History Main / ManInTheMachine

* [[spoiler:Ein Dalton]] from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'' is merged with his own mecha after a fatal injury, the treatment was to keep him alive while being able to avenge his fallen allies, the end result is what essentially can be said as ''the pilot himself'' becoming ''the'' AceCustom.
* Predating the above, [[spoiler: Rain Mikamura]] from ''Anime/MobileFighterGGundam'' is used as the organic life core of the Devil/Dark Gundam, the final boss of the series. Her nude body is encased in silver and bound by the arms, entangled by mechanical [[CombatTentacles]] that siphon her life force to power said Gundam. The BigBad had planned this fate in the final arc.

* Similarly, [[spoiler: Chiharu Isurugi]] from Anime/ReVisions was about to get a biological body bound by the arms like the above, but [[spoiler: Daisuke ends her life before she could even get out of the mechanical pod.]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Series/BattlestarGalactica2003 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/man_in_the_machine.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[EmergencyTransformation Becoming]] a [[SpaceshipGirl Spaceship Boy]] [[MadOracle isn't]] [[UnusualUserInterface necessarily]] [[InstantOracleJustAddWater fun]].]]

->''"Faster than a bullet\\

He's half man and half machine"''
--> -- '''Music/JudasPriest''', "Painkiller"

* The ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' episode "[[Recap/CowboyBebopSession23BrainScratch Brain Scratch]]" has the crew tracking down a cult leader who is encouraging his followers to commit suicide. Eventually, they discover that [[spoiler:the cult leader who they're searching for is merely a false identity. The true mastermind is a vegetative teenage hacker who uses his life-support machines to contact the outside world]].

* [[spoiler:Ein Dalton]] from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamIronBloodedOrphans'' is merged with his own mecha after a fatal injury, the treatment was to keep him alive while being able to avenge his fallen allies, the end result is what essentially can be said as ''the pilot himself'' becoming ''the'' AceCustom.
* Venusis/Neo from ''[[Anime/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.
* ''Anime/YuGiOh'': An interesting example is a member of the Big 5 named Nezbitt, who always wanted to be a machine instead of human, and gets his wish while trapped in a virtual reality world. His back story reveals he used to build tanks and other weapons of war for Kaiba's stepfather, but when Seto took over the company, he was forced to destroy his weapon research and only build technology for games. During his duel with Joey's sister, Tristan and Duke Devlin, he addresses them as humans, and only calls himself a machine, and is always saying that machines are better than humans. This reveals he probably enjoys being a robot, but from a distance, his boss, Noah comments that he's not a real robot - just a sad little man.
* A variation occurs in ''Anime/UFOWarriorDaiApolon'', where the protagonist uses his energy powers to grow and combine with the titular HumongousMecha.

* ComicBook/IronMan in some continuities. For example, the ''ComicBook/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.
* The [[LegacyCharacter various incarnations]] of Box from ''ComicBook/AlphaFlight''.
* Robotman from ''Comicbook/DoomPatrol''. Cliff often wished that The Chief hadn't "saved" his life after his fateful car crash.
* And while we're at it, the Golden Age Robotman in ''ComicBook/AllStarSquadron''.
* A recurring character from the British ''ComicBook/SonicTheComic'' was Shortfuse the Cybernik, a HotBlooded squirrel who was used in the creation of an experimental Badnik type. However, he managed to retain his free will (partly from the damage he caused to Robotnik's machines prior to his conversion, partly from sheer stubbornness), and so he rebelled against Robotnik. In one comic they showed a cross-section of Shortfuse to show that yeah, he's just a squirrel stuck in a suit with no way to take it off... [[FridgeLogic or pee.]]
** He later gained a mortal rival in [[YouDirtyRat Vermin the Cybernik]], who was as strong as Shortfuse (if not stronger), and was loyal to Robotnik
* A Ms. Marvel villain, Destructor, was just a human inventor until kree technology fused him with another of her enemies, the robotic Doomsday Man. When he's shown again years later, the Doomsday Man persona is shown to be dominate between the two for the most part.
* Circuit Breaker from ''{{Transformers}}'' is a helpless paraplegic without her exoskeleton. Granted that it's a very [[FanService skimpy-looking]] exoskeleton and that if she were at all sane, she could just wear clothes over it and pass as mostly normal; but she is, in fact, both obsessed about her circumstances and stark raving mad, so there you go.
* The three cyborg heroes of ''[[Comicbook/ManTech ManTech.]]'' [=AquaTech=] is the one who is the most unhappy about it.
* Deathlok the Demolisher. Of course, he has the added problem that he's stuck inside a machine that keeps ''telling him to do bad things,'' and he has to constantly tell it to shut up.
* The titular Rom from ''ComicBook/RomSpaceknight'' and his fellow Spaceknights.
* Vance Astro from the original ''ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'' could not survive outside his life support suit.
* ''ComicBook/FantasticFour'' villain Devos The Devastator is an OmnicidalManiac. Subverted in that he was crazy even before getting cyborged.
* The Marvel Comics supervillain known as the Controller was paralyzed in an explosion accidentally caused by his brother who then arranged for him to fuse an exoskeleton powered by psionic energy to himself to restore his mobility.

