintessa, after their ship was shot down by Cyclonus. Hot Rod and Kup were captured by Quintesson guards and placed on trial. Wheelie encountered the Dinobots and led them to where he saw Hot Rod and Kup being taken. The Dinobots and Wheelie crashed into the Quintesson courtroom and rescued Hot Rod and Kup. Grimlock then incited the Sharkticons to riot, causing the first rebeliion against the Quintessons in 11 million years.
This did not go unnoticed by the Quintessons,who decided to check back in on their prodigal creations. At the first Galactic Olympics, the Quintessons hired a Scukzoid to cause a diversion so that they could abduct captives for interrogation. The Sharkticon trops successfully kidnapped Ultra Magnus, Kup and Spike Witwicky. Through Kup and Ultra Magnus they discovered that Cybertron was still invulnerable to conventional Quintesson attack, but Earth was a target much more vulnerable. They discovered that the Autobots programming had become tainted by human influence and the Quintessons began to fear the unpredictable nature and intuitiveness of humans, after dealing with Spike Witwicky. The three captives were tried for the theft of Cybertron and sentenced to Death. Spike Witwicky took Judge Deliberata hostage, and the Quintesson was also dropped into the Sharkticon pit.
The trio of captives was rescued by Rodimus Prime, Grimlock, Springer, Arcee and the Aerialbots. When the Quintessons discovered that the Matrix of Leadership, the most dangerous artifact of their former slaves, was on Quintessa, they chose to abandon their home and set it to self destruct. The Autobots and the Matrix narrowly escaped the destruction of Quintessa, so the planet's sacrifice was in vain.
Angered by their failure, the Quintesson chose to enlist the defeated, leaderless and destitute legions of the Decepticons, who had sought refuge on the shattered planet Charr. While Cyclonus and the Sweeps sought for Galvatron, the Quintessons offered a limitless supply of Energon to the Decepticons, if they would attack the Autobots for them. All present agreed to follow the Quintessons, except for Blitzwing. Galvatron returned and after ragingupon his troops for daring to follow another, forged an alliance with the Quintessons.
The Decepticons and Quintessons forged a two-pronged attack. The attack on Cybertron began when a dummy ship, claiming to be a damaged ship full of humans, caused the Autobots to lower the planet's defense grid. The second front of the attack was forged by the creation of the giant Decepticon Dinosaur/City, Trypticon, who raged across North America, destroying the Autobot volcano and laying siege to Autobot City. Also during this time Rodimus Prime discoverd within the Matrix that the Quintessons are the creators of the Transformers and Cybertron itself.
Blitzwing, though, uncovered a plot by the Quintessons to betray the Decepticons, as both attacks were merely diversions, so that the Quintessons could send a battalion of Sharkticons deep into Cybertron, to activate a fail-safe device that would deactivate all of the Autobots and Decepticons. The Quintessons would have been victorious, if not for the interference of Spike Witwicky. Spike destroyed the device, reactivating all of the Transformers. The Autobots and Decepticons turned as one against their creators and sent them once again into flight.
The Quintessons didn't stay gone for long, though. A Quintesson scientist, seeking to discover how corrupted the former slaves' programming had become, abducted Ultra Magnus, Cyclonus, Wreck-Gar and Marissa Faireborn to study. An Electron storm and a round trip through a black hole, though, turns the tables on the Quintesson and he agrees to allow his captives to leave, after they have broken free of their cells.
Another group of Quintessons, seeking to lure the entire Autobot Armada into a trap, reanimated the body of Optimus Prime. The robotic zombie attacked Hot Rod, Kup, Ultra Magnus,Arcee, Spike and Daniel, after Hot Rod returned the Matrix to the fallen Autobot leader, and left them for dead aboard the Autobot Mausoleum. He set the Mausoleum on a crash course for a nearby star and left to return to Cybertron.
There, the zombie informed the Autobots that the Quintessons had killed their leader and friends, but he knew where their main base was. He ordered for the full armada to depart to destroy the Quintesson threat. Hot Rod and his comrades, though, were able to escape the immolating mausoleum, and discovered the Quintessons' plan. Hot Rod battled the Optimus zombie for the Matrix, and after the true personality of Optimus Prime asserted itself from within the Matrix, the Autobot Armada was ordered to turn back to Cybertron, and Optimus Prime piloted the Autobot flagship alone, into the Quintesson trap, causing the nearby star to go nova. Optimus Prime's body, though was rescued by a human ship that was passing near the exploding star. The exploding star also released a long forgotten viral spore, which the human scientists aboard the ship, Gregory Swafford and Jessica Morgan, brought back to Earth along with Optimus Prime's body.
Soon afterward Inquirata attempted to change the past by abducting A-3, but his plans for historical revision were thwarted and the timeline was set right. Other various schems were enacted by the Quintessons in futile attempts to regain Cybertron, while other times, the Autobots and Decepticons stumbled upon long lost sectors of Cybertron that had not been used since the Quintessons had fled.
Daniel and Grimlock discovered and accidentally activated the Dimensional Portal, sending them to the realm of Minionia, where they battled the Red Wizard, who turned out to be the Quintesson exile, Mara Al Utha. With the help of Blaster, Steeljaw, Ramhorn and Ultra Magnus, the wizard called "the Golden One" defeated and possibly destroyed Mara Al Utha, though, even the Golden One suspected that the Quintesson may have survived.
After they returned to Cybertron. Daniel Witwicky was subjected to Quintesson experimentation, where he was attached to a Quintesson dream machine, which made the thoughts and images that came to him during his sleep manifest in reality. The Autobots and Decepticons battled these solid phantasms, though it was Daniel's own inner will that defeated the Quintessons' machine.
