I've been perpetuating an error over on my Timeline project. It was an innocent mistake at first, but i still do it even though i now know it's wrong, and i'm not sure i'm going to fix it.

The error: writing the name of Rom, Spaceknight, in all caps. ROM.

I've known that his name was based on an acronym. Fun fact: "The toy was originally called COBOL (after the programming language), which was later changed to "Rom" (after ROM, read-only memory) by Parker Brothers executives". And I always capitalize my acronyms on that site. SHIELD. MODOK. FAUST (Fully Automated Unit of Structural Technology, clearly).

So, ROM.

I guess i should have realized it was kind of odd that his name, in-story, stood for "read-only memory". All the other Spaceknights had names that were descriptive of their powers, like Starshine and Firefall and Terminator (if Marvel ever wants to bring back ROM Rom despite the copyright issues, they should alter his armor slightly and call him Neutralizer).

But since comic books are always lettered in all caps, i never saw anything to challenge my assumption. Until somewhere along the way, i started to get a sneaking suspicion that it was wrong. Then i started getting confirmation. First on other websites. Then some comments on the letters page, which is not in all caps. Willfully ignored it for a while, but now i have to face facts. And i'm not sure i trust MovableType's Search & Replace function enough for a delicate operation like this. So i'm probably going to leave it as-is for a while, and continue to do it for consistency. Until it bugs me enough to change it.

Speaking of ROM Rom, can you believe that in all the years my friends have known me, they've never gotten me the original action figure? What the hell? It's only a $240 starting bid.

I think the logo and the shortness of the name may play into this as well. I didn't think about the acronym status, but still capitalize it when I think about it.