Quintesson

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This article is about the Generation 1 alien race. For their home planet which is called "Quintesson" in the Marvel Comic UK continuity, see Quintessa{{#switch:{{#sub:Quintessa|-1}} != .= ?= .

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"Hahahaha—
—hahahahaha—
—–hahahahaha—
——hahahahahaha—
——–hahahahahaha!"

The Quintessons are a bizarre and ancient race, whose dark history and shadowy machinations are bound up with the history of the Transformers, with connections to both Primus and Unicron. They are known galaxy-wide as traders, entrepreneurs and businessmen, but their dealings are very rarely on the level, often laced with intrigue and betrayals. They prefer subtle manipulation, scheming, and advanced technology over brute force, but if those don't work, they can fall back on the legion of deadly Sharkticons and Allicons at their command and a fleet of battle-ready spaceships as well. However, the Quintessons themselves have zero fighting abilities and are absolute cowards if they have nothing to hide behind. For example, they are seen to be powerless against a Sharkticon revolt.

Quintessons are also known by the adorable racial slur 'squids'.<ref>"Wreckers: Finale Part II"</ref>

[We] are Quintessons! Arrogance is our life’s blood, ambition is our food and drink, but most of all, hubris is the air we breathe!!{{#if:|{{{quote2}}}}}{{#if:Al-Badur dissin' his peeps"Wreckers: Finale Part II"|Al-Badur dissin' his peeps{{#if:"Wreckers: Finale Part II"|, "Wreckers: Finale Part II"|}}|}}
Deceivers! Betrayers! Five-faced slime of the nebula!{{#if:|{{{quote2}}}}}{{#if:Galvatron on the Quintessons"Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5"|Galvatron on the Quintessons{{#if:"Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5"|, "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5"|}}|}}

Types of Quintessons

What? Death is for the guilty ones? You mean I've been doing this wrong the whole time?

The Quintessons appear to be mostly (if not entirely) mechanical beings. They come in several distinct forms, some of which are identified by their place in the Quintessons' bizarre court system.

The names given are, when possible, taken directly from the character model sheets.

Judges

The most prominent and famous type of Quintesson, as well as the apparent "leaders" of the race, are the Judges, also referred to as the Imperial Magistrates. Judges have inverted, egg-shaped bodies which float on a beam of energy and possess wiry tentacles for physical manipulation, but their most distinctive physical characteristics are their five rotating faces. Each face represents a different aspect of the Quintesson, though for four of the five faces, there are conflicting accounts as to what each represents.

The first names given above for the latter four faces come from Japanese Comic Bom Bom supplements. They are derived from the descriptions given of the faces in the original script for the movie—an "angry face," a "smiling face," a "grimacing face" and a "suspicious face"—and the faces were specifically designed by Floro Dery to represent these emotions. All the same, this information remained very little-known for a long time, leading to the second set of names being created for use in the 2004 publication, Transformers: The Ultimate Guide. The original names were also used for The Ark, published by IDW in 2007.

In the original animated series, the Judges were all of the same size and were rarely named. (Then again, it was rare for any Quintesson to get an individual name.) Conversely, in the Marvel Comics continuity, Judges vary in size, including the massive Kledji and the smaller Sevax. The order of the faces in the ring varies from Judge to Judge (if not from shot to shot, ahem).

Named Judges include:

Bailiffs

None Shall Pass!

These snout-nosed creatures were seen serving as guards in the Quintessons' court.

Executioners

File:QuintGate.gif
Pokey, pokey!

This breed of Quintesson was first seen throwing the switch that dropped the unfortunate Arblus into the Sharkticon pit. They have also been called "Gatekeepers".

Named executioners include:


Prosecutor

Prosecutor and the seldom-seen "wizened" variant.

This variety of Quintesson is the second-most common type, often seen in positions of authority. They have also been called "Inquisitors". In court, they are the ones who ask for the Judges' verdicts and occasionally let the defendants say something in their defense, for all it matters.

Named prosecutors include:


Scientist

Yes, I have a question.
I had to walk 15 miles in the snow to school! Uphill both ways!

Scientists are somewhat similar to the Prosecutors in construction, though they feature more bulbous heads and bearded, somewhat-more-human faces.

Named scientists include:


Other types

My tentacles are on fire!

The Judges are not the only Quintessons to have multiple faces, though the only known exception is the three-faced scientist who was the primary creator of the Trans-Organics. One of his faces was grievously damaged, a scar left by the Dweller, which he covered with a mask.

This scientist instigated a plan to get the Decepticons to unwittingly release the trans-organics from their prisons deep within Cybertron so they would wipe out all Transformer life. The plan ultimately backfired; the Dweller killed the other trans-organics, and was launched into space by the Autobots... where it smashed into the scientist's ship, which was en-route to Cybertron. Presumably, the scientist finally met his end as the Dweller drained the energy from the ship and everyone within it. The Dweller in the Depths

"Game over, man! Game over!"

Security officers appear to have been an ancient model of Quintesson, and possibly the only kind with built-in offensive capabilities, some having one set of arm-tentacles replaced with over-sized blasters. These blasters availed them naught, however, against the Trans-Organic beasts. It is unknown if any of this model of Quintesson exist in "modern" times. The Dweller in the Depths

No one remembers we exist.

