Perceptor (G1)/2005 IDW continuity

This is not your father's microscope.

The brilliant Perceptor was able to serve the Autobots admirably for millions of years utilizing his expertise in a myriad of different scientific fields. However, a brush with death forced him to reassess his worth on the battlefield, and Perceptor began cultivating a different role for himself as a cold, detached sniper. His clinical focus, patience, and built-in magnification abilities all translated perfectly to this occupation, and Perceptor was even recruited into the Wreckers thanks to his deadly new skill set.

After the war ended, Perceptor joined the crew of the Lost Light, where he was able to partially rediscover his old self and serve as the ship's chief science officer. He often unwillingly finds himself in a one-sided competition with the self-proclaimed "ship's genius" Brainstorm, who causes Perceptor no small measure of annoyance. However, the two share the same passion for science, and Perceptor has even admitted that Brainstorm's unorthodox work has impressed and inspired him on occasion.

First appearance: Stormbringer #1 (cameo); Spotlight: Kup (full appearance)

Fiction

Joining the Autobots

Perceptor was forged before the war. Arm the Lonely In the time preceding the Great War, Perceptor worked for security control for Sentinel Prime's government. Megatron Origin #2

No need to fear; they're here. Just call for four.

In the earliest days of the war, Perceptor was part of Jetfire's science team when they were sent to search the former location of the Toraxxis mega-refinery for signs of energon. His colleague Ratchet believed something to be living in the crater, but Perceptor assured him the odds of life existing in the high-pressure underground environment were very low. Fallout When they discovered a lake of energon in the caves, Perceptor found unstable particle anomalies within it, and indeed something proved to be very wrong when Ratchet fell in and was turned into a growling beast who mindlessly attacked Perceptor. He calmed down, but the team was in turn attacked by actual monsters who against Perceptor's earlier conclusion were native to the tunnels. Fleeing to another cave, the scientists stumbled onto the dormant form of a much larger monster, seemingly sealed away since ancient times. Underworld After reporting their findings to Optimus Prime, Perceptor shared some new low odds with Ratchet—this time, the odds of their survival if the giant monster was to wake up. Prey During a major Decepticon assault on Iacon, Perceptor reported to Optimus Prime that the city's coolant plants had been ruptured, causing extensive flooding and acid rain. Primacy #3

At some point during the war, Perceptor fought alongside Ultra Magnus, Springer, and Wheelie. Unfortunately, like most other bots, he had a tendency to overlook Wheelie, due to the latter's small stature. Spotlight: Wheelie

More than five hundred years ago, Perceptor was one of the cross-factional scientists consulted by Thunderwing when he first identified Cybertron's failing energon resources. Stormbringer #1

Cut the crap, Perceptor, and just get the cable back up!

In the 21st century, Perceptor led an expedition aboard the Ark-17, along with Springer and others in a mission to rescue an insane Kup from Tsiehshi. The old Autobot was deranged from his ordeal, and attacked any rescuers who came down to the heavily irradiated planet. Perceptor voiced concerns to Springer that he was needlessly risking lives in an effort to recover one Autobot. Luckily, the force field specialist Trailbreaker soon arrived and recovered Kup without any further loss of life. Spotlight: Kup

Perceptor later served on the Autobot Orbital Command Hub, working as a peer to acting-commander Silverbolt. He appeared to know Blaster of old, and welcomed the communications officer back from his long absence. Perceptor helped Blaster with his investigation into who tried to assassinate him years ago, the attack which prompted his disappearance. Spotlight: Blaster

Serving With Kup: Sniper

After Jetfire and the Technobots recovered and improved upon the unstable Pretender technology, Perceptor worked with Brainstorm at the Kimia Facility to apply a variation of the tech to help repair Kup. Overseeing the operation, Prowl also had Perceptor secretly install subroutines into Kup that would allow Prowl to have control over the old codger. Though Perceptor opposed this, he followed his orders. Perceptor also was assigned to Kup's unit to keep a supply of cy-gars handy to keep Kup sane. Everything in Its Right Place

"...half naked..."

