Proteus (G1)

Proteus is a Senator from the IDW comics portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

Proteus is a member of the corrupt Senate on pre-war Cybertron.

Fiction

IDW comics continuity

Following an assassination attempt on Nominus Prime, Proteus held a speech at the Grand Imperium, calling for a Clampdown which would place severe restrictions on Cybertron's inhabitants in order to weed out terrorists. Senator Ratbat agreed with him, adding that they could use this opportunity to shut down some government-critical groups, even if it would forego "some of the freedoms" of the general populace. The speech was then suddenly interrupted by Orion Pax, who burst into the chamber to offer his own views on the Senate's selfish ways. After the intruder had gone on for a while, Proteus ordered Sentinel to have him removed, but forgot to note his name.

Another Senator later revealed to Orion Pax that the attack on Nominus Prime had been orchestrated by a faction within the Senate so that they could get their hands on the Matrix of Leadership, and thus even more power. Chaos Theory Part 2 It's possible Proteus was a part of this conspiracy, or perhaps he just took advantage of the situation, but regardless of the fact his Clampdown was implemented soon afterwards. Chaos Theory Part 1

What do you think of that offer, Ackbar?

During the Clampdown, he drafted the Decepticon Registration Act and said that if 10,000 Decepticons came forward with their real names, he would legalise their movement as a political party. This was nicknamed "Proteus' Promise": Quark believed it would be fulfilled and would show whether he or Nightbeat were right about the state of Cybertron, but Nightbeat didn't believe it would ever happen. Nightbeat was basically right, as the Decepticons were suspicious of an autocracy wanting their real names, and rightly so because Proteus wanted to know who to send to the Institute for brainwashing. In order to ensure they'd come forward, Proteus and his chums caused two pro-Decepticon senators to be murdered and the killers to be found and stopped by respected investigators, making him look trustworthy. Post Hoc Patternism A public information film called "Proteus's Promise" was made around this time. Who's Afraid of the DJD?

Together with Sentinel, Proteus planned to use a hidden bomb to blow up Nominus Prime's corpse during his funeral, killing thousands and destroying the Primal Basilica. The whole thing would officially be called a Decepticon terrorist act, allowing him to proceed with his plan of capturing and brainwashing everyone who registered under the Act, but Orion Pax foiled the plot by finding and removing the bomb. With his plan in ruins, Proteus was unwilling to hold up his end of the bargain and broke his Promise, but it didn't really matter in the end as a Decepticon uprising took place a short while later. An Intimate Beheading Proteus was executed by Starscream during the events that followed. The Chaos of Warm Things