Chromia (ROTF)

Chromia is an Autobot from the Revenge of the Fallen portion of the Movie continuity family.

Flying solo.

Chromia is a tough bot, optics always scanning for the next fight. Naturally that means she and Ironhide agree on a lot of things. This combined with the countless battles they fought together in made for a friendship that has lasted centuries. When the conflict on Earth escalated, both seasoned warriors were pleased to be working together again.^[1]

Fiction

Revenge of the Fallen film

Voice actor: Grey Griffin (English), Masako Katsuki (Japanese), Chen Qian (Chinese), Martina Treger (German), Chiara Colizzi (Italian), Gabriela Bicalho (Portuguese), Özlem Abacı (Turkish)

Holographic rider: Erin Naas

Chromia and her sisters were held in reserve as NEST entered Shanghai to deal with Demolishor, only being called into action when the presence of a second Decepticon, Sideways, was detected. Together with the twins, the sisters pursued the sneaky speedster through the streets of Shanghai, smashing through buildings and everything else in their way, but they were ultimately unable to do little damage, and Chromia found herself a bit battered for her efforts. So Sideswipe was brought up to bat, and proceeded to make short work of Sideways.

When The Fallen issued an ultimatum to Earth, the US government decided that the Autobots would be shipped back to Diego Garcia, but NEST disobeyed the orders, instead shipping Chromia and the others to Egypt on the advice of Sam Witwicky, who had the means to resurrect the recently deceased Optimus Prime. During the climactic battle between NEST and The Fallen's Decepticons, the sisters arrived with Ironhide to help escort Sam and Mikaela through the warzone, but both of Chromia's sisters soon fell to Decepticon firepower as the conflict heated up. Revenge of the Fallen

IDW movie comics

Right above you, actually

During the dark period of Cybertron's history when the AllSpark was lost and the planet drifted through the cosmos without a sun to orbit, Chromia and her sister Arcee lived in Metrotitan. Once both the previous problems were rectified and Cybertron entered a new era of freedom, their older sister Elita-One was able to be reunited with them. Foundation #1 The three sisters were present when Sentinel Prime announced that Cybertron would be under the dual rule of Optimus Prime's Science Division and Megatron's Defense Force. Chromia chose to join the Defense Force, where she befriended Ironhide and aided in taking out "malcontents" who were opposed to the new order. Foundation #2 Many years later, she and Ironhide witnessed Optimus and his team escape an assassination attempt by Starscream. She followed Optimus to an excavation site and helped him foil an attempt on Sentinel, Elita and Wheeljack's lives.

During the war, Chromia, Ironhide and Arcee led an assault on Simfur Temple, so Elita could use the AllSpark to activate a "torch" created by Sentinel that would end the war. Foundation #3 Megatron knocked Chromia aside, and Ironhide carried her off the battlefield when Sentinel's ship was destroyed. With the Decepticons weakened after the initial attack, Chromia soon returned with Arcee on Wheeljack's Ark and stole the AllSpark. Foundation #4

Shockwave.....or Michael Bay?

Around the year 1908, many years after the war broke out, Chromia and Elita-One were part of an Autobot team sent to steal energon from the Decepticons. Instead they were ambushed by Shockwave and his troops, and Chromia was killed in action. Her corpse was taken by the immoral Decepticon scientist Flatline, who considered it perfect for use in his experiments. Rising Storm #2

Flatline took Chromia's body (along with the corpse of her sister Elita, who had died later on) to his lab at an outpost on an unknown planet to use in his attempts to create a new breed of tripartate soldier, three bodies fuelled by a single spark. After several failures, whether by coincidence or design, Flatline was presented by Thundercracker with a new test subject: Elita and Chromia's sister, Arcee. Through the use of Arcee's spark, implanted in a new body, Flatline reignited the life-forces of Elita and Chromia in new shells, albeit not as they had truly had been before: now, they were at one with their sister, a singular entity at the spark, each feeling the sensations and emotions of the other, yet retaining some degree of autonomy and memory of their own identity. "One as three, and three as one". Grappling with their new forms, the sisters broke free, liberating Flatline's other victims, the twins Skids and Mudflap, in the process. Tales of the Fallen #6 Rising Storm #1

