The Energon Pub

[Optimus Z]

Is a spark either maximal/autobot Predicon/Decepticon or is the protype?

[Glyph]

I think the picture is a little confused - going by the descriptions presented at various points, a protoform should really be a blank slate while the spark provides the personality for the nascent Transformer - but the characters tended to refer to the protoform itself as being Maximal or not. See Blackarachnia in particular: while she clearly enjoyed being a Predacon, which presumably comes from her spark, Silverbolt repeatedly refers to her being a Maximal protoform and expecting the Maximal programming to eventually show through her Predacon personality.

[Loki120]

Well, in Beast Wars, all the protoforms were to be programmed as Maximals (they were all ejected from the Axalon before crashing). When Blackarachnia and Inferno were activated, Tarantulas implanted a Predacon shell program, which would override the Maximal programming. On a basic level, the shell program brings out the dark side of their personalities. As evidenced by the removal of Blackarachnia's program, which became completely Maximal, and her "bad girl" personality became more subdued.

The exceptions to this are, of course, Rampage...who was already corrupted by the very nature of his spark. And Quickstrike, who didn't recieve the shell program, he just seemed to be a bad apple from the start.

[Rodimus 2.0]

In the show they were all Maximals. They came from the Maximal ship.

[Sherade]

Yeah, technically, all protoforms activated in BW were 'Maximal" per say, but the shell program Loki talked about overrides the original programming, turning them into Preds.