Non-bailiff, non-executioner Humanoid Quintessons are exceedingly rare. One accompanied Inquirata on his mission to use a Time Window to change Cybertron's history, stopping the slave revolt that drove the Quintessons off-planet. Forever Is a Long Time Coming

And then there's Mirdane. A rarity among Quintessons, in that he has a name, and that's it. He has only ever been mentioned by others, never seen, so what body type he has/had is unknown. Madman's Paradise Wreckers: Finale Part II

Fiction

Generation 1 cartoon continuity

The Transformers cartoon

Voice actor: Regis Cordic, Roger C. Carmel and Jack Angel (English, primary recurring voices, see Notes), Dick Gautier ("The Killing Jar"), Tony Pope ("Forever Is a Long Time Coming" and "The Dweller in the Depths"), Paul Eiding ("The Quintesson Journal"), Charlie Adler ("The Big Broadcast of 2006"), Corey Burton ("Madman's Paradise"), Aron Kincaid ("The Return of Optimus Prime"){{#if: |, {{{2}}}}}
We Transformers have looked into the face of our creators... and seen the face of an enemy.{{#if:|{{{quote2}}}}}{{#if:Rodimus Prime"Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5"|Rodimus Prime{{#if:"Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5"|, "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5"|}}|}}

In ages long past, a race of aliens called the Quintessons existed on the planet-sized factory known as Cybertron. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4 Some of their early experiments in creating artificial life resulted in the Trans-Organics. The Dweller in the Depths Some Quintessons turned to forbidden arts, and were banished to other dimensions. Madman's Paradise The Quintessons eventually created two lines of sentient robots: one was a line of robots designed for domestic duties and labor (known as Autobots), and the other was a line designed for military use (known as Decepticons). Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4 The Quintessons were exceptionally cruel to their creations, eventually leading to wide-spread rebellion, a rebellion started by the Autobot A-3. Forever Is a Long Time Coming Forced to flee the planet, the Quintessons eventually settled on the small, twisted planet of Quintessa, but fostered an undying hatred of all Transformers for the next eleven million years. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4

They also spent this time productively, selling technology to other races, and often manipulating the political and military climate of regions of space to increase their sales, all the while diligently keeping track of their work by recording it in journals. The Quintesson Journal Occasionally a race as the Zamojin would arise that could potentially threaten the Quintessons, and they would deal with it by sealing off whole sections of space with quadrant locks. The Face of the Nijika

Believe it or not, you really do have better chances in Texas.

In 2005, they were shown to capture prisoners for trial and feeding to their army of Sharkticons. The mock trials held by the Quintesson Court seemed to have no purpose at all, except maybe for the Quintessons' amusement, as defendants were still immediately fed to the ravenous Sharkticons even when the Judge determined them to be innocent. However, the Dinobots managed to rescue the pair of Autobots the Quintessons had captured. Worse, Grimlock inspired the Sharkticons to rebel... by stomping his foot on the ground and telling them to do so. The Transformers: The Movie

The Quintessons' involvement in these events, or events mostly similar, were also chronicled in the comic mini-series “Transformers: The Animated Movie” and the storybook “Transformers the Movie."

One year (or possibly five years, depending on whom you ask) after the defeat of Unicron, the Quintessons reappeared. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 1 They first sent a commando team of Sharkticons to abduct various Autobots (as well as Spike Witwicky, though that may have been unintentional). Upon capturing the 'bots, the Quintessons seemed more interested in interrogating their prisoners than feeding them to the Sharkticons. However, they eventually did find the captured Transformers to be guilty of the crime of... being Transformers (Spike was guilty by association). Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2

"Look out, it's Galvatron! Quick, make yourselves look big and maybe he'll leave us alone!"

After Rodimus and the Aerialbots mounted a rescue for their captive friends, the Quintessons attempted to kill the would-be rescuers by destroying the entire planet of Quintessa. After this plan failed, the surviving Quintessons approached the currently leaderless Decepticons, offering them energon in exchange for attacking the Autobots who had fled to the planet Goo. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3 When the newly revived Galvatron arrived intending to reclaim his army, the Quintessons made an alliance with him to attack Cybertron in return for the Decepticon Matrix of Leadership, an object which didn't actually exist outside the Quintessons' fertile imaginations. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4

The Quintessons betrayed Galvatron almost immediately after the battle had been won, sending the Sharkticons to pull a switch which would cause all Transformers the galaxy over literally to freeze where they stood. Though the Sharkticons were fought off, Galvatron pulled the lever anyway. The Quintessons landed on Cybertron, intending to reclaim the planet, however Spike destroyed the switch and the Quintessons were forced to abandon the planet in an escape pod. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5

Later plots by the Quintessons were no less nefarious. A rogue Quintesson scientist abducted three Transformers and a human for behavioral study, a scheme that nearly killed the entire group after they drifted into a black hole. The Killing Jar Later, the Quintessons revived the deceased Optimus Prime in an attempt to lure all the Autobots into a trap and destroy them with a supernova. However, the Quintessons did not count upon Hot Rod forcing Optimus Prime to overcome his programming, nor Optimus Prime's ability to sacrifice himself to save the Autobots. Dark Awakening