A short time later, the sisters, the Twins, Sideswipe, Topspin, Leadfoot and Roadbuster arrived on Earth on the Wreckers' ship, the Xantium Dark of the MoonDark of the Moon issue 3 in response to a summons beamed into space by Optimus Prime. Joining the allied Autobot-human strikeforce NEST, the new recruits received some training, and were soon called upon to put it into use: the Decepticon Demolishor had been sighted in Shanghai, China. Alliance #4

When NEST discovered that Starscream was selling Transformer weaponry to humans, a sting operation was staged in which Theodore Galloway would pose as a buyer to lure the Decepticons in. When Skystalker, Divebomb and Fearswoop took the bait, Chromia and her sisters joined the twins and the human forces of NEST in tackling them. The sisters did not take kindly to Skystalker's incredulity about the Autobots "sending their women" to do their fighting for them, and killed him with practised ease. The battle aggravated the wounds Arcee had taken in Egypt the previous year. Rising Storm #1

After Sam Witwicky contacted Optimus Prime as Philadelphia was being attacked by Decepticons, Optimus decided that the sisters should be left out of the fight due to Arcee's wounds. Arcee wanted to go despite Chromia's attempt to let her stay behind while her two sisters went. In the end, Optimus decided to allow her to go with Chromia and Elita-1. Rising Storm #2

She and her sisters went to New York thinking they would get information on Starscream selling his weapons to humans, but instead they found Astrotrain and a monster. And they also found out that Shockwave was on earth, so they tried to inform Optimus, but Soundwave jammed their communication and sent his minions after the girls. Arcee and Chromia told Elita-1 to find Optimus. Rising Storm #3

As Ravage was attacking her. Arcee began to feel the pain of her wounds (and Chromia began to feel them too), later Elita-1 died and Arcee and Chromia felt her death. Despite Arcee's attempts to stop her, Chromia activated some bombs they brought with them (which possibly killed Soundwave's minions). Arcee and Chromia survived the explosion. Rising Storm #4

Toy bios

Chromia and her sisters have hunted Sideways in the past, but he always got away. After begging Optimus Prime, the three of them got another shot at bringing him down. Sideways Sneak Attack

Toys

Transformers (2007)

• Arcee (_target exclusive Scout Class, 2007)

• Accessories: Launcher, missile, scope, 2 tailpipes, "Energon" star

Arcee is a redeco of Energon Arcee, replacing her pinks and most of her whites and blacks with blue, and her translucent red with smoky brown plastic. She transforms into a "superbike"-type racing motorcycle. Unusually for a Transformer, she does not hold her weapon in her hands as most figures do. Instead, her Energon Bow mounts on a peg on either arm, with her hands being positioned to give the appearance of her using the bow. The bow itself is spring-loaded, firing a grey "arrow" missile.

Arcee (and the rest of the Scout wave) were exclusive to _target stores, where they were all part of a Robo-Vision promotion. Arcee came with a Robo-Vision Decoder which allows you to see the Robo-Vision Code ("BULLSEYE") printed on her cardback. Starting June 2, 2007, _target's website allowed users to input those codes to access exclusive content, a concept similar to the online Cyber Planet Key info from the Cybertron toyline.

This toy was also sold as a Farmers exclusive in New Zealand.

This mold also was used to make Superlink Ariel Paradron Type, as well as the BotCon 2005 "Descent into Evil" set's Chromia, Flamewar, Flareup, and the fellow _target-exclusive movieverse Elita-One, which was repurposed as Shattered Glass Arcee.

• More information on Scout Arcee at TFU.info

Revenge of the Fallen

But have you seen her juggling act?

