First off, cool post. Thanks. I did not know about the mitotic reproduction.
QUOTE (Goktimus Prime @ Aug 15 2008, 09:12 PM)

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Why do they need eyes? Why would they look so much like us?
That's why I really liked how the live-action movie gave us very alien and non-human looking Transformers. Some people complained that they were "ugly" but I really liked their other-worldly appearance. Making Transformers also behave other-worldly too is another trait which I think some writers handle better than others. I think G1 writer Bob Budiansky was one of the best at making the Transformers seem other-worldly.
Of course the real answer is Diaclone.

There have been many different continuities in the transformers' "multi-verse" the Movie is
one of them that this particular question does not apply to (as much), but in
most of them the robots look like us (IE- one mouth, two eyes
mostly, two arms,legs, bla, bla, bla...in the last two continuities they've even given Prime a mouth). OF COURSE the real answer is Diaclone, but that's why I said "I set aside the obvious reason of them being toys made by people in the real world...and started to ask some fun questions."
QUOTE (Goktimus Prime @ Aug 15 2008, 09:12 PM)

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What does it mean to be a living machine? Does it mean they are just robots that have gained sentience? Is the Spark just a power source? Is their individuality simply a combination of programming and stored memory engrams? Or are they more?
The idea of Transformers being living and self-aware/sentient machines is something that's been around since its inception in 1984. As it's always been established in TF lore, the Transformers possess a living "soul." In G1 it was called the laser core or life essence - spawned from the Primal Essence created by their god Primus. In Beast Wars/Machines, the movie and Transformers Animated, the Primal Essence is manifested as the AllSpark (in BW/M it is the AllSpark Matrix).
The spark is not a power source. The Transformers are powered by fuel such as Energon. The spark is their "soul" and its nature is something that exhibits traits from souls according to Abrahamic religions (i.e.: possessing individuality and ability to retain such individuality and memories in the after life) and some traits from souls in Vedic religions like Hinduism and Buddhism (i.e.: cycling through multiple incarnations until achieving enlightenment and returning to
Nirvana the Matrix)
I know the spark is not just a power source. That was kind of the point of the question. And, as I stated, I've always liked the idea of the TFs being alive, and that it has been priviouslly established that they are living. The point of the inquerry isn't really
IF they live but
HOW they live. It will be like a book on TF "biology" (if you will). Sort of a high school text written in the voice of Ratchet on the "mechanics" of the cybertronian body. It's an answer to how cybertronians
quantify their existence. I'm sure there must be transformer "atheists". I mean, Primus hasn't shown his face for a few
trillion years, right? There must be some (if not most) bots who just don't go for "all that 'Primus' scrap". Even for the believers, the simple fact that they have mechanics, doctors, and scientists tells that they have studded their own anatomy, and have learned how they "work", so that they can be able to fix themselves.
QUOTE (Goktimus Prime @ Aug 15 2008, 09:12 PM)

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What if they weren’t machines at all? What if they were living biological mechanoids? What if they were more like us than in just appearance? Could it be possible the only essential difference between them and us be the materials that were abundant on our separate home worlds and subsequently used in our creation?
That is again something that the movie also delves into.
"We are autonomous robotic organisms from the planet Cybertron."
"You can call us Autobots for short."The movie also demonstrated how Transformers are able to heal themselves (e.g.: Scorponok's tail) and are able to regenerate ammunition in the same way that we can grow hair or nails (only possibly at a faster rate - meaning that they can never run out of ammunition).
Again
how not
if. The movie mentions these tings, this site intends to explain them. I'm sort of an engineer at hart, and a fantasy nut. I love to find out how things work, or how they were made. I like to think of ways that impossible, imaginary things could work in real life. So, really I'm just combining two of my hobbies into one. But of course, it's all just a bit of fun. When it comes down to it, this is just a fan site, and everything on it will be fan-fiction. I just hope people enjoy some of my ideas.