Sun

The Sun, the center of the Solar System and the closest star to Earth

The Sun, also known as Sol, is the star at the center of the Solar System. It functions similarly as to its real-life counterpart, providing heat and light to the beings of Earth.

The Sun is a frequent target of the Decepticons, who seek to utilize it in various ways, such as tapping into its power, hurling things such as Autobots or the planet Earth into it, or just plain blowing it to smithereens. The Autobots usually stop them in time, but it's almost always a close call.

The Sun is the center of its own Solar System.

Sun facts

• Look out the window, see that big bright thing? That's the Sun.
• The Sun is hot.
• The Sun is large.
• The Sun is far away.
• Even when it's out of sight, the Sun shines night and day.

Fiction

The Transformers cartoon

The Decepticons built the Solar Needle to harvest the Sun's energy, but did not intend to destroy it: only an instability was causing it to damage the star. A last minute pull of the Needle's wires by Optimus Prime that shut it down saved the day.

When a court ruling expelled the Autobots from Earth, they were launched into space in a rocket ship constructed by Shawn Berger. Megatron fixed the ship's course to collide with the Sun. When the Autobots were unable to change the ship's destination, they abandoned ship before it was plunged into the Sun and was destroyed. Contained in Trailbreaker's forcefield linked to Cosmos, the Autobots found they were still on course for the Sun, as Cosmos's course was being determined by Teletraan I. It wasn't until the computer was disabled that they were able to escape certain doom.

The Combaticons intended to gain their revenge on Megatron for exiling them. Taking Cybertron, Onslaught rigged the space bridge to push Earth into the Sun. Torn from its orbit, the Earth began heating up, causing spontaneous fires to break out across the planet. While the Protectobots battled to save the planet, the Autobots and Decepticons went to Cybertron, where they managed to reverse the effects of the space bridge and prevent Earth from plunging into the Sun.

As part of a plan to overload the Sun, sending it nova, Galvatron opened the Plasma Energy Chamber and channeled the energy into the star. With all of the Transformers disabled by the plasma energy, Spike Witwicky shut down the chamber and, with the help of the Nebulons, reversed the process, drawing the energy back out of the Sun and stabilizing it.

The Magic School Bus

After Arnold requests an alternative (maybe to a "bigger planetarium") field trip to "prove" to Janet that their field trips are unusual, Ms. Frizzle transforms the bus into a rocket ship, and blasts off into outer space. The bus makes an approach to the Sun and because of the proximity between Mercury and the Sun, it lacks an atmosphere.

The class use gravity to pull an asteroid to the bus, and manage to send it into the Sun, saving the school.

Exosquad

That's where the human undesirables are sent into by the Neosapiens. In A Traitor Among Us, the Neos are not taking the humans to Venus, but are going to let them fall into the Sun, and the Neo shuttle detached from the containers with that intention. Luckily in Scorched Venus, Marsala saves the container full of exiles, which also contained Marsh and DeLeon, from falling into the Sun.

Dr. Slump

In Dr. Slump and The Adventures of Tongpoo, the Sun is shown as a living being with a face, which is not carried over to its appearances in the Dragon Ball series.

Dragon Ball series

Earth II's Sun has a minor role in several of the Dragon Ball movies: in Dragon Ball: Sleeping Princess in Devil's Castle, Lucifer wants to get rid of the Sun so he can take over Earth II; Cooler (in Dragon Ball Z: Cooler's Revenge), Broly (in Dragon Ball Z: Broly - Second Coming) and Baby (Alpha H-Z, New Plant's Sun in Dragon Ball GT) are all defeated by being blasted into the Sun; Lord Slug blocks out the Sun with a cloud produced by a special machine in order for his henchmen to survive on Earth II without their special equipment. Later in the movie, Goku uses the energy of the Sun to make a Spirit Bomb and crushes the machine and Slug along with it.

The Sun is frequently used to assist in the Solar Flare version used by Krillin and Cell.

Sailor Moon

In the Sailor Moon manga, Queen Metalia originated from dark energy from a sunspot.

Sonic The Hedgehog

In Sonic X, the Sun appears on New Year's Day at sunrise, where it has been blocked by the Egg Moon in a solar eclipse. To make up for it, Eggman lights the town with giant Mirror Towers that power his specially designed Sunshine Balls. Later, the Egg Moon is taken out of Eggman's control by Knuckles, bringing sunlight to Earth once again.

Suns of the universe

There are several other suns in the universe. Planet Namek has three suns, and Planet Vegeta has two suns. Coola No. 98 is also located in a solar system with two suns. There are several suns in the Sacred World of the Kais, but only one gigantic sun in the Other World.

Video game appearances

The Sun as represented in Dr. Slump is shown in Dragon Ball: Daimaō Fukkatsu, in the Penguin Village stage background in Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi 3, and in Dr. Slump: Arale-Chan.

Notes

Foreign names

• Japanese: Taiyō (太陽 "Biggest Light/Sun"), Nichi (日)