Disappeared

More than anything, these lost souls are proof...that all the good names really are taken.

The Disappeared are a collection of Transformers that—as their name implies—disappeared from the war at various points throughout its history.

Fiction

2005 IDW continuity

Having become obsessed with chronicling the death of every single Cybertronian following the loss of his friend Tusk, the former forensic pathologist Censere erected a Memorial to the Disappeared on the Necroworld alongside statues of the Transformers whose fates he was able to record. When the crew of the Lost Light investigated the rumours of the "Necrobot", Nightbeat met with Censere and discovered that he was listed amongst the Disappeared thanks to having been pulled into the Dead Universe after his death at the hands of Hardhead. Nightbeat then took Chromedome and Rewind to the Memorial to show them that Dominus Ambus was also named there. Afterwards, Nightbeat took Censere to task over his obsession and suggested that he try to look after the living instead of recording the dead. The Not Knowing

Censere took Nightbeat's words seriously, and upon discovering a time case left by Megatron near his own statue, connected it to his teleport chamber and attempted to rescue all of the Disappeared. Ironically, his actions ultimately created many of the Disappeared thanks to their unexplained departures from their own times. The time travel often left them weak and disoriented so Censere kept them in stasis, disguised as organic life to hide them from unwanted attention. Unfortunately his actions did not go unnoticed and the Decepticon Justice Division arrived, presumably looking for some of the missing 'bots from their own list. They set a trap for Megatron and the crew of the Lost Light and killed Censere when he tried to interfere.

Later, under siege from the D.J.D. in Censere's fortress, Team Rodimus was greatly surprised when the stasis pods containing the "organics" opened to reveal the likes of Roller, Wavelength, Syphon, and Terminus. After reading Censere's journal, Rewind explained to Rodimus that thanks to the D.J.D. around half of the names on the Memorial of the Disappeared would remain unaccounted for. Do Not Go Gentle

When more of the Disappeared began to wake up, Ultra Magnus held a 819 slide presentation to brief them on when and where they were as well as recent events. Some Other Cybertron

After Team Rodimus had left Necroworld, After Megatron the Decepticon members of the Disappeared murdered their Autobot counterparts and took over the planet. They were then killed by the Luna 1 Autobots. Sardines

The Disappeared

Saved by Censere

Otherwise accounted for

• Dominus Ambus of Ambustus Minor
• Nightbeat of Yuss

Unaccounted for

Notes

• The Festival of Lost Light included a Hymn for the Disappeared. Foreshadowing!
• The first time we see the Memorial in "The Not Knowing", the name above that of Dominus Ambus ends with "...MLET", when we see it again in "Do Not Go Gentle" there's what appears to read "...N EIM..." and in "Anomie" it begins with "SCRAMBL...". Presumably there's a Scramblin' Eimlet out there somewhere?
• In "Anomie", one of the names on the Memorial is 'Shock of Polyhex', though the Shock we are familiar with signed his name as 'Shock of Bitrex' in "No Guns, No Swords, No Briefcases" and he was killed by a Sparkeater rather than mysteriously disappearing, as his fellow Duobot Ore did in "You, Me, and Other Revelations". This could mean that we're either dealing with a different Shock, or that not even the Necrobot can tell Shock and Ore apart.
• Interestingly, none of the Disappeared whose names are visible in "Anomie" are M.T.O.s, as they are all named after city-states rather than military operations.
• Two unnamed Disappeared Decepticons in Lost Light #2 are modeled on the Energon Divebomb and Cybertron Hardtop molds, with new color schemes.