Transformer funerary practices

2018-04-04T03:05:47Z

StarBreaker: /* Aligned continuity family */

[[File:TheNotKnowing-AutobotGraveyard.jpg|thumb|right|250px]]

Over the course of their innumerable conflicts, Transformers frequently [[death|perish]]. Though most Transformers pass on safe in the knowledge that their [[Spark]]s will ascend to a peaceful existence in their [[Transformer afterlife|afterlife]], Cybertronian cultures have also developed various '''funerary practices''' to venerate – or at least dispose of – the Sparkless remains of deceased Transformers.

The realities of war mean that few Transformers are laid to rest in a dignified manner. Perhaps for this reason, most Transformer death rites skew towards the practical rather than the spiritual, though various Cybertronian [[religion]]s have been known to outline specific funerary procedures for the devout. Some Transformers, [[Autobot]]s in particular, have been known to adopt the funerary customs of other worlds when they lay their deceased to rest on alien soil. In other instances, the passing of a Cybertronian represents a vital opportunity for other Transformers to salvage parts from the dead, or recycle their bodies into new supplies of [[living metal]].

Particularly honored heroes may receive monuments and memorials in their name in the hopes of inspiring future generations of Cybertronians to live up to their example.

:{{quote|Ashes to ashes! Junk to junk!|[[Wreck-Gar (G1)|Wreck-Gar]]}}

==Generation 1 continuity family==
===Cartoon continuities===
[[File:G1-screencap darkawakening Optimus empty tomb.jpg|thumb|left|200px]]
[[Autobot]]s have been known to both bury their dead and inter them. {{storylink|Dark Awakening (episode)|Dark Awakening}} When [[Jetfire (G1)|Skyfire]] apparently perished in battle, the Autobots buried his body beneath the ice and held a short memorial service for him. {{storylink|Fire in the Sky}}

When [[Hot Rod (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Rodimus Prime]] was believed dead, [[Springer (G1)|Springer]] said they would take the body back to [[Cybertron (planet)|Cybertron]] for internment. {{storylink|Five Faces of Darkness, Part 2}}

Fallen warriors from the [[Battle of Autobot City]], including the body of [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Optimus Prime]], were interred aboard a [[Autobot Mausoleum|massive, spaceborne mausoleum]] where Autobot pilgrims could pay their respects. They were immortalized by the "Veil of Remembrance." {{storylink|Dark Awakening (episode)|Dark Awakening}} The Autobots later erected an [[Optimus Prime memorial]] in Autobot City... shortly before Optimus returned from the dead. Oops. {{storylink|The Return of Optimus Prime, Part 1}}

After [[Ultra Magnus (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Ultra Magnus]] was shot dead by [[Sixshot]], he received a burial at sea on his favorite planet [[Earth]], inside a glass coffin decorated with Christian imagery. {{storylink|Ultra Magnus Dies!!}}

[[File:DecepticonMarkers.jpg|thumb|right|200px]]

The [[Decepticon]]s create markers bearing the likeness of their dead, lit by an eternal flame. It is unclear if these mark the place where a Transformer's remains are stored or not, but at least three Transformers have markers in two locations. Superstitious Decepticons believe a deceased Transformer's spirit may linger near its marker, and it is considered bad luck to disturb one. {{storylink|The Transformers: The Movie}} {{storylink|Starscream's Ghost}}

The Autobots have been known to dispose of a fallen ''enemy'' by giving them to the [[Junkion (species)|Junkion]]s, with Ultra Magnus intending to send them to collect a fallen [[Galvatron (G1)/Generation 1 cartoon continuity|Galvatron]]. {{storylink|The Dweller in the Depths}}

===Marvel Comics continuity===
A facsimile [[Optimus Prime (G1)/Marvel Comics continuity|Optimus Prime]] was once buried when the Earth-bound Autobots believed it to be the real Optimus. This was a departure from Cybertronian traditions, but according to the Autobots present, adhering to Earth traditions was 'what he would have wanted'. {{storylink|Resurrection!}} When the real Prime died a short time later, his body was instead shot into space, suggesting that maybe he wouldn't have wanted a burial after all. {{storylink|Funeral for a Friend!}}

