Quintesson

Quintesson
General Information
Homeworld	Quintessa (native; destroyed) Cybertron (immigrant; formerly) New Quintessa (G1 cartoon) Planet Q (Unicron Trilogy continuity) Aquatron ("Aligned" novels)
Height	Variable
Sapience level	Sapient
Subspecies/Races	Judge Bailiff Executioner Prosecutor Scientist "Security Officer" "Humanoid"
Behind the Scenes
Universe	Transformers

The Quintessons are an ancient race of bizarre yet evil squid-like mechanoids who are prominently regarded as the creators of Cybertronians.

"All shall be judged."

―The Quintesson Judges' motto

Biology

Appearance

Quintessons appear to be mostly (if not entirely) mechanical, although one theory is that they were once organic beings who slowly added more and more cybernetic parts to themselves until they were completely mechanical. There are several body styles seen amongst the Quintesson society, henceforth referred to as their castes.

Judges

A Quintesson judge

Quintesson Judges (alternatively known as the Imperial Magistrates) are the most prominent and infamous caste of Quintesson, as well as the apparent leaders of the race. They are built upon an inverted egg-shaped body which floats upon a beam of energy, with several wiry tentacles for physical manipulation.

However, by far their most distinctive physical characteristic would be their five rotating faces. Each face represents a different aspect of the Quintesson, though for four of the five faces, there are conflicting reports as to what each represents. The order of these faces is unique to each judge and consists of:

• A green, almost skull-like face called the "Face of Death" or simply "Death". A mummy-like variant of this face also exists.
• A yellow and green "suspicious" face called "Doubt" or "Judgement". A feminine variant of this face with a smaller gold headpiece also exists.
• An orange and white "smiling" face called "Laughter", "War", "Wit", or "Chaos". A reddish-orange and blue variant of this face with googly bug-eyes also exists.
• A green and yellow "grimacing" face called "Bitterness", "Wisdom", or "Ego". A variant of this face with a different headpiece also exists.
• And a red and black "angry" face called "Rage", "Wrath", or "Cruelty". A feminine variant of this face with more black than red also exists.

While most judges appear to be of about the same size, smaller models such as Sevax and larger models such as the massive Lord Kledji are also known to exist.

In certain universes, Quintesson Judges are hybrid beings created by the Quintesson Scientist whose three heads are based on the native lifeforms of whichever universe they travel to. One notable Judge was the former Decepticon Starscream, whose other heads were of a Velgrox and a Grey.

Bailiffs

A Quintesson bailiff

Quintesson Bailiffs have tooth-lined snout similar in appearance to a Terran lamprey. They usually served as guards in the Quintessons' court and can transform into robotic, bipedal alligator-like creatures.

Executioners

A Quintesson executioner

Quintesson Executioners (also known as "Gatekeepers") are humanoids tasked with putting an end to the victims of Quintessa's courts by throwing the switch that drops them into their Sharkticon pits.

Prosecutors

A Quintesson prosecutor

Quintesson Prosecutors (also known as "Inquisitors") are the second-most common type, often seen in positions of authority. 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.

Scientists

A Quintesson scientist

In most universes, Quintesson Scientists are somewhat similar to the Prosecutors in construction, though they feature more bulbous heads and somewhat human-like faces with beards. The only exception to this is the unnamed Scientist who traditionally oversees the creation of new hybrid Judges.

"Security officers"

Quintesson security officers

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".

"Humanoids"

Humanoid Quintessons

Humanoids are an exceedingly rare type of Quintesson.

Powers and abilities

Quintessons share ocazionaly of the same abilities as other Cybertronians.

Quintessons have a tendency to flight and shoot lasers.

Weaknesses

Regardless of what universe they hail from, the Quintessons themselves have absolutely no fighting abilities whatsoever. Ultimately, they are absolute cowards if they have nothing to hide behind.

Culture and society

The Quintessons' history and clandestine machinations are tied together with that of the various subspecies of Cybertronians, along with connections to Primus, Unicron, and even Quintus Prime. They are generally regarded as one of the few unforeseen dangers ahead of the Autobots and Decepticons in their civil war.

