A is for ALLSPARK
Religion’s a tricky business, even when it involves giant robots. Given that the Transformers are alive and capable of free thought in spite of their artificial nature, gained “souls” after a fashion in the form of laser-cores and sparks, and acknowledge that sometimes it takes more than a mere repair job to sustain their long lives, it is understandable that they would have their own customs and beliefs in order to address these matters.
"Now light our darkest hour!"
-Hot Rod, Transformers: The Movie
The earliest evidence we saw of religion on planet Cybertron was the Matrix of Leadership, sometimes known by the less ceremonial moniker “Creation Matrix.” It contains the accumulated wisdom of all Transformer leaders who came before, taking a rather large and pointy cue from the Matrix of the Time Lords, but it is more than just a vast, metaphysical database. The Matrix contains the pure force of life and serves as a direct conduit to the source of all Cybertronian existence, which depending on whoever’s writing it is usually characterised as one of three archetypes; the slumbering deity Primus, the super-computer Vector Sigma, or an increasingly popular merger of the first two that has yet to be entirely defined or understood, the Allspark.
Vector Sigma as seen in the Generation 1 cartoon, Primus as seen in the
Generation 1 comics, and the Allspark as seen in Beast Wars
Transformers.
When the thirteen original Transformers were created, the Creation Matrix, and by extension the life-giving power of the Allspark, was bestowed upon the wisest and most benevolent, who would become the first Prime.
In recent interpretations such as the Prime series and the live action movies, the thirteen originals were all part of a Dynasty of Primes, with the dimension-jumping Vector Prime and the treacherous Megatronus Prime/the Fallen included among them, but even so it seems that only the one who exemplifies the right qualities can begin to understand the true weight and meaning behind the title.
The Allspark is the Transformers’ holy grail and a vital component of their culture. It is said to be the well from which all Cybertronian life springs, and it is also the place to which it returns after death. This role was initially split between the Matrix (heaven) and the Pit (hell) posited in Beast Wars. When given an actual presence in the material world it has been shown as a large blue crystal in Animated and Prime and a cube in the movies.
The Allspark, as seen in Transformers (2007), Transformers Animated and Transformers Prime.
Whereas the catalyst for the Great War was initially a race to harvest new sources of energy, the Allspark has gradually become the true reason for which the Decepticons begin their conquest, changing the war of attrition into a crusade across the galaxy.
Previously
A is for Autobots
A is for Animated
Next time Scott and Stacy move on to the letter 'B' in their A to Z of The Transformers.
Scott is a writer and life-long science-fiction fan who lives in Essex, England. He co-produces audio dramas based on the BBC's Doctor Who for C.P. Studios. Follow them on Twitter or Facebook. Stacy, also a writer, lives in Buffalo, N.Y. and prefers fantasy but is being patiently tutored in the Ways of Sci-Fi.
