Inspired by that Primus thread.

Though I don't hate the idea of sparks, I like the idea of them just plain sentient machines, no mysticism, no creationism, no sparks, just advanced programming by an alien race (in this case; Quintessons).

 

I love the idea of sparks, I don't see anything mystic or creationist about having a physical embodiment of a life force. And maybe I'm biased since I've loathed the Quintesson connection since I was eight years old.

 

I like the concept. Always thought they looked cool upon seeing one back in Beast Wars.

 

Sparks aren't really mystic, though. Even Beast Machines, which on the surface of it was the most mystic and magical of all TF series, rather pointedly showed the Oracle was ultimately a program that could be tampered with at least partially. Even the Allspark or Matrix could very well be mortal plains of information like a hyper advanced network. Sparks likewise are "merely" biological/mechanical components, albeit vital ones, that simply appear magical due to being advanced.

My favourite depiction of Sparks is Beast Wars. Beast Wars never made the Spark the actual end-all-be-all of a TF which Beast Machines sometimes did, and series after really did. It was important, and easily the most irreplacable aspect of a TF, but they weren't invincible, infallible, or in total control. Primal had his Spark hijacked by Tarantulas and Quickstrike, Blackarachnia's shell program wasn't part of her Spark. And even after Sparks mentions of central processors (implying other processors) memory banks, etc that you think would fall under what makes a TF who they are still persisted. Compare this to later fiction where sparks can just be scooped out and dropped into any body, taking the memories and personality with them, questioning why any part of the body would be seen as vital in comparrison or what a body even means to the character. Even Beast Machines avoided that ridiculousness. Plus they've never looked as cool since the Beast Era. The pulsing "nucleus" and constantly crackling electric sphere perfectly represents them as an organ, technology, and super advanced. Most series just make them glowing circles or robotic balls. (though TFA did approximate a 2D equivelant of the Beast Era look)

I like Sparks as long as they're not too invincible or all-encompassing. I also don't like them as a direct allegory for the soul or brain or heart. To me that removes what makes Sparks cool, because they're unique anatomy to Transformers without a proper human equivelant.

 

I don't really mind the concept, but Beast Wars and Beast Machines handled the concept of sparks excellently.

 

I like sparks. I also like them to be a bit "unexplainable." I don't like the idea of Cybertronians as 100% mechanical creatures with concrete and grounded features. What I mean is, there needs to be an element (big or small) that is "unexplainable" about how a Cybertronian lives. Otherwise they appear like any other mechanical object (a toaster, TV, vcr...) A spark is "unexplainable" in my mind. Maybe you have elements of a computer program in it or not, but you don't know exactly how it works or why it gives life to Cybertronians. It just does. That's just my preference though. Besides, a spark is what makes a Cybertronian different from a drone, robot or android.

 

I like sparks. Having a life force type thing makes the characters more than just a machine.

 

I can go either way. I can appreciate the idea of them being sophisticated machines with no 'magic' involved, like the various "artificial life forms" of the Star Trek franchise - programmed constructs, but no one who knows them denies they are 'alive'. While I don't have a problem with sparks, I'm less happy about them as the literal be-all end-all 'soul' of a Transformer,

I had a personal theory of the spark as a super 'backup drive', perhaps of a nature or technology beyond Cybertronian understanding. The idea being that the brain and spark continually sync up their information over the life of the Transformer, and loss/damage/replacement of one of the two is survivable if the other is intact. It's even conceptually possible to build a TF from scratch without a spark if a good enough brain is programmed, and a spark will form on its own if the support system (chamber/laser core/whatever) is there. A lot of this theorizing was done to reconcile 'pre-spark' fiction with the spark retconning.

What I really don't care for is stuff like "CNA", Cybertronian genetics, and similar "just like our own biology, except with different terms." stuff.

 

I see them as not connected to Primus or mysticism at all (guess i just automatically ignore that stuff).
My headcannon is that the Allspark is the core of Vector Sigma and is actually a colony of metallic bacteria wich have the abillity of generating an enourmeous amount of energy through feeding on a comparatively miniscule amount of Energon.
The Quintessons found this colony and built Vector Sigma with the colony as its powersource.
They then used Vector Sigma to reform a planet into a humongeous factory-world: Cybertron.
After many experiments trying to create sentient, intelligent, obedient robotic lifeforms they could command and sell to their clients, one of them: Al-Badur decided to branch of "Sparks" from the Allspark to power the bodies and succes ensued.
But unknown to the Quintessons the Allspark had achieved sentience by migrating through the body of Vector Sigma, mutating its nature and assimilating the knowledge encoded into it programming into itself: Vector Sigma as it would be known to the Cybertronians was "born".
And as time moved on this process was repeated in every Cybertronian the Quintessons created.

In this model the Spark is sort of the embodiment of the soul and yet the personality of a Cybertronian is comletely independent from the spark also encrypted into his cerbral programming.

 

Yes. I feel like the idea of having a soul or life-force just makes the Transformers more than just machines with pre-programmed personalities and responses. I dunno, the idea of sparks just make the Transformers feel more alive.

 

I'm in the minority here, but I don't really like the idea of sparks. Too much mysticism, which I'm not a fan of with Transormers. I prefer either the Quintesson origin or the pure evolution origin.

 

I personally really like the concept of a spark, in addition to the slightly more "mystical" approach to the origins of the Transformers. It adds another level of differentiation from Humans and Cybertronians; I personally find it annoying when people forget that, in spite of their capability to think and feel exactly like a human, they are still very alien to us, in more ways than one.

 

I like the concept of the spark. An energy source akin to the soul that powers the Cybertronian, while their memories and programming are in their systems, their essence lay within the spark. If you read my Transformers fan fic, you can see there's quite a few times where I touch upon the subject. Heck I even have a headcanon for why I imagine sparks work the way they do that's connected both to Primus and the Quintessons. In fact let me just pull it up right here.

 

Cool headcannon. Got something similar.

 

Don't really care for the idea of 'sparks,' maybe because I didn't like what they would later become- the literal and visible soul of the Transformer that housed the memories and personality, and which was easily transferable to any new body.

I like 'lasercores' better. They aren't spelled out exactly what they are, they sound partially like a mysterious machine component that may or may not power the Transformer, and don't entirely explain away any supernatural phenomena like Starscream haunting the living as a ghost.

 

What you're describing isn't really sentience.

Without some kind of guiding consciousness like a soul or spark, you are talking about the illusion of sentience. That's what "advanced programming" is. It's one of the more interesting things about Sunbow G1 -- that it is somewhat ambiguous.

 

Yeah you're right.

 

I actually like the sparks and the mysticism surrounding it. It does a lot to make Transformers unique.

 

I like the idea of Sparks because, to me, it gives the TFs a human aspect, a soul. It makes them more relatable as characters.

 

The same can be applied to Humans. Our brains are based on electrical impulses, just like computers, and make judgments based on memory and logic. We were "programmed" to grow and develop intelligence.