Cylon Models

This article describes various Cylon models and constructs seen in the new Battlestar Galactica, Caprica, and Blood and Chrome. For information on the Original Series Cylons, see Cylons (TOS).

Part of the series on The Cylons (Re-imagined Series)

History Culture & Religion Religion Models Humanoid Cylons Spacecraft Psychology Tactics

Ancient Cylons

Main articles: Ancient Cylons, Final Five

An ancient Earth "Cylon".

Unknown to the Colonials at the time of their creations, Cylon creations were responsible for the annihilation of Earth some thousands of years prior to the Fall of the Colonies. Little is known about them, however on Earth, many pieces were preserved that the Colonials were able to study. Here, Cylons existed in organic, humanoid form, and robotic form. Sometime after their arrival on Earth, the humanoids created these machine to serve a variety of roles, but eventually they rebelled, and systematically eliminated the population in a mutually assured destructive attack. It is unknown if any of the robotic forms survived, however, five humanoids would be alerted to the coming holocaust, and would survive using re-created organic memory transfer technology used by their ancestors.

U-87 Cyber Combat Unit

Main article: U-87 Cyber Combat Unit

The Cylon Prototype created by Daniel Graystone.

The first Cylons of the Twelve Colonies, created by Daniel Graystone, were robotic soldiers with a roughly humanoid design but were not fashioned to look human. Developed by Graystone Industries for military applications, the project started off on the wrong foot. The first prototype was unable to properly identify and zone in on its targets.

After his daughter is killed in a terrorist bombing, Daniel learned that Zoe uploaded a digital avatar of herself to the V-World, and decided to try using it to re-create Zoe in robot form. Using stolen technology, from his competitor Tomas Vergis, he is successful in bringing sentience to his robotic chassis.

Zoe-A, the holographic avatar, was downloaded into a robot brain and thus became Zoe-R, the first cybernetic life-form node, or Cylon. Graystone also created an online version of Tamara Adama, but her father was appalled by it and decided to repent his actions. However, the avatar became unstable and dematerialized, and the U-87 collapsed after only a few short seconds. After sometime, though, the unit wakes up in a lab, and recomposes itself. In a familiar voice, the Cylon finds a phone, and dials out to Lacy Rand. It is none other than Zoe Graystone; her avatar somehow surviving the collapse of the data stream earlier.

This unit is then put into full scale production after gaining approval from the Caprican Minister of Defense (CAP: "Pilot").

Civilian Models

Main article: Civilian Cylon

A Cylon babysitter tends to a young child.

Sometime after the successful testing and production of the U-87, Graystone Industries produced models for the general civilian population, and business sector. These models were smaller than the U-87, and about the same height as a typical human male. Depending on their use, these models featured different painting schemes on their chassis, and different armor plating.

They are utilized in the working sector as "blue collar" labor, and can be seen working trash collection, and building construction (CAP: "Apotheosis").

Private sector Cylons are capable of typical home maintenance, and chore work. Eventually, the population becomes comfortable enough with the Cylons to even let them babysit their children.

At the outbreak of the Cylon War, these models join up with their military counterparts against the human population (TRS: "Blood and Chrome").

Cylon War-Era Centurion

Cylon War-era Centurions (including a gold-colored variation) pilot a Raider.

Main article: Cylon War-era Centurion

The Cylon War-era Centurion, or as some of the Colonials contemptuously referred to them, "chrome toasters", was apparently the last Cylon model to have been extensively documented by Colonial authorities after the Cylon War. It is a primitive model, resembling a short, clumsy humanoid with a single red eye. According to Saul Tigh, they had a distinctive "stink" of machine oil.

These Centurions made up a huge part of Cylon forces during the First War, and participated in all major engagements, where they were used as ground troops, or raider pilots. During the War, these models were known to be merciless in their fighting — in his recollection of the Brenik, Saul Tigh recalls their vicious tactics in hand-to-hand combat: "The first one was Duncan Raverty. I found him in the corridor. His guts were strewn around on the floor. Y'know, at first I couldn't figure out why the Cylons would bother doing something like that [...] You had to look into their red eye-slit. They hated us. They hated us so much it wasn't enough just to kill us" ("Scattered", deleted scene).

