Judge


 * The Quintessons are an alien race with ties to the origin of the Transformers.

The Quintessons are a bizarre and ancient race of mechanoids, whose dark history and shadowy machinations are bound up with the history of the Transformers, and connections with Primus and Unicron. 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'.

"[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!!"

- Al-Badur dissin' his peeps

"Deceivers! Betrayers! Five-faced slime of the nebula!"

- Galvatron on the Quintessons

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.

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:
 * Brinn
 * Deliberata
 * Derodomontatus
 * Heirodyus
 * Kledji
 * Sevax

Generation 1 cartoon continuity
"We Transformers have looked into the face of our creators... and seen the face of an enemy."

- Hot Rod

In ages long past, a cold and emotionless race of aliens called the Quintessons created two 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 the other was a 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.

MUX Continuity
In 2008, Quintesson scientists realized that their planet, Quintessa, was threatened with destruction by a time rift that was caused by a space bridge accident on Earth's time-traveling.''

''Desperate for their race to survive, they launched a surprise attack on Los Angeles, capturing it for themselves.

Foreign names

 * Japanese: Quintessa-seijin (クインテッサ星人, "Planet Quintessa People")
 * Italian: Quintessenziali