Chromedome (G1)/2005 IDW continuity

What it's like being IDW Chromedome.

An ex-copper and quiet academic with burning passions, Chromedome falls easily in love and even more easily into really bad ideas and self-destructive habits. But he can totally quit mnemosurgery any time, guys! He just has a reason why this one time, it's okay.

He's Conjunx Endura with Rewind. Although they're practically inseparable most of the time, deep down, Chromedome fears Rewind would leave him for his previous partner.

• First Appearance: Transformers vol. 1 #24

Fiction

A scientist before the war

In addition to neuroscience, his other interests include funny cat GIFs and Sherlock slashfic.

Tumbler of Iacon was constructed cold long before he adopted the name "Chromedome". Remembrance Day The Fecund Moon The Not Knowing

Before the war, during the days of the Clampdown, Tumbler was a mechaforensic scientist in the police force. The poor bugger was nicknamed "Unlucky" because he had to work with Prowl, the most anal, full-autopsy loving officer of all time. Despite Prowl's Prowlness, the two had an ambiguous, more-than-partners relationship. Tumbler had a strong interest in mnemosurgery, the science of hacking into Transformer minds and "reading" their memories, and was fascinated by the conspiracy theories of the Institute, a supposed secret group used by the authorities to brainwash dissidents.

Tumbler and Prowl investigated the assassination of Senator Sherma, whose corpse had been marked with a Decepticon insignia, and backtracked his whereabouts to the posh Translucentica Heights. Unfortunately, the killer had struck again before they arrived, murdering a second senator! Post Hoc Tumbler attempted to chase down a suspect, who perished in a fiery crash. Investigating the second victim's home, the two police 'bots learned from the warden Red Alert that the senator, Momus was secretly a Decepticon. The group were suddenly set upon a second attacker, but were saved by the timely arrival of Orion Pax, a fellow law enforcement officer. Pax had learned from his senator friend, Shockwave, that Sherma was also a secret Decepticon sympathizer, making it clear that the murders being committed against Decepticons, rather than by them.

Pax was able to identify that the killers had been using borrowed bodies, so Prowl and Tumbler set out to investigate the nearest Relinquishment Clinic, passing a Decepticon protest along the way. Although innocuous at first glance, the pair eventually found a secret facility beneath the clinic Tumbler believed to be the Institute. Along with proof that the killers had indeed been using borrowed bodies, Tumbler also discovered a list of citizens organized by threat level. Meeting back up in Rodion, Orion Pax was able to use the list and other evidence he'd gathered to realize the true plot in motion: the Senate had arranged for the pro-Decepticon senators' murders so that the swift solving of the crimes would boost Decepticon faith in the Senate, increasing the turn-out for the recently created Decepticon Registration Act. The Senate then planned to detonate a bomb at the late Nominus Prime's memorial service, hidden inside a fake Matrix of Leadership, and blame it on the Decepticons, giving them an excuse to use the Registration Act list, found by Tumbler, to round up and brainwash the dissidents. Patternism

With a plan to stop the bomb plot in place, Tumbler borrowed a replica Matrix from police armorer Ironfist, to be switched by Pax for the Matrix-bomb. At a concerned Prowl's insistence, Tumbler was left behind during the 'heist' to switch the Matrix, and was instead assigned to guard Shockwave with Pax's colleague Roller at a safehouse. Unfortunately, the safehouse was attacked by Senate thugs, and whilst Pax arrived back there in time, he was forced to allow the enforcers to take Shockwave in return for Roller's life. Tumbler quickly led Pax to the Institute facility he had found with Prowl, only to find it deserted. An Intimate Beheading Tumbler was present when he and his fellow officers busted Swindle for peddling simultronics. Post

"Everyone calls me Chromedome, but my real name is MySpace -- wait, wait, no."

In the aftermath of the full-scale Decepticon rebellion, the new Prime, Zeta, moved the Institute to a new, remote location, "rebranding" it as the 'New Institute'. Knowing of Tumbler's interest in neuroscience through Prowl, Zeta recruited the forensics officer as an apprentice cerebroscientist under Trepan. Working at the New Institute, he acquired the nickname "Chromedome" in reference to his prodigious skills as a mnemosurgeon and lobotomist, which he would eventually adopt as his regular name. When Overlord located and attacked the facility, Chromedome was in the middle of a procedure on the Decepticon Soundwave, but was interrupted by a blast through his midsection. Luckily, the medic Pharma was on hand to save the mnemosurgeon's life. Remembrance Day

Over time, after the war had begun proper, Chromedome came to resent his mnenosurgical abilities and became cynical over their use. The Chaos of Warm Things Many things he had to do during wartime were things that, in hindsight, he would regret. How to Say Goodbye and Mean It However, Chromedome would also find love, in the form of Scattergun, Mach and Pivot, becoming Conjunx Endura with each, only to also lose them one by one. Each time, Chromedome would be so overwhelmed by the grief he would use his mnemosurgery skills to erase all knowledge of his lovers. Each time Brainstorm would plead with his friend not to do so, and Chromedome would assure him he wouldn't, only to turn around and do just that the minute Brainstorm was out the door. This led an unknowing Chromedome to assume he had a naturally low supply of innermost energon, rather than actually being drained from having made so many deathbed offerings in his life. The Gloaming

Eventually, Chromedome was on the verge of suicide due to the immense burden of his abilities and the terrible side-effects they had on his own mental health. You, Me, and Other Revelations It was then, at his lowest point, that he went to a repurposed Relinquishment Clinic to end it, but found Rewind searching fruitlessly for Dominus Ambus. Before & After He formed a deep friendship with the diminutive archivist. Chromedome credited Rewind's optimism and caring nature as having saved his life, and the two were nearly inseparable since. You, Me, and Other Revelations Indeed, Swerve has been known to claim them as being "closer than Rack'n'Ruin" Hangers On and Rewind had named Chromedome as his Conjunx Endura. Before & After

A little known earlier detonation of the meta bomb.