Perceptor later accompanied Kup on a mission to rescue some captured Wreckers and was badly injured during the operation, but was saved by Drift. Spotlight: Drift After healing from his injuries, Perceptor decided to make some upgrades to his body, making him more useful as a warrior. He gave himself a near-impervious breastplate, aiming arm stabilizers and a monocle-like targeting optic. He demonstrated these to great effect, taking out Monstructor in one blast during a rescue of Hot Rod. Lost & Found

IDW Transformers drinking game: Take a sip for every panel of Perceptor shooting things while looking badass.

Sporting a decidedly dour demeanor, Perceptor obtained a modicum of prominence on Kup's team. Perceptor opted to become more directly involved in deeply discomfiting the Decepticons... until their inopportune crash-landing on Cybertron. All Hail Megatron #5 When some swarms of Insecticons made an appearance, he once again displayed his disturbing targeting proficiency, inflicting immediate and conclusive damage on one scout with only minimal effort. All Hail Megatron #6 He rode upon Roadbuster's vehicle mode with Kup when the Autobots decided to relocate to a more-defensible position. All Hail Megatron #7

Before the Autobots fled from the Swarm, they had planted some explosive charges to several bridges in order to cut off their pursuers. When they passed one of the bridges, Kup ordered Perceptor to shoot the charges, which he did with two small hand-blasters. However, he was taken out by a dart fired off by a Swarm (who got blasted for its effort). All Hail Megatron #8 He was soon back on his feet, helping the other Autobots set up a defensive turret at their base. This saddened Ratchet, who would rather have had the "old" Perceptor help him and Wheeljack repair Optimus Prime. All Hail Megatron #9 After almost getting overrun by the Swarm, Perceptor and the other Autobots were rescued by Omega Supreme, who carried them all to Earth. All Hail Megatron #10

The Wreckers

*sip*

Perceptor was still by Kup's side three years later, by which time both of them had joined the Wreckers. Last Stand of the Wreckers #1

When they stumbled upon the injured former Wrecker Impactor, Perceptor checked up on him and found a deterrence chip embedded in his skull. He soon had to switch mindsets from scientist to sniper again, though, as the Wreckers were sent to liberate Garrus-9 from Overlord's clutches. During the initial attack, Perceptor shot down Decepticon jets while hanging upside-down from the Autobots' drop pod. Last Stand of the Wreckers #2

*slurrrrrp*

After their drop pod had crash-landed inside Garrus-9, Perceptor and his team found themselves surrounded by Decepticons and confronting Overlord himself. Overlord killed Rotorstorm right in front of them and told the Wreckers to surrender. Perceptor calmly ordered Pyro to protect the stowaway Verity Carlo, while he, Ironfist, and Topspin launched themselves at the Decepticon. Overlord easily thrashed all of them, and upon hearing that there were Wreckers in another part of Garrus-9, offered freedom to any other Decepticon who brought him the head of a Wrecker. The Wreckers beat a hasty retreat as a mob of Decepticons started after them, and Perceptor managed to delay them by sniping and detonating a spare fuel tank they had brought along.

Perceptor and Topspin had to take a moment to deal with a shaken Ironfist's anxiety over Rotorstorm's death, then set to finding their main objective; Aequitas. Perceptor located the chamber in which it was housed and a ravaged Fortress Maximus, who had been made into a "living lock pick" for the door. Perceptor had the access codes and got everyone in, revealing Aequitas to them. Last Stand of the Wreckers #3

Perceptor explained what Aequitas was to the others, and he quickly set to work on trying to find an access terminal for it. When he finally did locate it, he discovered a problem; Aequitas was protected by a “suicide lock”. Perceptor told the others that someone had to willingly donate their spark to bypass it, and it couldn't be him, as he was the only one who could operate the supercomputer. After some argument, Ironfist agreed to be the sacrifice, only to be beaten to the punch by Topspin. With Topspin's death, Perceptor gained access to Aequitas’ system. He copied the hard drive and uploaded it into Ironfist for safekeeping. As Decepticons began to break through the chamber's door, Perceptor pointed out he could kill them all by triggering their deterrence chips through Aequitas.

And now you have alcohol poisoning.

