Auton
Auton's Journey
A timeline through the narrative
Affiliations
The Auton is described as operating under the command of the Master or Colonel Masters, a leader within 'The Master's Forces', carrying out strategic positioning, redeployment, and direct confrontation against UNIT. The Auton is an operative under that control.
The Auton serves as Nestene Consciousness foot soldiers, designed for covert infiltration and assassination and operates under direct control of the Nestene Consciousness.
The Autons follow the Master's orders for the Nestene invasion, acting as enforcers to secure the invasion.
Across the Seasons
How this character reads at season scale
Autons function as Nestene Consciousness foot soldiers. These plastic androids replicate human shapes like shop dummies or waxworks for covert operations. Channing issues their commands through gestures or will, while the Nestene brain provides collective control. They transform hands into energy weapons, shrug off bullets, and kill without pause or speech. Relentless enforcers execute infiltration, assassination, and assaults to support the invasion, deactivating only when the Nestene core fails. Mechanical and identical, they extend alien authority into human spaces.
Autons serve as the Nestene Consciousness's primary synthetic enforcers, molded into human-like forms from plastic for infiltration, combat, and planetary conquest. They operate under psychic control (or direct command in later variants), lacking personal agency or emotion, and execute invasion orders with unerring precision. Autons are deployed in groups from hidden bases, often mimicking civilians, shop dummies, or soldiers to sow chaos. Their resilience to conventional damage (e.g., gunfire) and rapid deployment make them ideal for eliminating opposition, including UNIT personnel, the Doctor, and targets of opportunity. Variants include unmasked Autons (basic combat units) and still-masked Autons (elite enforcers equipped with lethal hand weapons, frequently deployed in coordinated ambushes against high-value targets). Their mechanical obedience and near-invulnerability to conventional weapons expose human military limitations during invasions. Forms vary by mission—some resemble adult mannequins or shop dummies for public infiltration, while others may take child-sized toy-like shapes for covert sabotage.