TF Views

I think I like that interpretation better, if that's what they're going for. It removes some of the pseudomysticism that sparks occasionally garner, and it even lines up with some previous interpretations, kind of (like Dark Glass).

andersonh1 wrote:In IDW's comics, it seems as though the spark may or may not be the energy that gives a Transformer life, but the experiences and memories that make them who they are are certainly separate from the spark. That's the case with Ironhide, and it would seem to be the case with Optimus Prime back in "Escalation" as well.

I'd point out that in Spotlight: Arcee it was shown her spark, while completely separated from her body, was self aware and appeared to retain memories given her thoughts about the bodiless existence being somewhat peaceful and not wanting to return to her body when Fortress Maximus decided to release her to fight off the Decepticons.

Yeah but that comic sucked man. Transgendered Arcee. Do not want.

Even so, it's on the printed page, so it counts.

Onslaught Six wrote:Yeah but that comic sucked man. Transgendered Arcee. Do not want.

What!? That was one of the best Spotlight issues IMO. Arcee being a gender bending science experiment was a... new concept to say the least, but it was a good story.

And like andersonh1 said, even if you don't like it, it's still part of the canon.

That story was all right. It gave Arcee something to be besides just "the pink one".

Man, I so want to make a joke about putting the "Trans" back into "Transformers", but I probably shouldn't. I'll just say "More than meets the eye, indeed" and leave it alone at that.

What!? That was one of the best Spotlight issues IMO. Arcee being a gender bending science experiment was a... new concept to say the least, but it was a good story.

And like andersonh1 said, even if you don't like it, it's still part of the canon.

I am with Sparky on this one.

As I see it, the "Spotlight" issue is probably the least idiotic reason for female TFs ever presented. The UK comics, (also written by Furman), had a not completely retarded explanation for Arcee back in the 80s. The common theme between both is that "transformer girls are just wrong and stupid". Say what I will about Furman, but he is, and always has been, right on this point. (It would be nice if he expained why Jetfire subconciously seemed to recognize Arcee as "different". But, we cannot have everything.)


As for sparks, grrrrrr

I hate those damed wispy fairy balls. They are one of those concepts I want to see completely crisised out, and are one more reason I have bad associations with the beast-era. But, they are officially "in there", and me complaining about it (while often gratifying), will not change that.

Either way, the "Ironhide" series might well clear up some of the mind/body questions Sparky noted.


Dom
-another "Dom agrees with Sparky" moment....

I don't know if I'm reading too much into this or not, but this bit of the initial exchange between Ironhide and Alpha Trion is interesting:

AT - ... I've brought you back to life. Sorry my page wasn't there when you awoke. He was on another mission for me.
Ironhide: Wow. That wound was mortal? I used to take hits like that one all the time. Well, thanks.

As if being 'brought back to life" was no big deal to him. That seems strange.


Here's the sequence of events when it comes to AT bringing Ironhide back to life, according to AT:
- Ironhide got shot
- he survived, though he was severely damaged
- his spark returned to the core and was rebooted, however Ironhide's link to the core was temporarily disrupted
- all experiences after the attack were lost, i.e., not recorded by Vector Sigma.
- Ironhide lived on for many years, only to die on Earth.
- this is not that Ironhide resurrected, this is Ironhide based on a newly-built body and reconstituted memories from the old download
- Alpha Trion claims that this is the most amazing thing he's ever done, so this was and is not an everyday, routine procedure

I get the new body and the old memories bit, but I have no idea how the spark fits into all of this. I'm guessing it found the new core or something. Maybe there's a link between the spark and the specific memories and life experiences of any given Transformer. I don't know, I'm trying to make sense of two apparently different conceptions of how the spark works here. Costa needs to nail that down.

Ah, this does sound like the idea that was strongly implied in Marvel G1, and explicitly floated by fans back in the 90s.


Hmm....

Sparky, sort this if I am wrong....

In the beast era, the Spark was a combination of life-force and (at least vague) memories.

Optimus Primal retained his memories when he got a whole new body. And, Starscream seemed to have a pretty good idea about what had happened to him during G1. (On the other hand, we know that the memories required physical components, as evidenced by Quickstrike and Silverbolt's respective confusions.)

In Beast Machines, it was possible to over-write the original personality, while using the memories of the original personality. (Remember, that was a big part of the logic behind the first 3 generals. They could not only think for themselves, they would have some idea of how Primal and co would fight.)

And, the canonical explanation for Dinobot's actions in "Nemesis 2" was that Rampage's split spark acted as a bridge, allowing the original Dinobot to effectively possess the clone body, dumping the original's memories into the clone.


Now, (keep in mind I am about 3 months behind on my comic and have yet to read this), Anderson says that Ironhide's return is and oddity. Perhaps what happened was that Trion had the new body all set and ready to go. Then, Ironhide dies on Earth. His spark gets diverted to the new body, with some of them memories, (such as the events of AHM), jumbled or erased.

This is effectively a new Ironhide.


Dom
-not sure if this is better or worse than "his brains got splattered across time" or "that was a clone corpse, and he is in the past".

andersonh1 wrote:Costa needs to nail that down.

Why? We haven't nailed that down for ourselves, why should we have it nailed down for alien robots?

This seems to confirm the theory that Metroplex is carrying the downloaded personalities and memories for every Autobot at least, possibly even the entire species, which certainly explains his reaction in Spotlight.

I knew Sunstreaker would come back.