Core consciousness

If the spark is the soul of a Transformer, the core consciousness is the mind—the sum total of their personality, intelligence and memory. Unlike the spark itself, it can be backed up, but to little effect if the spark itself is lost.

It can be modified or supplanted by a shell program.

Fiction

Beast Wars cartoon

"Dinobot, the time has come. Execute Order 66."

While Optimus Primal was recovering in a CR chamber, Dinobot accessed Optimus's core consciousness to speak with him. Fallen Comrades

Blackarachnia's core consciousness was put at risk after her shell program began to degrade from a botched Transmetal driver experiment. Though a power surge briefly extinguished her spark, she was revived by the driver's power. Crossing the Rubicon

Notes

• The "lost" episode of Beast Wars, "Dark Glass", would have involved Rattrap attempting to install a copy of Dinobot's core consciousness onto Dinobot II.