History Main / ManInTheMachine

* Desolators from ''RedAlert3'' are terminally-ill patients placed in MiniMecha

* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'' has the head Franchise/RoboCop. ([[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff1800/fc01798.htm Explained]] and [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2400/fc02363.htm shown]].)

* ''Videogame/TheLegendofZeldaCDiGames'' has Militron. Defeating him will actually cause his robotic shell to fall off, revealing a scrawny old man in his boxers who then slinks away in humiliation.

* Yoshimitsu from ''SoulCalibur'' might be considered one of these.

* A recurring character from the British SonicTheComic was Shortfuse, an otherwise normal animal that was turned into a Badnik but who managed to gain free will and rebel against Robotnik. In one comic they showed a cross-section of Shortfuse to show that yeah, he's just a man stuck in a suit with no way to take it off...[[FridgeLogic or pee]]

* ''Franchise/{{BioShock}}'''s Big Daddies are humans with mechanized and weaponized diving suits permanently grafted on them.

* The titular Rom from ''RomSpaceknight'' and his fellow Spaceknights.
* Vance Astro from the original ''GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' could not survive outside his life support suit.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}}:'' Gideon {{Ravenor}}, a man so crippled his melted remnants are encased in a life-support/psychic enhancement antigravity box.

* The Hitek, a dead-end branch of human evolution from ''ManAfterMan'', had become so crippled by hereditary ailments that they spent their entire lives sealed inside personal hospital-suite/transports. Most were so frail that they'd die if they left their carriers long enough to attempt to breed.

* Max Barry's ''MachineMan'' features Dr. Charles Neumann, who spends some time in an exceptionally powerful robot body [[spoiler: before eventually just {{Brain Uploading}}]].

* Comicbook/IronMan in some continuities. For example, the ''EarthX'' universe has him wired into an entire Stark Enterprises factory, controlling various armors remotely. He's also [[spoiler: the only remaining non-Terrigen'd human]] due to this particular behavior.

EchoesInTheDark, a PacificRim fic has the Sentinels, which are particularly disturbing variation of Jeagers.

* Von Bolt, the BigBad of ''AdvanceWars: Dual Strike'', extends his life by being hooked up to a machine [[PoweredByAForsakenChild fueled by the planet's energy]].

* Venusis/Neo from ''[[NadiaTheSecretOfBlueWater Nadia.]]'' His robotic body ''looks'' human, but it is fairly obvious from his almost nonexistent expressions and the mechanical noises when he as much as moves his head how blatantly fake it is. He's dependent on a hugeass power cable protruding from his back and it is only one that we see him standing up from his throne. The contrast between that all and his very normal-sounding voice is jarring to behold.

[[quoteright:330:[[Series/BattlestarGalacticaReimagined http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/SamGetsFreeBroadband2_817.jpg]]]]

* Hybrids in ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'' are humanoid cylons suspended in tanks of water and wired into Basestars. [[spoiler: Sam becomes a more typical example of this trope late in the series]].

* In ''{{Homestuck}}'', this sadly is the Ψiioniic's ultimate fate, having become the Helmsman. He is forced to use his psionics to move The Battleship Condescension and is being kept alive far longer than a troll of his blood color should be able to survive.

A type of [[ClingyCostume Clingy Costume]]. Strongly related to MobileSuitHuman and WeCanRebuildHim. Compare WetWareCPU and DarkLordOnLifeSupport.

He isn't a typical {{Cyborg}}, lamenting [[CyberneticsEatYourSoul his dwindling humanity]], nor is he a BrainInAJar fighting the SenseLossSadness and [[WhatHaveIBecome despair]] their LossOfIdentity brings. He's a normal, ordinary human encased in a mechanical body. A ManInTheMachine might be created from a person who is fatally wounded or suffering from an illness that makes it impossible for him to survive without heavy life-support machinery. This would normally doom the person to spend the rest of his life bedridden, but if those machines were to be mounted on a robotic frame, they would be able to walk around and interact with others. Their new mechanical body will effectively be a suit of PoweredArmor, immensely strong and tremendously alienating since they can't live outside of it. Is it any wonder those trapped in these bodies as an EmergencyTransformation become [[CrushKillDestroy rampaging engines of destruction?]]

EchoesInTheDark, a PacificRim fic has the Sentinels, which a particularly disturbing variation of Jeagers.

* ''FantasticFour'' villain Devos The Devastator is an OmnicidalManiac. Subverted in that he was crazy even before getting cyborged.

** General Grievous in the prequels can be considered either this or a case of the man ''being'' the machine. His brain and eyes are still organic, but almost everything else consists of cyborg implants, leading many to assume he is a droid on the first encounter.

* ''TabletpoGame/{{Warhammer40000}}:'' Gideon {{Ravenor}}, a man so crippled his melted remnants are encased in a life-support/psychic enhancement antigravity box.

* In ''Videogame/MetalGearSolid'', Grey Fox is this. His body is [[WeCanRebuildHim grafted surgically]] to his robotic exoskeleton, and he has to constantly take anti-rejection drugs or suffer extreme pain. It's artistic license on Kojima's part, though.[[note]]In RealLife people had to take anti-rejection drugs when they have the ''organic'' transplants that don't perfectly match their antibody profiles and are thus rejected by their immune systems. That's why the transplants from the close relatives are usually preferred -- there's less immunologic differences. In case of the cybernetic implants on the other hand the only thing to worry is the matter of allergy and biological compatibility. There's plenty of such materials, one of which, titanium, actually has one of the best strength/weight ratios known.[[/note]]

Of course, this might be the idea to begin with. A MadScientist may create one by [[UnwillingRoboticisation sticking some poor unfortunate soul inside his battle robot to act as the pilot]]. The smart Mad Scientist will usually put the [[StrappedToAnOperatingTable test subject]] through {{Brainwashing}} first, though, or control the suit's inputs to make the pilot see what he wants him to see. (Alernatively, he might arrange to be hooked in ''himself'' [[EmergencyTransformation if harm should come to him]] in lieu of using another as a test subject.)

Of course, this might be the idea to begin with. A MadScientist may create one by [[UnwillingRoboticisation sticking some poor unfortunate soul inside his battle robot to act as the pilot]]. The smart Mad Scientist will usually put the [[StrappedToAnOperatingTable test subject]] through {{Brainwashing}} first, though, or control the suit's inputs to make the pilot see what he wants him to see.

** Not quite a human example, but [[BlackKnight Frank]] [[BigBad Horrigan]] in ''{{Fallout 2}}'' is permanently welded/grafted into his [[DarkLordOnLifeSupport life-supporting]] PowerArmor.

** Chaos Dreadnoughts/Hellbrutes are similar to their loyalist counterparts, except most see it as a form of punishment; the machine deprives them of the sensation of battle as well as isolation issues. The result is that the occupant goes mad after being locked in one, often requiring his sarcophagus (the chamber that houses his body) to be removed from the dreadnought after battle, as he's just as likely to rampage through his own buddies as he is towards his enemy. Often the occupants are [[YouHaveFailedMe someone who has either failed one task too many]] or someone [[CruelAndUnusualPunishment that the local warlord/warsmith wants to punish]]. Worse still, Hellbrutes (but not older Chaos Dreadnoughts) seem to slowly fuse with their occupants, turning them into a mishmash of machine, flesh and daemon, not too dissimilar to an Obliterator.