Chromedome was stationed at Kimia Facility when Cyclonus and the Sweeps invaded. Lamentations He survived and managed to escape before the facility's destruction, leaving in an escape pod together with Brainstorm and a number of other Autobots. They were soon rescued by, as he put it, a psychopath in pink armor, and made a joke at Swerve's expense. Kings

As Arcee told the survivors about Galvatron and D-Void's master plan to bring the Dead Universe into the actual universe, Chromedome and Brainstorm felt a bit overwhelmed by the massive "info dump" and wondered if other species ever had to worry about saving the universe. Genesis

One prick deserves another... or five.

Weeks later, after D-Void's threat had ended and Cybertron had been reborn, Prowl summoned Chromedome and revealed to him that Overlord, recently defeated and captured by the Wreckers, had not in fact had his spark removed and imprisoned, as the official story had claimed. Instead, he had been rebuilt, as part of an initiative by Prowl to uncover the secret to the immense power and endurance of Overlord and the other Phase Sixers. With interrogation and the gift of a new body ineffective in making the Decepticon prisoner talk, Chromedome's former partner now sought for him to interface with Overlord and find the secret in his memories, a complex procedure that would be highly dangerous to the mnemosurgeon. When Chromedome refused, not wanting to break his promise to Rewind to stop interfacing, Prowl attempted to blackmail him with an unsavoury secret from the mnemosurgeon's past. Desperate to avoid Rewind learning this story, Chromedome attacked Prowl and forcibly interfaced with him, erasing from his old friend's memory both the blackmail threat and the knowledge that let him make it. He subsequently left the office, telling Prowl, oblivious to his attack, that he'd consider the proposal to work on Overlord. Remembrance Day

Somewhere around that time, Chromedome and Rewind attended the Festival of Lost Light. Twenty Plus One

The Lost Light

"And another thing! You deserved that memory wi- aaah... I mean, what memory wipe?"

After Optimus Prime's subsequent appearance and departure from Cybertron, Chromedome chose to join the Rodimus's crew of the Lost Light, alongside Rewind. Prowl, angry with this decision, tried to persuade him to stay, noting that Chromedome was "gifted" and his talents were still required on Cybertron, with the plan regarding Overlord left unspoken due to Rewind's presence. Eventually, realizing he wouldn't get anywhere with the argument, Chromedome gave up and left with Rewind, leaving Prowl to fume alone in his office.

Not long afterwards, Chromedome, Rewind, and Ratchet were headed to the Lost Light, with Chromedome verbally jabbing at Rewind's impractical alt mode along the way. Suddenly, a fight between Whirl and Cyclonus crossed their paths, as well as Tailgate, who had just escaped being trapped underground for six million years. Chromedome helped Tailgate out of the ground, but the small Cybertronian fainted when he saw that his escape had accidentally injured Whirl. Chromedome and the rest decided to take both Whirl and Tailgate aboard Lost Light for repairs. How to Say Goodbye and Mean It

After the Lost Light suffered a premature quantum jump and ended up halfway across the galaxy, forty Autobots were sucked out of a hull breach and sent plummeting to the surface of a nearby planetoid. Once the ship had landed there, Chromedome, Rewind, and Hoist aided in the recovery of missing crew members, pulling the stowaway Cyclonus from a lake. Later, Chromedome and others came across Skids, who had also crash-landed on the planet and was being pursued by some unknown sword-carrying robots. After Chromedome removed the "fiddly" inhibitor claw attached to Skids, the long thought-dead Autobot sprung into action and defeated his one remaining pursuer, much to the amazement of the others. Later, Chromedome was present when Rodimus addressed the crew. Hangers On

You know, sometime I'd just like games night NOT to end in me sticking my fingers in a corpse.

When a Sparkeater was thought to have been let loose aboard the Lost Light, Rodimus asked Chromedome to use his abilities to help identify it. Despite Rewind's reservations, Chromedome complied, hacking into Shock's mind to see the deceased Autobot's last memories. They did indeed tell of a violent attack by a Sparkeater, and Chromedome recoiled in pain and collapsed. After Chromedome recovered, he described the Sparkeater's appearance to the others. The Chaos of Warm Things After the Sparkeater business had been resolved, Chromedome and Rewind were present for the grand opening of Swerve's. No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases A few days after, he enjoyed a drink with Rewind and a tipsy Skids in Swerve's new bar. Life After the Big Bang When the Lost Light was hit by Metroplex's thumb (disconnected from its owner) Chromedome helped Brainstorm, Highbrow seal the hole while Trailbreaker used his forcefield to prevent them from being sucked out into the vacuum of space. He was presented with a Rodimus Star for his part in repairing the ship. Chromedome and Highbrow then discussed Rodimus Stars with Tailgate, who noted their shared "head-themed" nicknames. Later, he was paralyzed along with (nearly) everyone else on board of the ship when Brainstorm accidentally activated one of his experimental weapons. He eventually recovered, and was awarded another Rodimus Star "for exceptional endurance in the face of adversity". The Reluctant Specialist Curious about Skids's ever-present handgun (and the mental block which seemingly kept Skids from remembering it), Chromedome swiped the gun at the bar and turned it over to Brainstorm for analysis. Rules of Disengagement

Days later, over another round of drinks, Chromedome demonstrated his talent of being able to identify someone by the sound of their transformation alone. He offered some sympathy to Tailgate over the latter's studying under Ultra Magnus and displayed disgust when Tailgate mentioned trying to invite Cyclonus over to the table. However, the casual atmosphere came to a violent end when a mentally-disturbed Fortress Maximus entered the bar and abruptly shot Pipes at pointblank range. Interiors

Chromedome later checked in with Brainstorm to find out what was up with Skids' gun. Brainstorm managed to blow the thing up while examining it, but also named it a "binary gun" after recognizing it could only hold two cartridges. He also noted that its engineering seemed to indicate that the gun came from the Institute. Rules of Disengagement

Existential angst!

