Anode

Anode is an unaligned Transformer from the IDW portion of the Generation 1 continuity family.

You shall not pass!

Anode was born a blacksmith, a specialist who is able to—with training—sculpt a malfunctioning protoform into its intended working order. However, for reasons she refuses to disclose, the sharp-tongued and irreverent Anode fled this life and declared herself instead an archaeologist, treasure-hunter, and adventurer. There's no artifact too risky for Anode to retrieve... even if her partner Lug begs to differ.

Fiction

IDW Generation 1 continuity

Spoiler warning: Plot details for An Axe to Break the Ice follow. Spoilers expire in 94 days

This section covers fiction that is ongoing. It will be added to as the story progresses. If it isn't current, you can help by updating it.

Anode was born a male on Cybertron. While certain members of the Primal Vanguard began identifying as "she" after off-world missions and encounters with organic races, Anode became bemused by the very concept of gender, and did not understand the significance of the pronouns until she left Cybertron when the Great War broke out. After meeting several organic races, Anode decided she felt more comfortable as a "she" and she had her chassis rebuilt into a more feminine form. An Axe to Break the Ice

Some time in the past, Anode made her way to Caminus, over five hundred years before Thunderclash reestablished interplanetary ties among Cybertronian worlds. A daring risk-taker from an early age, she began honing her natural skills as a blacksmith in the Lighthouse, helping newborn protoforms by sculpting their sentio metallico. Unfortunately, Anode's brash nature led her into performing a live sculpting on a struggling protoform before she was truly ready, and the protoform subsequently died. Though the other members of the Lighthouse were understanding and forgiving, Anode couldn't bring herself to quit, so instead she fudged the facility's records to make it look like she'd stolen the facility's supplies of sentio metallico, then fled Caminus forever. Bad Moon Rising

Five hundred years ago, Anode and Lug travelled to Luna 2 at the behest of prospective client Techy in search of a piece of rare widowed metal. They found themselves on the wrong side of a Decepticon Cybernought; although Anode deployed a forcefield, Lug was convinced that they were going to die. Anode was spared by the machinations of the time travelling Necrobot; as part of his efforts to rescue the "disappeared", he took Anode to the future and stored her in a stasis pod until she could recover from the disorienting effects of the time-skip.

In the present day, Anode woke up on the Necroworld along with the dozens of other refugees the Necrobot had collected. Some Other Cybertron However, her senses were still scrambled by the effects of the time jump, and as a result she began hallucinating that Lug had arrived with her, holding regular conversations between herself and "Lug." Modes of Production

Anode attended a debriefing held by Ultra Magnus to help bring the disoriented time-travelers up to speed on recent events. Anode was less than impressed by the Autobot's boring delivery. The two then were accosted by Swerve, who annoyed them with some nonsensical questions under the pretense of conducting "background checks." When she told Swerve to leave, the red Autobot sarcastically mentioned that she should see Velocity for "timesickness" – remembering Velocity from their time together on Caminus, Anode tried to leave the Necroworld via teleporter before Velocity could track her down. Rodimus and Drift caught her before they could escape; although she received a reprimand for almost wasting the one-use teleporter, Anode was fascinated to see Drift's Great Sword. Rodimus and his allies decided to use the teleporter to head back to Cybertron to pick up another ship, and Anode stayed behind with the other time-displaced Cybertronians. Some Other Cybertron

Anode and "Lug" later reconvened by the Necrobot's monument to the disappeared, where they discussed recent events and what the future held for them. Though Anode professed an aloofness regarding her new friends, she eventually confessed that she was interested in their quest for Cyberutopia, though "Lug" joked that she would be more interested in plundering its treasures than starting a new life there. Her one-sided conversation was interrupted by Tailgate's fight with Fangry, and over the course of the battle she was sent flying and impaled on a piece of debris. Kaput tended to her wounds before Velocity arrived to discuss what had transpired when Anode fled Caminus. Anomie Anode explained that she'd falsified her records before fleeing; realizing that she'd never heard the story, "Lug" was unable to conceal her sense of betrayal and fled back to the memorial. A World Misplaced Anode caught up with her, where "Lug" revealed that she'd always thought that she was the reason why Anode had fled her homeworld. Anode revealed her history as a blacksmith and noted that she needed a reason for her coworkers to hate her, unable to live with the guilt. Anode apologized, but realized that her friend had vanished...Bad Moon Rising