* The ''Film/PacificRim'' fic ''Fanfic/EchoesInTheDark'' has the Sentinels, which are particularly disturbing variation of Jaegers.

** Darth Vader. His suit is a comprehensive life-support system, and most of his limbs are cybernetic as well. When [[spoiler:he is unmasked in [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi the sixth movie]], he dies within minutes, though he may have died anyway due to injuries sustained when killing the Emperor.]]

* Alex Murphy, a.k.a. ''Franchise/RoboCop'', is almost completely mechanical. He doesn't even have a full organic head, just a case for his brain and spinal cord which his face is grafted onto. The [[Film/RoboCop2014 remake's version]] is has ''slightly'' more organic parts, but how little is graphically demonstrated (to the audience [[TomatoInTheMirror and Murphy himself]]) when his machine parts are taken off, leaving just a head, a plastic shell with a few organs (including lungs), and one hand.
* ''Film/SourceCode:'' [[spoiler:The original fate of Cptn. Colter Stevens]]
* Dr. Hephaestus from ''Film/BattleBeyondTheStars.'' "When you're on my {{s|paceStation}}tation, you're [[GeniusLoci in my presence.]]"
* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}'': The titular Terminator robots are human ''[[InvertedTrope outside]]'' the machine.

* This trope is more or less the entire point of the series of books starting with ''Literature/TheShipWhoSang'' by Creator/AnneMcCaffrey. Each of the main characters is a disabled person cybernetically attached to a ship. Or, for less adventurous shell-people, space stations. Eventually, however, [[spoiler:technology is developed that allows the shell-people to control human-sized robot bodies]].
* Ng in ''Literature/SnowCrash'', who had a kind of tank instead of just a mobility scooter. His rationale was that he didn't want a weak wheelchair like everyone else who had all their limbs blown off; instead, he wanted a giant car, because everything in America is drive-through! His monster vehicle even features a few docks for a mini-helicopter drone and a trio of killer cyborg dogs.