Pyro and Verity were against this, as it meant Impactor would die as well, but Perceptor denied Verity a vote and looked to Ironfist for the tie-breaker. Ironfist, having learned the truth of Impactor's crimes from the Aequitas upload, glumly cast his lot in with Perceptor. Last Stand of the Wreckers #4

Verity continued to argue against it, arguing that the Wreckers as idealized by Ironfist would never take the easy way out. Perceptor changed his mind, deciding that Verity was right and they’d simply fight their way out. Pyro volunteered to stay behind and buy them time to escape, and once the door was breached, Perceptor and Ironfist slipped by the Decepticons. At Ironfist's prompting, they headed to Garrus-9's armory.

Shortly thereafter, Perceptor and the others arrived outside, where the remaining Wreckers were fighting Overlord. As the Decepticon held Springer up with one arm, Perceptor sniped his hand off, forcing him to drop the Wreckers’ leader. But Overlord managed to tear Springer's face off and blast Perceptor into unconsciousness before finally being defeated by Ironfist, Verity, and the revived Impactor. Last Stand of the Wreckers #5

Perceptor's going to owe Ratchet an apology in five years.

After the liberation of Garrus-9, Perceptor resumed working at Kimia for a while. Alongside Xaaron, he would later rejoin the main Autobot force as it headed towards Cybertron on board Omega Supreme. Together with Ratchet, he scanned a surrendered Megatron for any hidden weapons or bombs, but found nothing. Ratchet was worried about an old legend that their prisoner had the ability to draw antimatter from black holes, but Perceptor dismissed this as "stupid" and deemed Megatron safe. Chaos Theory #1

During the Autobots' battle with D-Void on Cybertron, Optimus Prime used the Matrix of Leadership and Vector Sigma to "reset" the entire planet into a primordial state, an event that probably even Perceptor couldn't explain. Once it was all over, Prime had Perceptor and Rewind examine the core of the Matrix, which had been split in two in the process. Together, they found that the artifact was a complex synthetic structure, designed to be split open to reveal a message from the ancient Knights of Cybertron. Along with this message was a star map, which the Autobots assumed showed the way to Cyberutopia. The Death of Optimus Prime

The Lost Light

"Wow! Perceptor! It's an honor to meet you! My plot would never have existed without yours!"
"That's what I told my lawyers!!"

Hoping to find the Knights of Cybertron using the Matrix map, Rodimus asked for any willing Autobots to join him on the Lost Light. Perceptor was among those who volunteered, but an explosion during launch caused the ship to quantum jump to an unknown point in space. How to Say Goodbye and Mean It As the crew set the Lost Light down on a nearby planet, Perceptor worked with Brainstorm to inspect and repair its quantum generators. They found Ore jammed into one of them, but Perceptor didn't want to make an official statement until he had done numerous tests. Hangers On Later, a Sparkeater was unleashed aboard the Lost Light. Rodimus cornered it by an engine block and ordered Perceptor to quantum jump, mashing the Sparkeater into the quantum generator. The Chaos of Warm Things

Ceiling Perceptor is watching you snark.

Perceptor attended an award ceremony for Chromedome, Brainstorm and Highbrow after they'd heroically repaired a hull breach. The Reluctant Specialist Shortly thereafter he was sent on a scavenging mission to the planet Deimus, but the shuttle ended up crashing and causing overheating coils to melt his legs into the floor (or the ceiling, since the craft ended up upside down). When his crewmate Hoist ran into an illusions of Tarn, Megatron, Shockwave, Sixshot, and Overlord on the surface of the planet, Perceptor theorized that Deimus was protected by a phobia shield, a device that caused Transformers to see their worst fears. As they were attacked by an illusory Metroplex, Hoist carried Perceptor to safety before knocking him unconscious to keep the phobia shield from accessing his mind. The Waiting Game

He gives Swerve a taste of his own medicine.