On Charr, some Quintessons tricked Cyclonus into taking Galvatron to the planet Torculon for treatment of his madness, because the Quintessons estimated rightly that the doctors on Torculon would be forced to destroy Galvatron, since they could not heal him.
Elsewhere, a group of Quintessons desperately sought a lost Data Cylinder that contained a journal of trades and other financial transactions of the Quintessons with various planets and races, a number of which were scandalous. The tracked the journal to the Planet of Junk initially, and tried to use subliminal messages to use suggestion to cause the Junkions to discover the journal for them. It was partly a success, but the interference of the Autobots and Decepticons caused the journal to be lost in space again. Later the Quintessons tracked the journal down to a jungle planet, where it had been discivered by Sky Lynx. Sky lynx escaped with the journal and the contents inside not only spared two warring planets from mutually assured destruction, but tarnished the Quintessons' standing and reputation in the galaxy, especially after the Quintessons attempted to destroy the peace delegation who saw the journal, and failed.
Once more the Quintessons tried to use their past to destroy the Transformers as they tricked Galvatron into releasing the Trans-Organics from their stasis. The energy-draning Dweller slew the other Trans-Organics and attacked Autobots and Decepticons alike. The creature was drawn to the Autobots' new Power Core, and was ejected aboard the Power Core, into space, where the Dweller encountered and drained the energy from the ship that its Quintesson creator guided.
Time passes and the Quintessons are shocked to discover that Galvatron found the Quadrant Lock that separates the world of Zimojin from the rest of the universe. The Autobots arrive to investigate as well, and the Quintessons seek to solve several problems by opening the Quadrant Lock, and attempting to seal Rodimus Prime and Galvatron away inside of the pocket dimension within. The Quintesson Isolator Key is damaged and they need part of the Autobot scientist Perceptor to repair it and seal the Quadrant Lock again. The Autobots thwart their plans and release Zimojin from the Quadrant Lock, allowing the aliens to regain their psionic abilities.
More Quintessons attempt to set up an outpost on Saturn's moon, Titan, for observation and a possible launch point for an assault upon Earth and other human installations in the Sol system. They sought to use Galactic Credits, a type of currency, to purchase from human trader Dirk Mannix an alien device called the Recreator, which functioned as a dematerializer/rematerializer that also repaired anything run through its process. Mannix, Marissa Faireborn and the Technobots turned the Quintessons' plans against them, and defeated them, though the status of the Quintesson base on Titan is unknown.
Fueled by an insane hatred of Transformers, Gregory Swafford and Jessica Morgan's father, Dr. Mark Morgan, release the viral spore upon unsuspecting Autobots, who were seeking the body of Optimus Prime. The spores causes anything sentient that is infected to manifest uncontrollable rage and hatred, and to blindly attack anyone and anything nearby. Soon the plague spread to the Decepticons, then to the humans, and in record time was sweeping across the Galaxy. Not even the Quintessons were safe, as they found themselves fleeing from infected slaves and brethren alike.
One such Quintesson was found by Sky Lynx and rscued after the Quintesson agreed to help the Autobots revive Optimus Prime. The Quintesson restored the fallen Autobot leader to life, and repaired many uninfected Autobots to assist in finding a cure for the Hate Plague. Optimus Prime travelled deep within the Matrix seeking information on a cure for the plague, and conversed with the ancient intelligence known only as the "Thing". Using the information he received, Optimus Prime used the Matrix of Leadership to wipe out the Hate Plague, sparing the Galaxy's inhabitants from self-annihilation.
The Quintessons were not seen again after this occurrence, except for the appearance of Violenjiger in the Zone series from Japan. It is possible that they chose to grow beyond their hatred for the Transformers, or perhaps they were wiped out during the Hate Plague, but most likely the sadistic geniuses are hiding, lying in wait for their next opportunity to strike at the seditious creations that stole their world and ruined their reputations and profit margins in the Galaxy.
Appearances:
Transformers: The Movie
The Five Faces of Darkness Part 1
The Five Faces of Darkness Part 2
The Five Faces of Darkness Part 3
The Five Faces of Darkness Part 4
The Five Faces of Darkness Part 5
The Killing Jar
Dark Awakening
Forever is a Long Time Coming
Madman's Paradise
Nightmare Planet
Webworld
The Big Broadcast of 2006
The Quintesson Journal
The Dweller in the Depths
The Face of Ninjika
Money is Everything
The Return of Optimus Prime Part 1
The Return of Optimus Prime Part 2
Transformers: Zone (Violenjiger)
We know that sometime in that distant lost past that they constructed a planet-sized factory and named it Cybertron. For an unknown amount of time the Quintessons lived and ruled from Cybertron, creating a trade empire that spanned the galaxy. Their main product was various lines of artificially created slaves for various purposes. Initially they attempted to create cyborg slaves, the Trans-Organics, but they proved to be inefficient and uncontrollable, so they were scrapped. Some of the Trans-Organics that could not be destroyed were kept in stasis deep within the bowels of Cybertron.
The Quintessons developed a more controllable and efficient line of robot slaves. They two main lines were military hardware and consumer goods. Each line would server various functions for their clients. The Military Hardware robots were created for warfare applications, while the Consumer Goods robots were made to perform tasks as light and heavy workers, or other non-violent services.
The Quintessons designed the robot slaves to run their factories for them, so that no Quintesson had to work on the assembly lines. In time, the robots were programmed to design and create new types of robot slaves on their own. The intelligence and adaptability of the Quintesson robots was hailed as genius far and wide, and the Quiontesson coffers swelled as demand for such efficient and intelligent slaves skyrocketed.
During this time, the Quintessons banished some of the criminals to various worlds and planes. Mara Al Utha was sent to the magical world of Minonia for practicing witchcraft. Al-Badur was exiled to an ice world and Merdain was sent to a plane which had no physical form.
