T.O.M.
T.O.M., or Toonami Operations Module, is the mascot of Toonami, a programming block that aired on Cartoon Network from 1997 to 2008. In the block's first two years, it was actually hosted by Moltar from Space Ghost: Coast to Coast instead. T.O.M. showed up in his first incarnation in 1999, and the rest was history. After 2008, the management shake ups at Cartoon Network led to the cancellation of Toonami. However, after an Adult Swim April Fools joke in 2012 brought back the block for one night, a massive grassroots fan campaign led to Adult Swim bringing back Toonami permanently as a weekend block. If you want to feel old, T.O.M. has been broadcasting his shows on Adult Swim for longer than he did on Cartoon Network.
T.O.M. himself is an android who travels through space in his spaceship alongside his on-board AI companion, SARA (she started out as a talking computer program who could run things on the ship, but in more recent years she developed a mobile hardlight form that lets her physically move about the range of the ship), while broadcasting Toonami back to Earth, a task given to him by Moltar. And this mission, needless to say, was successful: Toonami is often credited for massively increasing the popularity and awareness of anime in the United States as a direct result of Toonami broadcasting Dragon Ball Z and Sailor Moon. So much about the block became instantly iconic: its use of drum and bass music, the chill video game reviews, the killer lineup of shows, and, of course, the host, T.O.M. himself.
Those who don't know much about Toonami might be confused as to how T.O.M. would work. After all, isn't he just a block host who shows up in bumpers, sitting in a control room chair and saying what show is up next? Well, that's actually far from the truth.
Throughout its broadcast history, Toonami has occasionally aired specials called TIEs (Total Immersion Events), which are basically just T.O.M. shows. They can all be found archived on YouTube if you'd like to marathon them. They feature him as the main character in sci-fi stories, such as the famous first TIE, The Intruder, which featured a ravenous space blob getting aboard the ship, forcing to T.O.M. to confront it only to lose his life, leading to T.O.M.'s first reincarnation into a new form: T.O.M. 2. T.O.M. has taken multiple forms over the years.
Currently he's on his seventh incarnation, T.O.M. 6 (the discrepancy comes from the brief use of T.O.M. 3.5). Of them all, T.O.M. 6 is the current model while T.O.M. 3 is the most popular, longest lasting, and well known, so if he were to get in, he'd probably use 6 as the default and have 3 as a legendary skin. Though almost all of the variants could be skins, save for T.O.M. 1 (due to being incredibly short in comparison to later models) and T.O.M. 4 (who has a wildly different, and pretty unpopular, design, and was later revealed to be a different individual all together).
I also put together a T.O.M. moveset a while back for those interested in how he could work. Heavy close combat mixed with sci-fi weaponry abounds, with a few choice DBZ references for flavor. I could see him actually being a bit like Fox in these regards (minus the DBZ references lol).
Description: TOM is a Bruiser character with a sci-fi flair, boasting high impact attacks supplemented by a few long ranged additions. By using his grounded neutral attack, TOM can get stronger the longer he stays in control of the fight, making him heavily momentum-based.
Dash Attack: Rolling Stance - TOM runs forward and does a leaping forward roll, doing damage. TOM can also cancel the ending of this move into his grounded neutral special, doing extra damage on the first blaster shot.
Grounded Neutral Attack: SARA, Begin Broadcast - TOM does a quick downward punch toward the ground, doing damage and planting a comms device in the process. A small electronic beacon emerges from it and gives off waves, indicating the [BROADCAST] has begun.
Aerial Neutral Attack: Clyde Orbit - TOM takes on a classic powering up pose as two Clydes make a quick orbit around his body in an X pattern, ramming into foes to do damage.
Grounded Side Attack: I Love This Job - A combo attack consisting of two punches and a forward Sparta/front kick for a three strike attack.
Aerial Side Attack: Palm Burst - A [CHARGEABLE] move where TOM brings his hands together while pulling them back, before thrusting his hands forward, with a burst of energy erupting from them. Calling it a TOMehameha would've been a bit too on the nose.
Grounded Up Attack: Hard Light Blast - A [CHARGEABLE] attack wherein SARA projects herself above TOM and releases a massive blast of light, damaging foes in a radius similar to Mewtwo's up smash.
Aerial Up Attack: Thruster Uppercut - TOM jets upward while performing a strong uppercut attack.
Grounded Down Attack: Laser Torch - TOM crouches down while holding a welding laser outward. It sparks, damaging the foe and giving them a stack of [IGNITED] and a good deal of hitstun.
Aerial Down Attack: sTOMp - A [CHARGEABLE] attack wherein TOM does a strong aerial stomp with both feet. This move [SPIKES].
Grounded Neutral Special: Blaster Fire/Spirit TOM - If the button is pressed, Tom fires his blaster gun repeatedly. Each successful hit gives one stack of [IGNITED] to foes, giving small damage over time. If TOM has maximum [RATINGS], and the button is held, he'll instead hold the gun up and cause a giant green energy sphere to charge above his head, before shooting it. The blast has [HOMING] properties and is his strongest finisher. However, you can only get one hit per stock.
Aerial Neutral Special: Blaster Fire - TOM fires the blaster in the air. Same as the grounded variant, but the Spirit TOM can only be done on the ground.
Grounded Side Special: Super Hydraulics - TOM flies forward in a spinning, thruster-powered shoulder charge. This move acts as a quick burst option and a horizontal recovery option.
Aerial Side Special: Super Hydraulics - Same as grounded variant.
Grounded Up Special: Jetpack Exhaust - TOM dons a jetpack and quickly jets himself in a wide circle on the ground, doing damage as a solid Get Off Me tool.
Aerial Up Special: Jetpack Flight - TOM is given brief free flight with his jetpack. He can fly in any direction he chooses.
Grounded Down Special: Explosive Charge - TOM drops a box of explosives on the ground in front of him. It explodes on its own after a brief delay. If a foe is caught in the explosion, they are popped directly upwards to allow for TOM to make an easy follow-up.
Aerial Down Special: Explosive Charge - Same as grounded variant, but if the explosive hits a foe on its way to the ground, it will instantly detonate.
Passive Abilities:
If TOM does high amounts of damage while a [BROADCAST] is active, he will gain [RATINGS], which are displayed on the HUD. The higher the [RATINGS], the stronger TOM's moves become and the faster they come out, allowing him to snowball. At maximum [RATINGS], he can perform a Spirit TOM.
With that out of the way...
Chance - 50%
T.O.M. is a character who gets requested at a decent pace. He's never among the most requested characters, but he has a solid fan base that lets me give him a very good chance score for a character who, as of now, has no leaks or datamines pointing toward him. The one thing that could be seen as a detriment is the fact that the Toonami block only airs in North America, to my knowledge, but the Multiversus team has also yet to say that this regional presence is a detriment like the Smash team has. Plus, at least here there's a home field advantage. And even then, it's not hard to get behind the concept of a chill, spacefaring robot who likes games and anime.
Want: 100%
T.O.M. is one of my most wanted characters of all, and out of ones that don't have anything pointing to them yet, he's third, only behind Wilt and Tracy Turnblad. He's quippy, sarcastic, and a bit of a cynic, but he's good at heart (and gets a ton of development in The Forge TIE special that I love). Plus he's a Cool Robot voiced by Steve Blum. The Absolution, his ship, could also make for an amazing stage with great DnB soundtrack potential. Out of my top three totally-missing most wanteds, he's probably the one with the best shot, so here's hoping.
All nominations to Snagglepuss
