It's the end of an era has ended, as Toonami has revealed the death of TOM 5 through the latest episode of its original series The Forge.
In the event series' fourth episode, TOM 5 made the ultimate sacrifice to save the other TOM robots from being killed. TOM 5 is seen fighting off enemy alien force as he orders AI fairy Sara to prepare his ship for departure without him. He suffers a grief outcome as he professes his love for Sara.
Toonami's The Forge Ep 4It’s an all-out war on this episode of The Forge, but TOM’s ready to fight back. Check out episode four below and don’t miss the following episode, happening next Saturday night at 11p!
Posted by Toonami on Wednesday, 27 November 2019
After the episode aired, Toonami co-creator Jason DeMarco penned a farewell tweet for the programming block's longtime host. "TOM 5 served for a long time," he wrote. "He took some hits along the way, too. I’ll miss 'battle damaged' TOM, he was a good’un." DeMarco followed his words with an image of a battle-weary TOM 5 and a salute for the robot's service.
As the host of Toonami , TOM 5 curated and introduced all the contented featured on Adult Swim's anime-themed Saturday night programming block. The latest in a line of various TOM models, TOM 5 made his debut as part of Toonami's latest revamp in 2013. Per ComicBook.com, Toonami confirms it will begin in 2020 with both a new look and a new host.
The 2020 revamp will only be the latest in Toonami's history. The programming block originally launched in 1997 and ran up until 2008. In 2012, Toonami was relaunched as part of Cartoon Network's nightly Adult Swim Block. Along the way, various different iterations of TOM have served as host -- and it looks like another is just around the corner.
Toonami airs Saturday nights on Cartoon Network/Adult Swim.