Later still, the Quintessons attempted to rewrite history by preventing their loss of Cybertron, creating a Time Window on an asteroid, directed at Cybertron eleven million years in the past. The Autobots attacked the asteroid, occupying it as several of their number passed through the Time Window and resulting in the very fabric of reality starting to unravel the longer the window remained open. The Quintessons made several desperate attempts to retake the asteroid before convincing Rodimus Prime to shut the Time Window down, though their plans were still ruined as the time-displaced A-3 returned to the past to take his part in the rebellion. Forever Is a Long Time Coming

After a Quintesson journal was lost on Junk, the Quintessons began inserting subliminal messages into the Junkions' television in an attempt to make them tidy and instill a distrust of other life forms. Unfortunately the equipment sending the subliminal signal was damaged during an attempt to retrieve the journal, resulting in the Junkions transmitting subliminal messages to the rest of the galaxy. In the ensuing battle, the Quintessons again tried to retrieve the journal, only to lose it when a stray shot knocked it loose from their tractor beam. The Big Broadcast of 2006 The journal resurfaced again in the Angarrix sector at the same time that the Autobots were conducting peace talks with Xetaxxis and Lanarq, two planets whom the Quintessons had manipulated into war so that they could sell weapons. Despite the Quintessons' best attempts the journal reached the conference where their interference was exposed, and the Autobots destroyed the Quintesson ship as it tried to deliver two omega bombs intended to destroy the planets. The Quintesson Journal

The Quintessons would try other schemes to destroy the Autobots. One involved kidnapping Daniel Witwicky and hooking him to a device which manifested his dreams in real life. Unfortunately the dream constructs turned on them when Rodimus was able to reach Daniel's sleeping mind. Nightmare Planet Another was to manipulate Galvatron into releasing the Trans-Organics. Though Galvatron succeeded, releasing the Dweller, the Autobots managed to expel the creature into space, where it attacked the Quintesson ship. The Dweller in the Depths

Finding Galvatron interfering with the quadrant lock sealing Quadrant X, the Quintessons entered the lock, taking a number of Transformers through with them. Unfortunately their isolator key, needed to reopen the lock, was damaged, forcing them to obtain Perceptor's universal emulator. Perceptor was able to program the emulator so that when the Quintessons used it, it disabled the quadrant lock for good. The Face of the Nijika In another dimension on Menonia, the Autobots found the rogue Quintesson scientist Mara-Al-Utha, and defeated him with the help of local wizard named the Golden One. Madman's Paradise

"Right, where am I sticking this?"

The Quintessons suggested to Cyclonus that he take Galvatron to Torkulon, believing the experience would prove fatal for the Decepticons. It didn't. Webworld A group of Quintessons based on Titan made a deal with Dirk Manus to deliver them the Recreator, while also sending the Terrorcons to attack him. Multiple double-crosses ensued until in one final double-cross, Manus set Computron on the Quintessons and they retreated without the Recreator. Money Is Everything

When Rodimus asked Sky Lynx to find him a Quintesson, Sky Lynx complained that the Quintessons had gone into hiding in the farthest reaches of the galaxy and would be difficult to find. Nonetheless Sky Lynx managed to find one being chased by Hate Plague infected Sharkticons, and took him to Earth to restore life to the body of Optimus Prime. The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1 The lone Quintesson also restored a number of other Autobots to help Optimus retrieve the Matrix from Rodimus. He did his best to hold off the infected Transformers while Optimus journeyed into the Matrix and found a way to cure the Hate Plague. The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 2

Japanese cartoon continuity

Fight! Super Robot Lifeform Transformers 2010 story pages

Teaming up with the Decepticons, the Quintessons began developing new warriors for their "allies". 2010 Part 2 The Predacons were constructed by the Quintessons during this alliance. The Sharkticons, also considered to be part of the Predacon faction, were leased to the Decepticons to bolster their ranks. 2010 Part 3 The Quintessons evidently consider the Sharkticons to be "the Pride of the Quintessons" and developed Predaking specifically to outdo all previous Decepticon combiners. 2010 Part 4

During the time they had Optimus Prime's corpse in their clutches, the Quintessons copied his schematics. They also received schematics of Megatron from their alliance with the Decepticons and developed the Colossal Cannon Soldier Guiltaur2010 Part 4

The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers comic
"Great Guns", "Colossal Cannons", it's all semantics.

The Quintessons feigned to have created Guiltaur as a subordinate for Galvatron, but in reality they had allied themselves with the ghost of Starscream, who gave the robot life. Guiltaur quickly turned on Galvatron during an ambush on Rodimus Prime. He would have won, had Rodimus and Galvatron not worked together to defeat him, foiling the plans of the Quintessons. The Story of Super Robot Lifeforms: The Transformers #4

Macrocosmic Seekers

The Seeker, during the enslavement of Transformers, realized the potential for Transformer evolution and noted that rebellion was imminent. He was laughed at, but the Seeker got the last laugh when he left Cybertron before the rebellion and evolved beyond his Quintesson origins. A Treasure's True Worth

Controverse


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Kiss Players
Do cameos count as canon?
This is all kinds of crazy.

