Spark extractor

A spark extractor is a device used for pulling a Transformer's spark out of its mechanical body. This process can be accomplished even against the will of the target Transformer. Once removed from its body, a Transformer's spark is more or less helpless.

When an extractor is near a Transformer and activated, even before the spark emerges, the Transformer often appears to be stunned or dazed such that they find it difficult to resist. The extraction itself is quite fast, requiring only thirty seconds or less.

Spark extractors were used frequently in the Beast Machines cartoon, which also instroduced them. They seemed to be quite effective as weapons, requiring only that the victim be momentarily immobilized in order for the extractor to do its work. Because they were so effective, and yet never appeared prior to Beast Machines, it seems possible that the extractors were an invention of Megatron. After interfacing with the Oracle, Megatron's own disembodied spark also had the ability to extract the sparks of living Transformers even without technological aid.