In the Primax and Uniend universal clusters, the Quintessons prefer subtle manipulation combined with scheming and advanced technology over brute force. If neither of them works, they can fall back to either their fleets of battle-ready starships or legions upon legions of mass-produced vehicular warrior Terrorbot drones or deadly animalistic Cybertronians affiliated with their empire, including Sharkticons, Allicons, modern Predacons, Cybertronian Terrorcons, and Planet Q Terrorcons.

• The Quintesson insignia (primary design)
• The Quintesson insignia (War for Cybertron Trilogy design)

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In some universes, the Quintessons travel across the multiverse using their multiverse drive and passed judgement on which universes deserved to live or be destroyed. If the universe was found guilty, then the acting Judge would oversee the destruction of the universe by using unspace matter to obliterate everything it touches.

In negative-polarity universes, the Quintessons are portrayed as an enigmatic and benevolent species holding sway over a large section of space known as the Quintesson Collective. They share their technology and cooperate with many other species, regardless of whether they are organic, technorganic, or mechanical. They use culture itself as a unifying notion instead of evolutionary origins.

In the Malgus cluster, the Quintessons had founded their own interstellar government, the Quintesson Pan Galactic Co-Prophency Sphere. It has a very confusing name because there is no record of it being in effect beyond the Milky Way. It is unknown if these Quintessons have a connection to Alpha Q's Realm, a small and unclaimed group of neutral worlds lying just beyond the galaxy.

Notable Quintessons' planets include: Andellor, Alaxuu, Aquatron, Brobdingnag, Corata-Vaz, Epsilon Iridani (system), Exton IX (space station), Fabricon, Lanarq, McColamo, Menonia, Mirtonia, Monacus (asteroid), Neutronia, New Quintessa, Quintessa, Prysmos, Rotan, Sandokan, Spindrift, Skuxxos, Taxxos, Tixlara, Tlalak, Torkulon, Tyroxia, Vrob, Xeptos, Xetaxxis, Zamojin, Zeotopia, and Zull.

Technology

Dimensional-travelling Quintessons possess a multiverse drive, allowing them to travel from one universe to the next. Across the universes his kind of passes judgement upon, the Scientist has developed a fondness for collecting the native iterations of the Decepticon known as Soundwave.

Negative-polarity Quintessons once perfected zero-point energy engines, food and parts replication technologies, and advanced biomedics, thereby allowing any individual to change their features, organs, and overall designs. This would eliminate such things as scarcity, mortality (which they consider "material value"), and even the concept of "species". These technological advances are shared and freely available to all those who join their "ultra-species".

Gallery

Quintesson Judges

Controverse

Derodomontatus

Deliberata

Deseeus

Klementia

Kledji and Sevax

Pentius

Alpha Judge (Cyberverse)

Judge Starscream

Aquarius

Quintesson Executioners

Ghyrik

Jolup

Quintesson Prosecutors

A Prosecutor

A Prosecutor drone

A Prosecutor drone colored like Starscream

Concept designs for Prosecutor drones

Quintesson Scientists

Al-Badur

Mara-Al-Utha

Inquirata

Scientist (Cyberverse)

Scientist (Cyberverse; true form)

Concept designs for the Scientist (Cyberverse)

Judge Faces

Face of Death

Face of Death (alternate design)

Face of Judgement (masculine)

Face of Judgement (feminine)