Eventually, though the robot slaves advanced to the point that they developed sentience. Unable to cope with the cruelty of their masters, around 12 million years ago the slaves rebelled and strove to overthrow the Quintessons. For a million years the Quintessons and their sentient creations fought for control of Cybertron. The Quintessons created new new type of slave, called Dark Guardians, whose function was to squash the rebellion and destroy the rebels with massive strength, endurance and firepower. The Dark Guardians were war machines without equal.
The future looked bleak for the rebellion, when a cunning and inventive worker robot named A-3 created a device that would deactivate the Dark Guardians, and allow the rebels to overthrow their oppressors. A-3 was able to use his device with help from Beta and the other rebels (as well as a handful of Autobots from the future) and soon the Quintessons were defeated and exiled from the world they called their home.
For millions of years the Quintessons stayed exiled to space, as their former slaves created a mechnical paradise for themselves on Cybertron. The Consumer Goods robots became known as Autobots and the Military Hardware robots became known as Decepticons. As time went on, though, the two races began to war upon each other, and the memory of the Quintessons and the rebellion were lost.
Fearing the psionic powers of the inhabitants of the planet Zimojin, the Quintessons attack the civilization, break their psychic link, separate Zimojin from the rest of the universe by using a Quadrant Lock.
Millions of years later a stray Autobot spacecraft crash landed on the world the Quintessons had made into their new home, Quintessa. Quintessa was filled with mechnical lifeforms of all varieties, and most had predatory instincts, no doubt to sate the Quintessons' thirst for life-or-death drama. Only one crew member survived on the savage planet; a small Autobot survivalist named Wheelie. Wheelie remained alive by his wits alone, as he remained unnoticed by the Quintessons and their beasts for an unknown span of time.
In the year 2005, though, Hot Rod, Kup and the Dinobots crashed on Quintessa, after their ship was shot down by Cyclonus. Hot Rod and Kup were captured by Quintesson guards and placed on trial. Wheelie encountered the Dinobots and led them to where he saw Hot Rod and Kup being taken. The Dinobots and Wheelie crashed into the Quintesson courtroom and rescued Hot Rod and Kup. Grimlock then incited the Sharkticons to riot, causing the first rebeliion against the Quintessons in 11 million years.
This did not go unnoticed by the Quintessons,who decided to check back in on their prodigal creations. At the first Galactic Olympics, the Quintessons hired a Scukzoid to cause a diversion so that they could abduct captives for interrogation. The Sharkticon trops successfully kidnapped Ultra Magnus, Kup and Spike Witwicky. Through Kup and Ultra Magnus they discovered that Cybertron was still invulnerable to conventional Quintesson attack, but Earth was a target much more vulnerable. They discovered that the Autobots programming had become tainted by human influence and the Quintessons began to fear the unpredictable nature and intuitiveness of humans, after dealing with Spike Witwicky. The three captives were tried for the theft of Cybertron and sentenced to Death. Spike Witwicky took Judge Deliberata hostage, and the Quintesson was also dropped into the Sharkticon pit.
The trio of captives was rescued by Rodimus Prime, Grimlock, Springer, Arcee and the Aerialbots. When the Quintessons discovered that the Matrix of Leadership, the most dangerous artifact of their former slaves, was on Quintessa, they chose to abandon their home and set it to self destruct. The Autobots and the Matrix narrowly escaped the destruction of Quintessa, so the planet's sacrifice was in vain.
Angered by their failure, the Quintesson chose to enlist the defeated, leaderless and destitute legions of the Decepticons, who had sought refuge on the shattered planet Charr. While Cyclonus and the Sweeps sought for Galvatron, the Quintessons offered a limitless supply of Energon to the Decepticons, if they would attack the Autobots for them. All present agreed to follow the Quintessons, except for Blitzwing. Galvatron returned and after ragingupon his troops for daring to follow another, forged an alliance with the Quintessons.
The Decepticons and Quintessons forged a two-pronged attack. The attack on Cybertron began when a dummy ship, claiming to be a damaged ship full of humans, caused the Autobots to lower the planet's defense grid. The second front of the attack was forged by the creation of the giant Decepticon Dinosaur/City, Trypticon, who raged across North America, destroying the Autobot volcano and laying siege to Autobot City. Also during this time Rodimus Prime discoverd within the Matrix that the Quintessons are the creators of the Transformers and Cybertron itself.
Blitzwing, though, uncovered a plot by the Quintessons to betray the Decepticons, as both attacks were merely diversions, so that the Quintessons could send a battalion of Sharkticons deep into Cybertron, to activate a fail-safe device that would deactivate all of the Autobots and Decepticons. The Quintessons would have been victorious, if not for the interference of Spike Witwicky. Spike destroyed the device, reactivating all of the Transformers. The Autobots and Decepticons turned as one against their creators and sent them once again into flight.
The Quintessons didn't stay gone for long, though. A Quintesson scientist, seeking to discover how corrupted the former slaves' programming had become, abducted Ultra Magnus, Cyclonus, Wreck-Gar and Marissa Faireborn to study. An Electron storm and a round trip through a black hole, though, turns the tables on the Quintesson and he agrees to allow his captives to leave, after they have broken free of their cells.
Another group of Quintessons, seeking to lure the entire Autobot Armada into a trap, reanimated the body of Optimus Prime. The robotic zombie attacked Hot Rod, Kup, Ultra Magnus,Arcee, Spike and Daniel, after Hot Rod returned the Matrix to the fallen Autobot leader, and left them for dead aboard the Autobot Mausoleum. He set the Mausoleum on a crash course for a nearby star and left to return to Cybertron.
