Chromedome (G1)/2005 IDW continuity
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. Deep down, Chromedome's sure Rewind would leave him for his previous partner.
IDW Generation 1 continuity
A scientist before the war
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 to 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
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 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
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
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
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
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
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
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 Brainstorm through his door. Brainstorm 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
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
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
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
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
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
Continuing adventures
In an attempt to expedite Megatron's trial, Optimus Prime attempted to have him let Chromedome extract his memories for use in court, which the former Decepticon leader vehemently refused to allow, citing his fear that the extraction might be used as a cover for Shadowplay. After watching the trial play out, Chromedome rejoined the Lost Light expedition, but eventually 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, but their conjecture was interrupted by the discovery that the outside wall of Nightbeat's hab suite had just... disappeared. Words Hang in the Air A few minutes later, Rodimus summoned Chromedome and Nightbeat, but mainly Chromedome, to examine what appeared to be his own corpse, ignoring Chromedome's concerns about injecting into a corpse. 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 turned out that the ship was slowly and inexplicably vanishing, Chromedome evacuated on the Rodpod.Predestination: A Beginner's Guide Then crewmembers started disappearing as well, Chromedome included. Twenty Plus One
As it turned out, the quantum engine failure of the original launch of the Lost Light had created second Lost Light. This duplicate stayed on the right heading but had been attacked and destroyed by the DJD 18 months prior. The Chromedome on this alternate ship refused to wipe his memories of Rewind even after being threatened by the DJD, so the DJD member Vos snapped off his finger-needles and stabbed them into his head. The Road Not Taken The Necrobot thus added the quantum duplicate Chromedome's name to his list of deceased Transformers. Who's Afraid of the DJD?
Once the sole surviving member of the duplicate Lost Light's crew (Rewind) reset the quantum engines, the main Lost Light and its original crew members began to return. Chromedome, once he returned, was immediately given a set of magna-clamps by Skids and told to go to the outside of the ship. Out there, he saw Rewind, sitting on the ledge. The two sat side-by-side for a while, and then embraced. 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
Subsequently the pair learned that Brainstorm was revealed to be a Decepticon and, worse, he had traveled back in time to allegedly murder Orion Pax at the beginning of the war. Because the two had a compatible spark type with Brainstorm, they joined a small similarly-sparked team who would time travel after Brainstorm to find and stop him. 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, while Optimus Prime's team of Outliers protected a hot spot from Senate-sent raiders. 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 Brainstorm timejumped a final time, and Chromedome and the others once again followed. They found Brainstorm pointing a gun at Megatron as he was being built, as it had been determined that Brainstorm wasn't trying to kill Orion Pax after all, but attempting to curb the rise of Megatron at various points in his history but Brainstorm ultimately decided on murdering him at his birth when his previous plans went awry thanks to his timetraveling stalkers. As the others talked him down, Rewind decided to kill Megatron himself to thwart Megatron's would-be galaxy-wide genocide, and Chromedome consoled his spouse in the wake of his murder. However, the group did not end up changing history, as they were meant to be there, and Megatron's murder was in fact part of his pre-established history. With Megatron given a second spark, Chromedome's 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 from what had happened to him, as a result of which no action was charged against him. A few days later, 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
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 was dying. The only way to find out why required the crew to travel to a giant projection of Earth he was generating, Chromedome being among them. The reason turned out to be an old injury, inflicted by the secretive Agent 113 as part of his unorthodox method of relaying information. The One Where They Go to Earth Among the information was a revelation about the legendary Necrobot. Chromedome was present as Rewind "West Winged" Rodimus about the mysterious being, and when the command crew talked about the situation. It was Chromedome who spoke up in favor of investigating, partly in support of Rewind, who wanted to ask them about the fate of Dominus Ambus. Megatron decided to agree with them.
On the way to the planet in the Rodpod, Chromedome supported a nervous Rewind. On landing, the crew noticed many statues, representing people still living. With help from Mainframe, Chromedome learnt there was a central database all the statues were connected to, and using that it was possible to learn who still had a statue switched on and who didn't, meaning he could figure out whether Dominus was still alive. Rewind was understandably terrified and hesitant, asking Chromedome what to do. He felt it wasn't for him to chose, but if they didn't and spent the next four million years searching, they'd at least be together. Then it turned out Rewind had searched anyway, and Dominus was listed deactivated.
Later, Chromedome tried to comfort 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 unaccounted-for bots, and at the bottom was Dominus's name. 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. Many hours after that, Rewind was subjected to a psychic assault, one of many crewmembers who where. Chromedome was one of those who boarded the Rodpod to track the signal to its source. The Rodpod soon wound up inside a hollow planet, which turned out to be the Necrobot's home. Before anyone could ponder that mystery, they were attacked. The ship managed to get to the Necrobot's fortress before being blasted down. Then they got the news: they'd been lured into a trap by the rest of the crew, who were fed up with Megatron, and those who "supported" him, as well as Rodimus, and they'd let Getaway go as part of their mutiny. And just because things weren't bad enough, the D.J.D. were coming. How Bright Their Frail Deeds The D.J.D. stuck to their script, and retreated after an initial assault, giving everyone eight hours to prepare. It was Chromedome who summed everything up, no weapons, no defenses, no escape route and no way to call for help. Nightbeat soon discovered a teleport chamber, but Velocity had found something else: A whole basement filled with pods containing organic life-forms. After some debate, it turned out no-one was willing to leave. The Sun in Flight Afterward, Chromedome took a moment to recover from his injecting Cyclonus all those months ago, something he and Rewind argued about, along with them both feeling the other should have used the teleport chamber to escape. Your Fierce Tears At the same time, a re-appeared Ratchet and Drift had turned up with the D.J.D.'s Pet. Rodimus wanted to interrogate him, something supposedly impossible given it couldn't talk. Then a still-weak Chromedome volunteered. An hour later, after recording his last will and testament, he prepared to operate. Despite Rodimus's orders to just do a quick probe of recent memories, Chromedome began feeling off. Ignoring Ratchet's demand to stop, he went deeper.
He found The Pet was actually a "domesticated" beast-former, but he felt confident he could reverse the process, even as Ratchet pointed out the procedure was killing him. 'Dome argued he was too deep into the Pet's brain by that point. Then he got into the memories and made a horrific discovery: The Pet was Dominus Ambus. 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. Rewind sliced off Chromedome's arm, leaving Dominus to die.
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 get out of things: 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.
Supercharged and charging into battle, Chromedome was sought out by Overlord and mocked with what he'd done to the first Rewind so Chromedome punched him hard across the battlefield. But too soon, 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
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
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
At some point Rewind died, and Brainstorm set Chromedome up on a date with Eject. Recordicons #27
Notes
- "Timeless" co-writer Jesse Wittenrich would later reveal his intention that the Rewind depicted in the story 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. Whether this holds true in the completed comic or is merely authorial intent is an exercise left to the reader.