* Sergej Luk'yanenko's novel set in the ''VideoGame/MasterOfOrion'' universe feature the Meklon (error by Luk'yanenko, as in-game the race is called Meklar, Meklon is their homeworld ) - a lizard-like species who almost completely mechanized themselves. Among humans, the mechanist sect attempts to become less bound by flesh in much the same way, to the extreme of willingly becoming powered armors with [[BrainInAJar minimal organic components]]. Although cybernetics and prosthetic cyborg limbs are well-known, the A-Tan technology has greatly reduces the acceptance of cyborgs.
* In Creator/AlastairReynolds' ''Literature/RevelationSpaceSeries'', the BlackBox [[spoiler:Conjoiner drives]] are revealed to be controlled by disembodied [[spoiler:Conjoiner]] brains.
* The Hitek, a dead-end branch of human evolution from ''Literature/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. A Hitek couple moved their pods together so they could finnaly feel each other's touch but when they have sex, the woman sufferers a heart attack and dies. The man realizes this but takes a shot of chemicals that numbs his emotional pain.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000:'' Gideon Literature/{{Ravenor}}, a man so crippled his melted remnants are encased in a life-support/psychic enhancement antigravity box.
* From ''Literature/HonorHarrington'', Lady Emily Alexander[[spoiler:-Harrington]], Countess White Haven, similarly to Ravenor is so crippled that she's basically grafted to her self-propelled life-support machine. It doesn't [[GeniusCripple hinder her brain functions]].
* Max Barry's ''Literature/MachineMan'' features Dr. Charles Neumann, who spends some time in an exceptionally powerful robot body [[spoiler:before eventually just BrainUploading]].
* ''Literature/DreamPark'': In ''The Moon Maze Game'', one of the players is a champion gamer crippled by an illness. To allow her to play in the steampunk-themed adventure, she's equipped with a robotic life-support capsule which, in-story, was supposedly crafted by [[Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea Captain Nemo]].

* Hybrids in ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' 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]].
* Obscure late-90s superhero series ''Series/{{MANTIS}}'' starred a roboticist who ends up paraplegic after being shot in a street robbery, and builds himself a sort of exoskeleton in order to no longer be wheelchair-bound. Then at some point he did what anyone else would in that situation; he upgraded it into a suit of PoweredArmour and set himself up as a Batman expy.

* ''Series/BabylonFive'' presents a minor example in the Great Machine of Epsilon III. While placed in the machine, a person's life is sustained for thousands of years, but nothing is keeping him from ''leaving'' of his own free will, other than the need for someone else to take their place to run the Machine. Through the course of the series, Varn, '''[[LargeHam DRAAL]]''', and [[TheLancer Commander Ivanova]] have spent varying periods of time in the Machine, and it was indicated that [[AntiHero Londo]] would have been a strong candidate to fill the role permanently, had '''[[LargeHam DRAAL]]''' not volunteered first.
* ''Series/{{NTSFSDSUV}}'': The NTSF office have their own precog lying in a bathtub filled with "thought goo". When they go and ask her for information, they find Alphonse [[TwoPersonPoolParty in a compromising position with her]].
* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' gives us Fleet Captain Christopher Pike in "The Menagerie", who is left in a combination wheelchair and life support system after being horrifically injured in an accident. His situation is so bad that he can only communicate by making his chair beep OnceForYesTwiceForNo.
** ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'' features Captain Pike in the second season, but before the accident that leaves him wheelchair bound. There are numerous hints to remind the audience of his eventual fate [[spoiler: and Pike witnesses it for himself due to the season's time travel plot. The show also heavily implies, based on what happened to Airiam during the second season, that Pike will up in the chair barely able to communicate because he fears [[Main/CyberneticsEatYourSoul the extensive cybernetic enhancement]] that might have restored much more of his mobility.]]

* The TropeNamer is Karchev the Terrible from ''[[TabletopGame/IronKingdoms Warmachine]]'', who has a special rule called "the man in the machine". Karchev was a Khadoran wizard who suffered grievous wounds during a battle, resulting in paralysis of all his limbs. He was hooked up to a life-support system that was installed into a chassis of a Warjack to allow him to continue serving the Motherland in battle.
* Space Marine Dreadnoughts in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer40000}}'' are mortally wounded Space Marines placed inside a life-supporting sarcophagus that is then installed into [[WalkingTank a robotic body]]. Because dying is no reason to stop fighting. Of course, Dreadnoughts are also revered as sources of great wisdom and knowledge as the Dreadnoughts have survived thousands of years and are carefully managed with devotion. Bjorn the Fell-Handed is the oldest Space Marine alive as the Dreadnought has kept him alive since the Horus Heresy.

