Institute

He had won the victory over himself. He lovedBig Convoy.

Before theGreat War,theInstitutewas a rumor whose very existence was, to many, suspect. How could there actually be a laboratory dedicated to rewritingTransformers' minds—dabbling in the forbidden science known asshadowplay?But for many, it is a name whispered in fearful tones—the kind of place where out-of-line mechs might get 'disappeared' to, to have their loyalty coefficient brought back into lockstep with the desires of theSenate.

Rational-minded Transformers dismiss the entire notion as nothing more than a hallucination of the paranoid. But those rational minds might want to reconsider...

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

Before the war, an acquaintance ofOrion Paxwithin theSenatefeared that Orion could get sent to the Institute as punishment for interrupting a Senate session.Chaos Theory Part 2Around the same time,Tumblerlikewise noted that dissenters from the official government line were likely to get sent to the Institute. ThoughProwldismissed the entire notion of the Institute with a derisivephht,Tumbler was fascinated by the idea of the place, regardless of whether or not it was real.Post Hoc

While on a mission to track down a murderer, Tumbler and Prowl were given a tipoff byRed Alert,the security guard atTranslucentica Heights:a robot that, unknown to then, had been mind-altered by the Institute to nudge them in the 'right' direction. The cops turned out to betoogood though and tracked the murderers to aRelinquishment Clinic.Once inside, the duo were shocked to find much more than mere bodyswapping going on. They found an entire laboratory complex below the clinic, filled with technicians working on dozens of Transformer brains, and equipment dedicated to imprisonment and worse: magnetic circuit slabs, and a room full ofEmptieswith hollowed-out heads. It was immediately obvious to Tumbler that they were in fact inside the fabled Institute. Hacking the lab's computer, Tumbler found a list of thousands of names organized by "threat level".Patternism

What neither they nor Orion Pax realized was that the very name "the Institute" was sleight of hand: it made people think there was justone,not a whole network! In time, every Relinquishment Clinic would turn out to have an Institute under it and that was only part of it.Senator Shockwavewould be a victim of the Institute, deliberately turned into an emotionless husk as an act of petty revenge.An Intimate Beheading

Years later, after the fall of the Senate, the restructuring of Cybertronian society underZeta Prime,and the outbreak of the Great War, the Institute continued to operate in secret, rebranded asthe New Institute,used by Zeta to brainwash both captured Decepticons and to keep Autobots with wavering loyalties in line. Though Zeta would soon be slain byMegatron,his "New Institute" would persist long after this death, still operated by the Autobots well into the war. It is unclear if there were ever multiple "New Institutes"; the only confirmed facility was hidden beneath a patch of wasteland, protected by a veritable army ofGuardian droids.This facility's staff includedTrepan,a skilledmnemosurgeon,and a member of the original institute, his apprentice Tumbler, who would go on to earn the name "Chromedome"by performing thousands of lobotomies using his mnemosurgical skills, andBrainstorm.The three of them were unfortunate enough to be present when it was attacked byOverlordon a mission to rescue a capturedSoundwave.Overlord would also kidnap Trepan so he could learn the secrets of mnemosurgery.Remembrance DayEvidence suggestsHighbrowwas also a member of the New Institute.The Reluctant SpecialistRules of DisengagementEvidence also suggests thatCerebrosworked there as well but was not a mnemosurgeon.Ten to Midnight

Six months beforeDeclaration Day,Red Alert sought out the rational-minded psychiatristRung.He regarded Red Alert's mentions of the Institute as a sure sign of a paranoid personality disorder, apparently unaware that the Institute really exists.InteriorsMillions of years later, Highbrow, Chromedome, and Brainstorm were vague about their old job when talking to Tailgate.The Reluctant Specialist

AutobotSpecial Operationswould use ex-New Institute technology: thenudge gun,one charge that fires a thought into a target's mind and a second that blanks out any incriminating memories.Arm the LonelyWhen examining the exploded remains ofSkids' nudge gun, Brainstorm could recognise it as Institute technology but didn't know what it was.Rules of Disengagement

Notes

• In aninterview (17:40 - 18:25),James Robertssaid that Transformers with head-based names all worked for, or were believed to work for, the Institute and were nicknamed appropriately. (And that's why the Headmaster toys have heady names despite not being Headmasters in IDW continuity!) Roberts went on to confirm that Highbrow worked there but thatHardheaddidn't, he just has a hard head.
• At 57:00 in the same interview, Roberts implies that the Institute had a reason for 'getting' Red Alert and used him for more than just the one plot.