Quintesson spacecraft

The Quintessons have a great many varieties of ship in their armada.

Quintesson Cruiser

A basic Quintesson ship

The Quintesson Cruiser is the quintessential Quintesson spacecraft, and it is often simply referred to as "the" Quintesson Ship.

The Quintesson Cruiser spins on its axis as it moves through space. (It's not clear why, that's not the way its gravity goes...) Though its unique design means it's best served by a planetary starbase with a cradle capable of receiving it, the Quintesson Cruiser is capable of burrowing 'tail first' into the ground and balancing with the aid of a landing stabilizers.

The most physically massive of the Quintesson spacecraft, the Quintesson Cruiser dwarfs the Autobot Sky Lynx, and has a docking bay large enough to accommodate a Quintesson warship.

The Quintesson Cruiser is equipped with energy cannon, a sophisticated broadcasting array and a camouflage unit that can engulf the ship in an innocent-looking cosmic dust cloud.

Careful though, or you'll put someone's eye out.

Note: This type of ship appears in TF:TM, Five Faces of Darkness, The Big Broadcast of 2006, The Quintesson Journal, The Face of the Nijika... and many other places. It was also used as the design for the Autobot ship used by Wheelie's family (which crashed on Quintessa) in "The Story of Wheelie: The Wild Boy of Quintesson".

Exiles novel

On the Planet of Junkion, many Quintesson ships make up the planets junk covered surface. The leader of Junkion, Wreck-Gar, has made a home under the wreckage of a Quintesson cruiser, in the hole the nose made when it crashed. The crew of the ship were probably cannibalised for parts, even if they survived the crash.

Quintesson Warship

A Quintesson warship

The Quintesson Warship is a small heavily armed assault craft. They're fast enough to insert a whole brigade of Sharkticon shock troops behind enemy defenses- and then withdraw before fired upon. They excel at high-speed formation maneuvers. Their small size combined with their powerful engines and armament means that Quintesson Warships are robust enough to serve autonomous duty, or as a small combat unit for the larger "Quintesson ship."

A Quintesson Warship is equipped with a single powerful Starbomb, which is used to clear resistance on the initial approach.

Note: Three of this type of ship appeared in Forever is a Long Time Coming, and another in The Quintesson Journal. They are among the Quintesson forces invading Beast Machines-era Cybertron in Wreckers: Finale Part II.

Quintesson "jetski"

Quintesson jetski

The Quintesson ship carries several of these airsleds for moving troops rapidly across the battlefield. They can be manned by one or two beings, and are armed with a central cannon. Though airsleds are used by shock troops today, Quintesson judges have occasionally been known to make use of them.

Note: Airsleds/Jetski-things appear in The Face of the Nijika, both in the present and in flashbacks to long ago.

"Science ship"

Quintesson science ship

The Quinesson science ship features a unique forward-mounted engine design and can be equipped with a mirage sequence for disguise. The research ship is equipped to crew nine (with nine escape pods) though it can be manned with a crew of 1, providing he has an assistant familiar with its functions.

This "Research ship" seems to be the same size as the Quintesson Warship. While it's possible that it may serve a similar function as an auxiliary craft docking within the Quintesson Cruiser, this has never been shown.

Note: This type of ship appeared in The Killing Jar. Another one (with a dark blue front section) appears in Webworld.

"Meeting ship"

Quintesson Meeting ship

The 'Meeting ship' appears to serve no military or scientific purpose. Only about twice the size of The Dweller, most of the ship's internal volume is given over to a large meeting space.

Inside the Meeting ship

Passive-aggressive comments about 'other bands of Quintessons' could indicate that the conclave on this ship represents the legitimate central authority of Quintesson government after Quintessa's destruction... but it's difficult to say.

Note: One ship of this design appears in Dweller in the Depths.

Trident Attack Craft

Trident Attack Craft

The Trident Attack Craft is a small Quintesson ship, crewing two. Uniquely, either 'end' of the craft can serve as its prow. The 'cockpit forward' orientation has more powerful engines, while the 'prongs forward' orientation places its primary weapons towards the enemy.

Note: The Trident Attack Craft were originally Lithonian escape craft in the 1986 animated film but the design was reused as Quintesson craft in the Marvel UK story, "Space Pirates!." They were named and described in the Asteroid Association ship-identifying guide from the Marvel UK 1990 Annual.

"Ancient" ships

Ancient Quintesson ships

11 million years ago, when the Autobot rebellion forced the Quintessons off of Cybertron, they evacuated in many ships of a similar (but not identical) design. These designs all had a long slender 'cigar' type body and small horizontal wings off the back.

These ships are able to land and take off like plane. The design no longer appears to be in common use.

Note: Many ships of this design appear in Five Faces of Darkness, Part 4.