you have a fairly low impression of the intellect of children.

The quality of the G1 cartoon was even worse than than Animated's. Yet, it was like 10 times as popular.

I think your logic is somewhat flawed, Pete.

I think it's more a case of him over-analyzing things. Pete is latching on to every little plot point without taking into consideration that this is a kids' cartoon, so those plot points aren't going to be 100% consistent from episode to episode. Granted, I doubt it will get to the point where we have seriously conflicting origin stories for the Constructicons, but I also doubt that turning Sari into a robot would be such a big inconsistency that the cartoon's target demographic, five year olds, would become too confused to keep watching it.

Implicit in your argument is the recognition that the Sari-bot idea makes no sense, because your only defense of it is "well, the show is bound to be inconsistent". You wouldn't have to say that if you had a legitimate reason for your point of view. It's a total cop-out.

 

And just to rub your face in it because you're being so insistent: you have no evidence. Zero. Nothing.

I just have to say that I think it's a silly notion, the idea that Sumdac is completely incompetent just because he's been played as absent-minded. He revolutionized an entire industry and was able to reverse engineer alien technology. Not just any old dufus would be capable of that. Sumdac's a genius, even if he's not the most organized guy in the world.

 

And clearly lots of the robots in Detroit have some degree of A.I. as the result of the technology he developed, without having Sparks. Is it so odd, then, to speculate Sari is a more advanced form of that since she is A) the daughter of a robotics genius who B) doesn't go to school with the other kids is C) "Adopted" and D) communicated with the Allspark?

 

It's just fun fan speculation that impacts nothing. Why the face rubbing and stuff, Pete (not that I'm taking Hornet's side)?

Well there are things we aren't considering.

 

1) Sumdac isn't dumb, it's possible he was able to make a breakthrough in AI all on his own, even if his tech is based on cybertronian stuff.

 

2) He could have replicated megatron's spark, but it was so prohibitavely expensive in some kind of resource that he can't do it on a commercial scale

 

3) It could have been an accident.

 

4) He may have had a way to make more sentient machines, but the knowlege was some how lost. There's 50 years of this man's life we don't know about. Megatron may have been aware for longer than we realize and manipulated him somehow.

 

 

These are all concepts that have occured in other Sci-fi stories.

Well, here's what *I* would be saying if I were on your side. :P

 

Megatron's head wasn't the only part of him that Sumdac found 50 years ago. He also found Megatron's spark chamber, but didn't know what to do with it. Then one day as he was working on his new tech, he decided to implant the spark chamber in a test robot body, and lo and behold, it came to life. And in a Geppetto-ish kind of way, he began to look upon this robot as his child, not just his creation. (I'll leave aside the question of how he was able to make a humanoid robot that not only looked completely human, but which could relate to humans and even cry.)

 

And yes, this would mean that Megatron was actually dead for 50 years, and the Allspark key revitalized him, just as it did with Optimus Prime.

 

See, it isn't that hard, if you allow for a little speculation. :)

 

But seriously, there's no way Sumdac could have done it without a spark. He's not incompetent, but he's definitely not competent enough to develop anything beyond his drones.

 

And why in the world would Sari even have teacher-bots, if he were able to simply download the information into her brain?

A.I. does not require a spark. I don't know why you're so hung up on that idea.

A.I. does not require a spark. I don't know why you're so hung up on that idea.

Not to mention that the writers aren't even consistent when it comes to sparks. It's like they can't decide if the sparks are just a life-force or glowing orbs, not to mention if the spark contains any elements of the transformer's personality or if it's just a fuel source. Honestly, Pete. You're reading too much into it.

A.I. does not require a spark. I don't know why you're so hung up on that idea.

I'm not saying that. What I am saying is that since Sumdac's tech is based on Cybertronian design, and since Cybertronian design *does* require a spark for life, then Sumdac's tech would also require a spark for life. And Sumdac's tech is the only example of human-created AI in the show.

 

P.S. Hornet, it doesn't matter what sparks specifically contain; we already know for a fact that they are essential to Cybertronian life. That's all that matters.

Not to mention that the writers aren't even consistent when it comes to sparks. It's like they can't decide if the sparks are just a life-force or glowing orbs, not to mention if the spark contains any elements of the transformer's personality or if it's just a fuel source. Honestly, Pete. You're reading too much into it.

 

how are they not consistent? We've only even seen a spark once, and it was used to represent Prime's life force. Prowl senses them in the Dinobots, as does Megatron. A spark is the life force, and when Prime's is extinguished, he dies. That's pretty open and shut.

 

Now, if we are to assume that Sumdac was able to remove Megatron's spark, which is tantamount to ancient egyptians splitting the atom, why would he just put it in the body of a little girl robot? Scientific curiosity only goes so far. And if, as previously shown by Megatron and Prowl, that cybertronians are capable of sensing the presence of a spark, why didn't any of the Autobots discern that she had one?

A.I. does not require a spark. I don't know why you're so hung up on that idea.

I'm not saying that. What I am saying is that since Sumdac's tech is based on Cybertronian design, and since Cybertronian design *does* require a spark for life, then Sumdac's tech would also require a spark for life. And Sumdac's tech is the only example of human-created AI in the show.

But A.I. =/= life.

 

I'm saying the clues exist to suggest that Sari might be an advanced form of A.I. - her actual state of "life", is a debatable topic from there, but it is not a necessary element to the hypothesis that she is a robot.