At the chance [[Thunderwing (G1)|Thunderwing]] would die on his obsessive hunt for the [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]], [[Spinister (G1)|Spinister]] noted he'd sent flowers. {{storylink|Dark Creation}}

===Beast Era===
[[File:Dinobot funeral.jpg|thumb|left|200px]]
Traditionally, [[Predacon (BW)|Predacon]] warriors have their bodies melted down and recycled with honors shortly after their passing. Predacons consider this to be an act of great respect towards the dead, though [[Maximal]]s disagree. {{storylink|Fallen Comrades}}
When [[Dinobot (BW)|Dinobot]] sacrificed his life to save [[human]]ity's future, the Maximals recycled his body in honour of his Predacon heritage. Those Maximals with airborne alternate modes subsequently flew over his body in a {{w|missing man formation}}, though it’s unclear if this act is a Predacon or Maximal tradition. {{storylink|Code of Hero}}

For [[Maximal]]s, it is customary to hold a wake where friends and comrades reminisce about their memories of the fallen. The deceased Transformer may be memorialized with a holographic statue. {{storylink|The Catalyst}}

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===IDW Generation 1 continuity===
{{quote|I commend your spark to the Allspark, and the Allspark is one spark, and the one spark is your spark, and in this way we are all connected.|[[Hot Rod (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Rodimus]] performs the Act of Transition|"[[The Gloaming]]"}}

[[File:TheGloaming-ActOfTransition.jpg|thumb|right|300px]]

Some Cybertronians, including the Autobots, memorialize the dead through the "'''Act of Transition'''", a public ceremony where friends and colleagues of the deceased can volunteer to eulogize their fallen comrade. This ceremony can be performed ''en masse'' should the need arise. When performing the rite, [[Hot Rod (G1)/IDW Generation 1 continuity|Hot Rod]] donned a ceremonial cloak and shoulder pads. {{storylink|The Gloaming}} Cybertronians sometimes honor the fallen by repainting their [[insignia]]s grey. {{storylink|Dissolution Part 1: Some Other Cybertron|Some Other Cybertron}}

[[Image:Bumper-funeral.jpg|thumb|left|200px]]

Transformers in this continuity tend to bury their dead, interring them within coffin-like crypts. These vary wildly in design, and some sport extra features such as holographic remembrance avatars. {{storylink|Megatron Origin issue 3|Megatron Origin #3}} In other instances, coffins may be jettisoned into space if Transformers perish aboard a starship. {{storylink|The Gloaming}} The [[Wrecker]]s stored the bodies of fallen members in the [[Zone of Remembrance]] aboard their base, the space station [[Debris]], including, ominously, pre-emptively prepared graves for active members of the team. {{storylink|Sins of the Wreckers issue 3|Sins of the Wreckers #3}} A traditional [[Neoprimalist]] funeral, by contrast, involves preserving the head while cremating the rest of the body. {{storylink|The Dying of the Light: (1) How Bright Their Frail Deeds|How Bright Their Frail Deeds}} [[Spectralism|Spectralist]]s are known to practice particular rites when interring their dead. {{storylink|Slaughterhouse Part 2: The Road Not Taken|The Road Not Taken}}

In the years before the war, the [[Senate]] organized numerous state-sponsored memorial services for members who had perished in the line of duty. Murdered security officers [[Bumper (G1)|Bumper]] and [[Fastback (G1)|Fastback]] received one such ceremony overseen by [[Sentinel Prime (G1)|Sentinel Prime]]. {{storylink|Megatron Origin issue 3|Megatron Origin #3}}

The bodies of [[Prime (rank)|Prime]]s and other [[Matrix of Leadership|Matrix]]-bearers, on the other hand, were traditionally ferried to the [[Primal Basilica]] in a public parade of mourning, wherupon the Matrix was transferred to the next holder of the artifact. In the case of Sentinel Prime, the body was later moved to a secure location owing to heightened security concerns. {{storylink|The Last Autobot}}