• Chromia (Deluxe Class, 2009)

• Japanese ID number: RA-11
• Accessories: Missile, figure stand/cycle cannons

Chromia converts from a Suzuki B-King to... a unicycle. Her vehicle mode weapon can attach as a display stand for either mode, ironically making a unicyclebot one of the most stable robot-modes. In robot mode, there is a spring-loaded missile between the tailpipes on Chromia's left hand in addition to the aforementioned non-firing blaster-stand. There is also a piece on the bottom of the vehicle mode (or back of the robot mode) that folds out, but there is no indication in the instructions as to what this piece is for. It appears to be part of an unmentioned combiner gimmick for the Arcee triplets, as it locks together with a similar piece on Arcee, with room for a third robot to connect.

While the instructions depict the motorcycle seat remaining flat so that it ends up covering the bottom wheel, the robot mode more closely resembles the movie design if the seat is folded in and locked into a slot on the motorcycle's bottom, as shown on the back of the packaging. The packaging photo also shows Chromia's front wheel resting behind the robot's shoulders, while the instructions leave it above her head. Furthermore, while it is not mentioned either in the instructions or shown on the box, the stand can be attached backwards and rotated with the guns facing up so that it acts as a prop for the toy, allowing the wheel to actually touch the ground, and letting the toy look from the front like it is unsupported. In addition, the stand can also be attached to right arm as an inordinately large handgun by sliding the two pegs inside the gun into two slots on the inside of the arm.

The stand has sculpted tank treads on the bottom, most likely to make it look that she's still mobile while using it.

Though the instructions do not explain it, the back of the blister card mentions she has a Mech Alive gimmick in her left arm. While it isn't quite the "spinning gears" the card refers to, swinging her left forearm towards and away from her body makes a blue piston slide back and forth inside the large gun. An aborted light-piping gimmick that uses clear plastic instead of the more usual blue is also present, however it is rendered useless by opaque paint applications to her optics.

This mold was also used to make Transformers (2010) Elita-1 and Dark of the Moon Arcee.

• More information on Chromia at TFU.info

But, but I look different!

• Mudflap / Chromia / Agent Simmons (Human Alliance, 2010)

• Japanese ID number: RA-31

Coming with Mudflap and Seymour Simmons, Human Alliance Chromia is a robot that transforms into a motorcycle, with a surprisingly complex transformation to boot. As with the other Human Alliance vehicles, Simmons can ride her in her vehicle mode.

She has a kickstand in bike mode, though it's too short to hold her completely upright. She suffers from balance issues in robot mode as well, since her robot-mode stand ends up placed more towards her left side instead of at the center, meaning she tends to fall to her right side often.

She also comes packaged incompletely transformed, with her (difficult to open) right hand left untransformed as the motorbike's seat. Good luck getting that out.

Despite the coloring and name, this toy actually uses Arcee's design rather than Chromia's.

• More information on Human Alliance Chromia at TFU.info

Transformers (2010)

• Sideways Sneak Attack (Multi-pack)

• Known designers: Andrew Scribner (deco artist)

This _target exclusive multi-pack was to contain redecos of the Revenge of the Fallen Legends class Arcee mold as Chromia and Elita-1, plus an Arcee who may or may not be different from the single ROTF release. The set furthermore includes a redeco of Deluxe class Sideways, whose painted battle damage evokes the scene in the film where he's been cut in half. Ouchies.

Proceed on your way to oblivion. This item has been canceled, with no current plans for release.

Studio Series

Bringing a knife and gun to the fight

• Chromia • Arcee • Elita-1 (Deluxe Class, 2019)

• Movie: Revenge of the Fallen
• Hasbro ID number: 52
• TakaraTomy ID number: SS-41
• TakaraTomy release date: January 25, 2020
• Accessories: 3 wheel stands, cannon, sword, shoulderpad, "Shanghai Pursuit" backdrop

Studio Series Chromia is a Legion Class-sized mold accurate to her appearance in Revenge of the Fallen, transforming into a blue approximation of a Suzuki B-King. She comes packaged with Arcee and Elita-1 in a three-pack priced at the standard Deluxe Class price value, making the trio the smallest non-accessory figures in the Studio Series line to date. The three-pack also comes with a stand for each sister's bottom wheel, helping them stay upright, and a cardboard backdrop display of their pursuit of Sideways through Shanghai's streets.

