Cylon Models

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

The original Cylons

The first Cylons, created by Daniel Graystone, were robotic, but looked human.

Spoiler follows, highlight to read.

Graystone's daughter Zoe died in a suicide bombing. After learning that his daughter uploaded her personality into an online avatar before her death, Graystone decided to recreate Zoe as a robot, using technology stolen from his Tauron competitor, Tomas Vergis with the help of his wife Amanda and Joseph Adama, whose wife and daughter also died in the same explosion. 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 a Cylon version of Tamara Adama, but her father was appalled by it, and decided to repent his actions.

Centurion Model 0005

Cylon Centurion during the First Cylon War (Razor)

Model Name: Cylon Centurion

Main article: Cylon Centurion Model 0005

The Centurion Model 0005, glimpsed briefly in two scenes of the Miniseries, was apparently the latest 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 - or as some of the Colonials contemptuously referred to them, "chrome toasters". According to Saul Tigh, they had a distinctive "stink" of machine oil.

These models were apparently the instigators of the Cylon rebellion, or their immediate descendants. They fought in all the major engagements of the Cylon War, including the boardings of Brenik and Galactica. A painting by Monclair depicts a massive melee between early-model Cylons and joint Aerelon-Caprican ground forces.

Not only were these models sentient, they were far from emotionless — 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).

While remarks by Number Six in the miniseries state that "those [walking chrome toaster] models are still around. They have their uses," it is most likely that she is referring to the modern Centurions (below), which seem to have replaced the Model 0005 entirely.

A relatively small group of this model survives the "upgrade" on the later destroyed Guardian basestar (Razor).

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 presumably took a leadership role in their war against the Colonials, modern Centurions appear completely mute and are subservient to the human models. To prevent an uprising of their own, the human models did not design the modern Centurion with any sentience.

Earth Centurion Models

After the combined Human/Cylon Fleet arrives on Earth (Sometimes a Great Notion), an excavation unearths the remains of several Centurions scattered throughout the planet. Although recognizable as Cylon Centurions they represent a model (or models) not constructed by the Colonial Cylons.

Cylon Spacecraft

Kara Thrace cuts her way through the biomechanical muscles of the Cylon Raider in order to get in (You Can't Go Home Again).

Main article: Cylon Spacecraft (RDM)

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". She removes most of its organic parts before returning with it to Galactica. 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 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 do not function autonomously.

Human Models

Main article: Humanoid Cylons

At some point at least two years prior to the Fall of the Twelve Colonies, the Cylons appear as an organic model that's almost completely indistinguishable from a human being. While twelve models were created, the origins and creators of the humanoid Cylon are a mystery. The history or fate of five of these models is deliberately (by design or taboo) suppressed by the seven active models.

These were used to quietly and effectively infiltrate the Colonial defense forces, with agent models such as Number Six gaining access to secret military technology, and sleeper agents such as Sharon "Boomer" Valerii being planted within the Colonial Fleet itself. These sleeper agents are programmed with false memories and appear genuine. Unplanned discovery of their true nature can be extremely disturbing for these units, and their behavior is not always predictable.

Only slight chemical differences reveal human from Humanoid Cylon. Humanoid Cylons also apparently differ from humans in two significant ways.

Sharon Valerii conceives a child with Karl Agathon (Six Degrees of Separation).

Reproductive Difficulties

It is impossible for two Cylons to reproduce with each other, and as result the Cylons begin cross-breeding experiments with humans, which results in the pregnancy of the Caprica-copy of Sharon Valerii. Cylon beliefs attribute this to the apparent inability of Cylons to feel love, which they believe to be a crucial element of the process. The forceful impregnation of human women however was unsuccessful (The Farm).

The second human-Cylon hybrid is Nicholas Tyrol. At the time of the child's conception, his father Galen Tyrol was unaware that he is a Cylon ("Lay Down Your Burdens, Part II", "Crossroads, Part II").

Physiology

Number Six's spine glows during intercourse

On two occasions, the vertebrae of human-model Cylons have been seen to emit a red glow visible through the skin during sexual intercourse (Miniseries, "Six Degrees of Separation"). On one occasion, the eye of one of the Final Five is seen to emit a red glow ("He That Believeth In Me").

Other elements of Cylon humanoid physiology are light-sensitive. Tissues within in their forearms function as data links which can be crudely interfaced with Colonial fiber-optic networks (Flight of the Phoenix), but are primarily for accessing the Cylon optical network known as the datastream ("Torn", "A Measure of Salvation").

Synthetic compounds unique to Cylon physiology ionize when subjected to plutonium radiation, forming the basis of Dr. Baltar's Cylon detector.

