Perceptor (DW)

"One's ultimate truth lies in one's molecular structure."

PERCEPTOR's thirst for knowledge is unquenchable. He will seek it to the exclusion of all else. To him, being on Earth is like a miner finding a new vein of gold - each eagerly plumbs untold riches, neither knowing when his source will run out, if ever. Perceptor's specific role in the Autobot cause is studying how best the Autobots should adapt to Earth, and conversely how Earth's alien environment is affecting the Autobots. Autobot Leader Optimus Prime considers this research vital to the Autobots' survival as long as they're marooned on Earth. Although good-natured and friendly, Perceptor is not easily drawn into joining with other Autobots to do anything other than his work.

Perceptor is extremely intelligent. His capacity for data storage is second only to Optimus Prime's. Although familiar with all the sciences, his specialties are metallurgy, molecular chemistry, and electrical engineering. He has two different capacities in microscope mode. He can magnify objects up to 10,000 times as an optical microscope and up to a million times as a scanning electron microscope. Using his magnifying lenses to concentrate and intensify its beam, he can convert his lens barrel to a powerful light cannon. It can blast a hole in a cinder block wall 2,000 miles away with pinpoint accuracy. He can use the cannon in robot mode or convert to a third form and use it as a stationary field artillery piece. He also carries a concussion rifle in robot mode.

If he were human, Perceptor might be called absent-minded, since he is rarely aware of anything but the work in front of him. He actually forgets at times that he is involved in a raging war and, as a result, is sometimes a casualty of it. His magnifying lenses, although resistant to cracking, are nevertheless the weak link in his make-up. Any problems with them not only can bring his work to a halt, but can also considerably reduce his offensive abilities.

Canonical/Pre-MUX/Theme History:
Perceptor arrived on Earth during the initial impact of the Ark into the planet. He had been present when the Ark crashed onto prehistoric Earth during the encounter wih the Nemesis, but due to being in the more heavily-damaged Ark belowdecks, he was not recovered and repaired for almost a year.

During his period of habitation on that planetary body, he experienced a myriad of adventures. Included in that scope were incidents such as: reconfiguring his mass ratio to a microscopic scale in order to sever the connection of the Heart of Cybertron to Megatron's body; being abducted by the Decepticons, along with Seaspray; traveling through the interstellar void with Jazz to reacquire Cosmos from Saturn's moon Titan; and landing on an unexplored world in which Cybertronian lifeforms were minuscule in relation to the immense indigenous population. He also synthesized a panacea to remedy the deadly Cosmic Rust epidemic.

MUX History:
Perceptor is a high-ranking member of Autobot Science, and works closely with Wheeljack.

2007

 * November 11 - Look out below! - Starscream makes a surprise visit to Autobot City

Jul 18 - Analysis: Lt. Henshaw
<< The Autobot spinny pops up, replaced by an image of Perceptor >>

"Greetings and salutations, Autobots. I have spent the last several days conducting an extensive, yet non-invasive, examination of Second Lieutenant Lori Henshaw, who has indicated that the Decepticon known as Thunderwing performed some series of experiments upon her person to result in her newly acquired armor. With the permission of the Wilford Hall USAF Medical Center at Lackland Air Force Base, I have examined the Lieutenant's medical records in detail.

"Lieutenant Henshaw's injuries were the result of a Cobra Night Raven's missiles destroying her Conquest X-30 aircraft while preparing for lift-off during the attack on Fort Hood some eleven months earlier. She was in a coma for nine months before regaining consciousness, during which time much of the shrapnel was removed from her body. Microscopic fragments, however, still remained in her chest, and with every movement they were digging their way further into her body, towards her heart and lungs.

"With assistance from GI Joe, the Lieutenant was fitted with an electromagnetic harness fitted to a wheelchair, which would give her some form of mobility while also keeping the microscopic shrapnel from digging any further into her body. For over a month, this did work to buy the humans some time to try and deal with her situation, but it seemed that she would never be able to walk again, due to paralysis from the waist down. And then she was abducted nearly three weeks ago, apparently by Thunderwing.