Chromedome suffered a brief bout of false recall, where he re-experienced the memory of Skyfall's death- one of the unpleasant side-effects of his mnemosurgeries. He attended Tailgate's Autobot initiation ceremony, and he, Rewind, and Brainstorm placed bets with Jackpot as to how long it would take for Rodimus to say "'Til all are one" in his speech. After representatives of the Galactic Council showed up, Chromedome was among the Autobots teleported to the surface of Theophany to explore the ruins of Crystal City, which had been subject to some unknown siege and left desolate. They discovered an inert Titan under the city, and Rodimus ordered Chromedome to hack into the giant's brain module and read its memories, hoping to discover what happened to Crystal City. While preparing to do so, Chromedome and Skids had a brief chat about their similar outlooks on life and its larger meaning. With a disapproving Rewind looking on, Chromedome hacked into the Titan's memory, and discovered it was still alive. Chromedome collapsed in pain, images torn from the Titan's brain reverberating through his mind, as the giant woke with a start and fired an eye-blast that struck the Galactic Council's ship in orbit. Once recovered, Chromedome explained that the Titan was attempting to will its spark to leave its body, having barely any power left and being totally paralyzed. Chromedome wanted to attempt to re-enter the Titan's mind, as the glimpses he caught indicated that its memories contained much of the information that they were seeking. With the Galactic Council's troops bearing down on them and the Lost Light under attack, Rodimus chose to set the Titan free instead of pillaging its mind. After some of its mass was shrunk by Brainstorm, the Titan had enough power to teleport the Autobots back to their ship, and the Lost Light quantum-jumped to safety. You, Me, and Other Revelations

Days later Skids, inspired by his discussion with Chromedome in Crystal City, wanted to let the mnemosurgeon unlock his missing memories. Chromedome admitted that he himself was curious about the mystery of Skids' past and agreed to do it. After hacking into Skids' mind, Chromedome discovered the memories of the year prior to Skids' joining the crew of the Lost Light had been replaced by an imperative to escape. Chromedome dug deeper and found the erased memories still locked inside Skids' head, but once he caught a glimpse of them, he quickly withdrew. Chromedome told Skids that the buried memories were so horrifying and traumatic that it was better for everyone, Skids himself included, that they never resurface. Skids reluctantly agreed, but asked Chromedome about a piece of music he kept hearing in his head. Chromedome admitted that he heard it in there too, identified it as "The Empyrean Suite", and prayed that Skids would never come to understand its significance. Who's Afraid of the DJD?

In order to restore the recovering Rung's mind, Chromedome and others were assembled by Rewind to tell a story from the Clampdown era. Chromedome explained to the others that the story would help reestablish critical neural connections in Rung's brain. He started off the story, but he and Rewind got briefly distracted trying to figure out how many times Prowl had flipped a table over in their presence. Post Hoc By the end of the story, the ship's alarms were sounding, and Chromedome scrambled for battle stations with the others. An Intimate Beheading

Not "like an old married couple", they literally are an old married couple.

As they headed to Temptoria in the Leading Light, Chromedome and Rewind argued over the latter's insistence of joining them in battle, despite being technically exempt from combat. Though Chromedome enthusiastically took part in the battle on Temptoria against a small force of Decepticons, when he returned to the shuttle, he found that Rewind had been gravely injured in an explosion. Back on the Lost Light, First Aid talked Chromedome into performing a jumpstart on Rewind to save the smaller 'Bot's spark. While waiting to hear if the procedure had worked or not, Chromedome got to chatting with Tailgate about how he and Rewind had met, of Rewind's lost “master”, (a progressive ‘Bot by the name of Dominus Ambus). Rewind had never stopped looking for the missing Ambus and even made Chromedome promise to continue the search if anything ever happened to him.

The jumpstart procedure failed, as Chromedome's own spark was "low yield". Sent to his quarters to recharge, an emotionally vulnerable Chromedome spoke to Drift through his door. Drift offered to show him something in the basement that would give the Autobots an advantage and prevent any more tragedies like Rewind's from ever happening again. Before Chromedome could answer, however, First Aid contacted him with the news that Whirl had a compatible spark to be used to save Rewind. A happy reunion ensued. Before & After

Despite this, Chromedome met with Brainstorm and Drift and learned the secret of Overlord's presence on the Lost Light. Despite his previous refusal to Prowl, the fresh memory of Rewind's near-death was enough for Chromedome to agree to use his talents on the Decepticon, in the hope that "Autobot Phase Sixers" could prevent any such tragedies from happening again. Over the next several days, Chromedome visited Overlord in the slow cell multiple times, acclimating himself to the Decepticon's mental architecture. As a safeguard in the event of Overlord's escape, he subtly altered the Decepticon's memories so as to make him associate the phrase "'til all are one!" with defeat in combat, knowing that Rodimus would undoubtedly say this in a battle. Under Cold Blue Stars In-between visits to Overlord, Chromedome took time to be interviewed for Rewind's documentary about life on the Lost Light. Little Victories

This is something Rung would also call "a super bad idea".

Feeling bold, Chromedome began visiting Overlord's cell without informing his co-conspirators in advance, and confronted Overlord directly in his memories. He compelled Overlord to lead him through his memories to the Foundry, when Megatron, Shockwave, and Rossum used ununtrium to reinforce his endoskeleton and transform him into one of the Warriors Elite. Although Chromedome found his answers, he was taken unawares by Overlord also having mnemosurgical training, allowing the Decepticon to loop them through a shared memory and take control of the mental environment. With Chromedome helpless, Overlord browsed through the Autobot's memories at will until he found the security codes to unlock the slow cell. With this, Overlord escaped, taunting a weakened Chromedome with the knowledge that the five seconds it would take him to cross the cell in pursuit would equal thirty minutes of killin' time for Overlord aboard the ship. Remembrance Day

Sure enough, Chromedome exited the slow cell into chaos, as the crew of the Lost Light battled vainly against the superwarrior. Luckily, a true-to-form Rodimus uttered his catch phrase, causing a sudden nervous attack in Overlord which gave Fortress Maximus an opening to overpower the Decepticon. Per Drift's back-up plan, Overlord was forced back into the slow cell, which was readied to eject into space. Tragically, one of Drift's swords, stolen during the battle, blocked the cell door open, and heroically Rewind climbed inside the cell to remove the blade. Once he did, the door closed automatically, severing Chromedome's left arm and trapping Rewind inside with Overlord. Desperately speaking some final words to his partner (which Rewind could not hear through the door), Chromedome watched helplessly as the cell was jettisoned. Unwilling to leave Rewind to Overlord's tender mercies, Chromedome personally manned the weapons array of the Lost Light and blew the slow cell to pieces, apparently killing Rewind in the process. Under Cold Blue Stars

I love you too, guys!

