Proton cannon

This caption is above 'Get off my lawn!' jokes, as are you.

Proton cannons are a type of weapon emplacement used to combat the threat of enemy starships. Also, Submarauder totes one around on his submarine mode.

Fiction

The Transformers cartoon

The Quintessons had a massive proton cannon that was used to defend Quintessa from invaders. The Aerialbots arrived on the Quintesson homeworld in order to rescue their fellow Autobots trapped on it which prompted the Allicon guards into firing their proton cannon at the Autobot fleet. Whilst initially doing damage, Silverbolt sent Air Raid and Skydive to take out the cannon. Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2

Dreamwave Generation One continuity

In weapons mode, Seawing became a dual-proton cannon. Seawing's More than Meets the Eye profile Submarauder's Pretender shell was armed with a proton cannon that he could also use in robot mode and when transformed into a deep sea attack submarine. Submarauder's More than Meets the Eye profile

Armada cartoon

After being upgraded by the Mini-Cons, Starscream's null laser cannons were replaced with proton cannons, which he used in a futile effort against Unicron, though the blast was powerful enough to breach Cybertron's atmosphere and nearly reach the monster planet. Cramp

2005 IDW continuity

The Functionist Universe

In an alternate timeline, Megatron and the Anti-Vocationist League found themselves defending the city of Adaptica from Luna 2, repurposed as a giant harvester unit. When Megatron asked about defences, Nine-of-Twelve glumly informed him that they only had a few proton cannons and missile launchers. Megatron made the best of the situation by ordering Anode to deploy the weapons where they would do most damage, and Nine-of-Twelve to lead the people underground via multiple routes. Bad Moon Rising

Toys

The Transformers

One gun, two names.

• Submarauder (Pretender, 1988)

• Accessories: Pretender shell, sword, torpedo rifle, shield, belt

Although it is not listed amongst The Transformers Submarauder's accessories, his packaging bio asserts that his submarine mode is armed with a proton cannon.

Notes

• Submarauder's instructions label his Pretender shell's ranged weapon as a torpedo rifle, which is reiterated in his packaging bio, where it also mentions that his submarine mode is armed with a proton cannon. However his Dreamwave More than Meets the Eye profile omits any mention of his torpedo rifle, replacing it with the proton cannon entirely.
• In Galvatron's profile in Marvel UK issue #87 his robot mode weapon was called a proton rocket cannon; this detail seems to originate from Galvatron's character model. The same profile called his alternate mode a laser cannon, though confusingly in the letters page of issue #112 both a reader and Grimlock would call this mode a proton cannon. Subsequently, in the letters page of issue #323, in reply to a reader's query regarding whether Galvatron was armed with a proton rocket cannon, a proton cannon, a particle accelerator cannon, a particle cannon, or a laser that fired chemically-produced direct-current electricity, Blaster replied that the latter was most likely up-to-date and accurate.