I thought about it when watching the newest episode. If megatron's body is somewhere else and he's a talking head, then how can he be "awake" when his spark is in his body? Unless, they don't have sparks. Thoughts and theories?

 

His spark is in his head?

 

Perhaps as long as the spark exists, the robot can survive. Characters have been beheaded in his show and other cartoons like BW without dying. Usually it's more for comedy than plot, but it does set a precedent, especially now that (spoilers) Megs' torso has been uncovered.

 

Well we know for sure that they do have spark's. We saw Prime's spark when Sari brought him back to life with the Allspark key in the 'movie' premiere. And they've made several mentions to sparks in other episodes. Hard to say for sure how a character can be awake when their head has been cut off though...

 

Guess pretty much like Optimus died and resurected in Transform and Roll Out.

Megatron was actually killed but the key gave him new life.

So the whole who really killed Megatron is credited to both Starscream and Optimus.

Screamer for softening up Megatron with the bomb and Prime for kicking Meg's out the airlock causing atmosphere burn up and break up.

 

Bulkhead still had some kind of connection to what his body was doing in the Headmaster episode, so it's possible that his spark is in his body but still sending life signals to his head. If his spark was in his head then I suppose he could still have a connection to his body, but I have my doubts.
Then again, since Megatron has been on about getting a new body built, it would suggest he'd written off finding his old body. Maybe Meg's spark is in his head since I can't imagine he'd have given up on finding his body if it contained his spark.
Really I think things would be made far easier all-round if sparks were said to be always in the head.

 

Maybe the little thing in the chest just represents the robot's life? Like the little red light on your TV, and the real "life spark" is some kind of force that runs around the whole body of the robot?

 

Could work. The glowing orb in the chest is like a life indicator or distribution hub that sends life around the body (making TFs more than just machines). But the spark itself could still be in the head, connected somehow to the life energy distribution orb in the chest.

Or summat like that.  

 

the only time spark was clearly defined was in BW/BM. I dont really care if the concept is carried over here. I think what with the instances of headless/bodyless bots it will just create continuity inconsistencies.

 

I thought they mention sparks a bit in the animated episodes, so I was just wondering.

The thing with Bulkhead is that he can move his mouth and so forth; there's movement. Megatron can't, only he can use his eyes. So it could be something separate.

 

Megatron doesn't HAVE a jaw, though, and if he did, it wouldn't be as prominent as Bulkead. And he's held in place by all those wires, too. Not to mention his head's more massive than that of bulky.

 

I think sparks can work for Animated. As stated above, Bulkhead could still feel his body after his head was removed. I think Megatron's situation is different due to his head being revived buy Sari's key. Much like Prime was raised by it.

 

This is my thesis:

The sparks are in three places, in the robot head, in the chest, and in the altmode head. There is a primary well in the chest, from there it is distributed to one of those three places and back. Most of the spark will shunt to the head in robot mode leaving residual life force in body.

When the main Spark Well takes sufficient punishment the spark leaks from its casing.
The primary well is the best place to send a spark transfusion (through use of the allspark key), much like a blood transfusion.

So, while Bulkhead's body was off doing other things bulkhead was alive.
Even though, his head was severed, his main Spark casing was undamaged. This explains Ultramagnus' survival in the 80's Transformers Movie.

This stays true, even if you sever Grimlock's alt mode head when he's in Dino mode. His higher level functions will exist in his beast mode head, because at that moment most of his spark was in his head.

The "Allspark" Key is basically a container of life. The reason it can interface with most objects as that Isacc designed everything according to Megatron's design, meaning he probably builds weak spark cases in all his robots without knowing it.

 

We all assume that a spark is the one essential life-giving component of Cybertronians, but maybe this isn't the case. A spark perhaps is the main animating life-force of every Cybertonian, but not the only one. The body houses the spark or 'heart', but the head houses the core processor or 'brain' which directs the body's actions. Both the Cybertronian 'brain' and spark can function independently of one another, they don't necessarily need to be linked to maintain vital life-support systems. A head can still think without a heart and the heart can still animate a body without a directing brain.

 

Only problem with that idea is that the body can remain alive without the head.

I maintain, if the head that is in use or the chest suffers a broken Spark Well, then the spark bleeds from the body.
For instance, if Bulkhead's body were badly damaged, even while he was functionally decapitated, he (both head and body) would shutdown due to Spark loss. Remember, Bulkhead could still feel himself doing things, his higher consciousness (the bulk of his spark) was no longer directly connected.

Also remember the bright flash that appeared wen they put his head back on? That was his spark becoming whole again. This theory holds true even during the BeastWars Split spark event (Depth Charge and his Twin).

 

just remember that a spark doesn't neccisarily dictate the personallity, sparks do exist in animated, Prowl and Ratchet have mentioned it i think.

 

Binaltech added to the BW/MW 'spark' concept by saying a transformer is made up of two parts: Spark (laser core) and Data tracks (Memories)

This is how when a Prime dies, his Data Tracks are uploaded into the Matrix that allows the holder to communicate with previous Primes experiences.

Binaltech prowl they lost his spark but retained his Datatracks, The concept is if they reunited the datatracks and the spark he would be WHOLE. If you lose the datatracks but recall the spark, the personality of the spark will be the same but no memories or life experiences. It gives credence that it is possible that the WELL OF ALLSPARKS is not multiverse but the universes are. So Grimlock from different universes may share a spark but just have different experiences.

This was furthered by Ratchet's interaction with Arcee. With her Datatracks cleared she is technically alive and probably very similar to her previous demeanor but she 'died' as she has no datatracks and no memory.

Also, With Primal in BW... it is possible that Rhinox and Prime knew Primal might die on his mission so they had a full backup of Primal's Datatracks, so when they formed him into a new body he was able to be restored as whole as he had his experiences and spark.

If you look at the precedence of Protoform X and Optimus Prime from BW... The Transformer while operational can operate without his spark as long as the spark is online. This is the mystical aspect of it. I guess it is like booting up a computer and removing the Floppy, the running processors have a loaded system. As long as the spark is *somewhere* and the Datatracks are intact you have sentient life.

This is why Megatron and Bulkhead have operational capacity while their bodies are gone. And their bodies probably operate on baser instincts based on the spark that is in them. Which is why megatron's Body was violent and attacking people. maybe Sumdac was searching at Megatron's direction as he knew his body must be 'alive' somewhere for him to function.

So there is a lot that is not fleshed out but we can try to patch together.

 

I think the writers need to have a look at these thoughts. If you put our theories together it would work out fine, and make the bulkhead episode easier on the brain.

 

Megatron doesn't have a lower jaw to move...

I think your point about about the sparks is good though... Maybe the TF's spark can survive as long as major parts of the robot are still in one piece, like Megatron's mind is still functioning so he's still technically alive.

 

The worst thing Beast Wars did was make the spark a tangible object instead of "soul". I know we saw the "spark" when Prime was revived but I don't think that means that it stays as a ball but that it's just lighting up because it's back.