The Kiss Players Marissa Faireborn, Atari Hitotonari, and Shaoshao Li, together with the Sparkbots Angela, Star Dust, and Zangetsu, were traveling through time aboard Brave Maximus when the space fortress suddenly went out of control.

The six found themselves on a strange, alien world in the year 2011. With their ship ensnared, they were herded by Sharkticons to the Space Tribunal, where the Quintessons put them on trial for time-traveling without their permission.

When Shaoshao asked if being cute was a crime, the Quintessons threatened to charge her with contempt of court. Atari suggested using their Kiss Play abilities to transform into cute costumes and ask the "octopusses" nicely to let them go. But turning into a swimsuit-clad elementary school girl and asking the judge's permission to go to the potty only resulted in Atari and her friends being found "not guilty" and dropped into the Sharkticon pit below.

Rescued by Optimus Prime and Goldbug, they fled back to Brave Maximus and re-entered the time portal. Sucked into the maelstrom along with them, the Quintessons demanded that the process stop, saying that they were the last of their kind. But it was too late, and the aliens were trapped inside the hole in space-time. Kiss Players Position

Alternity

As a result of a quadrant lock the Quintessons placed upon the BT World to trap the Binaltech Autobots, the planet was frozen in time until the Alternity were born and broke through it 900,000 years later. Alternation

Wings Universe

Wings Universe is based on the Generation 1 cartoon, but deviates from it in cosmetic ways and continuity points.

Very early in the Great War, the Autobot ship Van De Graaff was shot down over Beta-Nine while transporting a vital cargo. The Autobots initially believed that the crash was the result of a Decepticon attack, but Kup, a crewmember of the rescue ship Eight Track, discovered the truth when he found green tentacled remains alongside the corpses of the murdered Van De Graaff crew. Wings of Honor

The Quintessons created Sky-Byte to lead a new generation of Sharkticons. In 2010, they sent Sky-Byte and several Sharkticons to Earth in an alliance with the Decepticon Syndicate. Generation 2: Redux

By 2984, Quintesson space had come under the control of the Mutants. In that year, the temporally-displaced pirates known as the Star Seekers traveled near former Quintesson space on their way to find the immortal spark of the infamous Decepticon Starscream. The Star Seekers eventually gained access to a planetoid existing in a pocket of space surrounded by black holes. In a chamber on the planetoid, they encountered a lone Quintesson who claimed to have been betrayed and marooned by Starscream on the planetoid some time earlier. The Star Seekers gave the Quintesson passage off of the planetoid in exchange for telling all that he knew of Starscream's last known destination. However as it turned out, the Quintesson was long dead, and Starscream's immortal spark had been using the Quintesson's body as a puppet. Forming an alliance with the Decepticon Star Seeker Flamewar, Starscream discarded the Quintesson's body and hijacked Captain Cannonball's body for himself, simultaneously allowing Flamewar to take control of the Star Seekers for herself. Tornado - Decepticon Saboteur

Transformers: All Spark


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Another Episode, Part 2 Conclusion

Big Looker storybooks

Rarely do encounters with Autobots work out well for the Quintessons.

An Autobot ship crashed on Quintesson, with Wheelie the only survivor. The Quintessons captured him, throwing him in a dungeon. They intended to execute him, taking him to a Sharkticon pit, however he managed to evade them and escaped into the jungles of Quintesson. When Hot Rod's ship also crashed on the planet, the Quintessons tried to mount a sneak attack, only for Wheelie to appear and fight them off single-handed. The Quintessons returned with Sharkticon backup, stalking the Autobots as Wheelie tried to lead them away from the crash site, however as it turned out even with their Sharkticons, the Quintesson were no match for the Autobots and most of them were killed in the battle that ensued. The Story of Wheelie, the Wild Boy of Quintesson

Marvel The Transformers comics

Events from the UK-only comic stories are in italics.

Like those creepy little pilotfish that swarm behind sharks, snapping at stray scraps, the Quintessons were vile enforcers for Unicron, savagely hunting down and picking off those who attempted to escape his maw. Transformers Universe

In an alternate future of 2005, the Quintessons took Hot Rod, Kup and several other Autobots hostage on their homeworld and chucked them into the Sharkticon pits for punishment. The Autobots were able to escape, however, and the Sharkticons quickly turned on their cruel masters. Judgment Day!

In 2008, Quintesson scientists realized that their planet, Quintesson (not Quintessa), was threatened with destruction by a time rift that was caused by Galvatron, Cyclonus, and Scourge's time-traveling. The Big Broadcast of 2006 (UK framing sequence)

Desperate for their race to survive, they launched a surprise attack on Autobot City, capturing it for themselves. Most of the Autobots were deactivated, except for Rodimus Prime, who was outside the city at the time of the attack, and Rewind, Ramhorn and Steeljaw, who were hidden inside Blaster's cassette compartment.

