Quintesson
| This article is about the Generation 1 alien race. For the Unicron Trilogy Alien, see Alpha Quintesson. |
The Quintessons are a bizarre and ancient race of mechanoids, whose history and shadowy machinations are bound up with that of the Transformers. 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 space ships as well. However, the Quintessons themselves are have zero fighting abilities, and absolute cowards if they have nothing to hide behind. An example of this is that the Quintessons are powerless against a Sharticon revolt.
Types of Quintessons
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 Quintesson's bizarre court system.
- (Note: 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. Consisting of an inverted, egg-shaped body, they 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.
| Who farted? | File:Qhead1.gif | File:Qhead2.gif | File:Qhead3.gif | File:Qhead4.gif |
| Death | Rage/ Wrath |
Laughter/ War |
Bitterness/ Wisdom |
Doubt/ Judgment |
- (Note: The first names given above 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 made up for the 2004 publication, Transformers: The Ultimate Guide, which have no basis in anything. 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 the only named member of their breed was Judge Deliberata. Conversely, in the Marvel Comics continuity, Judges vary in size, and include the massive Lord Kledji, and the smaller Sevax. It is worth noting that the order of the faces in the ring varies from Judge to Judge (if not from shot to shot, ahem).
Other Quintesson Types
- Bailiffs
These snout-nosed creatures were seen serving as guards in the Quintessons' court.
- Executioners
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 members of this breed include General Ghyrik, who led a Quintesson attack on Autobot City. Space Pirates!
- Prosecutor
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.
- Two Faced
- Security Officer (Ancient)
- Humanoid
- Scientist
- ?
Fiction
Animated series
In ages long past, a cold and emotionless race of aliens called the Quintessons created 2 lines of sentient robots on a planet-sized factory known as Cybertron. One was a line of robots designed for domestic duties and labor (known as Autobots) and another line designed for military use (known as Decepticons). The Quintessons were exceptionally cruel to their creations, eventually leading to wide-spread rebellion, a rebellion started by the Autobot A3. 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 millions of years. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4
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's amusement), as even when the Judge determined the defendant to be innocent, they were still immediately fed to the ravenous Sharkticons. The Transformers: The Movie
One (or possibly 5, depending on who you ask) years after the defeat of Unicron, the Quintessons re-appeared. 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 interesting in interrogating their prisoners then 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
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 made an alliance with the newly revived Galvatron to attack Cybertron (in return for the fictional Decepticon Matrix of Leadership, which they made up because they needed to give him a reason not kill them). Five Faces of Darkness, Part 3
The Quintessons betrayed Galvatron almost immediately after the battle had been won, toggling a switch which caused all Transformers the Galaxy over to literally freeze where they stood. Luckily, Spike stopped the Quintessons before they had much a chance to do anything. Despite their betrayal (and the fact that they almost killed him), Galvatron remained an ally (despite that he tried to kill them also). Five Faces of Darkness, Part 5
Later plots by the Quintessons were no less nefarious. A rogue Quintesson scientist abducted several Transformers and a human for behavioral study The Killing Jar and revived the deceased Optimus Prime in an attempt to lure all the Autobots into a trap (which nearly succeeded). Dark Awakening Later still, the Quintessons attempted to rewrite history by preventing their loss of Cybertron (which nearly resulted in the very fabric of Time being destroyed). Forever is a Long Time Coming
A single Quintesson was captured by Sky Lynx to repair the body of Optimus Prime. It was mentioned that the Quintessons had gone into hiding in the furthest reaches of the galaxy and were never heard from again. The Return of Optimus Prime
Marvel UK Comics
Like those creepy little fish that swarm behind sharks, snapping at stray scraps, the Quintessons were vile enforcers for Unicron, savagely hunting down and picking off those that attempted to escape his maw.
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.
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 Eject, 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 to not 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.
3H Transformers Universe: The Wreckers comic
The Quintessons conspired with Cryotek to retake the newly-reformatted Cybertron. He screwed them.
Dreamwave Comics
They control the Council of Ancients.
Later, they prep the Female Autobots for invading Cybertron.
Kiss Players continuity
The Kiss Players Marissa Faireborn, Atari Hitotonari and Shaoshao Li, together with the Sparkbots Angela, Star Dust and Zangetsu, were traveling through time aboard Fortress 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 even turning into a swimsuit-clad elementary school girl and asking the judge's permission to go to the potty did not prevent Atari and her friends from being found "not guilty" and fed to the Sharkticons.
Rescued by Optimus Prime and Goldbug, they fled back to Fortress Maximus and re-entered the time portal. Sucked into the maelstrom along with them, the Quintessons demanded that they stop, claiming to be the last of their kind. But it was too late, and the aliens were trapped inside the hole in space-time.
Trivia
- When asked about the Quintesson design in an interview, Floro Dery stated they were based on a cylindrical toy he designed at some point. [1]
Footnotes