They are replaced by the modern Centurion sometime after the war, although, a relatively small group of this model survives the "upgrade" on the Guardian basestar until its destruction by Colonial forces (Razor). Other 0005 models are still present on The Colony, and help defend it after Galactica attacks (Daybreak, Part II).

Cython

A dead Cython.

Created sometime prior to the tenth year of the First Cylon War, these cybernetic snakes and other Cylon "critters" represent another evolutionary step in the Cylons' ultimate goal of merging human and machine. None have been encountered off the icy planetoid Djerba, where they live among the glacial ice, after carving out a network of tunnels.

At least two are encountered by the crew of Wild Weasel, after landing on the planet to rendezvous with a marine special ops team. According to Xander Toth, they are extremely hard to kill without the right weapon. Having been on the planet for sometime, Toth also claims they make for good eating, if the mechanical parts are removed first (Blood and Chrome).

Djerba Centurion

A Cylon of unknown type inspects a cold storage unit on Djerba.

Two copies of this model attack a former ski lodge on the ice-covered moon Djerba where William Adama, Coker Fasjovik, Beka Kelly, and Xander Toth have taken refuge. One Centurion hunts Kelly, while another finds Adama. The Centurion that stops to inspect Kelly scans her dog tags, which appear to hold a set of data stream bits. The meaning of this scan is unknown.

According to Kelly, this model feels pain, and can be heard "screaming" after being shot by Fasjovik (Blood and Chrome).

Note: This model bears a resemblance to the Singer/DeSanto Centurion, developed for an attempted continuation series.

Modern Centurion

Modern Cylon Centurion, evolved from its First Cylon War predecessors.

Main article: Cylon Centurion

The current mainstay of Cylon ground forces, the modern Centurion is a taller, swifter and more agile unit than the Model 0005. Its "fingers" serve as edged weapons in close-quarters combat, and can retract to make way for projectile weapons built into its forearms.

There are apparently two armor configurations - the Centurions encountered by Lt. Karl Agathon on occupied Caprica were susceptible to normal small-arms fire, while a boarding party dispatched to Galactica in a boarding action could only be impeded by explosive rounds (Valley of Darkness).

While the earlier Centurion models took a leadership role in their war against the Colonials, modern Centurions appear completely mute and are subservient to the human models. Although Centurions have the potential for sentience by design, they are given an implant that prevents them from exercising full self-awareness, in order to prevent an uprising of their own against their flesh-and-blood masters.

Cylon Spacecraft

"More of an animal, maybe, than the human models... like a pet."

Main articles: First War Basestars, First War Raider

The Cylons have employed various craft over the course of the First Cylon War, and the armistice afterwards.

Older craft were purely mechanical, and easily gave the largely unprepared Colonials a run for their cubits. At this time the Cylons are known to have employed basestars of various design, and Raider support ships capable of carrying a crew of three Centurions. These designs were retired sometime at the end of the War, however, a few raiders from this era survived, and were placed aboard the Cylon Colony after the arrival of the Final Five.

Main articles: Modern Basestar, Modern Raider, Heavy Raider

The current model Cylon Raider is an autonomous craft (Miniseries), apparently capable of operating at fair distance from any command vessel (Tigh Me Up, Tigh Me Down; Final Cut). Captain Jackson Spencer, encountering the newer model Cylon Raider for the first time, expresses shock that "nobody's flying these things." Lt. Kara Thrace later discovers that the Raider she shoots down is "alive". Sharon Valerii, a Cylon sleeper agent, guesses that the Raider is a Cylon in its own right, although "more of an animal, maybe, than the human models... like a pet" (Six Degrees of Separation). Another Sharon copy confirms that Raiders "download" and reincarnate. She echoes the earlier statement about the animal-like nature of Raiders: "A Raider's much like a trained animal, with the basic consciousness and survival instinct."

A modern basestar is also an integrated blend of flesh and machine (Kobol's Last Gleaming, Part II). The ship is commanded by a group of Humanoid Cylons, and has a living computer, the Hybrid, which is essentially the basestar's brain and takes orders from humanoid models (more on Hybrid below). Hybrids rarely function autonomously.

Cylon Hybrids

Main articles: Hybrid, First Hybrid, Hybrid Utterances

"What am I, a man? Or am I a machine? My children believe that I am a god."