*** And then of course there is the Emperor. Unfortunately, he can't move about because his life support machine is so massive and complex that it is the size of a small country [[labelnote: note]]If you wonder about the size of that thing, keep in mind that the Imperial Palace (located on Earth/Terra) covers the majority of ''Europe''. As par for the course for 40K[[/labelnote]] , and it requires thousands of psykers a ''day'' to be sacrificed to power it. Plus, the Emperor was so horrifically injured when placed in the machine that he is almost entirely incapable of any kind of functioning. The only reason that he is kept away from death is that he is necessary for intragalactic travel and communication.
** A mix between this and [[PeopleJars People Jars]] presents itself with the larger Imperial Titans - "smaller" Titans such as Warhounds have their pilots (called Princeps) plugged in via sockets and wires and are free to walk around when out of battle, but the largest models (Warlords and Emperor-class) require their Princeps to be housed in gigantic jars filled with life-sustaining fluids and links to the Titan's systems. It's noted that many of these tanks have a pinkish hue [[{{Squick}} due to blood and other bodily fluids seeping into the liquid.]]
** For orks, the process is treated with the usual humorous relish- When a Gretchin is wired into a killa kan, its first act is often to seek revenge on some of the orks who pushed it around when it was weak flesh, much to the paternal-like pride of the mekboy who stuffed him in there. Being Gretchins though, a killa kan will flee from a fight despite the punishing firepower the mek has. If an Ork is placed in a Deff Dread (a "Death Dreadnought", so to speak) is less likely to run than a Killa Kan but much more likely to use his power to boss everyone else, including the Mekboy who put them there.

** [[spoiler:Roboute Guilliman as of the Gathering Storm]] wears the Armor of Fate. The Armor of Fate is a specialized suit of PoweredArmor that also doubles as a life support system. He needs to wear it because [[spoiler:the venom from Fulgrim's blade is still in his body.]] It's basically a more elegant version of a Dreadnought.

* The fourth boss of Zeebarf's flash game ''VideoGame/{{Disorderly}}'' is a guy in an iron lung which transforms into an armored exosuit.
* Big Daddies from ''VideoGame/BioShock'' are spliced up humans whose internal organs have been removed and grafted directly into huge mechanized diving suits outfitted with [[ThisIsADrill one of]] [[NailEm several]] [[TheTurretMaster weapon]] [[EnergyWeapon loadouts]]. The FlawedPrototype Alpha Series Big Daddies are not grafted, and can take their suits off, but in order to be big enough to fill them they have to be spliced up so heavily that [[BodyHorror it's probably better for everyone if they kept them on]].
** ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' has the Handymen, made by Bettermen's Autobodies as a means to help the disabled, sickly, or severely injured citizens of Columbia to be better than new. However they are forced into hulking metal bodies that don't work very well, cause them constant pain, and prevents them from sleeping due to the constant noise. This has left them irritable at best and they fly into violent rages that makes them lash out at anyone nearby. [[spoiler:In the dimension where the Vox Populi are banded by Dewitt's death, it appears that that Comstock (or the Comstock you have been chasing) forced perfectly healthy people into Handymen to bulk up his forces... and made them fall right into the Vox's hands]].
* In the classic steampunk top-down shooter ''VideoGame/TheChaosEngine'', the eponymous machine features its creator, Baron Fortesque, as an unwilling component.

** Not quite a human example, but [[BlackKnight Frank Horrigan]] in ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' is permanently welded/grafted into his [[DarkLordOnLifeSupport life-supporting]] [[PoweredArmor Power Armor]]. The Power Armor was made specifically for him as his hulking bulk made him far bigger than any Super Mutant before and to increase his already massive durability.

* ''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.
* In the adventure game ''VideoGame/LighthouseTheDarkBeing'', Lyril, a young girl acting as Sacred Ward of the Temple of Ancient Machines, is hooked up to a rail-mounted chair and can't leave the temple, especially with her legs amputated. All she can do is give you information about her world, though even ''that's'' a challenge, considering her chair's life support is on the fritz when you find her, [[ElectronicSpeechImpediment hindering her speech]].
* ''Franchise/MassEffect''

** 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 ''organic'' transplants that don't perfectly match their antibody profiles and are thus rejected by their immune systems. That's why transplants from close relatives are usually preferred -- there are fewer immunologic differences. In case of 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]]

* In ''VideoGame/RType'', this is how a WetwareCPU was made. The R-9C War-Head is piloted by a biological computer made of amputated pilots linked onto the spacecrafts, the pilots are contained within a capsule known as Angel Pac. The R-9/0 Ragnarok is also speculated to have used a ''[[PoweredByAForsakenChild 23 year old girl stuck in a biologically 14 year old body]]'' as its biological computer, in which the military denied the speculation.