There, the zombie informed the Autobots that the Quintessons had killed their leader and friends, but he knew where their main base was. He ordered for the full armada to depart to destroy the Quintesson threat. Hot Rod and his comrades, though, were able to escape the immolating mausoleum, and discovered the Quintessons' plan. Hot Rod battled the Optimus zombie for the Matrix, and after the true personality of Optimus Prime asserted itself from within the Matrix, the Autobot Armada was ordered to turn back to Cybertron, and Optimus Prime piloted the Autobot flagship alone, into the Quintesson trap, causing the nearby star to go nova. Optimus Prime's body, though was rescued by a human ship that was passing near the exploding star. The exploding star also released a long forgotten viral spore, which the human scientists aboard the ship, Gregory Swafford and Jessica Morgan, brought back to Earth along with Optimus Prime's body.
Soon afterward Inquirata attempted to change the past by abducting A-3, but his plans for historical revision were thwarted and the timeline was set right. Other various schems were enacted by the Quintessons in futile attempts to regain Cybertron, while other times, the Autobots and Decepticons stumbled upon long lost sectors of Cybertron that had not been used since the Quintessons had fled.
Daniel and Grimlock discovered and accidentally activated the Dimensional Portal, sending them to the realm of Minionia, where they battled the Red Wizard, who turned out to be the Quintesson exile, Mara Al Utha. With the help of Blaster, Steeljaw, Ramhorn and Ultra Magnus, the wizard called "the Golden One" defeated and possibly destroyed Mara Al Utha, though, even the Golden One suspected that the Quintesson may have survived.
After they returned to Cybertron. Daniel Witwicky was subjected to Quintesson experimentation, where he was attached to a Quintesson dream machine, which made the thoughts and images that came to him during his sleep manifest in reality. The Autobots and Decepticons battled these solid phantasms, though it was Daniel's own inner will that defeated the Quintessons' machine.
On Charr, some Quintessons tricked Cyclonus into taking Galvatron to the planet Torculon for treatment of his madness, because the Quintessons estimated rightly that the doctors on Torculon would be forced to destroy Galvatron, since they could not heal him.
Elsewhere, a group of Quintessons desperately sought a lost Data Cylinder that contained a journal of trades and other financial transactions of the Quintessons with various planets and races, a number of which were scandalous. The tracked the journal to the Planet of Junk initially, and tried to use subliminal messages to use suggestion to cause the Junkions to discover the journal for them. It was partly a success, but the interference of the Autobots and Decepticons caused the journal to be lost in space again. Later the Quintessons tracked the journal down to a jungle planet, where it had been discivered by Sky Lynx. Sky lynx escaped with the journal and the contents inside not only spared two warring planets from mutually assured destruction, but tarnished the Quintessons' standing and reputation in the galaxy, especially after the Quintessons attempted to destroy the peace delegation who saw the journal, and failed.
Once more the Quintessons tried to use their past to destroy the Transformers as they tricked Galvatron into releasing the Trans-Organics from their stasis. The energy-draning Dweller slew the other Trans-Organics and attacked Autobots and Decepticons alike. The creature was drawn to the Autobots' new Power Core, and was ejected aboard the Power Core, into space, where the Dweller encountered and drained the energy from the ship that its Quintesson creator guided.
Time passes and the Quintessons are shocked to discover that Galvatron found the Quadrant Lock that separates the world of Zimojin from the rest of the universe. The Autobots arrive to investigate as well, and the Quintessons seek to solve several problems by opening the Quadrant Lock, and attempting to seal Rodimus Prime and Galvatron away inside of the pocket dimension within. The Quintesson Isolator Key is damaged and they need part of the Autobot scientist Perceptor to repair it and seal the Quadrant Lock again. The Autobots thwart their plans and release Zimojin from the Quadrant Lock, allowing the aliens to regain their psionic abilities.
More Quintessons attempt to set up an outpost on Saturn's moon, Titan, for observation and a possible launch point for an assault upon Earth and other human installations in the Sol system. They sought to use Galactic Credits, a type of currency, to purchase from human trader Dirk Mannix an alien device called the Recreator, which functioned as a dematerializer/rematerializer that also repaired anything run through its process. Mannix, Marissa Faireborn and the Technobots turned the Quintessons' plans against them, and defeated them, though the status of the Quintesson base on Titan is unknown.
Fueled by an insane hatred of Transformers, Gregory Swafford and Jessica Morgan's father, Dr. Mark Morgan, release the viral spore upon unsuspecting Autobots, who were seeking the body of Optimus Prime. The spores causes anything sentient that is infected to manifest uncontrollable rage and hatred, and to blindly attack anyone and anything nearby. Soon the plague spread to the Decepticons, then to the humans, and in record time was sweeping across the Galaxy. Not even the Quintessons were safe, as they found themselves fleeing from infected slaves and brethren alike.
One such Quintesson was found by Sky Lynx and rscued after the Quintesson agreed to help the Autobots revive Optimus Prime. The Quintesson restored the fallen Autobot leader to life, and repaired many uninfected Autobots to assist in finding a cure for the Hate Plague. Optimus Prime travelled deep within the Matrix seeking information on a cure for the plague, and conversed with the ancient intelligence known only as the "Thing". Using the information he received, Optimus Prime used the Matrix of Leadership to wipe out the Hate Plague, sparing the Galaxy's inhabitants from self-annihilation.
The Quintessons were not seen again after this occurrence, except for the appearance of Violenjiger in the Zone series from Japan. It is possible that they chose to grow beyond their hatred for the Transformers, or perhaps they were wiped out during the Hate Plague, but most likely the sadistic geniuses are hiding, lying in wait for their next opportunity to strike at the seditious creations that stole their world and ruined their reputations and profit margins in the Galaxy.