Using Arcee as bait, the Quintessons captured the Creation Matrix from Rodimus, and he reverted to Hot Rod. Out of options, Hot Rod activated the core of Autobot City, a giant Autobot called Metroplex, who transformed and drove the Quintessons off but caused massive damage to the city in the process.

The Quintessons fled, but were ordered by Lord Kledji not to return to Quintesson, but to roam the stars instead to rebuild their forces and seek revenge on the Transformers, since their home planet was doomed beyond hope. How that went for them is unknown, but as they'd managed to cheese off most of the known metallic species by that point, it probably didn't go too well. Space Pirates!

The Invisibility Factor

The following summarizes one or more multipath adventures. Details vary depending on the paths taken in-story. See the book's page for information on alternate paths.

In one possible scenario, the Quintessons, currently allied with the Decepticons, sent a messenger craft to Earth. They informed Galvatron that they were ready to send in troops to help in a full-scale invasion of the Earth. Without any Autobots around to interfere with the messages they were relaying the Quintessons and the Decepticons soon turned Earth into one giant refuelling station.

Transformers in 3-D

A Quintesson sent two aliens to spy on the Autobots and Decepticons, and download the contents of their databases. The two aliens were puzzled, but the Quintesson remained cagy about what the data was for. The Test

Beast Machines

The Maximal Beast Rider Che was encased in a unique Quintessian[sic] alloy found in the lower levels of Cybertron.<ref>Che's packaging bio</ref>

3H comics

Millennia ago, the Quintessons were the minions of Unicron, send out to locate Primus. The Quintessons succeeded, but rather than turn Primus over to Unicron, they instead constructed barriers around him, intending to make use of him to create consumer product lines. They eventually succeeded in doing so through Vector Sigma, though some of their number such as Al-Badur warned of the danger of trying to control Primus's creations. Disclosure

Out on the arm of the Orion Cluster, New Quintessa sat awaiting the Mutant Beasts, Cybertronians without robot modes who had been dispatched by the Oracle of Vector Sigma to regain what they had lost. Icebird believed they were on a sacred mission; in truth, it was a fool's errand. The Quintesson Supreme Imperial Magistrate Derodomontatus fed the Mutants to the Sharkticons before continuing his discussions with the free trader, Cryotek. Plans proceeded apace, as both the Mutants and the Dinobots were dealt with by this deadly alliance, and Cryotek assured Derodomontatus that the last Cybertronian team, the Wreckers, would soon be extinguished as well. Betrayal

Meanwhile the Wreckers encountered Al-Badur on an icy world, and he filled them in on the origin of Cybertron and bargained for his departure from the planet in exchange for information about the Divine Light. Disclosure

The invasion of Cybertron soon began, and Snarl, Longhorn, and Skydive spotted Quintessons herding mass hordes of Sharkticons towards the Cybertronian settlements.

The following is unofficial material for the intended script to the Wreckers #4, never published.

Derodomontatus cheered on the advancing troops with his fellow Quintessons, before proceeding with Cryotek and Cyclonus to complete his part of their bargain. The fighting intensified on the surface as Devcon and the Dinobots arrived, shortly before the Wreckers returned to Cybertron as well. Primal Prime and Apelinq led a contingent after Cryotek and the Quintessons deeper into Cybertron's core. They arrived in time to see Cryotek had successfully mutated himself into a god-like being with the power of the Divine Light. The Wreckers: Finale Part 1

And now, back to the official material.

Derodomontatus, realizing the extent to which Cryotek had now surpassed the Quintessons, begged the free trader to remember their contract and honor it. In response, Cryotek sent his pet Chro to rip the Quintesson's faces off.

As their Imperial Magistrate faced a hostile takeover beneath the planet's surface, the Quintesson troops on open ground found their advancement equally stymied. Expecting the newly reformatted Cybertron to be filled with docile and disoriented cattle, the Quintessons were ill-prepared for the resistance they faced from all corners of the globe and all sectors of the populace. In Ankmor, Judge Brinn's patrol were stalked by the Maximal techno-organic, Night Viper. In a deserted city, a contingent led by Overseer Rexian were overcome by Decepticons criminals recently restored to their bodies. Overseer Vashik and In-Saba Nur assaulted the new Predacon capital of Darkmount with predictable results, as Lord Galvatron squashed them beneath his heel (Waspinator helped). Oh yes, and then there were Dinobots. Admiral Krahulik was prepared to initiate orbital bombardment from the Paradigm hovering over Polyhex before Strika and Obsidian brought down the Quintesson warships as well. The Quintessons began to retreat in hordes, returning to their landing ships and launching out into space...right into the path of the planetary defense systems, recently brought back on-line.