* Protoss Dragoons in ''VideoGame/StarCraftI'' are warriors too grievously wounded to continue serving as foot soldiers, and are transferred into massive robotic bodies that serve as fire support.
** This worked so well apparently, that in [[VideoGame/StarCraftII the sequel]] they are succeeded by Immortals and Stalkers, for high and dark templars, respectively.
** Also from ''Franchise/StarCraft'' are the [[SpaceMarines Marines]]. They are mostly resocialized convicts, some of whom are permanently bolted into their powered armor.

* The ''WebAnimation/Shed17'' and ''Project G-1'' duology has a rather grim take on this. Biofusion is a method of grafting humans and large vehicles together (it only works on machines above the size of automobiles, for some reason), and was utilized as a method to give the terminally ill a new lease on life as vehicles, usually train engines. However, it was only done properly once: a boy named Thomas Gotze, son of the man who invented the technique, who transformed him into [[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends Thomas the Tank Engine]] after an accident. With everyone else, the technique was performed shoddily, resulting in intense pain or death whenever their motor was fired (Gordon and Mavis were roasted to death on their first startup, and Harold the Helicopter ripped his organs out spinning up), if not outright killing them (in the case of Percy). [[spoiler: It was also used as a method of execution by Sir Toppam Hat for whistleblowers, grafting them into railway trucks, and leaving them to get infected and rot to death]]. After the procedure was banned everywhere else, China used it as a punishment detail for political prisoners, and it's heavily implied that it's still used in Italy, if secretly. Biofused individuals who stayed in one place sometimes [[MeatMoss ended up growing into their environment,]] as happened to Smudger.

* White Knight from ''WesternAnimation/GeneratorRex'' plays with this. Technically, he does not need his containment suit nor his HumongousMecha, he instead utilizes them to completely seal off himself from the rest of the world, and thus the Nanites which infect all living things. Besides of course himself. This has made him become quite paranoid, due to the random creation of Evos from Nanite-infected life being the main issue in his universe (and main plot to the show). The possibility of a normal, mundane businessman turning, at any moment, into a giant, rampaging cancer-cyclops has lead him to believe that he can only trust himself, because he is the last "clean" being alive.

* [[spoiler:Silas]] of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'' eventually becomes heavily injured and permanently placed in a giant robotic body. He seems thrilled with his new life. Nobody else seems to like it. Maybe if the machine in question weren't the corpse of a MechanicalLifeform, things would be different.

* [[UnwillingRoboticisation Forcefully-made cyborgs]] come in many flavors in the ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' games, but special mention goes to the Cyborg Midwifes in ''VideoGame/SystemShock2''. These were originally female crewmembers on the ''UNN Von Braun'', grafted into thin robotic shells that could allow these crewmembers to take care of the Many's eggs while remaining immune to their toxins. On top of that, their implants include a CPU that cuts off signals from the brain, so that these Midwifes can't do anything other than their nurturing tasks.

* [[spoiler:Mr. House]] from ''Videogame/FalloutNewVegas''. For the first half of the game, the player is left wondering how someone from the pre-War days could still be alive. When the player eventually meets him, they have the option to break into his security vault and find a massive life-support machine. Furthermore, in one of the endings, it is hinted [[spoiler:that if the player sides with Mr. House, s/he can also receive this life-support treatment and be effectively immortal, if they desire it]].
** An AndIMustScream variant occurs with the Y-17 Trauma Harnesses in the same game: [[PoweredArmor Power Armor]] designed to transport injured occupants to a medical facility was poorly-programmed, and with injury thresholds set too low and no home base specified, they wandered, with their lightly-injured occupants dying slow deaths trapped within them.
** Similarly, Dr. Stanislaus Braun in ''VideoGame/Fallout3'', the overseer of Vault 112 and the Tranquility Lane simulation, is a withered old man that has spent the last two hundred years in a combination VR / life support pod, amusing himself by tormenting the similarly-confined Vault residents.
** Not quite a human example, but [[BlackKnight Frank]] [[BigBad Horrigan]] in ''VideoGame/Fallout2'' is permanently welded/grafted into his [[DarkLordOnLifeSupport life-supporting]] [[PoweredArmor Power Armor]]. The Power Armor was made specifically for him as his hulking bulk made him far bigger than any Super Mutant before and to increase his already massive durability.