Appearances:
Transformers: The Movie
The Five Faces of Darkness Part 1
The Five Faces of Darkness Part 2
The Five Faces of Darkness Part 3
The Five Faces of Darkness Part 4
The Five Faces of Darkness Part 5
The Killing Jar
Dark Awakening
Forever is a Long Time Coming
Madman's Paradise
Nightmare Planet
Webworld
The Big Broadcast of 2006
The Quintesson Journal
The Dweller in the Depths
The Face of Ninjika
Money is Everything
The Return of Optimus Prime Part 1
The Return of Optimus Prime Part 2
Transformers: Zone (Violenjiger)
Cartoon History
Transformers Energon
Transformers Energon
In the distant past, the Quintesson homeworld was devoured by Unicron, and the sole-survivor for his race, Alpha-Q (or Alpha-Quintesson) desperately seeks for a way to restore his homeworld and revive his race. Alpha-Q revives Scorponok, as well as legions of Terrorcon Drones to gather Energon by any means necssary to fulfill this goal. Megatron is also revived, and quickly turns on Alpha-Q. Alpha-Q separates Unicron's head from the rest of the giant's body and flees into space aboard it, where he continues his machinations.
Appearances: Just about every episode of Energon.
Appearances: Just about every episode of Energon.
Cartoon Profile
Transformers Superlink
*Note: This information is from pre-production material, and may or may not be applicable to the Superlink and Energon stories.
Credit goes to Hydra Darkwings for Translation of this information.
Transformers Superlink
*Note: This information is from pre-production material, and may or may not be applicable to the Superlink and Energon stories.
Credit goes to Hydra Darkwings for Translation of this information.
Alpha-Q
A Quintesson
Has five heads. Currently, only three of them are visible.
Each is part of the real identity. They were devised by the lone alien as a means of amusement so that it might bear the solitude.
In order from the first character, each acts with greater wisdom than the previous.
Number four is a man possessing fatherly strengths.
Number five is the original form.
True form:
Alpha Q's current shape is merely a grotesque mechanical armor it has assembled.
In actuality, it is a lonely young girl (or else, a boy of about 8 years age), of whom only a soul still exists.
*If America OK's it, in human form it will be a beautiful young girl.
If they veto it, it will be a boy, or just exist as a soul (a ball of light). Why did the girl take this shape, desiring Energon to resurrect Unicron? That is the story of another solar system.
In that solar system where the girl lived, tragedy struck when Unicron attacked. With the sun on the verge of being seized by Unicron, one planet attempted to resist him, launching an all-out assault.
At this point, Terrorcon cougar and hawk types led by Scorponok's command rose up as warriors against Unicron.
The Grand Chamberlain Scorponok was just barely able to deal serious damage to Unicron, but in the end everything was obliterated, becoming devoured by Unicron.
Only one girl survived, the daughter of the lord Scorpnok had served under. (If not, then a prince's soul.) Scorpnok risked his life to shelter her in the safest place, the core of Unicron, so that she could live on, becoming the one known as Alpha Q. Thus Alpha Q, calling back the memories once passed to by the Terrorcons long before, sought out Energon and used Unicron's cells to recreate the Terrorcons. All this was for the sake of recreating her home and family.
Being all alone in the galaxy with such feelings of loneliness and fear forced her to learn some form of amusement, layering herself countless times over in a shell of mechanical armor. This fact soon becomes clear in the decisive battle with Kicker. Kicker, in shattering her shell, will be able to save the girl.
To Kicker, the battle with Alpha Q becomes also a struggle to break through his own shell and his trauma.
Appearances: Just about every episode of Superlink.
A Quintesson
Has five heads. Currently, only three of them are visible.
Each is part of the real identity. They were devised by the lone alien as a means of amusement so that it might bear the solitude.
In order from the first character, each acts with greater wisdom than the previous.
Number four is a man possessing fatherly strengths.
Number five is the original form.
True form:
Alpha Q's current shape is merely a grotesque mechanical armor it has assembled.
In actuality, it is a lonely young girl (or else, a boy of about 8 years age), of whom only a soul still exists.
*If America OK's it, in human form it will be a beautiful young girl.
If they veto it, it will be a boy, or just exist as a soul (a ball of light). Why did the girl take this shape, desiring Energon to resurrect Unicron? That is the story of another solar system.
In that solar system where the girl lived, tragedy struck when Unicron attacked. With the sun on the verge of being seized by Unicron, one planet attempted to resist him, launching an all-out assault.
At this point, Terrorcon cougar and hawk types led by Scorponok's command rose up as warriors against Unicron.
The Grand Chamberlain Scorponok was just barely able to deal serious damage to Unicron, but in the end everything was obliterated, becoming devoured by Unicron.
Only one girl survived, the daughter of the lord Scorpnok had served under. (If not, then a prince's soul.) Scorpnok risked his life to shelter her in the safest place, the core of Unicron, so that she could live on, becoming the one known as Alpha Q. Thus Alpha Q, calling back the memories once passed to by the Terrorcons long before, sought out Energon and used Unicron's cells to recreate the Terrorcons. All this was for the sake of recreating her home and family.
Being all alone in the galaxy with such feelings of loneliness and fear forced her to learn some form of amusement, layering herself countless times over in a shell of mechanical armor. This fact soon becomes clear in the decisive battle with Kicker. Kicker, in shattering her shell, will be able to save the girl.
To Kicker, the battle with Alpha Q becomes also a struggle to break through his own shell and his trauma.
Appearances: Just about every episode of Superlink.
Comic History
Transformers Marvel UK
Transformers Marvel UK
The Quintessons are an ancient and sadistic race, whose planet, also named Quintesson, is on the verge of destruction. Their leader, Lord Keldji seeks desperately to retrieve a Data Cylinder that contains information on many worlds that they plan to subjugate, conquer and colonize to replace their own dying world. They capture Wreck-Gar, but he soon escapes with the help of Wheelie.
