The Meaning of (TF) Life and Death

[HappinessIsNotaFish]

Hello, all. I've been perusing this message board for a while now, all the while contemplating whether or not I should post. It didn't take but skimming a few threads to discover that I know next to nothing about TFs when compared to you folks, hence my reluctance. I own almost all of the G1 & G2 US Marvel run, but that's about it. (Deprived, I know.)

Caveats aside, this is my question: I've never quite understood how a.) Transformers are brought to life or b.) when a Transformer can be considered "dead." Given that TF is a comic/cartoon, I imagine the real answer to both a) and b) is "Either or both of these things happen when the writer wants it to happen, and his explanation as to how, exactly, needs only make the tiniest bit of logical sense and/or be tangentially related to past explanations made by other writers and/or be a total retcon, and so what if retcon after retcon is piled atop one another until everything's left a mess that's impossible to untangle?" Of course, that's the easy way out, and the fun lies in playing along and trying to *make* it make sense.

In this spirit, I tried reading an old "Transformer Genetics" thread and was left, disappointingly, with little question-marks floating above my head where there should have been a glowing light-bulb. Is there some FAQ or something somewhere that explains sparks and matrices and Transformer DNA (!) and budding from g2 and Primus and etc. etc.?

I always thought that Transformer A constructed the physical form of Transformer B (brain included), which would just lie around, inert, until Transformer O shot Martix Power (TM) into it. This doesn't seem to explain how a TF "gets" a distinct personality, though; why not program every new Autobot brain to give its holder an intelligence of 10, be perfectly loyal to the cause, and so on? Why should *any* of them have weaknesses, in other words? (And isn't it amazing that, whenever a TF is given an animalian alt-form, it has all the weaknesses and strengths of that animal?) I suppose this is where DNA comes into play. Or not.

Anyway, I believe I'm wearing out my welcome as a newbie. Any help--a nudge in the right direction, perhaps--would be appreciated.

[spiderfrommars]

Hello, all. I've been perusing this message board for a while now, all the while contemplating whether or not I should post.

You made the right choice!

I own almost all of the G1 & G2 US Marvel run, but that's about it. (Deprived, I know.)

No Marvel UK? Shame!

Caveats aside, this is my question: I've never quite understood how a.) Transformers are brought to life

The Creation Matrix of course.

Originally Primus created the TFs, until at some point he stopped, leaving the Matrix (a vessel for his life force?) as a tool to create new life when needed. I'm sure you know all this though - the G2 budding method was also a way to 'reproduce', but an unnatural and destructive way it turned out.

b.) when a Transformer can be considered "dead."

For me the answer to that used to be quite easy. TFs are repairable in almost any situation, but destroy a TF's brain module and they're dead and gone forever. The best example of this is the death of Shockwave in Legacy of Unicron.

Problem is, Beast Wars has since complicated this by introducing the notion of 'sparks'. Thus its more a case of destruction of the spark (or soul?) means destruction of the TF. Apparently Starscream has an indestructable spark.

I always thought that Transformer A constructed the physical form of Transformer B (brain included), which would just lie around, inert, until Transformer O shot Martix Power (TM) into it. This doesn't seem to explain how a TF "gets" a distinct personality, though; why not program every new Autobot brain to give its holder an intelligence of 10, be perfectly loyal to the cause, and so on?

As far as I can see the Matrix encodes personalities which seem to be assigned pretty randomly to say the least. Its not just a case of building a body and a brain... for instance, sometimes the results have been ill-fitting: Silverbolt transforms into a jet, but is afraid of heights, Ultra Magnus is constructed to be the Autobot's Greatest Warrior, but is somewhat uncomfortable with that role,etc.

[Legion]

Ultra Magnus is constructed to be the Autobot's Greatest Warrior, but is somewhat uncomfortable with that role

Magnus is a bloody hippy, face it... he is.

[Metal Vendetta]

What about Protoforms? BlackArachnia was a Maximal protoform until Tarantulas got his hands on her, yet later in the show she knew all about the history of the Great War, Starscream etc. So was that knowledge innate or did she look it up afterwards? How much of her personality was down to the shell program?

Oh, and welcome, by the way

[anna]

as long as thier fife force(spiret for lack of a better term) is intact and they have the spare bodyparts then they can be fixed

[Metal Vendetta]

as long as thier fife force is intact

[Legion]

What about Protoforms? BlackArachnia was a Maximal protoform until Tarantulas got his hands on her, yet later in the show she knew all about the history of the Great War, Starscream etc. So was that knowledge innate or did she look it up afterwards? How much of her personality was down to the shell program?

I've always kind of looked at it that most of the personality is down to the shell program (which we could say resides in the brain module), when a new spark is born it's pretty blank. As the TF lives and learns, the spark gain's knowledge, this is of course filtered through the Shell program, so the spark takes on the personality given to it by the shell program... of course, that raises the question of whether or not one's alleigance could be changed by simply changing the shell program (what rhinox was proposing they tried in BA and later what Megatron did to Rhinox). I would guess that at first it would cause behaviour problems, maybe even schizofrenia, but as the spark absorbed the new experiences it would change to that POV... ?

which, in my mind, explains the Arielbots in the US comic. They'd been given sparks, but their shell programming was incomplete...

i'll get my coat...

[Impactor returns 2.0]

Ultra Magnus is constructed to be the Autobot's Greatest Warrior, but is somewhat uncomfortable with that role

Magnus is a bloody hippy, face it... he is.

That and Galvatron is better!

Ah sweet endorphins, I havent said that line in a while...

[Legion]

Ultra Magnus is constructed to be the Autobot's Greatest Warrior, but is somewhat uncomfortable with that role

Magnus is a bloody hippy, face it... he is.

That and Galvatron is better!

better than a hippy? ok, i'll grant you that one.