Void Rivals has been teasing the Transformers universe with numerous connections throughout each issue. While the series has done a dive into the deep end, the first three issues have each introduced a character from the classic and beloved series. The first issue featured Jetfire, the second a Skuxxoid, and the third surprised with the appearance of a Quintesson. But, who are the Quintessons?

The aliens known as Quintessons debuted late in the Transformers Generation One animated series. They created the Autobots as labor and the Decepticons for military use. They are said to have created the Transformers but were cruel masters whose slaves rose up against them. They fled after the rebellion settling on the planet Quintessa for the next eleven million years.

The were introduced in Transformers: The Movie when Hot Rod, Cup, the Dinobots, and more crashed on their planet. There the Quintessons held mock trials feeding prisoners to the Sharkticons. Grimlock inspired the Sharkticons to rise up and rebel much like the Transformers had done millions of years earlier. They became regular villains against the Autobots even reviving Optimus Prime an attempt to lure them into a trap and destroy them with a supernova.

There’s been other takes on the character in comics and elsewhere, each with a spin on these evil creatures.

How the new “Energon Universe” will treat these alien creatures is unknown. The surprise debut was as a prisoner on the Skuxxoid ship in Void Rivals #3. It attempts to lure our two main characters to free it and then escape all together on the Quintesson’s ship. The Skuxxoid stops the escape, describing the Quintesson as a liar and not to be trusted. The Skuxxoid lets its prisoners go as there is no bounty on them but keeps the Quintesson as a prisoner since there is on on it. What their actual connection to the Transformers is still up in the air and to be revealed but it’s one more reference to the classic world we know.