All in all, the invasion of Cybertron was an unmitigated disaster. Judge Heirodyus watched the annihilation from New Quintessa with a mixture of horror and smugness, silently congratulating himself for escaping the fate of his brothers. He hadn't. The Mutant Beasts Icebird and Poison Bite had survived their dip in the Sharkticon pools, and returned imbued with the light of Primus himself. Heirodyus and the Quintessons were soon wiped from the surface of New Quintessa. Icebird and Poison Bite assumed control of the planet, spreading the techno-organic plant life made from Cybertron's reformatting, and teaching the Sharkticons the ways of peace. Wreckers: Finale Part II

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

The Quintessons were an alien race which appeared to conquer Cybertron at some point, but were driven off. However, they continued to maintain watch over Cybertron, eventually coming to manipulate the Council of Ancients. Megatron claimed this was the reason that he started the Great War. The Route of All Evil This did not, however, stop him from making a deal with the Quintessons, who provided him with the Aerospace Extermination Squadron and a bunch of Piranacons. Knowing Megatron and the Quintessons, both were planning to betray each other when the time was right. War Within: The Age of Wrath

Later, they prepped the Female Autobots for invading Cybertron. Generation One #11

Due to the bankruptcy of Dreamwave Productions, the story ended before the Quintesson plot could be revealed.


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Energon cartoon

Alpha Quintesson is a Quintesson. Ask Vector Prime

G.I. Joe vs. the Transformers continuity

When Serpent O.R. downloaded information on Cybertron's history from Soundwave's databanks, he saw the Quintessons create the transorganics and the Transformers. The Art of War #1

IDW Generation 1 continuity

An enigmatic Quintesson historian named Pentius was shipwrecked on Junkion for centuries until he was freed by Megatron, who needed a guide to get off the planet. Faces of Darkness During their time together, the Quintesson nurtured Megatron's evil ambitions in order to shape him into a true monster, though his motives for doing so were clouded in mystery. The Decepticon eventually killed Pentius to use his spark as fuel, but he was content with his death as it proved Megatron's training was complete. Prey

Some time after one of Shockwave's Regenesis missiles struck the planet LV-117, someone painted the Death face of a Quintesson judge on top of the Decepticon insignia adorning it. Syndromica (2) A strange inscription of a Quintesson judge was also present inside the ruins of some unknown ancient civilization on the planet. Through the cracks in the stone it was carved into, its eerie eyes glowed... Spotlight: Wheelie

When LV-117 was close to destruction, Wheelie and Varta planned to flee the planet on a familiar screw-shaped ship. Syndromica (2) After crashing the ship on LV-118, Wheelie claimed to have stolen it from someone, but didn't specify who. Out of the Silent Planet


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Animated cartoon

300 million years ago, give or take, the Autobots, engaged in a major colonization push, had border skirmishes with the Quintesson Pan Galactic Co-Prosperity Sphere. This conflict ended the Age of Expansion. The Autobot Commonwealth and the Co-Prosperity Sphere still border each other, as well as the Nebulon Republic. The AllSpark Almanac II

Swindle received his Sonic Jammer 3000 from the Quintessons. According to him, they are nice folks that give you a good deal and all the oil you can drink. Decepticon Air

Shattered Glass

Dude.
We are all one or we are all gone.{{#if:|{{{quote2}}}}}{{#if:AquariusShattered Glass|Aquarius{{#if:Shattered Glass|, Shattered Glass|}}|}}

This universe's Quintessons are an enigmatic and benevolent species holding sway over a large section of space known as the Quintesson Collective. They share technology and cooperate with many other species, whether organic, technorganic, or mechanical, using culture as a unifying notion instead of evolutionary origins. They long ago perfected zero-point energy engines, food and parts replication technologies, and advanced biomedics, allowing any individual to change features, organs, and overall designs, eliminating such things as scarcity, and thus material value, "mortality", and even the concept of "species". These technological advances are shared and freely available to all those who join their "ultra-species".

The Quintessons usually rely on cautious observation before making first contact with other unenlightened peoples, demanding years of study and careful cultural guidance before even considering allowing membership into the Collective. They rarely use direct means to steer a culture onto the enlightened path, but have been known to occasionally take more direct action to protect their interests, doing the "dirty work" themselves. Shattered Glass

Shattered Expectations

When Starscream and Razorclaw confronted the evil Autobots Goldbug, Jazz, and Grimlock, Starscream ordered the Autobots to surrender in the name of the Quintesson Federation. Shattered Expectations

Aligned continuity family

The Quintessons were small, organic, squid-like creatures. Physically frail, easily injured, and extremely cowardly, the Quintessons themselves were rarely seen, and did most of their dirty work through various proxies, willing or unwilling. When the Quintessons did need to expose themselves to further their own ends, they frequently encased themselves in mechanical suits styled after their various slave races, often claiming to be representatives of other races.

At some point after the creation of the first Transformers, Quintus Prime left Cybertron to seed other worlds in the universe with life with the Emberstone, in the hopes that other peaceful, space-faring civilizations would one day contact Cybertron to form friendly alliances. Among his earliest creations were the Quintessons. So that didn't work out too well.