The funerary customs of Decepticons are not known. It is, however, not unheard of for [[Scavenger (group)|low-ranking Decepticon]]s to scavenge spare parts and [[innermost energon]] off recently expired corpses. {{storylink|Scavengers (Part 2): Who's Afraid of the DJD?|Who's Afraid of the DJD?}} This approach was shared by the [[Junkion (species)|Junkion]]s, who considered this behavior "honoring the fallen." {{storylink|The Next Day, and the Next}}

[[File:MTMTE44-MegatronLookAtTheFlowers.jpg|thumb|right|300px]]

Several superstitious Transformers believe in a mythological figure called the "Necrobot", who supposedly travels the galaxy to surreptitiously log the deaths of every Cybertronian. {{storylink|Scavengers (Part 2): Who's Afraid of the DJD?|Who's Afraid of the DJD?}} The crew of the ''[[Lost Light]]'' discovered that the Necrobot really did exist – a humble 'bot named [[Censere]]. In addition to charting the deaths of every Transformer, Censere took a fragment of their residual spark energy back to the "[[Necroworld]]." There, he tended to a planet-sized garden filled with holographic statues of every living Cybertronian, which deactivated when the Transformer in question died. The spark fragments he gathered were crafted into blue flowers and planted around the statue of the Transformer who had killed them. {{storylink|The Not Knowing}}

On the colony world of [[Velocitron]], the natives chose to dispose of their dead by melting them in a [[smelting pool]]. {{storylink|The Next Day, and the Next}} On [[Caminus]], Transformers may have epitaphs inscribed on their [[spark]] casings before burial. {{storylink|The Dying of the Light: (1) How Bright Their Frail Deeds|How Bright Their Frail Deeds}} Following his death, the Autobots buried the [[Devisiun|Devisien]] [[Oiler]] in a grave marked by a simple tombstone, though it is unclear if this is the custom on Devisiun or if the Autobots were simply burying him in accordance with their own culture. {{storylink|The Next Day, and the Next}}

===''Beast Wars: Uprising''===
The [[Builder of Cybertron|Builder]]s frequently named buildings after deceased combatants in the Great War. Examples include the [[Ratchet Memorial Hospital]] in [[Iacon (polity)|Iacon]] {{storylink|Derailment}} and the [[Cyclonus Memorial Tower]] in [[Thetacon (polity)|Thetacon]]. {{storylink|Broken Windshields}}

==Unicron Trilogy==
[[File:Sacrifice.jpg|thumb|left|200px]]

Following the death of [[Smokescreen (Armada)|Smokescreen]], [[Optimus Prime (Armada)|Optimus Prime]] led the Autobots in a military salute to their fallen comrade. {{storylink|Sacrifice}}

The Autobots chose to bury [[Alpha Quintesson]]'s body on [[Plains Planet|Grass Planet]], marking his final resting place with a simple tombstone. {{storylink|Optimus Supreme}}

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==Live-action film series==

[[File:Jazzgetsdumped.jpeg|thumb|right|200px]]

Following [[Jazz (Movie)|Jazz]]'s death during the battle of [[Mission City]], [[Optimus Prime (Movie)|Optimus Prime]] briefly eulogized Jazz’s remains. {{storylink|Transformers (film)|Transformers}} Jazz’s body was placed inside a trailer (which acted as a coffin) by [[Ironhide (Movie)|Ironhide]] and was deposited in the ocean after a ceremony. {{storylink|Alliance issue 3}} The bodies of the Decepticons were simply tossed into the [[Laurentian Abyss]] in the hopes that the pressure and freezing temperatures would keep them permanently offline. {{storylink|Transformers (film)|Transformers}}

[[Hound (Movie)|Hound]] took off his hat and held it over his chest as he witnessed [[Leadfoot (DOTM)|Leadfoot]]'s death. {{storylink|Transformers: Age of Extinction (film)|Age of Extinction}}