* 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 ''organic'' transplants that don't perfectly match their antibody profiles and are thus rejected by their immune systems. That's why transplants from close relatives are usually preferred -- there are fewer immunologic differences. In case of 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]]

** In the ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearRisingRevengeance Revengeance]]'' [[AnotherSideAnotherStory DLC story]] ''Bladewolf'', there's Khamsin, who's encased in a massive war mech from the waist down.

* Stroggified Kane in ''VideoGame/{{Quake IV}}''. Also, Cyber Voss and some of the other Strogg monsters.

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

* In the adventure game ''VideoGame/LighthouseTheDarkBeing'', Lyril, a young girl acting as Sacred Ward of the Temple of Ancient Machines, is hooked up to a rail-mounted chair and can't leave the temple, especially with her legs amputated. All she can do is give you information about her world, though even ''that's'' a challenge, considering her chair's life support is on the fritz when you find her, [[ElectronicSpeechImpediment hindering her speech]].

* [[UnwillingRoboticisation Forcefully-made cyborgs]] come in many flavors in the ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' games, but special mention goes to the Cyborg Midwifes in ''System Shock 2''. These were originally female crewmembers on the ''UNN Von Braun'', grafted into thin robotic shells that could allow these crewmembers to take care of the Many's eggs while remaining immune to their toxins. On top of that, their implants include a CPU that cuts off signals from the brain, so that these Midwifes can't do anything other than their nurturing tasks.

Subtrope of {{Cyborg}}.

* The old man and his robotic bed-turned humongous mecha from ''Anime/RoujinZ'' is a good example of this.
* In ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'', the third episode featured an advanced battle tank which [[spoiler:the terminally ill designer convinced his friend to implant his brain into]].
** One of the [[CuteMachines Tachikomas]] ''pretended'' to be a war veteran in this situation when dealing with a policeman.
*** We see a person who actually had one--called a Jameson-type body--in his case it's basically a cubic brain-case with stubby legs. Unlike the above, this guy was perfectly healthy in his human body; he just ''really'' wanted to be a machine. He said his wife was really angry with him after he did that.
* One episode of ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' had the crew tracking down a cult leader who was encouraging his followers to commit suicide. Eventually, what they discovered was, [[spoiler:the cult leader they were searching for was merely a false identity. The true mastermind behind this was a teenaged hacker who was turned into a vegetable and used his life-support machines to contact the outside world.]]

* In ''Literature/TheMoonMazeGame'', one of the players is a champion gamer crippled by an illness. To allow her to play in the steampunk-themed adventure, she's equipped with a robotic life-support capsule which, in-story, was supposedly crafted by Captain Nemo.

** Darth Vader. His suit is a comprehensive life-support system, and most of his limbs are cybernetic as well. When [[spoiler:he is unmasked in the final movie, he dies within minutes, though he may have died anyway due to injuries sustained when killing the Emperor.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* The three heroes of ''[[Comicbook/ManTech ManTech.]]'' [=AquaTech=] is the one who feels this way.

* The three heroes of ''[[Comicbook/ManTech ManTech.]]'' [=SolarTech=] is the one who feels this way.