While attending Tailgate's Act of Affiliation ceremony, Perceptor got word that Ore had mysteriously come back to life. Worried that the quantum generators might trigger another random jump if he panicked, he advised that they avoid telling Ore about his condition for the time being. You, Me, and Other Revelations In an attempt to repair the damage to the psychiatrist Rung's brain, Rewind gathered Perceptor, Blaster, Siren, Gears, and Sunstreaker together in Swerve's bar to tell a story, indicating that they had all shared an adventure at some point in the past. The attempt was unsuccessful, possibly due to the overbearing volume of Siren's voice. An Intimate Beheading Perceptor then participated in the battle with a rogue group of Decepticons discovered on Temptoria. Before & After At one point he helpfully explained to a curious Swerve why the Lost Light's initial disappearance looked like an explosion from the outside, but Swerve didn't understand a word of it. Cybertronian Homesick Blues When Thunderclash visited the Lost Light to ask for their assistance in recharging his ship's power supply from their quantum engines, Perceptor didn't believe it could be done but was happy to be corrected by the legendary Autobot. Little Victories

Having found that it was impossible to copy or even memorize the star map within the Matrix, Perceptor reported his discovery to Rodimus, who much to his annoyance forced him use layman's terms. Their conversation was cut short when the alarm alerted them that somehow Overlord was loose on their ship, causing both Autobots to rush into action. Under Cold Blue Stars Signal to Noise He later rushed an injured Tripodeca into Swerve's, now repurposed as a triage centre, and set him down as Hoist got to work on him. He then left to continue fighting Overlord. No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases Security footage of Perceptor aboard the Lost Light was edited into Rewind's final message to Chromedome. The Gloaming

When Ultra Magnus's dying body disappeared after the fight with Overlord, the Lost Light followed his signal through a space warp and miraculous came across the long missing Luna 1. Perceptor did the initial scans of the planet's surface for Rodimus and got back what he was sure must be flawed data: despite an utter lack of signs of settlement or civilization, lifesigns registered in the neighborhood of ONE BILLION inhabitants. Perceptor joined the away team with Rodimus as they set off to investigate the moon, only to have an enormous hot spot ignite when they touched down. Perceptor's methodical, scientific ways shrieked in conflict with Brainstorm's impulsive curiosity, as the weapons engineer started harvesting a Point One Percenter spark right there on the field. The discussion became academic when a team of Decepticon Titan Hunters suddenly arrived and attacked. The Fecund Moon

The Autobots were soon overcome by the Hunters and brought before their unexpected leader, Chief Justice Tyrest. House of Ambus They were incarcerated in a cell for "harboring a criminal suspect", a charge that more light was shed upon after the arrival of their crewmate Skids, captured and dropped into Star Saber, new Enforcer of the Tyrest Accord. The Divided Self Turned out Prowl had tapped Tyrest for some light shadowplay-enforced treatment, and sent Skids and Getaway of Special Ops to deliver it via nudge guns. They were stopped and Getaway captured as Skids escaped to the Lost Light, ensuring Tyrest's antipathy towards the crew. Learning that Tyrest planned to eliminate all Cybertronians who were constructed cold using his "universal killswitch", Perceptor and the crew escaped their cell and confronted the chief justice. Unfortunately, he managed to incapacitate the heroes and triggered the killswitch. Arm the Lonely After Tailgate surprised and disabled Tyrest's incapacitator, Perceptor rigged up a defense to the killswitch. By linking up Rodimus and his half-Matrix to the sparkcode frequency targeted by Tyrest's device, he succeeded in reinstating the code and preventing the deaths of a major percentage of the Cybertronian race. This Calamitous Life In the aftermath, Perceptor managed to adapt Tyrest's communication equipment to their purposes, and finally make contact again with Cybertron. And... Starscream?!? The Sound of Breaking Glass

"EUREKA!"
"NO, you reek-ah!"

Continuing to work with the communicator, Perceptor later picked up an incoming call from Starscream. Dark Dawn As the crew debated whether to chase after Jhiaxus or track down Metroplex, Perceptor was in favor of the latter, convincing Ultra Magnus to follow the Titan's signal to Hydrophena. Winners & Losers As they arrived and were faced with a group of robots, Perceptor offered his theory as to where they came from, and was parroted the entire time by Brainstorm. Once their identities were revealed as hostile Ammonites, he set out on board the Rodpod alongside some others, leading to their discovery of Metroplex nearby. Into the Abyss Entering the Titan's body, the crew tried to explore him only to get lost within his labyrinthine insides and find themselves where they started. And then the Rodpod blew up. No Exit After interrogating the Ammonite who sabotaged it, the team was approached by Chromia and Nautica, The Dead Are Not Enough guardians of Metroplex's brain. Interrupted by more Ammonites, Perceptor and several others stayed behind to fight off the intruders while the others made it to the brain. Burning Bright After Metroplex warped back to Cybertron, Perceptor relocated to the brain room where he got to watch the defeat of the Necrotitan and listen to Brainstorm's dumb jokes. Finis Temporis