The Cylon Hybrid is a model that is part machine, part biological, similar to the autonomous bio-mechanical Raiders. Not to be confused with the Cylon/human hybrid child Hera Agathon, the Hybrids aboard basestars resemble humanoid Cylons, but are another model type constructed to manage the autonomic functions of the ship they are on. The Hybrids are so integrated into the basestar's functionality that they are, for all practical purposes, the basestar. Athena claims that development of the Hybrids was abandoned after the version used on modern baseships was created (Razor).

The First Hybrid created from the Cylons' experimentation with human beings possesses many of the same traits that the modern Hybrids exhibit, only with a few distinct differences. The First Hybrid, although it possesses the same metaphysical perception as its descendants, is considerably more lucid and speaks in coherent, though slightly ambiguous, sentences. Like the modern Hybrids, the First Hybrid functions as the central computer of its basestar, but it also appears to function as the basestar's command and control, given the absence of modern humanoid Cylons aboard. While Athena claims the First Hybrid is an evolutionary dead-end and was abandoned by the Cylons, the Hybrid itself claims that its "children" see it as a god. The First Hybrid was destroyed along with its basestar in the Battle of the Guardian basestar, and it is currently unknown whether or not it was the only one of its kind.

Humanoid Cylons

Main article: Humanoid Cylons

The humanoid Cylon is the quintessential form. They quietly and effectively infiltrated the Colonial defense forces, with humanoid models such as Caprica-Six gaining access to secret military technology, and sleeper agents such as Sharon "Boomer" Valerii being planted within the Colonial Fleet itself. Only slight chemical and physiological differences reveal human from Cylon. One of their greatest advantages is the ability to "download" into identical bodies if killed, allowing them to haunt the Colonials in ways never before imagined.

Humanoid Cylons can be split into two groups, the Significant Seven, which are the seven constructs developed after the First War. And the Final Five, which consist of five humanoid Cylons that are fundamentally different from the Seven. Initially, there were eight models made, however the Number Seven line, the "Daniels", were destroyed by John, after he grew jealous of the attention they were getting from the Five (TRS: "No Exit").

The Significant Seven

These seven were developed sometime after the end of the First Cylon War, after the Cylons of the time made contact with the Final Five. The Five agreed to help develop a humanoid Cylon if the Centurions ended the war against the Colonials.

Note: Those listed in italics are assumed deceased as of "Daybreak, Part II".

• 
  Number One
• 
  Number Two
• 
  Number Three
• 
  Number Four
• 
  Number Five
• 
  Number Six
• 
  Number Eight

The Final Five

Main articles: Final Five, Thirteenth Tribe, Earth

The Final Five Cylons are fundamentally different from their Significant Seven counterparts in that they were not artificially constructed. Instead, they are survivors of the Thirteenth Tribe, born biologically, over 2,000 years prior to the onset of the First Cylon War. They worked and lived together on Earth re-creating their ancestor's organic memory transfer technology, after heeding warnings that something was amiss with their robotic creations.

The existence or knowledge of the Five appear to be something of a taboo in Cylon society. In reality, the identities of these five are suppressed by John Cavil, after showing complete disdain for the Five, claiming they contaminated their creations with human weaknesses and Centurion religious ideals.

Note: Those listed in italics are assumed deceased as of "Daybreak, Part II".

• 
  Saul Tigh
• 
  Ellen Tigh
• 
  Samuel Anders
• 
  Tory Foster
• 
  Galen Tyrol

Galactica 1980 definition: Dillon is called both a terrorist and a chauvinist by Jamie Hamilton during their phone call from the police station; he asks Troy "what's a terrorist chauvinist?" ^{(1980: "Galactica Discovers Earth, Part I")}

These are terms directly relating to Galactica 1980, some of which are based from the Original Series. For terms from that series, please refer to List of terms (TOS).

Galactica 1980 definition: Troy attempts to use a phone booth near a gas station prior to their first run-in with Jamie Hamilton ^{(1980: "Galactica Discovers Earth, Part I")}.

Original Series definition: region of space or planet, see also Quadrant. Usually named after a Greek letter (space sectors), or a geographic formation on the surface of a planet (geographic sector, e.g. Sector Hekla on the planet Arcta")

Re-imagined Series definition: initial skills training; can refer to basic military indoctrination, and arms and ground training ^{(TRS: "Fragged")}; and basic flight training ^{(TRS: "Miniseries")}