Lord Kledji orders a two-pronged attack upon both Autobot City on Earth and a the Decepticons on Cybertron. General Ghyrik leads the lightning assault upon Autobot City, while Jolup prepares his troops to ambush the Decepticons. Ghyrik quickly defeats Autobot city, lures in Rodimus Prime, using Arcee, and steals the Matrix of Leadership.
On Cybertron, Jolup tricks Soundwave into leading a full assault upon Autobase, and ambushes the Decepticons. Soundwave realizing that he has been duped, sends a garbled distress call to the Autobots, warning them of a Quintesson invasion. The Autobots, not realizing who is sending the message, rush to assist, and even after they see that it's the Decepticons, help in repelling the invasion force.
Meanwhile, Rodimus, reduced to being Hot Rod, battles Ghyrik and his forces in Autobot city with help from Rewind, Steeljaw, Ramhorn and Arcee. Hot Rod reactivates Metroplex, who repels the Trident fighters and the rest of Ghyrik's warriors. Hot Rod tricks Ghyrik, who is now powered by the Matrix, and steals the Matrix back from Quintesson General. Hot Rod becomes Rodimus prime again and easily defeats Ghyrik.
Wreck-Gar and Wheelie arrive on the Planet of Junk and broadcast the contents of the Quintesson Data Cylinder across the Galaxy. The worlds marked for colonization are outraged by the Quintesson plans.
Defeated on all fronts, Lord Kledji orders the abandonment of planet Quintesson. He remains behind to meet his fate along with the Quintesson homeworld. It is later discovered that planet Quintesson was destroyed by a time anomaly caused by Galvatron's, Cyclonus' & Scourge's tampering with the past. The Time Wars follow and the balance is reset, but the future that arises from the realignment is quite different. It is quite possible that the Quintessons, their leaders and even their planet are all still alive and well in this altered Universe.
Appearances: Marvel Transformers UK #'s 180-187 & 199; Marvel Comics US #43, Marvel Adaptation of Transformers: The Movie #2
Lord Kledji orders a two-pronged attack upon both Autobot City on Earth and a the Decepticons on Cybertron. General Ghyrik leads the lightning assault upon Autobot City, while Jolup prepares his troops to ambush the Decepticons. Ghyrik quickly defeats Autobot city, lures in Rodimus Prime, using Arcee, and steals the Matrix of Leadership.
On Cybertron, Jolup tricks Soundwave into leading a full assault upon Autobase, and ambushes the Decepticons. Soundwave realizing that he has been duped, sends a garbled distress call to the Autobots, warning them of a Quintesson invasion. The Autobots, not realizing who is sending the message, rush to assist, and even after they see that it's the Decepticons, help in repelling the invasion force.
Meanwhile, Rodimus, reduced to being Hot Rod, battles Ghyrik and his forces in Autobot city with help from Rewind, Steeljaw, Ramhorn and Arcee. Hot Rod reactivates Metroplex, who repels the Trident fighters and the rest of Ghyrik's warriors. Hot Rod tricks Ghyrik, who is now powered by the Matrix, and steals the Matrix back from Quintesson General. Hot Rod becomes Rodimus prime again and easily defeats Ghyrik.
Wreck-Gar and Wheelie arrive on the Planet of Junk and broadcast the contents of the Quintesson Data Cylinder across the Galaxy. The worlds marked for colonization are outraged by the Quintesson plans.
Defeated on all fronts, Lord Kledji orders the abandonment of planet Quintesson. He remains behind to meet his fate along with the Quintesson homeworld. It is later discovered that planet Quintesson was destroyed by a time anomaly caused by Galvatron's, Cyclonus' & Scourge's tampering with the past. The Time Wars follow and the balance is reset, but the future that arises from the realignment is quite different. It is quite possible that the Quintessons, their leaders and even their planet are all still alive and well in this altered Universe.
Appearances: Marvel Transformers UK #'s 180-187 & 199; Marvel Comics US #43, Marvel Adaptation of Transformers: The Movie #2
Comic History
The Wreckers
The Wreckers
The Quintessons were created by Unicron to hunt down Primus, but Unicron underestimated the cunning and treachery of the Quintessons. When the Quintessons discovered Primus within Cybertron, they sought to use Unicron's mortal enemy against their creator and to use Primus to expand their wealth and power, by turning Cybertron into their new home and using Primus' children as a source for a new Galactic slave trade.
They first tried to harness Primus's power to reshape his children into their servants by creating the Plasma Energy Chamber, but that energy proved to be uncontrollable. Later they attempted to create their own slave race, the Trans-Organics, which were also failure. The Quintessons succeeded in converting Primus' children into their slaves, though in time the slaves grew weary of the Quintessons' cruelty and rebelled. The Quintessons also bridled Vector Sigma's potential by placing a shell program into the super computer that would limit its will and contact with Primus' creations.
The rebellion was successful, and the Quintessons were expelled from the planet, and their attempts to retake the planet were all failures. Millions of years passed and the Quintessions became involved with their former slaves again, particulary the Predacon Cryotek, and his manipulation of Vector Sigma, via the Oracle shell program. With the help of the Quintesson Derodomontatus, Cryotek sought to use Vector Sigma as a means to gain more power and subvert any resistance left on Cybertron. Later a group of Cybertronians found Al-Badur, who was surprised to see how the "product lines" had progressed, and explained more about the lost history of Cybertron before the rebellion.
Appearances: Wreckers #2-3
They first tried to harness Primus's power to reshape his children into their servants by creating the Plasma Energy Chamber, but that energy proved to be uncontrollable. Later they attempted to create their own slave race, the Trans-Organics, which were also failure. The Quintessons succeeded in converting Primus' children into their slaves, though in time the slaves grew weary of the Quintessons' cruelty and rebelled. The Quintessons also bridled Vector Sigma's potential by placing a shell program into the super computer that would limit its will and contact with Primus' creations.