As Rewind and the other victims were laid to rest, Chromedome seemed to hold together remarkably. Only Brainstorm knew what was really going on in his friend's head, and confronted Chromedome in his suite after the funeral. Brainstorm tried to remind Domey of his other Conjunx Endura over the years -- Mach, Pivot, Scattergun—each of whom Chromedome forcibly removed from his own memories using mnemosurgery once they died, as he couldn't cope with the loss. Brainstorm pleaded with Chromedome not to do it again, and honor Rewind by remembering him. He passed on a final message from Rewind, a memory stick the little bot threw through the cell door as it was closing. These final words and expression of love from Rewind were enough to stop Chromedome from injecting and convince him to hold onto the memory of his lost love. The Gloaming

"The ladies say that Scooter's the fastest ride in town. Catch-A-Ri.. oh, I just realized that's an insult."

Shortly afterwards, Chromedome visited Ratchet in the medibay for reconstruction of his left arm. As he entered, a panicked Tailgate barged past him. Before work on the arm was complete, the Lost Light, pursuing the missing Ultra Magnus, arrived at a vast portal in space, and Chromedome watched from the observation deck. Beyond the portal was the long lost Luna 1, and the mnemosurgeon was recruited by Rodimus for the landing party. The group descended, though not before Chromedome promised Skids to search for answers regarding his amnesia, and on the moon's surface they found an active hot spot of gestating sparks. Before long, however, the party was set upon by Lockdown and his cadre of Titan Hunters, The Fecund Moon forcing them to flee into a nearby Titan "graveyard". Their flight was futile, and the entire group was soon captured, whereupon their gracious host was revealed as Tyrest, who accused them of crimes against creation. On the way to their cell, Chromedome noticed an apparently immobile Ultra Magnus. The landing party quickly got to chatting with their new cellmate, who revealed himself to be Minimus Ambus, spark brother of Rewind's lost friend Dominus Ambus. Even though they were all locked up at the behest of Tyrest, Chromedome didn't share Tailgate's impatience to escape their shared prison cell. He quickly chastised the Minibot for calling him "Domey", the personal nickname that Rewind once used. The group stewed in their prison for some time until an observant Rung deduced something from Minimus's mannerisms—that their cellmate was none other than Ultra Magnus! House of Ambus

Chromedome listened intently to Minimus's explanation with the others, learning the secret of the Magnus Armor. When Skids and Swerve were teleported into their holding cell and Skids was revealed by Minimus to be considered a criminal, Chromedome assumed it had something to do with the "binary gun" the theoretician had been carrying. When Tyrest's enforcer Star Saber introduced them to another new cellmate, Chromedome revealed to Skids that he had read his memories wrong. What he had thought was a buried imperative in Skids's mind to "escape", was actually a name- the name of their new cellmate, Getaway! The Divided Self

Sometimes we like to throw a bone to the artists out there looking for a rear-view reference shot.

Getaway explained things to Chromedome and the others, formally identifying the binary gun as a nudge gun. With Getaway's help, Chromedome was able to connect the dots and understand the gaps in Skids's memory. Once everyone found out that Tyrest had gone mad and needed to be stopped, Getaway asked for donated parts from his cellmates to escape their prison. For his part, Chromedome gave Getaway the syringes from his fingers, allowing the escapist to take down the Legislator guarding them. The group armed-up and headed to Tyrest's control room for a confrontation. Unfortunately, the Chief Justice was prepared for them, activating a weapon that paralyzed the Autobots. Tyrest then turned on his universal killswitch, a device intended to kill any Transformers that were constructed cold. Having been so, Chromedome began dying slowly and painfully. Arm the Lonely Ultimately, the killswitch was deactivated and Tyrest's plans foiled. In the aftermath, Chromedome visited a dying Tailgate, whose cybercrosis was in its final stages. Noting Cyclonus's bedside vigil, Chromedome respectfully departed to let the two say their goodbyes. This Calamitous Life

After Orion Pax arrived aboard the Lost Light, Chromedome attended the welcome party at Swerve's. Black Metal He took part in the underwater battle on Hydrophena, defending Metroplex against the Ammonite forces, Into the Abyss The Dead Are Not Enough and was teleported along with the rest Lost Light to Cybertron after they managed to get the Titan's space bridge in working order. Burning Bright Crash-landing on the planet's surface, Chromedome disembarked with the rest of the crew and fought in the massive battle against their Ammonite attackers and the undead Necrotitan. Finis Temporis

Prowl just can't BELIEVE someone would throw him off a cliff just for laughing at a widower.

In the aftermath of the Necrotitan's defeat, Ultra Magnus tried to convince Chromedome to read Metroplex's mind, a request the mnemosurgeon rebuffed. Feeling depressed, he went to ruminate atop a cliff on the outskirts of New Iacon, where Prowl found him. A bitter argument erupted between the two, with Prowl blaming Chromedome's earlier mnemosurgery on him for leaving his mind vulnerable to Bombshell's control, and Chromedome faulting Prowl for smuggling Overlord aboard the Lost Light. Rage overcame Chromedome when Prowl expressed pleasure that this had indirectly led to Rewind's death, and he attacked the police-bot, hurling him off a cliff and pummeling him until Ultra Magnus intervened. The Becoming However, the altercation was cut short by 70 billion more of Shockwave's Ammonites, who Chromedome engaged on the ground alongside Whirl and Arcee. ...And the Damage Done

Second Launch

He then tried to cheer up by selecting a random episode of Futurama to watch, but tragically wound up with "Jurassic Bark".