Face of Wit

Face of Chaos

Face of Wisdom

Face of Ego

Face of Wrath

Face of Cruelty

Miscellaneous

A Bailiff

Alpha Quintesson a.k.a. Alpha Q

Unknown type of Quintesson

Notes

• The name "Quintesson" appears to be a play on the word "Quintessential", meaning "Representing the most perfect or typical example of a quality or class", indicating their perceived perfection.
  • In various media, the name is pronounced as either "quin-te-sohn" or "quin-tess-in".
• Quintessons are commonly known by their associated racial slur "squids".
• Alpha Quintesson was not officially identified as a Quintesson until an "Ask Vector Prime" entry published in 2015.
• The Quintesson Judges did not receive any merchandise until the Cyberverse toyline in 2019, followed by the War for Cybertron: Earthrise toyline months later.
• Out of the Quintesson Judges' faces, the only face identified during the run of the original Generation 1 cartoon was the "Face of Death", which memorably called out directly by the narrator of the Secret Files of Teletraan II. The script for The Transformers: The Movie called for the red and black scary-looking face to be "angry"; the orange and white grinning face to be "smiling"; the green and yellow disappointed-looking face to be "grimacing"; and the yellow and green skeptical-looking face to be "suspicious". Artist Floro Dery designed the Judge faces to represent these emotions.
  • The "suspicious" face has been identified as "Doubt" in fan-made translations created by Andrew Hall circa 2002 and the instruction manual for the War for Cybertron Trilogy Quintesson Pit of Judgement multi-pack. It has recently been identified as "Judgement" in Transformers: The Ultimate Guide and concept art for the Cyberverse Alpha Judge.
  • The "smiling" face has the most alternate names, having been identified as "Laughter" in Hall's fan-made translations, "War" in The Ultimate Guide, "Wit" in the Quintesson Pit of Judgement multi-pack instructions, and "Chaos" in Cyberverse concept art.
  • The "grimacing" and "angry" faces have been identified as "Bitterness" and "Rage in Hall's fan-made translations; "Wisdom" and "Wrath" in both The Ultimate Guide and the Quintesson Pit of Judgement multi-pack instructions; and "Ego" and "Cruelty" in Cyberverse concept art.
• The first set of names for the other Quintesson Judge faces were found on a spread in the January 1987 issue of Japan's Comic Bom Bom would reflect this intent, using mostly direct translations of the English descriptors. However, these descriptors would remain unknown to Western audiences until circa 2002. When Andrew Hall provided a translation, he identified the "angry" face as "Rage", the "smiling" face as "Laughter", the "grimacing" face as "Bitterness", and the "suspicious" face as "Doubt". Of course, these translated designations were not prevalent in the fandom at the time.
  • When author Simon Furman penned the 2004 book Transformers: The Ultimate Guide, he invented his own set of names for the Quintesson Judge faces: the "angry" face was "Wrath", the smiling face was dubbed "War"; the "grimacing" face was dubbed "Wisdom"; and the "suspicious" face was dubbed "Judgement". While he struck lucky dubbing the "angry" face, the others have no connection to the actual intent behind the Quintessons' design.
• In 2020, the Quintessons made their big comeback as part of the War for Cybertron Trilogy franchise. The instruction manual for the Quintesson Pit of Judgement multi-pack using a combination of new and established names for the faces. These names were reinforced by their use in the War for Cybertron Trilogy cartoon, which was released a few months later.
  • During that same year, Quintessons appeared in the third season of the Cyberverse cartoon, with the Alpha Judge being modeled after the original Quintesson Judge design. The Judge's faces are identified on concept art made by Léo Chiola.
• The validity of Quintessons being the creators of the Cybertronians varies between continuities. In some continuities, they are confirmed as such, with Cybertron being conceived as a factory-like planetoid. However, this is not the case for continuities where Primus is stated to be the Cybertronians' creator.
• Although the Quintessons went unnamed in the 2019 IDW continuity before its conclusion, multiple lines of dialogue and a single panel in the Transformers: War's End miniseries heavily imply that the Quintessons are the aliens responsible for mutating Exarchon into his present-day self.
  • Had IDW Publishing's license over Transformers continued, Brian Ruckley would have expounded on the "Quintessence", which he described as a quarantined region of space populated by Quintessons and barricaded behind a shield of electrical energy.
• Ruckley also stated that while "not intrinsic, there [either] was [or] would have been a connection of some sort" between the Quintessons and the Voin, another race of squid-like creatures featured in the 2019 IDW continuity. Part of his original conception was that "they tend to get involved, usually as individuals, somehow, sometime, in pretty much everything."
• It is often speculated that the enigmatic Creators glimpsed in Transformers: Age of Extinction are a live-action incarnation of the Quintessons.
  • Quintessa, an equally enigmatic mechanoid sorceress featured in Transformers: The Last Knight, likewise is speculated to be a rouge member of the Creators' species. While her characterization is loosely based on the Quintessons' portrayal in Generation 1 lore, her name is similar to their home planet whereas her design is reminiscent of Quintus Prime, who is often portrayed as having a connection to the Quintessons.