The rebellion was successful, and the Quintessons were expelled from the planet, and their attempts to retake the planet were all failures. Millions of years passed and the Quintessions became involved with their former slaves again, particulary the Predacon Cryotek, and his manipulation of Vector Sigma, via the Oracle shell program. With the help of the Quintesson Derodomontatus, Cryotek sought to use Vector Sigma as a means to gain more power and subvert any resistance left on Cybertron. Later a group of Cybertronians found Al-Badur, who was surprised to see how the "product lines" had progressed, and explained more about the lost history of Cybertron before the rebellion.
Appearances: Wreckers #2-3
Comic History
Transformers Blackthorne 3-D
Transformers Blackthorne 3-D
The Quintessons hire cute little aliens to infiltrate and gather information on the Autobots and Decepticons, by posing as Energon producing creatures.
Appearances: Blackthorne Comics Transformers in 3-D #1
Appearances: Blackthorne Comics Transformers in 3-D #1
Comic Profile
Marvel Transformers Universe
Marvel Transformers Universe
Name: Quintessons
Allegiance: Unicron
Function: Enforcer
First Comic Appearance: Transformers The Movie #2
Motto: "Everyone is guilty until proven innocent- and even then he's guilty!"
Profile: As cruel as a weasel toying with its prey and as persistent as a bloodhound on the trail of a fugitive, the Quintessons are the merciless enforcers of Unicron's will. They hunt down those who try to escape Unicron's wrath. Once the victim is captured, he is doomed. Guilty or innocent, the verdict is always the same- death. The Quintessons are composed of Guards, Gatekeepers, and one five-headed Judge. The Quintessons are the cruel masters of the endless legions of Sharkticons which carry out the Quintessons' verdict.
Weaknesses: The Quintessons are few in number compared to the Sharkticons, and deathly afraid of them, for if the Sharkticons should revolt, there is nothing the Quintessons could do to stop them.
Allegiance: Unicron
Function: Enforcer
First Comic Appearance: Transformers The Movie #2
Motto: "Everyone is guilty until proven innocent- and even then he's guilty!"
Profile: As cruel as a weasel toying with its prey and as persistent as a bloodhound on the trail of a fugitive, the Quintessons are the merciless enforcers of Unicron's will. They hunt down those who try to escape Unicron's wrath. Once the victim is captured, he is doomed. Guilty or innocent, the verdict is always the same- death. The Quintessons are composed of Guards, Gatekeepers, and one five-headed Judge. The Quintessons are the cruel masters of the endless legions of Sharkticons which carry out the Quintessons' verdict.
Weaknesses: The Quintessons are few in number compared to the Sharkticons, and deathly afraid of them, for if the Sharkticons should revolt, there is nothing the Quintessons could do to stop them.
Comic Profile
Dreamwave Transformers More Than Meets the Eye
Dreamwave Transformers More Than Meets the Eye
Quintessa -
The Planet Quintessa is a metallic planetoid that was one of the first worlds in the universe to spawn intelligent life. A harsh world extremely vicious native biomechanical life forms, Quintessa is also known for its dominant species: the cruelly inquisitive Quintessons.
The Planet Quintessa is a metallic planetoid that was one of the first worlds in the universe to spawn intelligent life. A harsh world extremely vicious native biomechanical life forms, Quintessa is also known for its dominant species: the cruelly inquisitive Quintessons.
Quintessons -
The Quintessons are five-headed creatures with semi-cylindrical bodiesthat hover on a thin beam of anti-gravity energy, with multiple tentacles for physical manipulation. Their exact composition is in question, but it appears that they are primarily mechanical beings with some biological elements mixed in. 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 being oblivious to the harm their actions cause, the Quintessons actually take a perverse pleasure in the suffering of others. Their brutal experiments and vindictive "mock" judicial system are feared by all and survived by few, if any.
The Quintessons are five-headed creatures with semi-cylindrical bodiesthat hover on a thin beam of anti-gravity energy, with multiple tentacles for physical manipulation. Their exact composition is in question, but it appears that they are primarily mechanical beings with some biological elements mixed in. 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 being oblivious to the harm their actions cause, the Quintessons actually take a perverse pleasure in the suffering of others. Their brutal experiments and vindictive "mock" judicial system are feared by all and survived by few, if any.
Other Inhabitants -
The Quintessons have several subordinate races that they have subjugated, created or modified to serve them. Their basic infantry and sentry duties are fulfilled by the Sharkticons, nearly mindless, vicious amphibious mechanoids possessing savage strength. Nearly unstoppable when they attack as a group, Sharkticons are loyal out of mental laziness. Few Sharkticons develop enough intelligence to become independent, although it is not impossible. The next level of the hierarchy is reserved for the Allicons, somewhat more intelligent beings that serve as commanders of the Sharkticon legions. Like the Sharkticons, Allicons are able to convert between an amphibious mode and their robot mode. Although brighter than their subordinates, the Allicons are still mentally plodding, albeit incredibly strong. It is rumored that the Quintessons also have an upper echelon of warriors about whome little is known; it is said that this personal militia is so fearsome that none have seen them in action and lived.
The Quintessons have several subordinate races that they have subjugated, created or modified to serve them. Their basic infantry and sentry duties are fulfilled by the Sharkticons, nearly mindless, vicious amphibious mechanoids possessing savage strength. Nearly unstoppable when they attack as a group, Sharkticons are loyal out of mental laziness. Few Sharkticons develop enough intelligence to become independent, although it is not impossible. The next level of the hierarchy is reserved for the Allicons, somewhat more intelligent beings that serve as commanders of the Sharkticon legions. Like the Sharkticons, Allicons are able to convert between an amphibious mode and their robot mode. Although brighter than their subordinates, the Allicons are still mentally plodding, albeit incredibly strong. It is rumored that the Quintessons also have an upper echelon of warriors about whome little is known; it is said that this personal militia is so fearsome that none have seen them in action and lived.