When the crisis had passed and Megatron had seemingly surrendered and defected to the Autobots, Optimus Prime attempted to have Chromedome extract Megatron's memories for use in court. The former Decepticon leader vehemently refused to allow this, citing his fear that the extraction might be used as a cover for Shadowplay. Megatron was able to finagle his way out of a verdict and subsequently joined the Lost Light as its new captain. Chromedome opted to rejoin the expedition but soon fell into a deep depression, shutting himself away in his habitation suite and listening to Rewind's final message over and over in the dark, much to the concern of his friends. Chromedome was startled into action, however, when the last words of his lover's message suddenly changed into an agonized scream. Towards Peace

Deeply perturbed, he sought out Nightbeat for some answers, and while initially angered by the detective's skeptcism, the appearance of Rewind's apparent ghost galvanized Nightbeat into action. The two returned to Nightbeat's quarters to gather more detective equipment, where Chromedome voiced his belief that he was probably being punished for not continuing to search for Dominus Ambus. Their converstion was interrupted when the pair discovered that the outside wall of Nightbeat's hab suite had disappeared. Words Hang in the Air A few minutes later, Rodimus summoned Chromedome and Nightbeat to examine what appeared to be his own corpse, ignoring Chromedome's concerns about injecting into a cadaver. All Chromedome was able to find were Rodimus's "red letter" days, which, combined with the matching energon, caused something of an existential crisis in Rodimus. Then the wall behind everyone vanished.

When it became clear that the ship was slowly and inexplicably vanishing, Chromedome evacuated on the Rodpod.Predestination: A Beginner's Guide When the crewmembers began disappearing as well, Chromedome was one of the afflicted. Twenty Plus One Those Autobots who were unaffected by the disappearances discovered that the quantum engine failure of the Lost Light had created a second, on-course, Lost Light, which had been attacked and destroyed by the DJD some eighteen months prior.

The "other" Chromedome had been tormented by the Decepticons during their attack, offered to be spared if he wiped his memories of Rewind. Chromedome refused, so DJD member Vos had snapped off his mnemosurgical needles and stabbed him to death. The Road Not Taken After coming across the wreckage of the ship, the Necrobot, unaware of the quantum accident, added "Chromedome's" name to his list of deceased Transformers. Who's Afraid of the DJD?

*fart*

Once Rewind — the sole surviving member of the duplicate Lost Light and the cause of Chromedome's strange visions — had reset the ailing quantum engines, the paradox was resolved and the main Lost Light and its crew members rematerialized, Chromedome among them. Skids gave him a pair of magna-clamps and told him to go to the outside of the ship. The two lovers sat side by side for a while before embracing. The Road Not Taken Upon their return to the Lost Light, Rewind opted to live in his own, separate hab suite, which upset Chromedome. Rewind explained that the two weren't technically each other's actual spouse and that he felt more comfortable starting out again with Chromedome with some degree of separation. The Custom-Made Now

This peace was to be short-lived: during a celebration at Swerve's to commemorate their recent adventure, Brainstorm was seemingly revealed to be a Decepticon double-agent, poisoning the crew of the ship and escaping across time and space by using the time machine in his briefcase. The Road Not Taken The first hint that something had gone wrong came when Rewind awoke from a bad dream about the "Dark Dawn", a genocidal event that had never happened in their timeline. The Custom-Made Now

Believing that he had traveled back in time to kill Orion Pax and preemptively end the war, a group of Autobots who shared the same spark-type with Brainstorm were assembled to pursue him, using a quantum duplicate of Brainstorm's briefcase. In the event that the team would inadvertently reveal the future to inhabitants of the past, Chromedome was temporarily augmented with the ability to erase anyone's memory with a simple handshake. The time traveling team first landed in 1st Cycle 502, four million years ago, where they helped Orion Pax and his team of renegade outliers protect a hot spot from Sentinel Prime's Elite Guard. After needing to follow Brainstorm again through another time jump, Chromedome shook hands with everyone, accidentally causing Optimus Prime and the others to forget Roller's fate and—to Rodimus's horror—fail to permanently warn Trailbreaker about his death in four million years. All Our Parlous Yesterdays

The team's next stop was in 51st Cycle 500, where Chromedome confronted the new problem of potentially bumping into himself. Brainstorm timejumped again (to 4th Cycle 499) and the team followed, and this time Chromedome and Rewind staked out the Rodion police headquarters with Whirl. As they waited, Rewind troubled Chromedome with the suggestion of possibly using time travel to save Rewind's previous spouse, Dominus Ambus. Their discussion of timetravel ethics was interrupted when three Senate thugs arrived at Police HQ, setting off Whirl on a rampage due to his shared history with them. Chromedome and Rewind managed to stop Whirl, but not before they accidentally caused the chain of events that would later lead to Senator Shockwave's capture. Stet

It became increasingly clear that, rather than killing Megatron, Brainstorm had instead been trying to manipulate events in such a way as to prevent the rise of Megatron, and with his plans going increasingly awry, a desperate Brainstorm time-jumped to the moment of Megatron's creation, pointing a gun at the half-built 'bot who would one day become Megatron. Though the Autobots were able to talk him down, Rewind, who had had his databanks overwritten with information about the series of events that would come to pass if Megatron was never born, decided to shoot Megatron himself, seemingly dooming Cybertron to a genocidal functionist regime in exchange for sparing the rest of the galaxy from the Great War.

However, the group did not end up changing history, as the nature of time travel meant that Rewind was always fated to kill Megatron; after replacing Megatron's original spark with a Point One Percenter spark from the future, the team tied up loose ends and returned to their own time. Chromedome reaching out to Rewind in his vulnerable moment had caused the two to bridge the rift that had been between them, and the pair began to share a hab suite once again. Predestination: An Expert's Guide Sometime after returning, Chromedome spoke to the ship's higher ups, arguing that Rewind's actions were down to trauma; as a result of which no action was charged against him. During Brainstorm's trial, Chromedome served as Brainstorm's defense, when he was the first 'bot to be brought before the Lost Light Internal Affairs Committee. Our Steps Will Always Rhyme

Ultra Magnus was shunned after admitting his favourite season was the fourth.