A brief celebration and reunion with the other Autobots ensued, but was interrupted by the arrival of an army of Ammonites summoned by Shockwave. The Becoming Bumblebee tried to organize an evacuation, but Perceptor warned that there was nowhere to run, as evidence was suggesting Shockwave was trying to end the entire universe. Black Planet The Lost Light was able to take out some ten thousand of the invaders, but as Perceptor pointed out, it didn't even make a dent in the seventy billion-strong army. Nevertheless, it all worked out in the end. ...And the Damage Done He continued to serve on the Lost Light under the command of a reformed Megatron, Towards Peace and evacuated alongside everyone else when the ship suddenly began disappearing piece by piece. Predestination: A Beginner's Guide Perceptor ended up disappearing himself, along with most of the crew. The remaining Autobots stumbled upon a quantum duplicate Lost Light in ruins, where all aboard had been slaughtered by the Decepticon Justice Division. The duplicate Perceptor had been shredded alive by Tesarus. slaughterhouse When the duplicate ship's quantum engines were shut down, the missing crew members reappeared, Perceptor included. The Road Not Taken

Back on the Lost Light Brainstorm—now revealed to be a Decepticon double agent—had poisoned the crew, taken Ultra Magnus apart with a disaggregator gun and disappeared. Perceptor deduced that Brainstorm's briefcases were in fact a time machine and that he had fled four million years into the past. With the help of second control case retrieved from Brainstorm's corpse on the duplicate Lost Light, Perceptor devised a way for Rodimus and a team of crewmembers with compatible sparks to also travel back in time in pursuit. The Custom-Made Now Perceptor remained with Megatron and Magnus on the Lost Light in the present as they were transported to Alyon in the 1st Cycle 502, believing that Brainstorm was intending to kill Orion Pax. Although the time travellers quickly found the future Autobot leader and became embroiled in local events, Brainstorm was nowhere to be seen and when he time jumped further into the past, Perceptor called Rodimus on the time phone and again sent them after him. All Our Parlous Yesterdays

When Rodimus contacted him again with the news that Rewind's database was being overwritten with an alternate history, Perceptor warned that he might have to attempt to dismantle Brainstorm's time machine in order to save their timeline, though it would be incredibly dangerous. Just as Cyclonus located Brainstorm, the rogue Decepticon spy jumped a year back to 4th Cycle 499 and so once more Perceptor sent the team after him. While they tried to avoid getting involved in local events—with mixed results—back of the Lost Light, Megatron was coming to the realisation that Brainstorm's target wasn't Orion Pax after all but Megatron himself. As Perceptor announced Brainstorm's final location, Megatron had already guessed it would be 1st Cycle 012, the day he was created. Stet

Panicking for his very existence, Megatron physically attacked Perceptor, demanding that he be sent back in time, although he quickly backed down when Ultra Magnus got involved and Perceptor explained there wasn't enough energy left in the quantum engines anyway. In the past, the team managed to prevent Megatron's death (sort of) and the timestream began moving again in the present day, although the quantum engines were exhausted, leaving Rodimus et al. stranded. Summoning enough power for a local teleport, Perceptor transported Cyclonus and Rodimus to nearby Unitrex where they found a prototype generator. While Cyclonus held off the security guard and his clutch of Turbofoxes, Perceptor told Rodimus how to upgrade the generator into a quantum generator capable of recharging the time case, which was successful, although they inadvertently transported the prototype quantum generator and the ship it was attached to some way into the future. Upon the team's return to the present, Perceptor talked with Rung, confessing that by tampering with the time machine's paradox locks, he may have also inadvertently created the Functionist Universe, if not the multiverse itself. Predestination: An Expert's Guide

Perceptor subsequently attended the first meeting of the Lost Light Internal Legal Affairs Committee where he stood and applauded Brainstorm's defence of his recent actions, although afterwards he assisted Rodimus in destroying the time machine in accordance with the Committee's decision. Our Steps Will Always Rhyme Later, he was part of the team that visited the Necroworld in the Rodpod. The Not Knowing