Personal Notes on the Quintessons
At The Mountains of Madness
by H. P. Lovecraft
At The Mountains of Madness
by H. P. Lovecraft
One of the things that stands out the most about the Quintessons is their similarity to the alien beings known as "The Old Ones" from H. P. Lovecraft's stories, in particular, "At The Mountains of Madness". The story tells of an Antarctic expedition that discovers a long-dead alien civilization in the frozen wastes of Antarctica, as well as the bodies of some of the alien creatures; the Old Ones. The ruins the find are all bizarre twisting shapes and spiral towers.The Hieroglyphics they find explain that the Old Ones roam through space and set up colonies of various planets. They are cylindrical in form ("barrel-shaped"), possess bodies with radial symmetry based on the number 5, and have five tentacles protruding from their midsections.
The Old Ones' bodies weren't suited for heavy labor, so they created shape-shifting slaves to perform those tasks for them. They preferred to keep these shape-shifting slaves, called Shoggoths, confined to life under the sea, and seemed adverse to creating land-dwelling Shoggoths. Eventually, though, they did created terrestrial Shoggoths, and not long after a strange fearful artifact was discovered, the land-based Shoggoths rebelled against their creators/masters and destroyed all of them, save for those that wandered among the stars.
Sound familiar? It should. That story runs extremely parallel to the TF origin given in "The Five Faces of Darkness Part 4". The Quintessons (cylindrical, tentacled aliens whose radial symmetry is based on the number 5 and build large spiral towers and twisting structures) create a servile race of slaves (who later learn to transform) that rebel and drive the Quintessons off among the stars. The Quintessons fear and hate the Autobot artifact, the Matrix of Leadership, and seem to prefer creating more obedient aquatic slaves and forms of mechanical life. They now roam through space, without a home, with their former slaves as the bane of their existence.
Beyond that, there are other allusions to Lovecraft's work in Transformers, most notably, "The Dweller in the Depths". The episode plays off of the common theme of Lovecraft's stories that some things are better left alone, and that prodding around too deeply into the past, intentionally or accidentally, can lead to unfathomable terror, as horrors long forgotten are reawakened to menace the world anew. Even the name of the episode is a homage to Lovecraft, as many of his stories had similar titles: "The Lurker at the Threshhold", "The Beast in the Cave", "The Colour Out of Space", "The Call of Cthulhu", "The Haunter of the Dark", "The Whisperer in the Darkness" and "The Rats in the Walls", just to name a few.
Some episodes of G.I.Joe also have references to Lovecraft and his Cthulhu Mythos, but one of the strongest indications that Sunbow's writers were Lovecraft fans are the Quintessons. They are the most recurring Lovecraftian creatures in any of Sunbow's cartoons (though the Inhumanoids run a close second). The Quintessons possess that kind of madness and logic rolled into one, that creates a race so alien and bizarre, so surreal, that if you were confronted by one in reality, there's a good chance that your mind would snap, just as it did for many of the characters in Lovecraft's stories.
Special Thanks to Zabgoth, Lord Zarak and Chris McFeely for their assistance in gathering info for this page.
The Old Ones' bodies weren't suited for heavy labor, so they created shape-shifting slaves to perform those tasks for them. They preferred to keep these shape-shifting slaves, called Shoggoths, confined to life under the sea, and seemed adverse to creating land-dwelling Shoggoths. Eventually, though, they did created terrestrial Shoggoths, and not long after a strange fearful artifact was discovered, the land-based Shoggoths rebelled against their creators/masters and destroyed all of them, save for those that wandered among the stars.
Sound familiar? It should. That story runs extremely parallel to the TF origin given in "The Five Faces of Darkness Part 4". The Quintessons (cylindrical, tentacled aliens whose radial symmetry is based on the number 5 and build large spiral towers and twisting structures) create a servile race of slaves (who later learn to transform) that rebel and drive the Quintessons off among the stars. The Quintessons fear and hate the Autobot artifact, the Matrix of Leadership, and seem to prefer creating more obedient aquatic slaves and forms of mechanical life. They now roam through space, without a home, with their former slaves as the bane of their existence.
Beyond that, there are other allusions to Lovecraft's work in Transformers, most notably, "The Dweller in the Depths". The episode plays off of the common theme of Lovecraft's stories that some things are better left alone, and that prodding around too deeply into the past, intentionally or accidentally, can lead to unfathomable terror, as horrors long forgotten are reawakened to menace the world anew. Even the name of the episode is a homage to Lovecraft, as many of his stories had similar titles: "The Lurker at the Threshhold", "The Beast in the Cave", "The Colour Out of Space", "The Call of Cthulhu", "The Haunter of the Dark", "The Whisperer in the Darkness" and "The Rats in the Walls", just to name a few.
Some episodes of G.I.Joe also have references to Lovecraft and his Cthulhu Mythos, but one of the strongest indications that Sunbow's writers were Lovecraft fans are the Quintessons. They are the most recurring Lovecraftian creatures in any of Sunbow's cartoons (though the Inhumanoids run a close second). The Quintessons possess that kind of madness and logic rolled into one, that creates a race so alien and bizarre, so surreal, that if you were confronted by one in reality, there's a good chance that your mind would snap, just as it did for many of the characters in Lovecraft's stories.
Special Thanks to Zabgoth, Lord Zarak and Chris McFeely for their assistance in gathering info for this page.
Written by BlackZarak. © 2005 Axalon Underground
Cybertron and all of its denizens are property of Takara and Hasbro. In turn, Takara and Hasbro are the property of the Quintessons. Soon you, too, will receive your sentence.