In the aftermath of the Lost Light attending Thunderclash's pre-wake, the ship held a dance-off, where Chromedome and Rewind attended, dancing together. The Frail Gaze Shortly after, it turned out Swerve had been slowly dying for some time, and to aid their shipmate the Lost Light crew used their holomatter avatars to navigate "Swearth" in the hopes of finding him. A subsequent medical examination revealed that Swerve had nearly succumbed to an old bullet wound inflicted by the mysterious Agent 113 as part of his unorthodox method of relaying information. The One Where They Go to Earth

Among the information encoded within the bullet was data regarding the legendary "Necrobot" and his supposed base of operations. Chromedome was present as Rewind informed Rodimus about the mysterious being, and spoke up in favor of investigating the planet where the Necrobot lived, hoping to help his conjunx find out more about the fate of Dominus Ambus. After arriving on the Necroworld, the group learned how the Necrobot kept track of Cybertronians through holographic statues; Chromedome deduced that there was a central database all the statues were connected to, meaning that it was possible to learn who was alive or dead through who had a statue switched on. Rewind was understandably terrified and asked Chromedome for guidance; Chromedome felt that it wasn't for him to choose, so when Rewind chose to search, it turned out that Dominus had been listed as "deactivated".

Later, Chromedome tried to comfort a devastated Rewind by offering to "smudge" his memories of what happened, only for Nightbeat to show up wanting to show them something. It was a list of the "Disappeared:" 'bots who had been unaccounted for, and Dominus's name was at the bottom of the list. The Not Knowing

A few days later, Chromedome and Rewind were at Swerve's together, their hand-holding witnessed by a passing Cyclonus. The Lopsided Triangle Shortly thereafter, Cyclonus and Tailgate were involved in an altercation. Wondering what had just happened, Rodimus had Chromedome inject into Cyclonus. The injection took a heavy strain on Chromedome. Speak, Memory: Part 1 A few hours later, the serial killer Sunder went on a rampage through the Lost Light, his first victim being Skids. Chromedome soon turned up, and realized Skids was remembering the events at Grindcore that had caused the amnesia Chromedome had examined the year before. He injected to try and make sure Skids didn't remember what had happened while Rung and Tailgate went after Sunder. Speak, Memory! (Part 2)

Chromedome attended the Lost Light's movie night where Rewind was showing a documentary about the beginning of the war. As the documentary reached the section on Megatron's killing of Sentinel Prime, Brainstorm commented that the former Autobot leader had a lot in common with his killer, prompting Chromedome to point out the irony of someone so obsessed with the purity of the Autobot "brand" being similar to the leader of the Decepticons. The Last Autobot

Around December of that year, Chromedome was one of many crewmembers who took advantage of "time fissures" present in Swerve's to look back on the past, including "his" Rewind, something Rung warned him against. Afterward he took part in a toast to "surprises". No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases

Some months later, Chromedome was one of several members of the crew who took part in a fight on Miliarium against marauding Rust Giants. On returning to the Lost Light, Rewind was subjected to a powerful psychic attack of unknown origin. When Rodimus assembled a team to investigate, Rewind and Chromedome were part of the away team — made up of others who had experienced the attack — dispatched to track the signal to its source. The search led them to a strange hollow planet, which turned out to be the Necroworld; they didn't get far before they were attacked by a massive Decepticon armada, forcing them to retreat to the Necrobot's fortress before they were shot down. Discovering that the Necrobot himself perished, the group learned that disgraced escapologist Getaway had led the rest of the Lost Light in a mutiny designed to lure Rodimus, Megatron, and his sympathisers off the ship... and leave them to the tender mercies of the Decepticon Justice Division. How Bright Their Frail Deeds

*muffled sobbing*

The D.J.D. stuck to their script, and, after a brief attack on the fortress, retreated to give their victims eight hours to weigh up their limited options and stew in their fear. Nightbeat found a potential way offworld by using one of the late Necrobot's teleport chambers, but Velocity discovered a basement filled with pods that seemingly contained organic lifeforms. Unwilling to let the organics be massacred by the DJD, nobody opted to leave. The Sun in Flight As the team dug in for a fight, Chromedome and Rewind had an argument, each belieing that the other should have used the teleport chamber to escape. Your Fierce Tears When Ratchet and Drift arrived on the planet, they managed to capture the mysterious "Pet" that accompanied the DJD. At Close of Day Despite still being weak from injecting Tailgate some months before, Your Fierce Tears Chromedome volunteered to operate on the creature in the hopes of learning where the DJD had hidden their starship. An hour later, after recording his last will and testament, he prepared to inject. Despite Rodimus's orders to just do a quick probe of recent memories, Chromedome began feeling off, and, ignoring Ratchet's demand to stop, he went deeper.

Much to his horror, Chromedome found that The Pet was not a simple animal, but a beast mode Cybertronian who had been "domesticated" by the DJD; even as Ratchet shouted that the procedure was killing him, he felt confident that he could reverse the process. Ignoring the protests, Chromedome delved deeper and made a terrifying discovery: The Pet was Dominus Ambus, who had once been the infamous "Agent 113" Even as Ratchet and Rewind yelled at him to stop, he kept going, feeling (and saying) that Rewind couldn't have room for both the people he loved in his life. Unable to watch Chromedome kill himself, Rewind made the choice to abort the procedure by slicing off his arm, leaving Dominus to die.

Fun? FUN?! How DARE you! How many have to die for you to get your sick jollies?! HOW MANY?

Some hours later, with D.J.D.-related death imminent, a repaired Chromedome morosely agreed with Velocity's encasement of the day's proceedings as "torture". At Close of Day Then Velocity hit on an idea to give them an edge in the upcoming execution: since extreme trauma to Tailgate had made his quantum-engine radiated spark surge and briefly power up others, doing that now could give them an edge against the enemy. Skids stepped forward and Chromedome, to his dismay, had to help his friend relieve the horrors of Grindcore and all the blotted-out guilt, his last injection being to drive him over the edge.

In the ensuing battle, a supercharged Chromedome was sought out by Overlord, who mocked the mnemosurgeon for letting the first Rewind die... prompting an enraged Chromedome to punch him across the battlefield. All too soon, however, the charge burned out and Chromedome and the others were surrounded on all sides. Only the arrival of Megatron, armed with a new fusion cannon, allowed them to fall back to the fortress. Rage, Rage During all of the carnage and high drama of Megatron's obliteraton of the D.J.D., Chromedome stayed at the back, silently looking at Skids' dead body. Do Not Go Gentle

After Dominus

Wrangled me a bigot. Yee-hah.

