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The living metal from which Transformers are constructed is known by many names, including protomatter, technomatter, sentio metallico, birth metal, cyber-matter, Sparked metal, elemental metal, and Transformium. Usually depicted as the living stuff of Cybertron itself, it is no ordinary metal, possessing a self-replicating cellular structure and a genetic code. Transformers are sometimes presented as having a "natural" alternate mode they take on at birth, defined by the hard-coded design schematics in their spark, but their living metal is malleable and adaptable, and is capable of being programmed to reconfigure into new shapes, designs, and colors, allowing 'bots to change alternate mode as needed. Indeed, newborn living metal seems to desire a shape; if complications at birth prevent it from taking one, it is likely to die, and the spark of the Transformer to be extinguished with it. As with human flesh, when living metal dies, it is often shown to become drained of color; conversely, if infused with an excess of exotic energy, it has been known to unexpectedly take on new hues or even mutate into new shapes.
At the base level, living metal is composed of Rarified Energon.[1] As living matter, it is capable of being ravaged by unique diseases, but it can heal damage done it to it over time, its metallic cells regenerating and "growing" back. This healing process can be accelerated via medical means such as hands-on maintenance, external repair devices, or energon infusions. Lost parts can be replaced with duplicates made from ordinary metals without difficulty; a Transformer's systems can absorb and break down conventional material, convert it into living metal, and re-integrate it into their bodies.[2][3] However, major organs are exceptionally complex and replacements are virtually impossible to construct from normal materials, meaning that it is possible for a Transformer to suffer irreparable damage to parts of their body and lose the function of them.
It is entirely possible for a new Transformer body to be built from scratch without using living metal at all, and for a spark to then be implanted in it. The resultant being is no less of a "real" Cybertronian, but may face some social stigma in an unenlightened society. In some universes, the infusion of the spark will actually convert such a body into living metal. [4]