Anode returned to the medibay to search for Lug, only to realize that nobody had any idea who she was talking about. Anode's explanation prompted the staff to reveal security tapes of her emerging alone from her stasis pod; after scanning the list of names on the Necrobot's monument, she realized that Lug hadn't travelled to the future with her, and was merely a timesickness-induced hallucination. Modes of Production Kaput then took her, Nautica and Velocity to Lug's flower where he explained how Lug had died. Realizing that the Necrobot had preserved some of Lug's Spark energy inside the flower, Anode had a brainwave and rushed back to the fortress. She explained her plan to resurrect Lug by using the snowflake as a receptacle for Lug's Spark. It was touch and go for a second there but the new protoform stabilized and Anode showed off her "new" backpack to Roller when the group returned to their own universe. This Machine Kills Fascists After Lug had fully grown, Anode confessed the truth behind the Lighthouse. The two snuggled up afterwards. As Lug played with Roller, Anode questioned Nautica (since they were now besties!) on her eye-patch. Anode boarded the ship when the group left Necroworld. After Megatron

Spoiler warning: Plot details for An Axe to Break the Ice follow. Spoilers expire in 94 days

When the femmes stopped off at Troja Major, Anode asked to borrow money from Nautica only to learn ten thousand shanix was still considered a lot of money so she decided to steal the mood pipes she wanted instead. After fleeing from a displeased (and quite scary looking) stall clerk, Anode began smelling sentio metallico and followed it to a warehouse where she flung open a coffin to try and find the new body. As it turned out, the coffin was a mech. The mech tried to attack Anode and Lug only for Anode to realize he was a newborn and reacting on instinct. The three were then ambushed by the Black Block Consortia who demanded Anode and Lug step aside and hand over the mech. Unwilling to do so, the organics opened fire only for Lug to tackle Anode to safety but allowing the newborn to die. As Anode grieved, Wipe-Out suddenly made himself known and motioned for the two to follow him. As the three escaped, Wipe-Out revealed that the blacksmiths were under threat and being targeted. At a bar, the three compared notes (namely who the Black Block Consortia was and Anode and Lug's new genders) before Techy's troops, led by Flame teleported into the bar and cornered them. An Axe to Break the Ice

The Functionist Universe

In an alternate timeline where the Great War never occurred, Anode was a qualified blacksmith who had wound up on a Cybertron under the control of the totalitarian Functionist Council. She eventually abandoned her comfortable life in favor of joining the Anti-Vocationist League, working alongside rogue Council member Nine-of-Twelve.

When a group of castaways from an alternate universe arrived and immediately ran afoul of the local Functionaries, Anode watched as the group returned to their headquarters in Adaptica, and later observed a live feed of the Functionist Council revealing the "true purpose" of Rung. The group's musings were interrupted by the sudden return of Luna 2. A World Misplaced Anode and Nine-of-Twelve watched in abject horror as the now-weaponized moon began laying waste to their city using tractor beams. Bad Moon Rising

Notes

• An anode is a polarized electrical device.
• Anode was originally going to appear by running into Getaway's Lost Light crew. When More Than Meets The Eye became Lost Light, Roberts changed that to the Necrobot taking her to Necroworld so any new readers could meet the characters and concepts alongside Anode.
• James Roberts confirmed on Twitter that Anode is not Camien. While the fact that she is on the Necrobot's books confirms Anode has at some point been a resident of Cybertron, it has yet to be specified whether she was born there, or on another colony world. Notably, the former option would imply that Anode is transgender, as canon currently posits that no assigned-female-at-birth Transformers have been born on Cybertron since the ancient era of the Thirteen Tribes.