Once the dust had settled from the battle against the D.J.D., Chromedome was part of the team Rodimus assembled to return to Cybertron for help using the reassembled teleporter. While the teleporter did bring them to a Cybertron, it had somehow deposited them on the Cybertron of the Functionist Universe. Almost immediately after arriving, he and the rest of the team were placed under arrest by Twelve-of-Twelve and his Functionaries. Some Other Cybertron As they were paraded through a crowd to shame them on their way to imprisonment, Rewind pointed out to Chromedome that Cybertron had no moon, proving that this was the Functionist Universe. After a grenade thrown by a member of the Anti-Vocationist League took out two of the group's Functionary escorts, Chromedome was freed from his restraints and joined in the battle. As Twelve-of-Twelve attacked Rodimus, Chromedome lassoed a chain around his neck and pulled him in, though the councilor managed to teleport away before he could do anything else. Soon after the fight was over, Six-of-Twelve began broadcasting across Cybertron, Chromedome seeming somewhat in disbelief that the councilor's head resembled The Matrix. Anomie When the League teleported Team Rodimus to Adaptica, Chromedome attended the meeting with estranged councilor member Nine-of-Twelve. When the alternate Anode arrived, Chromedome denied any involvement with the mysterious U.F.O. just outside Cybertronian orbit. A World Misplaced

When the U.F.O. was revealed to be Luna 2, Chromedome joined the others on the balcony in staring at it before it unleashed its tractor beams. While Megatron handled the defense of the city, Chromedome joined Rodimus in heading to rescue the alternate Rung and Vector Sigma from the Functionists. When the group arrived outside Vector Sigma's chamber however they found the Council had already gained access to the supercomputer but that they had not used Rung to access the chamber. When Rodimus bravely tackled Six-of-Twelve, Chromedome pointed out the colossal error in judgment warned that his brave leader would now have to fight eleven councilors as they entered the chamber. Like all, Chromedome was horrified to see Bad Moon Rising Six-of-Twelve using the false Matrix to suspend Rodimus in an agony beam. Ratchet came to their rescue by pretending to hold the alternate Rung hostage. After they teleported back to the surface and took over the Cog, Rung displayed his ability to create photonic crystals and explained why the Council hadn't slain him prompting Chromedome to ask why the Council hadn't gone public with the photonic crystals for a year and pointed out that Vector Sigma was sealed off by ununtrium but Rung explained how the Council had turned everything to their own advantage. After Rung revealed that the Functionists were building an army to exterminate all non-Cybertronian life in the galaxy, Rewind leaned on Chromedome as he despaired over the hatred the Cybertronians had for aliens. Modes of Production After the Cog had crashed in Adaptica and Brainstorm and Roller had worked out how to save everyone, Chromedome held hands with Rewind at the first (non-functional) matter transporter before they ran to a second (functional) one where the group teleported to Luna 2 and teleported the moon to Necroworld. This Machine Kills Fascists When Rodimus announced his incredibly morbid plan to escape Necroworld, Chromedome and Rewind held hands. After Megatron

Aboard the cramped spacecraft, Chromedome and Rewind climbed aboard the sleeping Roller's alternate mode to "canoodle" much to the ex-cop's shock when he awoke. The three went to Rodimus about this issue who simply could not bring himself to even pretend to care before he ushered everyone out when a call came in from Fortress Maximus. Concurrently, the increasingly petty and ridiculous prank war between Anode and Swerve reached its climax with Rewind accidentally being raked by Cyclonus's Great Sword. Chromedome immediately turned on Cyclonus before Whirl broke up the fighting. To top it all off, an increasingly intangible Ratchet was sinking through the floor, Skip was shrinking and Ten declared that the fate of the universe hinged upon everyone following his commands. Sardines

At Ten's instructions, Team Rodimus reconfigured Skip's engines to access the Warren to get to a Mederi facility only for the mass-displacement to give out, forcing them all to "abandon Skip". They awoke to find themselves in what appeared to be the Afterspark, having presumably died from exposure to super-compressed space. Metastasis Along with Rewind, Chromedome reconciled with his quantum duplicate of Rewind and Dominus Ambus, the quartet ready to ascend together. At that moment, the Afterspark shorted out, revealing the realm to have been the original Mederi, an ancient euthanasia clinic that used telepathic constructs to put its inhabitants at ease before killing them, the first Rewind and Dominus were merely projections of what Chromedome and Rewind hoped to find in the Afterspark. As the group grappled with this revelation, as well as the inexplicability of Tailgate having joined them, they were suddenly beset by sparkeaters made from the former Lost Light crew! You Are Here

After a failed attempt to reason with the sparkeaters, the group rolled out before reinforcements arrived. When the Lost Light appeared overhead, Chromedome was part of the group that remained behind to try and use Mederi to cure their crewmates. A Dance Before Dying After curing the sparkeaters via concussive medicine, the organic telepaths began counting down, heralding the opening of a massive rift in space. Lūstrāre

Having retaken command of the Lost Light, Rodimus loaded everyone aboard but the ship's engines were unable to match the rift's gravity, being dragged into the Benzene Cluster, now populated by five duplicates of Cybertron. Touching down on one, the crew was quickly taken prisoner by the forces of the Grand Architect. When Froid and Sunder were shoved in, the latter revealed to Chromedome that he'd managed a quick scan of the Architect's head before the being had forced him out and stripped him of his mnemosurgery. After Froid explained that the multiple Cybertrons were an upscaled God Gun which opened a portal to the next universe over, out from which came Megatron flying point amongst a fleet of starships. Farsickness