A mutineer

Perceptor attended one of Megatron's lectures on the Knights of Cybertron where he postulated the theory that a symbol they had seen was the heraldry of one of the Knights' clans. When Megatron, Rodimus, and their closest allies were attacked by some kind of psychic weapon shortly afterwards, they piled into the Rodpod and set off to investigate, leaving Perceptor aboard the Lost Light... along with all the other mutineers, who left their former "co-captains" and their supporters stranded on the Necroworld. How Bright Their Frail Deeds

Along with the others, Perceptor was horrified to hear about Getaway's liberal usage of the nudge gun on the crew. After Getaway insisted that he had to be in charge so as to be properly held accountable, Perceptor opened the floodgates by grilling Getaway on the "visitors" he'd mentioned with the crew being shocked at Getaway having involved the Galactic Council. To try and win over the crew, Getaway charged Perceptor with finding an opening to the Warren. Using Tyrest's "notes", Perceptor found an opening to cosmic structure before attending a bridge briefing on Getaway's plan. After Getaway overruled everyone's desire to help the planet Frayus, the last will and testament of Rodimus came through revealing that Team Rodimus was going to be killed by the Decepticon Justice Division in a few hours to everyone's shock. Along with the others, Perceptor had his memories remotely altered by Sunder so as to believe Rodimus had left of his own volition and that Getaway was awesome. Filling the Blanks

At some point, Perceptor and Broadside received Springer's final message before he entered the Timemaze. Requiem of the Wreckers After a trip through the Warren, Perceptor marveled at the temporal properties of the quantum system, which had actually deposited them four minutes in time earlier than they left. Another trip through the network took the Lost Light directly to Cyberutopia. Journey's End

It was all for naught, however. Cyberutopia was revealed to be nothing more than an elaborate illusion created by the medical moon of Mederi. When the ship came under attack from the forces of the Grand Architect, Getaway bargained with the mysterious being and swore allegiance to him. To prove his loyalty, he turned the crew over to Scorponok, who afflicted them with a bio-weapon causing the Autobots to become sparkeaters. Lūstrāre When Rodimus and his friends caught up with Cyberutopia, they were treated to the horrible sight of their diseased friends descending on them from the heavens. You Are Here Brainstorm tried to reach out to Perceptor when he landed, only to receive a faceful of acid vomit for his troubles. A Dance Before Dying The assembled Cybertronians lured the sparkeaters to the doors of the medical centre where First Aid discovered a means of curing them via the usage of concussive medicine. The kinetic program code knocked all the sparkeaters into stasis with the medics then bringing them inside for further treatment. Lūstrāre

Once they'd all been cured and Rodimus had reclaimed the Lost Light, everyone made ready to evacuate Mederi before a massive tear in the Warren consumed the moon. As he was being loaded aboard, Perceptor attempted to apologize to Rodimus only to be told to save his strength and that the entirety of the crew was already forgiven. Farsickness

After the threat of the Grand Architect had ended, Perceptor went along on the Lost Light's final "lap of honor" before the ship was decommissioned, spending his time talking science with Brainstorm and Nautica. The trio brought a proposal to Rodimus; to attempt a slightly altered "quantum duplication" trick again on their final jump back to Cybertron, possibly creating another Lost Light that would emerge in a different universe. This duplicate ship and its crew would be free to indulge in a new quest to explore the different universe, and Rodimus could see the appeal. Perceptor noted that the odds of this experiment succeeding were fairly slim, but one ship would definitely make it back to Cybertron safely. Rodimus put it to a vote, and the crew decided to do it.

After safely returning to Cybertron and far in the future, Perceptor attended Ratchet's funeral.

In a different universe, a duplicate Lost Light materialized and the crew prepared for another round of adventures. Perceptor congratulated a giddy Brainstorm on the successful experiment and confirmed that they two were, in fact, "simpatico". How To Say Goodbye And Mean It: Part 2

Notes

• In the first draft of Last Stand of the Wreckers, Springer, Perceptor, and Kup all died. In later plans, one of them was going to die during planning, but in the end Roche and Roberts weren't allowed to do it^[1] and one they could do, they say in the trade, they chickened out of.

References