Hot spot (phenomenon)
| The name or term "Hot Spot" refers to more than one character or idea. For a list of other meanings, see Hot Spot (disambiguation). |
- Hot spots are a phenomenon from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.
A hot spot is a location in which sparks are naturally known to ignite. Known hot spots have been recorded on Cybertron and its moons, though the vast majority have gone dormant over time.
Fiction
IDW Generation 1 continuity
Cybertronian history records twelve known hot spots across Cybertron, which appear to have ignited and cooled multiple times throughout the planet's existence: Rivets Field, Vespertine Blue, Port Residua — all three located in or near Iacon — Black Planet the Pious Pools, Vauvaire, Sansw Sanserre, Automica, Warrior's Gate, Port Residua, Eugenesis, Alyon, Mesmerica, and Nova Point. A Spark Among Embers These were ignited by pulses from Vector Sigma—a race to find the new hot spot often occurred after each pulse. Nova Prime was worried that the pulses would stop eventually as they were getting less and less frequent by his time. The Divided Self A hot spot would usually be consecrated before any sparks were harvested from it. The Fecund Moon One of the Signs of Affinity was becoming giddy when standing atop a hot spot. Journey's End
At least thirteen of the Titans carried hot spots, which they engaged upon finding a suitable world to colonize. A 'Bot and Her City
During Cybertron's Golden Age, some six million years ago, Tailgate was one of the 'bots who emerged from the Rivets Field hot spot in Iacon that ignited two weeks before the launch of the first Ark. This Calamitous Life
Eventually, the hot spots stopped appearing, and for several million years it looked like there would be no more. However, one eventually appeared in Alyon, which from the skies looked like the shape of a hand. The Senate, knowing society and the Functionist Council would take this as an excuse to reintroduce hardline functionism, kept it a secret from the general population. Orion Pax and some other refugees from the Senate found out about it, and took up watch, believing the Senate wished to destroy them. In truth, the Senate had been wanting to create their own Outliers, and were bombarding the site with fessile radiation, unaware it was more likely to kill the sparks. Once they realized the jig was up, the Senate moved to plan B: blow the hot spot up. Fortunately Pax was able to take out their weapon platform, and the sparks were safely harvested. All Our Parlous Yesterdays
The lost moon Luna 1 was discovered to have a hot spot of unprecedented size. The Fecund Moon However the hot spot went dark not long after it was discovered. The Sound of Breaking Glass
A few years after the Chaos event reset Cybertron to a primal state, the Dinobots found a massive hot spot in what had once been Alyon, which Bludgeon had been using to commit twisted experiments. Redemption While the hot spot was brought to Starscream's attention, he opted not to harvest the sparks yet and kept its existence a secret. All the sparks were eventually stolen by Bludgeon as part of a plan to corrupt them into soldiers using Trypticon's lifeblood. Salvation
Notes
- In "Remembrance Day", we see Frak and Rushcut uncover the rare spark that will become Overlord in the Thymesis Energon mining facility on Luna 2. As the mine is then subsequently closed as their supervisor sends for an authenticator from the Functionist Council it's evident that they were not expecting to find a spark there, so it seems that while it is rare for sparks to be found outside hot spots, they do sometimes occur naturally in Energon seams, at least.