After creating the Quintessons, Quintus Prime was never heard from again; Alpha Trion idly speculated that the Quintessons may have killed their creator. The Covenant of Primus

The Quintessons developed interstellar travel before the Transformers. At some point in the past, the Quintessons stole and reverse-engineered Space Bridge technology from an unknown source. They eventually discovered Cybertron toward the end of that planet's Age of Origins. As the first alien beings ever to make contact with the planet, the arrival of their ships awed the young Cybertronian race. Retribution The Covenant of Primus The Quintessons claimed to be benevolent entities sent to "uplift" the Cybertronians from their primitive existence, so that they could join the galactic community. By giving Cybertronians the "gift" of transformation and the power to assume alternate modes, the Quintessons won Cybertron's public support. In reality, though, the Quintessons had simply learned to manipulate the dormant transformation cogs present in every Transformer. The dispersal of Quintesson technology and tutelage turned the feudal, tribe-based planet into a sophisticated spacefaring civilization almost overnight. The Quintessons established rule of law and eventually a global order overseen by the Elite Guard member Sentinel Zeta Prime and the High Council.

Secretly, the Quintessons aimed to slowly rob the Cybertronians of their individuality, then sell them into slavery as mindless drones. To further this goal, they began implanting various Cybertronians, such as the Seekers, with cockpits intended to house Quintesson pilots. Retribution The Covenant of Primus Exodus The Quintessons organized other Cybertronians into working collectives and attempted to tamper with the Well of All Sparks itself; newborn Transformers began emerging without names or identities, and instead received alphanumeric designations. The Quintesson's twisted, bizarre sense of justice led to the construction of the Supreme Court on Cybertron, a kangaroo court where innocents could be sentenced to life imprisonment or death. Retribution The Covenant of Primus

Eventually, a resistance movement formed, and the Quintessons were defeated in a rebellion led by Sentinel Prime, who led Cybertron into a subsequent Golden Age. Traces of their rule, such as the cockpits implanted in many Cybertronians, would remain even as Cybertron slowly rid itself of their influence. Some of the Cybertronians who had lived through this disturbing period- including a young librarian named Orion Pax- suppressed their traumatic memories of Cybertron's occupation, and eventually forgot about the Quintessons almost entirely. Retribution The Covenant of Primus Generations later, Orion Pax claimed Sentinel and the High Council had enslaved Cybertron with the caste system instead of having it forced on them by the Quintessons. Exodus

The Quintessons never forgot about their humiliating rout at the hands of their former servants, and for many centuries the embittered race enviously regarded the planet and its inhabitants as rightfully theirs. At some point after Cybertron's Golden Age, the Quintessons discovered and colonized the Transformers's ex-colony world of Aquatron, modifying the bodies of its inhabitants to produce techno-organic monstrosities such as the Gamekeeper and the Hydratron. Aquatron was eventually subsumed into the Quintesson Imperium, and the Quintessons used their new Sharkticon slaves as aquatic shock troopers.

When the Ark entered the Aquatron system during Optimus Prime's search for the AllSpark, the Quintessons awakened Inquirata and his associate Xeros to carry out their deception that would eventually lead to the second invasion of Cybertron. Manipulating both Optimus and Megatron to the planet's surface under the guise of a peace treaty, the Quintessons were eventually able to place both Autobots and Decepticons under arrest and take them to court. During the trial, the Quintessons claimed that they had colonized Cybertron and literally built the first Transformers; Optimus quickly saw through their deception and maintained that all Cybertronians were creations of Primus alone. The Quintesson judges found Optimus innocent, and forced him to duel to the death with Megatron; siphoning energy from the two leaders, they powered a Space Bridge to Cybertron and launched a second invasion force to re-colonize and enslave Cybertron. Their genetically engineered leader Tyrannicon spearheaded the Sharkticon invasion and was able to swiftly overwhelm the weakened planet. The invasion was only defeated after Megatron, forced into a temporary truce with his archenemy, discovered the Sharkticon Matrix of Leadership and used it to override Tyrannicon's hold on his troops. In the ensuing fight, Xeros, Tyrannicon, and Inquirata were all killed, and Aquatron itself was freed of Quintesson control. Retribution

The Mutacons knew of the Quintessons but considered the law-bound Quintesson way of life to be boring and a worse fate than death. The Covenant of Primus

Kre-O online comics

Galvatron attacked a Quintesson and spun it around by the tentacles during his rampage. Enter the New Emperor of Destruction!? Stop Galvatron's Rampage!

Transformers vs. G.I. Joe

This section covers fiction that is ongoing. It will be added to as the story progresses. If it isn't current, you can help by updating it.

The mysterious fifth dimensional beings known only as "the Makers" created the universe and with it Daiakuron, a living planet which they imbued with the power to create life on its own. They went on to merge together, five at a time, into gestalt forms, becoming the Quintessons. Earth: R.I.P. Taking up residence in the Void, the Quintessons were displeased that the life spawned from Daiakuron had developed sentience, something they had not intended. Seizing Optimus Prime, Snake-Eyes and Duke the three were placed on trail for theft of the body and the soul. Reviewing their memories, acquiring the Matrix of Leadership from Alpha Trion, being trained by the Blind Master in martial arts and living at odds with his step-father, respectively the trio was found guilty! Before persecution could be passed they escaped back into reality. Everybody Hates Metroplex

Games

Transformers Legends

You spin me right round baby, right round.

