The legality of this character must be a nightmare. Before we get onto Rom’s comic book origins, I need to talk about his real-life origins. Rom began life as a toy created by Scott Dankman, Richard C. Levy, and Bryan L. McCoy for the Parker Brothers. Like the majority of toy lines, they approached Marvel to create a comic book series for the character. However, like the Transformers, there was no actual story to Rom, so Marvel was given free rein to create the backstory for the character. While the toy didn’t sell as well as they hoped, it is considered a collector’s item these days, the comic ran for seventy-five issues. Parker Bros. eventually merges with Kenner, who was purchased by Tonka, who in turn was eventually purchased by Hasbro. Hasbro, till all are one. (Yes, I did steal that joke from Secret Galaxy). Hasbro would eventually include Rom in their Hasbro multiverse but would eventually strike a deal with Marvel to reprint the original comics. For the purpose of this NCS, I will only be talking about the Marvel universe version of the character.

Introduced in Rom #1 (1979) by Bill Mantlo and Sal Buscema, Rom is a member of the Galadorian race. He was the first to give up his humanity to become a space knight and led the charge against the Dire Wraiths. Rom led the 1000 strong Space Knights against the Wraith’s fleet, who eventually unleashed some Deathwings again the knights. When Rom slew the Queen Deathwing and turned the tide in battle. Rom and a small squad of elite Space Knight pursued the Wraith’s. Rom would eventually find his way to Earth, where he was initially was seen as a threat. He befriended some humans and would eventually team up with Earth’s heroes, like the X-men, Jack of Heart and more. After that he would spend his time between Earth and space, battle the Wraiths and many of Marvel’s own villains, like Terrax. He would eventually regain his human form and married Brandy Clark, resulting in the birth of their children. Rom became the leader of his planet but was believed killed on a diplomatic mission. (In real life this was because Marvel had lost the rights to ROM but not the Space Knights and wanted to continue their mythos, thus the reason Space Knight continue to be a part of the Marvel Universe.)

ROM is a character that has long been requested by fans but due to the fact that it’s not owned by Marvel we didn’t think we would ever get it IN Marvel Legends. One of Hasbro’s self-owned lines like the GI-Joes but not Marvel Legends. However, Jesse Falcon, the Director of Merchandising, said he has been working with Hasbro to try and get it made for 10 years. He will get a figure in 2025 in a yet unknown assortment.

None at the moment