*** And then of course there is the Emperor. Unfortunately, he can't move about because his life support machine is so massive and complex that it is the size of a small country [[labelnote: note]]If you wonder about the size of that thing, keep in mind that the Imperial Palace (located on Earth/Terra) covers the majority of ''Europe''. As par for the course for 40K[[/labelnote]] , and it requires thousands of psykers a ''day'' to be sacrificed to power it. Plus, the Emperor was so horrifically injured when placed in the machine that he is almost entirely incapable of any kind of functioning. The only reason that he is kept alive (or rather, on the very brink of death) is that he is necessary for intragalactic travel and communication.

A type of ClingyCostume. Strongly related to MobileSuitHuman and WeCanRebuildHim. Compare WetWareCPU and DarkLordOnLifeSupport. Contrast to PeopleJars, which are typically stationary installations that involve the subject being unconscious, unwillingly restrained, or otherwise unable to express autonomy, and MeatSackRobot, a machine given organic parts to pass for human.

* [[spoiler: Amusement park architect Bertrum Piedmont]]'s fate in ''VideoGame/BendyAndTheInkMachine.'' In his case, the machine that he's implanted in is [[spoiler: one of his own Bendy Land rides]].
* [[UnwillingRoboticization Forcefully-made cyborgs]] come in many flavors in the ''VideoGame/SystemShock'' games, but special mention goes to the Cyborg Midwifes in ''System Shock 2''. These were originally female crewmembers on the ''UNN Von Braun'', grafted into thin robotic shells that could allow these crewmembers to take care of the Many's eggs while remaining immune to their toxins. On top of that, their implants include a CPU that cuts off signals from the brain, so that these Midwifes can't do anything other than their nurturing tasks.

** ''VideoGame/BioShockInfinite'' has the Handymen, made by Bettermen's Autobodies as a means to help the disabled, sickly, or severely injured citizens of Columbia to be better than new. However they are forced into hulking metal bodies that don't work very well, cause them constant pain, and prevents them from sleeping due to the constant noise. This has left them irritable at best and they fly into violent rages that makes them lash out at anyone nearby. [[spoiler:In the dimension where the Vox Populi are banded by Dewitt's death, it appears that that Comstock (or the Comstock you have been chasing) forced perfectly healthy people into Handymen to bulk up his forces... and made them fall right into the Vox's hands.]]

** Before the final boss fight, the party encounters [[spoiler:brainwashed Arete, who got integrated into the Eternity's machine, and are forced to fight her. After she dies, her posthumous prerecorded message reveals that her integration allowed her to implant the ComputerVirus into the Eternity's systems, weakening it enough to allow the team to finish it off.]]
* Alcatraz from ''VideoGame/{{Crysis}} 2''. Later on, it is revealed that [[spoiler:all wearers of the N2 nanosuit eventually become this.]] Toward the end of the game, [[spoiler:Jacob Hargeave]] is revealed to also be one.
* [[spoiler:The golems]] from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', who [[spoiler:were dwarves who were transformed into 10-foot-tall rock creatures, a process that involved having molten rock poured over them and their free will removed. Some volunteered; some didn't.]]
* [[spoiler:Mr. House]] from ''Videogame/FalloutNewVegas''. For the first half of the game, the player is left wondering how someone from the pre-War days could still be alive. When the player eventually meets him, they have the option to break into his security vault and find a massive life-support machine. Furthermore, in one of the endings, it is hinted [[spoiler:that if the player sides with Mr. House, s/he can also receive this life-support treatment and be effectively immortal, if they desire it.]]
** An AndIMustScream variant occurs with the Y-17 Trauma Harnesses in the same game: PowerArmor designed to transport injured occupants to a medical facility was poorly-programmed, and with injury thresholds set too low and no home base specified, they wandered, with their lightly-injured occupants dying slow deaths trapped within them.
** Similarly, Dr. Stanislaus Braun in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', the overseer of Vault 112 and the Tranquility Lane simulation, is a withered old man that has spent the last two hundred years in a combination VR / life support pod, amusing himself by tormenting the similarly-confined Vault residents.
** Not quite a human example, but [[BlackKnight Frank]] [[BigBad Horrigan]] in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' is permanently welded/grafted into his [[DarkLordOnLifeSupport life-supporting]] PowerArmor. The Power Armor was made specifically for him as his hulking bulk made him far bigger than any Super Mutant before and to increase his already massive durability.
** Proctor Ingram from ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 4}}'' was bound to her PowerArmor frame after a hundred-foot fall that required the amputation of her legs.
* In VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}, Karan S'jet connected herself to the Mothership through a set of wires and cables within the ship's hyperspace core, effectively becoming one with it. The Bentusi are an entire race of them. They refer to their kind as "Unbound", as they've become one with their ships.