The Quintessons put Rodimus and Sergeant Kup on trial. Unfortunately Grimlock arrived and promptly turned the Sharkticons on their masters. Mockery of Justice Intending to disrupt the Galactic Games, the Quintessons allied with Slipstream and sent her in to cause trouble. The Galactic Games They also send Skuxxoids to the games to kidnap Ultra Magnus, Kup, and Spike. Five Faces of Darkness: Part 1 When the trio were rescued post-sentencing by the other Autobots, the Quintessons destroyed their own home planet, Quintesson, in an attempt to eliminate them. The Quints then tried to enlist the help of the Decepticons to wipe out the Autobots, only for Galvatron to arrive and reclaim his troops. Five Faces of Darkness: Part 2 They soon struck an alliance with Galvatron and attacked Cybertron, with the end result that they activated an ancient device to deactivate all Transformers. After the device was destroyed by Spike, the Quintessons were forced to retreat. Five Faces of Darkness: Part 3

The Quintessons observed from afar Ultra Magnus and his Autobots celebrated the activation of a new power core. Enraged by the sight, the Quintessons plotted to get revenge on both Autobots and Decepticons. They then approached Galvatron and gave the Decepticon leader false coordinates to a power core. The Quintessons had in truth led Galvatron to the location of their old creations, the Dweller and the Trans-Organics. After the ensuing battle that took place between the Autobots, the Decepticons and the Quintessons' ancient creations, a faint Quintesson cry for help was broadcast from deep underground... Dweller in the Depths

Notes

  • An early design for the Quintessons, described in an April 1985 draft of The Transformers: The Movie, gave them spindly bipedal bodies with large heads. Per this draft, the Autobots would have been shocked to discover that, in reality, they were all head; when Hot Rod grabbed one, its head would disconnect from its body, fly off, and link up to another body in waiting. Somewhere along the way, the body idea got dropped, but not before designer Floro Dery produced a design seemingly based on this early idea, seen at right, revealed through his Etsy store in October 2014. The idea did not disappear completely, however; the mini-series "Five Faces of Darkness" was produced before the movie's script was finalized, and contains a few references to ideas from this early draft, including a scene in which one of Deliberata's faces detaches—seemingly derived from the idea of a removable head.
  • When asked about the finalized Quintesson design in an interview, Dery stated they were based on a cylindrical toy he designed at some point.<ref>TransFormers Philippines: Interview With Floro Dery</ref>
  • In their first appearance in The Transformers: The Movie, the two speaking Quintessons are voiced by Regis Cordic (who plays the judge) and Roger C. Carmel (the prosecutor). These two actors then became the primary recurring voices of the Quintessons in the third season of the cartoon, usually playing judges, with Jack Angel normally serving as a third in episodes where more than two speaking roles were required. In AKOM-animated episodes, Cordic's Quintesson (usually designated "Quintesson #1" in scripts) would commonly speak from the Face of Doubt, while Carmel's ("Quintesson #2") used the Face of Laughter; Angel's intermittently-appearing third Quintesson would most often use the Face of Death, but animation errors, and Quintesson face-rotating meant that these were not absolute rules. In Toei episodes, judges usually spoke from the Face of Death regardless of actor, and prosecutors got more screen time, with Cordic, as the "lead" Quintesson actor, voicing most of them. Numerous guest actors also played assorted "guest" Quintesson roles in various episodes.
  • Since the movie never explains what the characters are being charged with, and offers no logical progression to a verdict, it's usually interpreted that Quintesson justice simply operates on reverse terminology for the sake of humor—that the Quintessons say "innocent", but dohohoho, they're aliens, and to them, that means "guilty", so the accused is sentenced to death. This was certainly the assumption Simon Furman was working off of when he first used the Quintessons in the UK-only framing sequence of "The Big Broadcast of 2006" and had a Quintesson find an interrogator to be "innocent" of things which he is unambiguously guilty of. The 2014 novel Retribution also followed this path, with the note that "innocent" must "mean something different" to the aliens, as the characters on trial are indeed entirely guilty of what they are being accused of. What is consistently overlooked, however, is the one instance in all Transformers canon of the Quintessons actually finding someone guilty, which happens to Kup and Ultra Magnus in "Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2". And they are guilty of the charges put before them: being Autobots, the race who stole Cybertron from the Quintessons. While it may have started out that way at some point in the script process of the movie, the cartoon universe made clear very early on that Quintesson justice isn't supposed to operate on reverse terminology for humor's sake; the aliens know the difference between the two terms, and the trials are just trivial, for their own amusement, before they kill you anyway.
  • In a Q&A, Simon Furman said he considered making the Magnificence a Quintesson artifact but changed his mind.<ref>SIMON FURMAN - Q&A Nov/Dec 2008 at IDW Publishing Forums</ref>
  • The Animated Quintessons are just off-screen mentions, but as their empire's name is near-identical to Imperial Japan's Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere, we can assume they're very nasty.

Foreign names

  • Japanese: Quintessa-seijin (クインテッサ星人, "Planet Quintessa People")
  • Italian: Quintessenziali ("Quintessentials")
  • Mandarin: Wǔ Miàn Guài (五面怪, "Five-faced Monster")

References

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