#it's about to be a looooong night on board the Lost Light let me tell ya

[earthstellar]

How Cybertronian Sparks are Created via Matrix - MTMTE, Issue 19 

now, I had a whole other post I was gonna write here

but my partner just leaned over my shoulder, read these panels, and asked:

“wait, the Matrix is a “Primal Conduit” which holds the ability to create life, or like, unborn sparks? and Rodimus carries half of a Matrix or something, right?” 

to which I said, very carefully, “yes...”.

and my partner followed up with an extremely powerful question: 

“so, if the Matrix carries sparks, does that mean anyone who carries a Matrix-- like, a whole one? or would a part of one be enough?--would that mean Matrix carriers are pregnant by default?” 

now, listen

I can’t recall anything canonical at the moment that would explicitly confirm otherwise, certainly not by the time (in universe) in which the discussion in the above panels occurs 

so it is POSSIBLE. 

canonically, that’s a POSSIBILITY. 

whether Cybertronians would view this in the same way is another question entirely. 

if you think about it on a technical level, since a legitimate Matrix holds within it the potential for the generation of sparks, then yes, technically a Matrix holder by human definition would be “pregnant”, as they would be carrying (literally, holding inside their body) sparks which have not yet sprung forth from the Matrix core (not yet “born”) but are known to exist within the Matrix itself. 

whether the sparks generated by the Matrix are held within the energy core of the Matrix perpetually/always and come forth as needed in specific circumstances, or if the sparks are produced and ejected only under certain influences or under certain conditions, is not 100% clear. it could be both, or either; 

we see that the Matrix does produce sparks when manipulated manually to do so, but we don’t know for sure if these sparks were actually generated at that time, or if they may have existed in a sort of subspace within the core of the Matrix beforehand and were only brought forth once manipulation drew them out.

but “pregnancy” is just how humans might view it. nothing in IDW 1 canon suggests Cybertronians view it the same way, as overwhelmingly the emphasis on “new life” as a concept is placed primarily on hot spots and the generation of new sparks from their concentrated wells of energy (more in line with the classic Well of All Sparks approach) 

in MTMTE, Rodimus is carrying half of an ”empty” Matrix by this point in the story (Rodimus describes it himself as being empty in an earlier issue, there’s also other stuff going on with the Matrix in IDW1 which I will get into eventually in another post I want to make about Matrix stuff once I get the time for that) 

HOWEVER, this is a series written by JRO, a man who sure did write some things about a lot of stuff! 

also, if your brain, like mine, has been poisoned by fanfiction, then you are almost certainly aware of the shit our poisoned brains might be able to generate with this concept in mind whenever we get dialogue regarding “carrying” the Matrix, as shown in the panel below from Lost Light Issue 5: 

it sure isn’t, Rodimus!!! 

there is also periodically alternating terminology in universe regarding the Matrix;

sometimes a bot in possession of a Matrix is described as “holding” the Matrix, sometimes this is called “wielding” the Matrix, then in other contexts it is described as “carrying” the Matrix, like in the panel above.

“holding” suggests ownership (obviously, no shit, I know lol) 

“wielding” potentially suggests an innate defensive/offensive power, for example, as in “wielding a sword” (interesting because Rodimus explicitly states above that the Matrix is not a weapon, so this term may instead be an implication of the social/political/spiritual power brought to any who obtain the Matrix, which would make sense)

“carrying” suggests maybe some other things that might possibly be relevant to this discussion (fanfiction has destroyed my brain but also this series is written by JRO, so I consider this to be at least plausible in the context of MTME/Lost Light) 

further research and analysis is needed to determine if there may be any potential specific reasoning for which terms are used and in what contexts a certain term may be preferred over another...I’m gonna end up making a Matrix plot timeline/lore map or some shit lmao 

anyway!!!

the fact that my partner is now googling “Transformers pregnant is this possible?” on their phone while sitting right next to me while I am writing this is making me lose my fucking mind

this is so funny to me, I need to explain SO MUCH to them over the next like several hours, this is going to take forever 

my partner now firmly believes the Matrix is a literal baby making machine and it is very hard for me to explain or contextualise any of the surrounding info about the Matrix as it appears in MTMTE because they are mostly only familiar with TFP and G1 

and this situation has completely derailed my original train of thought and I no longer remember why I spent so long digging up this issue so I could take these screenshots in the first place lol 

but I thought I would share anyway because I can’t believe this is how my partner is finding out about the concept of Transformers sparklings 

on the upside I now get to do an IRL long post LOL so honestly this works for me, lmaoooooo 

(if I remember what the hell I was originally going to talk about, I’ll make another post about it later LOL)