Quintesson

The Quintessons are an ancient race of bizarre mechanoids prominently featured in the Transformers franchise, first appearing in the 1986 film The Transformers: The Movie.

Behavior
The Quintessons' history and clandestine machinations are tied together with that of the various Transformer subspecies, along with connections to both Primus and Unicron.

In the Generation 1 and "Aligned" continuity families, the Quintessons prefer subtle manipulation combined with scheming and advanced technology over brute force. If neither of them work, they can fall back to their legions upon legions of deadly Sharkticons and Allicons or their fleets of battle-ready starships.

In the Cyberverse continuity family, 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 to obliterate all matter.

In Shattered Glass, as that universe is a negative-polarity reality, the Quintessons are portrayed as an enigmatic and benevolent species holding sway over a large section of space known as the Quintesson Collective.

Culture
Shattered Glass Quintessons are know to 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.

Technology
Shattered Glass 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 is considered "material value"), and even the concept of "species". These technological advances are shared and freely available to all those who join their "ultra-species".

Weaknesses
Regardless of continuity, the Quintessons themselves have absolutely no fighting abilities whatsoever. Ultimately, they are absolute cowards if they have nothing to hide behind.

Caste Biology
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. However they came to be, though, there are several body styles seen amongst the Quintesson society, henceforth referred to as their castes.

Judges
In Generation 1, 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 are unique to each judge.

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 Transformers: Cyberverse, Quintesson Judges are portrayed as 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 modeled after a Velgrox and a Grey.

Bailiffs
These creatures have tooth-lined snout similar in appearance to a Terran lamprey. Bailiffs 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".

Prosecutors
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.

Scientist
In Generation 1, Quintesson Scientists are somewhat similar to the Prosecutors in construction, though they feature more bulbous heads and bearded, somewhat more human faces.

In Transformers: Cyberverse, the Quintesson Scientist is an individual who traditionally oversees the creation of new Judges.

Other types
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".

Humanoid Quintessons are exceedingly rare.