"I have been consulting with Brainstorm, perhaps the foremost expert in matters pertaining to biomechanical engineering, in an effort to understand what Thunderwing did to Lieutenant Henshaw. What we have been able to ascertain is that the implantation of the armor into the Lieutenant was not done lightly. Indeed, the Lieutenant's body was completely rebuilt at the molecular-genetic level. Her physiology is several times more efficient now than the typical human. Her bone density is tripled, meaning the force required to break a bone is substantially higher. Her skeletal structure has also been fitted with numerous small reservoirs that serve to store and contain her armor when not in use. Her muscular structure has been enhanced to a certain degree, making her stronger. Her nervous system is more bio-neural circuitry than anything else, and her brain functions seem to indicate the prospect of incredibly high levels of data storage and retention. In fact, from all indications, her body is acting as a combination bio-fuel/solar energy capacitor -- in effect, her body is literally an organic battery for the armor itself!

"The armor is a room-temperature mimetic polyalloy that functions as a memory metal -- this allows the armor to seep through her body and cover her before assuming a fully rigid state, yet the ease with which she maintains her full range of movement is unhindered. The armor is far stronger than what the United States military currently utilizes, though I don't believe it's rated as strongly as that of Circuit Breaker. It houses an additional fuel system that allows for consumption of energon, which works in tandem with her bio-fuelling (read, eating and drinking, as the humans prefer to call it) and solar energy absorption.

"The armor is possessed of flight capabilities that exceed Mach 5, allowing her to actually escape Earth's gravity, yet aside from her increased oxygen efficiency, there is little space for storage of oxygen to keep her going for more than an hour before suffocation commences. The armor also can propel her underwater, though such excursions are similarly limited by her oxygen reserves.

"The armor is also outfitted with weaponry -- while admittedly low-powered compared to our own technology, I believe she is still quite capable of defending herself quite well against Cobra, or even the Decepticons given the reports of her encounter with Skywarp. Concussive energy blasters in the gauntlet palms -- which also serve as flight stabilizers during flight -- as well as a sonic screech attack that can induce a vertigo effect, a plasmic-based chest-mounted weapon that also serves as the means to "ingest" energon, and bomblets that can be fired in a spread pattern for an area-effect attack.

"During this rather exhaustive analysis, I have scanned for any sort of control devices of a kin similar to Bombshell's cerebro-shells, or any tracking devices, with the assistance of First Aid. I am pleased to report that there are none in evidence -- Thunderwing is not controlling her in any way, nor does he have any programming or systems installed that are tracking her for his observation. In that, GI Joe and the Autobots both can rest easy.

"However, there is a catch: the circuitry that links Lieutenant Henshaw to the Banshee armor, as she's taken to calling it -- I will never understand human nomenclature in regards to 'callsigns' and the like -- is calibrated specifically to interface with her bio-neural circuitry. In fact, for all intents and purposes, it is literally an extension of her own body now. Due to the reformatting of her body at the molecular-genetic level, it is apparently dependent upon her, and she upon it -- it is a fascinating sort of symbiotic relationship.

"In short, the Banshee armor is here to stay, short of downloading Lieutenant Henshaw's memories into a Cybertronian body. But it is safe insofar as Brainstorm, First Aid and myself can ascertain. I will forward this report to Scarlett, since she is here as support for Lieutenant Henshaw, and let her disseminate it as necessary. Perceptor, signing off."

<< Perceptor's image disappears, replaced by the Autobot spinny >>

Decepticon World
As Bumblebee grew into his role as Autobot leader, Perceptor acted as consel to Bumblebee. Despite the Autobots' losing more and more numbers, Perceptor's support of Bumblebee never waned. Perceptor presided over a failed "No Confidence" vote to Bumblebee's leadership proposed by Springer. Perceptor agreed to carry out the vote, but demanded that regardless of the outcome, the Autobots would put all of their support behind the leader (be it Bumblebee or Springer). Both Bumblebee and Springer agreed, and Bumblebee ended up retaining his position as Autobot leader.

Decepticon World Logs

 * October, 2013 - "A Difficult Decision" - Jetfire is brought to a meeting with the leaders of the Autobots. There he outlines the plan he and Bumblebee have come up with. Gradually, the group comes to a sobering realization; someone must die to ensure the future of the Autobots.
 * October, 2013 - "A Hero's Sacrifice" - Jetfire and Ultra Magnus carry out their desperate plan.
 * 2013 November - "Escape to Nebulos" - Megatron and Shockwave attempt to stop the Autobots once and for all as Bumblebee and Springer lead a wounded, ragtag bunch to the Space Bridge.

Players
Perceptor has been available for application since July of 2011. He's currently being temped by bzero in the main universe, and SpikeWitwicky in the Decepticon World universe.