* 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 ''organic'' transplants that don't perfectly match their antibody profiles and are thus rejected by their immune systems. That's why transplants from close relatives are usually preferred -- there are fewer immunologic differences. In case of 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]]

* In ''{{VideoGame/Outlast}}'', one of the main antagonists is Billy, an inmate who is being used to control the mysterious "Walrider". Beneath Mount Massive, an entire complex is devoted to keeping him alive and sentient.
-->''This is Billy Hope's lungs. His liver. His life support. A machine the size of a football stadium to keep one lunatic alive.''

* Protoss Dragoons in ''Videogame/{{Starcraft}}'' are warriors too grievously wounded to continue serving as foot soldiers, and are transferred into massive robotic bodies that serve as fire support.
** This worked so well apparently, that in the sequel they are succeeded by Immortals and Stalkers, for high and dark templars, respectively.
** Also from [=StarCraft=] are the [[SpaceMarines Marines]]. They are mostly resocialized convicts, some of whom are permanently bolted into their powered armor.
* The Templars, one of the most hated enemies from ''{{VideoGame/Strife}}.'' They are members of The Order whose bodies have decayed so much that they can't live without being hooked to the life support in their {{powered armor}}s.

** The Cybermen in are humans who have been installed into mechanical exoskeletons, their minds altered to make them suitable to working with a cybernetic HiveMind. The show varies on how much of the original human body is used: in some cases there's an entire living person inside the exoskeleton; in others, just the brain is used.

* The ''WebAnimation/Shed17'' and ''Project G-1'' duology has a rather grim take on this. Biofusion is a method of grafting humans and large vehicles together (it only works on machines above the size of automobiles, for some reason), and was utilized as a method to give the terminally ill a new lease on life as vehicles, usually train engines. However, it was only done properly once: a boy named Thomas Gotze, son of the man who invented the technique, who transformed him into Series/ThomasTheTankEngine after an accident. With everyone else, the technique was performed shoddily, resulting in intense pain or death whenever their motor was fired (Gordon and Mavis were roasted to death on their first startup, and Harold the Helicopter ripped his organs out spinning up), if not outright killing them (in the case of Percy). [[spoiler: It was also used as a method of execution by Sir Toppam Hat for whistleblowers, grafting them into railway trucks, and leaving them to get infected and rot to death]]. After the procedure was banned everywhere else, China used it as a punishment detail for political prisoners, and it's heavily implied that it's still used in Italy, if secretly. Biofused individuals who stayed in one place sometimes [[MeatMoss ended up growing into their environment,]] as happened to Smudger.

** Similarly, Dr. Stanislaus Braun in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', the overseer of Vault 112 and the Tranquility Lane simulation, is a withered old man that has spent the last two hundred years in a combination VR / life support pod, amusing himself by tormented the similarly-confined Vault residents.

* Karen S'Jet of VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}.

* In ''VideoGame/CosmicStarHeroine'', when a Nuluupian dies, their soul gets transferred to a humanoid frame that allows them to continue their existence as a {{literal|Metaphor}} ghost in the machine.

* Big Daddies from ''VideoGame/BioShock'' are spliced up humans whose internal organs have been removed and grafted directly into huge mechanized diving suits outfitted with [[ThisIsADrill one of]] [[NailEm several]] [[TheTurretMaster weapon]] [[FrickinLaserBeams loadouts]]. The FlawedPrototype Alpha Series Big Daddies are not grafted, and can take their suits off, but in order to be big enough to fill them they have to be spliced up so heavily that [[BodyHorror it's probably better for everyone if they kept them on]].