Cheerleading class paid off

Though not included in the toys' instructions, the three sisters can combine into a kind of motorcycle-centaur form, as originally proposed for (but cut from) the movie (see Arcee's page for details). The combined form is assembled using special tabs on Elita-1 and Chromia's stands to link the figures together, and its appearance is completed with three accessories—a pink cannon, a blue sword, and a blue shoulder pad—which all attach to Arcee. Chromia can also wear these parts while in her individual robot mode, but neither they nor the sisters' stands store anywhere in vehicle mode.

Like the rest of the figures in the same wave, Chromia first saw release in some Toys"R"Us shops in Malaysia and independent stores in Hong Kong.

• Revenge of the Fallen 15th Anniversary Autobot Multipack (Multi-pack, 2024)

• Movie: Revenge of the Fallen
• Hasbro ID number: 52
• Accessories: 3 wheel stands, cannon, sword, shoulderpad, "Race to Protect Earth" backdrop

"Revenge of the Fallen 15th Anniversary" Chromia is a re-release of the 2019 Chromia figure, featuring very little, if any deco differences. As to be expected, Chromia can still combine with Arcee and Elita-1 to form their merged form.

As well as Arcee and Elita-1, this version of Chromia comes in an Amazon exclusive pack alongside Studio Series Optimus Prime and Jetfire, released in commemoration of Revenge of the Fallen's 15th anniversary. The set also includes a unique reversible backdrop with the first version of the "Pyramid Desert Battle" scene on one side and the other side featuring the "Shanghai Pursuit" scene.

Merchandise

Robot Heroes

Whatevs, all chicks are the same, mirite???

• Chromia & Megatron (Two-pack, 2009)

• Known designers: Marcelo Matere (concept artist)

Part of the third wave of Robot Heroes two-packs for Revenge of the Fallen, Chromia comes packaged versus Megatron. Her robot mode design is actually Elita-1's, since Hasbro can't tell their bike chicks apart.

• More information on Robot Heroes Chromia at TFU.info

Notes

A face only Ironhide could love.

• Whether Chromia is a unique individual or just an extension of Arcee is a matter of debate.
• The three bike girls were originally going to combine into a larger robot-form, but this was cut from the final movie. At Botcon 2009, Hasbro reported that the toys are still capable of this combination, but that it will not be mentioned in the instructions for the figures.
• The Arcee toy that comes with Human Alliance Skids and Mikaela has Chromia's robot design but has an alt mode based on Mikaela's bike,^[2] while the Chromia toy that comes with Human Alliance Mudflap and Simmons has Arcee's robot and bike mode.
  • Meanwhile, Chromia's Robot Heroes figure is actually Elita-1's design. Man, what is going on, peeps?
  • This means that Chromia been depicted with the robot designs of all three bike sisters... including Elita-One, who wouldn't get a toy with her own robot model until the release of the Studio Series 3-pack.
• In pre-production artwork, the non-pink components of the proposed combined Arcee were variously shown to be gold, green, or silver. Which portions of these monstrosities may have originally been Chromia is anyone's guess, but the inclusion of a blue bike amongst the group was apparently decided upon by the time the film's animatics were created.
• Chromia is the only Arcee component seen functional at the end of the film, but Roberto Orci and Alex Kurtzman would claim that all of them were killed^[3] at the behest of director Michael Bay.^[4] IDW's comics ignored this and continued to feature the three sisters in Rising Storm.

Foreign names

• Japanese: Chromia (クロミア Kuromia)

References