Cylon nervous systems possess silica pathways. A legacy of their evolution from mechanical Cylons, this technology remains in the humanoid models. Silica pathways are susceptible to some forms of radiation, such as the one surrounding the Ragnar Anchorage. Prolonged exposure to such radiation will gradually take a physical toll on a humanoid Cylon (Miniseries, "Bastille Day"), and possibly impair the resurrection process. With other forms of radiation, humanoid Cylons possess greater (but not complete) resilience against radiation poisoning than humans (The Passage).

Known Models

In the Miniseries, somewhat ambiguous comments by Caprica-Six and a note left for William Adama (presumably by Gaius Baltar) indicate that there were only twelve humanoid models at the time of the Fall of the Twelve Colonies. The final cylon, Ellen Tigh, was revealed as of the episode "Sometimes a Great Notion".

• 
  Number One
• 
  Number Two
• 
  Number Three
• 
  Number Four
• 
  Number Five
• 
  Number Six
• 
  Number Eight
• 
  Samuel Anders
• 
  Tory Foster
• 
  Ellen Tigh
• 
  Saul Tigh
• 
  Galen Tyrol

The "final five"

The Final Five, as seen in visions by observers.

The existence or knowledge of the five remaining models appear to be something of a taboo in Cylon society. When Baltar mentions their absence to Caprica-Six he is told not to talk about them. The identities of these five models appear to be suppressed or missing from the Cylons' collective knowledge base.

D'Anna Biers, a Number Three model, believes that the five silhouetted figures she sees in a vision of Kobol's ancient Opera House while she is in the "space between life and death" prior to resurrection are images of the final five.

Inside the Temple of Five, D'Anna Biers manages to return to the "space between life and death" and sees the faces of the five and retains her memories of them for the first time. She recognizes one of the five while she is in their presence. When she returns from her vision, she promptly dies before she can reveal who she saw. Some fans have suggested that the figure she recognizes and "apologizes" to is Colonel Tigh, whom she probably saw while he was in captivity on New Caprica. Her apology towards him could be been in relation to his eye, which the Cylons removed while he was held in a Cylon detention center. Biers's consciousness, along with those of all other Three models, is boxed to suppress knowledge of the five, until she is unboxed and subsequently rescued by the alliance of humans and Cylon renegades ("Rapture", "The Hub"). Since only Biers has seen these figures, and because the Temple itself was designed for descendants of the twelve tribes and not for the Cylons, the actual nature of the final Cylon remains a mystery.

As Saul Tigh, Galen Tyrol, Samuel Anders and Tory Foster approached the Ionian nebula, a strange event brings them physically together to realize that they are Cylons. Ellen Tigh was revealed as the final Cylon model in a vision of Saul Tigh's (Sometimes a Great Notion).

Hybrids

Main articles: Hybrid, First Hybrid

A Hybrid speaking "nonsense".

In addition to the humanoid Cylons, there is a second type of humanoids, known as the Hybrids. Not to be confused with the Cylon/human hybrid children, Hera Agathon and Nicholas Tyrol, the Hybrids aboard basestars resemble humanoid Cylons, but are another type of Cylon similar to the autonomous bio-mechanical Raiders. They are specially constructed living computers that manage the autonomic functions of the basestar. 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

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.

Organizational Relationships

The humanoid models, as the most evolved form of Cylon, are in charge of all other models, such as the Centurions, Raiders, and Hybrids. Caprica-Six's statement in "Downloaded" that Cylon culture is based on unity and that celebrities such as herself are something new implies that there is no single leader .

Instead, each model is equal in terms of power and authority and the Cylons make critical decisions based on consensus, or failing that, majority opinion. One or two representatives from each available model gather and discuss matters in a forum-like environment, then hold a vote on what course of action to take. Each model gets one vote that appears to represent the opinion of every copy of that model. Exceptions to this occur in the episode "Precipice", when Caprica-Six disagrees with the other Sixes, and in the episode "Six of One", when Boomer gives a vote opposed to that of the other Eights. The Centurions, Raiders and the baseship Hybrids are not permitted a vote in the decision making process ("Occupation" through "A Measure of Salvation").

One instance where a Number Three model goes against the collective will of her fellow models and ultimately imposes her will over the rest is considered so radical that every Number Three copy is boxed for disrupting the unity of the Cylon race ("The Eye of Jupiter", "Rapture").

Unlike the modern Hybrids, the first Hybrid appears to exert independent control over its own basestar and Cylon Centurions. The Hybrid claims that his "children" consider him to be a god. The exact meaning behind this statement is not yet known (Razor).

As of the Cylon Civil War, the race has split into two factions with clear leaders. One was originally led by the Number Six Natalie, and now by the last surviving Number Three. The other faction is led by the Number One called Cavil.

Re-imagined Series definition: derogatory term for Cylons in general

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")}