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==''Animated''==
[[File:EndgamePartII-CorpsemasterProwl.jpg|thumb|left|200px]]
An Autobot crew who performs a noble duty and dies in battle is given a proper funeral service. The one who knew the fallen comrade the most gives the eulogy, respectful or [[Sentinel Prime (Animated)|not]]. {{storylink|Dispatches}} Before a funeral, the remains of great heroes are placed in an open coffin, carried by their comrades, to be displayed to the masses after a victory. {{storylink|Endgame, Part II}} Immediately afterwards, an Autobot’s remains are ceremoniously melted down into raw material for new [[protoform]]s.<ref>[http://www.formspring.me/DerrickJWyatt/q/802241551]</ref>
If a [[Omega Supreme (Animated)|notable figure]] is not ''quite'' dead yet, they'll be put into [[stasis lock]] until they can be returned to a fully operational state. {{storylink|A Bridge Too Close, Part II}} {{storylink|TransWarped}}

A great Decepticon leader, such as [[Megatron (Animated)|Megatron]] is given a proper funeral service. It is not uncommon for one person to erect a statue in the honor of the fallen in particular. {{storylink|Dispatches|The Arrival issue 1}} The remains of [[Starscream (Animated)|executed traitors]] are unceremoniously thrown into nearby rivers or garbage piles to rust where they lie. {{storylink|Mission Accomplished|Mission Accomplished}}

==Aligned continuity family==
When [[Solus Prime]] perished during the disastrous battle between the [[Thirteen]] [[Prime (rank)|Prime]]s, the remaining eleven members of the Thirteen held an elaborate ceremony for their fallen sister, setting off fireworks and guns to commemorate her passing. At the conclusion of her funeral, the Primes worked together to construct an elaborate tomb for Solus Prime containing some of her many artifacts. They launched the tomb into a distant part of the galaxy, connected to Cybertron via a network of [[space bridge]]s. {{storylink|Transformers: The Covenant of Primus|The Covenant of Primus}} {{storylink|Transformers: Exiles|Exiles}}

The Primes did not extend this elaborate celebration to the treacherous [[Liege Maximo]], who had orchestrated the passing of Solus in the first place. His lifeless body was subsequently cast into a deep chasm and unceremoniously buried until [[Megatron (WFC)|Megatron]] robbed the grave for his own purposes. {{storylink|Transformers: The Covenant of Primus|The Covenant of Primus}}

Important Transformers were known to be interred in the [[Crypt of the Primes]], a mausoleum that contained the bodies of Primes and other important Transformers. Traditionally, the deceased were commemorated with elaborate rites and rituals, though when [[Sentinel Zeta Prime|Sentinel Prime]] was interred he was memorialized with a very simple ceremony, as befitting the straitened wartime conditions. {{storylink|Transformers: Exiles|Exiles}}

In the present day, Autobots sometimes immortalized fallen warriors by constructing monuments and holding memorial services to honor the accomplishments of the deceased. {{storylink|Darkness Rising, Part 1}} The Autobots have also been known to bury fallen Decepticons, as [[Optimus Prime (WFC)|Optimus Prime]] and [[Bumblebee (WFC)|Bumblebee]] did with [[Skyquake (Prime)|Skyquake]]. As maintaining their cover was paramount to both sides, this may have been a simple attempt to prevent [[human]]s from discovering Skyquake's body. {{storylink|Masters & Students}}

Following his sacrifice to revive Cybertron's [[Well of All Sparks]], Optimus was honored with an enormous statue in the rebuilt [[Kaon (polity)|Kaon]]. {{storylink|Pilot (Part 1)}}

Decepticons rarely showed any inclination to memorialize their dead, though both [[Knock Out (Prime)|Knock Out]] and [[Dreadwing (Prime)|Dreadwing]] attempted to honor the memories of their comrades by killing those who were responsible for their deaths. Attitudes can vary about the treatment of bodies, as Starscream was somewhat disturbed by Knock Out's cavalier attitude toward conducting experiments on his fallen friend's corpse, while Knock Out felt he was honoring his fallen comrade by tormenting the one who once tormented Breakdown. {{storylink|Loose Cannons}} {{storylink|Tunnel Vision}} {{storylink|Thirst}}

==References==
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[[Category:Memorials]]
[[Category:Transformer culture]]

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Transformer funerary practices