Perceptor (Animated)

Perceptor is an Autobot from the Animated continuity family.

Now aren't you glad they kept his name under trademark?

Perceptor is head of the Autobot Ministry of Science, and thus one of the finest minds on Cybertron. His high-caliber analytical skills help keep Autobots one step ahead of the exiled Decepticons in their technology. He frequently works with Wheeljack on special projects.

Fiction

Animated cartoon

Voice actor: PlainTalk (English), unknown speech synthesizer (Japanese) (See Notes), Frédéric Popovic (French)

Millions of years ago, Perceptor participated in "Project: Omega", attempting to create a living weapon of mass destruction that would serve as the Autobots' last hope for defeating the Decepticons. The end result of the project was Omega Supreme. During the final stages of the project, Perceptor explained to field tech Ratchet that Omega had been designed with a simple processor and would require a mentor-bot to guide his actions. Having inherited the activation codes to Omega from the mind-wiped Arcee, Ratchet was thrust into this mentor position, and followed Perceptor's directions to bring Omega online. TransWarped

I just need some guinea pi— er, volunteers.

Perceptor was given the data downloaded from the programming of the captured Decepticon Starscream and ordered by Ultra Magnus to initiate project Safeguard. He expressed concern regarding the risks of implanting Decepticon programming into an Autobot shell, and so was instructed by Ultra Magnus to find an expendable test-subject to offset the danger. Eventually, two suitable subjects landed in his lap, a pair of split protoforms who had been injured working in an energon refinery. While Wheeljack reinforced the two Autobots' structures to withstand the upgrade, Perceptor reverse-engineered the Decepticon flight codes and passed them to Red Alert for the data-merge. Though the resources of the Ministry of Science were sorely strained by this project, it eventually yielded Jetfire and Jetstorm.

During the twin Autobots' training, Perceptor put the downloaded data from Starscream to further use, upgrading the aging combat simulator they had at their disposal to represent Decepticon battle tactics more accurately. Unfortunately, Starscream's programming proved rather potent, and Perceptor lost control of the simulation. The twin Autobots were forced to fight their way out, finally allowing the scientist to terminate the simulation. First (and Second) in Flight

If I deleted my emotions, why am I having a moment?

Perceptor and Alpha Trion, representing the Autobot High Council, were none too pleased by Sentinel Prime's eagerness to return to Cybertron and proclaim himself the new leader. They warned him that he would not be able to bypass the usual council procedures, and to prove it they revealed to the general public details of the transfer of power that Sentinel had preferred to keep secret. During Sentinel's inauguration parade, Perceptor and Alpha Trion were standing right behind him as the crowds cheered. Decepticon Air

When Megatron brought Omega Supreme back to Cybertron, Perceptor was caught in the midst of the debate over what to do about the gigantic ship. Sentinel Prime wanted to destroy it immediately, but Ratchet vigorously opposed this, pointing out that destroying Omega Supreme risked destroying Cybertron as well—and that even if it didn't, it would still be wrong to attack a fellow Autobot and friend. Perceptor was inclined to believe Ratchet, and acknowledged that Ratchet knew even more than he himself did about Omega Supreme. Perceptor and Alpha Trion deliberated on the proper course of action, though their ponderings were made moot when Sentinel took the law into his own hands and attempted to destroy Omega. He failed, but the members of the Autobot High Council were very upset (or at least, Alpha Trion was upset, what with his still having emotions and all). Perceptor then reassured Ratchet that even though Arcee had been abducted by Shockwave, the damage done to her central processor by the EMP was irreversible and there was no chance the Decepticons could ever awaken her. He was wrong! This Is Why I Hate Machines

Perceptor attended the Stunt Convoy's show in Kaon, watching from Sentinel Prime's special box seat. The Stunti-Con Job

Notes

When you gotta be the tech guy and the getaway driver at the same time.

• Perceptor's character model was finalized and approved on April 1, 2008. Aaron Archer, discussing this at BotCon 2008, wanted to make it very clear to the fans that this character was definitely not a prank.
• Perceptor is "voiced", so to speak, by an electronic speech synthesizer, rather than an actual, living actor, as an homage to his fellow super-genius, Stephen Hawking. It's a wee bit skeevy if you stop and think about it, really.
• Responding to a question about Perceptor's unusual voice in an interview, Animated character designer Derrick J. Wyatt suggested that Perceptor "deleted his emotions and personality to make room in his hard drive so he could be even smarter".^[1] This was later canonized by The AllSpark Almanac II where it was said he "deleted most of his personality subroutines to leave more room for science".
• In the French dub of the series, he is dubbed by an actor and speaks like any other character.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Perceptor (パーセプター Pāseputā)

References

1. ↑ Interview with Derrick Wyatt at unicron.com