After reassuring that he wasn't invading, Megatron directed everyone to the real threat, a massive planet-sized effigy of Primus, one that Chromedome recognized as the Functionist Universe's Cybertron granted a robot mode. When Megatron came to rescue, Chromedome was part of the group that managed to be pulled aboard the Last Light. After Megatron had caught everyone up on the Functionist Council's schemes, he revealed that "Primus" was still populated by the citizenry of Cybertron. The Return of the King After the rest of the group had managed to free themselves, and discover that Rung was the true Primus, everyone touched down on the last Cybertron for a group brainstorm, hitting on the idea of using twelve copies of the Matrix of Leadership to overload Cybertron's twelve hot spots to wipe out the Functionist Council in Vector Sigma. When the Omega Guardians speaking through the Magnificence expressed their displeasure at this via deadly energy bolts, Chromedome and Rewind took Rung away so he could make the Matrices. The Unremembering

Retiring to his quarters, Rung told Chromedome and Rewind to appreciate the other and left them to hug. Their session was interrupted when Rodimus came to see what was taking so long, the three discovering that creating the duplicates had killed Rung. Chromedome was sent to Port Residua with Rewind to guard Roller, managing to hold off the Functionaries until Rodimus delivered a rousing speech that allowed everyone to open their Matrix, overloading Vector Sigma and killing the Functionists. Returning to the Lost Light everyone saw that Luna 1's hot spot had been reactivated by Cybertron shunting the energy wave, bearing a final "Don't Forget Me" from Rung. A Spark Among Embers

"Just keep your head down...there's two of us in here now, remember?"

As the crew took stock, Prowl arrived to inspect "New Cybertron" before declaring that, since the Knights of Cybertron didn't exist, Megatron would once again have to stand trial, this time with the Galactic Council presiding. Over Rodimus's protests, Megatron agreed to go quietly but was nonetheless allowed to join the Lost Light for one last "victory lap" cruise. When Chromedome and Rewind took a last walk, they discovered Rung's quarters and the model starships, unaware that the lasting effects of Adaptus' information creep had caused them to forget their friend. As the crew prepared to quantum jump home, the science team proposed the risky gamble of recreating the malfunctioning launch, thereby quantum duplicating themselves before then shunting the duplicates into a parallel universe to ensure that the Lost Light's adventures would never truly end. When the time came however, the ship simply wound up back on Cybertron where the Lost Light was disassembled following a last drink. Afterwards, Chromedome and Rewind left for a trip to Milnex, where Rewind was eager to check out the census center there.

With no more adventures to be had, Chromedome became a grief counselor for a time before Rewind, obsessed with gathering as much information as he could about the Functionist Universe, succumbed to Delta's Malady, trapping him in data stick form. Chromedome retired to look after his partner, inserting him in the back of his head as a means to communicate. Centuries later, Chromedome and Rewind attended Ratchet's funeral, Chromedome having a conversation with Drift after the proceedings.

And far away, in some distant corner of the multiverse, the duplicate Lost Light materialized, ready to set sail for an infinity of new adventures. How To Say Goodbye And Mean It: Part 2

INSIRT continuity

Long ago on Cybertron, Chromedome served in the Autobot Police and harbored an interest in the field of mnemosurgery. Over time, he was able to use his highly decorated partner Prowl's status to pursue this interest, developing the ability to extract information directly from a suspect's mind. However, as time passed, Chromedome found himself called upon not only to read minds, but rewrite them, altering a subject's memories and personality. Seeking to escape the burden of these duties, he buried his past and his talents. Eventually, though, he would come to meet Rewind, another Autobot with an interest in memories. Though it took some time, Chromedome eventually let the smaller Autobot into his life. Timelines Chromedome bio card

Some time later, Chromedome and Rewind would become crewmembers of the Lost Light, and, along with Stylor and ex-Decepticon mercenary Treadshot, formed the Intelligence and Notable Surreptitious Information Recovery Team, a group tasked with uncovering any mysteries that might threaten the ship's quest to find the Knights of Cybertron. INSIRT Tech Spec INSIRT's duties took them to the Vestigial Cortical Complex, a Decepticon memory storage facility that Rewind became very excited about. After they located the facility, an impatient Treadshot made a door by way of explosion, allowing Chromedome, Rewind and Stylor to file inside. Timeless

Recordicons

At some point Rewind died, and Brainstorm set Chromedome up on a date with Eject. Recordicons #27

Notes

• The fact that Chromedome originally used to go by a different name was first brought up in issue #9 of More than Meets the Eye: In that issue, his name was written in quotation marks in Rewind's diagram, and when Chromedome himself was about to mention his original name, Rewind cut him off, arguing that it would make the story they were telling too "confusing". The out-of-universe reason for this was that writer James Roberts wanted to trick readers into believing that his unmentioned original name held some significance, causing rampant speculation. In issue #14 of the same series, it was finally revealed that his original name was the completely insignificant "Tumbler"; the real revelation was that his current name, "Chromedome", was the one that had a deeper meaning, as it was originally a nickname given to him at the "New Instutute" where he used to work under Zeta Prime, a rather surprising twist in the light of the events of the "Shadowplay" three-parter. The name "Tumbler" itself was derived from Chromedome's vehicle mode bearing a passing resemblance to the vehicle of the same name from Christopher Nolan's Batman movies.^[1]
• "Timeless" co-writer Jesse Wittenrich would later reveal his intention that the Rewind depicted in "Timeless" was being projected into Chromedome's mind by Stylor, and that the actual Rewind was deceased. Vestigial remnants of this plot point remain in the published comic, in the form of Stylor's constant physical contact with Chromedome, and Treadshot never acknowledging Rewind.^[2] Whether this holds true in the completed comic or is merely authorial intent is an exercise left to the reader.
• James Roberts has said that IDW Prowl and Chromedome had a "stronger bond" than just being partners.^[3]
• An erroneously coordinated appearance by Chromedome in More than Meets the Eye #16 was caught in time by Josh Burcham, who recoloured the 'bot into Toxin, an unofficial character created for TFcon 2011.
• Chromedome's present day alt mode looks suspiciously like a light runner from the Borderlands franchise.
• Chromedome's "Shadowplay"-era body (distinct from his present day one) inspired his Titans Return Deluxe Class figure. Amusingly, this toy briefly appeared as his present day body in Lost Light #19 because no one supplied E. J. Su with reference models.

References