How did ROM SPACEKNIGHT come to be?
Well, it's not as simple as you might think. He was a toy created by Scott Dankman and Co for Parker Brothers, serving as their first venture into making products that weren't board-game based. Originally, he was named COBOL (after the programming language) though was later changed to ROM by Parker Executives. Which, as you might have guessed was short for Read Only Memory.
To build interest in the toy, Parker Brothers licensed the rights to use the character over to Marvel Comics. Marvel, in turn, created a comic book that featured ROM and provided a detailed back-story for the toy, including his origin as well as a rogue gallery of foes to do battle with, including his arch enemies the dreaded Dire-Wraith's.
Spanning 75 issues and four Annuals the solo-series (from 1979 to 1986) ironically outlasted the toy which it was created to support.
Who is ROM SPACEKNIGHT?
A writer and a poet, a man with a gentle soul and an even more gentle hand, it was neither Rom's nature nor wish to become a warrior Space-Knight of Galador. As is the prime directive of all Galadorain's, Rom valued life in all its myriad forms, but with the ever-growing threat of the Dire-Wraith's impending invasion from the Dark Nebula, his pride for Great Galador and the Golden Galaxy over-rode his own self-worth.
Thus, to protect his people and his beloved Ray-Na, when the Prime Director called upon the flower of Galador's youth to sacrifice their own cherished humanity to protect the world they loved, Rom was the first to volunteer, the first to be chosen, and the first to be grafted to a suit of cold unfeeling armor. What emerged from the Halls of Science we're not human, but sworn cyborg defenders of Galador, the Space-Knights.
Then, when the time came, and the Wraith fleet loomed over-head, the Space-Knight's rose to occasion, forming a cosmic line in space they met the enemy's number with wrath, outnumbered yet not outgunned, the battle was fierce, the onslaught seemingly relentless. And when the Dire-Wraith's sensed they we're losing they called upon their own scourge of space, the Deathwing. Many died at the hand of the Dread Swallower-of-Stars, but with their combined might they defeated the demon of the Dark Nebula and rose victorious, with Rom being anointed Greatest of the Space-Knights.
With the enemy routed and the Golden Galaxy protected you'd think the war would be over, not quite, for as long as any single Wraith lives no world is safe from their cosmic pestilence, such began ROM's two century long journey into space, a journey he would have to face...Alone.
What are ROM's powers?
Massively enhanced durability, strength, and speed courtesy of his Plandanium forged armor and cyborg circuitry, unimpeded flight granted by his rocket-pods with the ability to absorb energy as a form of sustenance and the limited storage of it.
That is, of course, without mentioning the variety of tools ROM has at his disposal, stored within Subspace, a realm between the interstices of molecular reality, ROM has three Plandanium forged items he can call upon which includes:
His Neutralizer.
The most powerful device ever constructed on the planet Galador, its main function (as the name suggests) is to neutralize any energy field it encounters, developed as a means to defeat the Dire-Wraith's without actually killing them, the ray it emits is so intense it neutralizes all the energy of whoever is on the receiving end of its effects. Such a disruption in the energy field, however, causes a transtemporal rift to open up between dimensions, sucking the desired target through to the realm called limbo, leaving nothing but ash behind.
Though the energy level required for banishment is not the maximum energy output the neutralizer is capable of attaining, on its highest setting the Neutralizer will kill its target by disrupting all of its vital functions and negating its life force. Rom has to only think of power level he desires, and cybernetic impulses in his armor will recalibrate the weapon.
Naturally, because of its potential for enormous destruction, the Neutralizer is equipped with several safety measures to ensure that none save Rom will ever utilize its power. Including destroying any device used to activate it without Rom's brain patterns, Aswell as sending bone shattering energy feedbacks to anyone who would attempt to fire it.
His Analyzer.
Rom's primary means of identifying shape-changing Dire-Wraith's, the Energy Analyzer emits a beam of ultra-high frequency waves that enables it to detect the molecular structure of any object it is focused upon. To detect Dire-Wraith's, The Analyzer stimulates certain rare earth elements found within the alien's body and causes those elements to emit radio frequencies visible to Rom's visor sensors. Thus, he can detect any wraith no matter the form it has transformed into.
The Analyzer can also scan and analyze the energy of non-wraith's, such as Jack of Hearts and mutants, via electronic impulses, it informs Rom of the individual power potential of the subject it is scanning. He has also used it to trace the energy trails of powerful beings such as his fellow Space-Knight Star-Shine.
The Analyzer has no offensive capabilities, it is a device of detection only. However, the scanning process which bathes the subject in an eerie red field, has been known to be unnerving to certain beings.
His Translator
Rom's universal Translator, enabling him to communicate with any being no matter it's spoken language, within a matter of seconds. The Translator is a highly complex Galadorian computer which was originally programmed with the linguistics of all languages known to Galadorian scientists. Utilizing an intricate program of universal concepts and their verbal equivalents the Translator analyzes linguistics fragments of the hitherto unknown language and extrapolates the structure of that language for Rom to understand.
Once translated, the new language is transmitted and stored within Rom's memory banks. Rom's voice is then translated into the new language.
What will this respect thread cover?
It will cover all of Rom's appearances in chronological order. It will be similar to old FV threads as I will be going through it issue by issue instead of splitting it into sections.
Hope that answers any questions you might've had.
