Spark (Transformers) - Beast Era

Beast Era

It was the 1990s Beast Wars animated series which truly introduced "the Spark" as it is now known today. All Cybertronians have a Spark, regardless of their heritage of allegiance - rendered as a glowing sphere of incandescent life, a spark dies or "extinguishes" when the body that houses it suffers fatal damage. Should a Spark be threatened in this way, Transformers are equipped with emergency protocols that shunt them into Stasis Lock, a state of still-living involuntary deactivation, in order to prevent further damage and to allow repairs, thereby safeguarding the Spark. This function can be overridden as was the case with the death of the Maximal known as Dinobot.

Rhinox first explains the concept of a Spark when operating on the protoform that would become Airazor. He describes the existence of such an item by explaining: "When a Spark goes online, there is great joy. When one is extinguished, the universe weeps." Although the term was never used in the original cartoon and comic, Beast Wars established that these older-era characters all too had Sparks (or their historical equivalent, nomenclature aside), a perfect example of this being the immortal spark of Starscream (Starscream's immortality coming from a mutation in his spark), which the Maximals tried to duplicate only to end up creating the murderous Protoform X).

Sparks as shown in Beast Wars normally appear as a sphere of an ever-changing pattern of "electricity"-like blue lines with a pulsating center composed of smaller red spheres. In Beast Machines several of the Maximals are shown with different colored sparks such as yellow, white, red, purple (possibly expressing their individuality and/or a special connection to the Matrix/Allspark). In Beast Wars, Megatron had a blue spark but after he spends centuries trying to purge the organic elements from his body, Beast Machines shows that his spark has become a violent shade of red.

The sequel series, Beast Machines explored the concept on a much deeper level. Sparks, it explained, are fragments of the Matrix," the "well of all sparks" that currently exist, have existed, or ever will exist. Sparks leave the Matrix upon the birth of new Transformer life so that they may learn, grow, love and truly experience life, and then, with the passing of the Transformer, the Spark returns to the Matrix, assimilated back into it to share all the knowledge it has gained with the whole but their individuality is not extinguished.

In knowing this, it can be taken that the object known as the Autobot Matrix of Leadership, long stated to hold the wisdom of the ages, is a gateway to this realm, where the amassed knowledge it contains can be consulted (where the sparks of those who have formerly held the Matrix retain their individuality and can be communed with). Similarly, this link explains the object's ability to create new Transformer life in the Marvel Comics, via the transferral of a Spark from the Matrix. Vector Sigma, was also revealed to possess a connection to the All spark, thereby explaining its ability to bestow life.

Nearly all Transformers series after Beast Wars have made use of the term "Spark" (though usually just in passing mention, often the result of dubbing). Of all the new continuity elements introduced by Beast Wars and Beast Machines, the Spark is unarguably the one concept which has been embraced the strongest by the fandom, with the vast majority of fans happily retroactively using it in reference to the older stories.

The term "AllSpark" was created by writer Robert N. Skir, who responded to a fan question about the TV series Beast Machines July 21, 1999 web page. Skir explained that the Beast Machines entity called The Oracle was actually the AllSpark, consisting of "the spark of every transformer who has ever lived, or ever will live". In a November 6, 1999 web page, Skir clarified that the Matrix was something called the AllSpark and was "made up of every Spark that ever was, and every Spark that ever will be".

Although the concept of the Transformers afterlife was briefly touched upon in the original series and Beast Wars series, it was not until Beast Machines that the concept was explored further. The Autobot Matrix of Leadership, as seen in the original series, was not merely a receptacle for the consciousness of deceased Autobot leaders; it was a gateway that led to the AllSpark, from which all current and future Transformers' sparks came. Possessing a sentience, the AllSpark had sent Sparks out into the world to live. When any Transformers, good or evil, were destroyed, their Spark would return to the AllSpark and share with it all that it had experienced, thereby adding to the timeless fountain of knowledge and wisdom.

The facility on Cybertron, which produces Maximal protoforms, was named after the aforementioned Matrix, and was analogous to human's Heaven. A similar Predacon facility also exists, named the Pit, and was analogous to Hell. The Pit was also known as the Inferno until the late-season addition of the character Inferno.