Lifeline (Transformers Generation 1)

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Name: Lifeline
Allegiance: Autobots
Function: Nurse
Timeline: Generation 1

Don’t let my smile fool you. It's part of my programming.

Profile:

Like many of her fellow Cybertronian colonists from Paradron, Lifeline is a staunch pacifist who despises violence in all its forms. Unlike many on her colony, Lifeline has first-hand experience of the Cybertronian war. Before evacuating to Paradron, Lifeline served as a field medic during the earliest skirmishes of the Cybertronian war. The sight of the dead and the wounded, their bodies twisted and broken, their faces pained, their eyes dull and lifeless, left Lifeline shellshocked and suffering with post-traumatic stress. She deserted her post and fled through the first available spacebridge, arriving on Paradron shortly before its connection to the spacebridge network was permanently served. Lifeline found peace on Paradron, where the worst she had to contend with was rust-rash and other, general illnesses. The war faded into memory, only surfacing as occasional nightmares and flashbacks in moments of stress, which were few and far between on Paradron.

Until, one day, Cybertron's war found Paradron and Lifeline.

Following the destruction of Paradron, Lifeline returned to Cybertron, where her medical skills and training saw her drafted into the Autobot Medical Corps. Returning to the place she had run away from brought back all Lifeline's long-buried pain and trauma. Treating the war-wounded and the injured once more, Lifeline is becoming increasingly detached and apathetic. She questions if life is meaningless; her struggles to escape the war were futile, and so many of those she heals return mere solar cycles later with fresh wounds. "What is the point of any of this" she asks herself. Occasionally, Lifeline looks on a wounded warrior with contempt. "They waste the gift of life", she thinks. Occasionally, Lifeline fantasises about coldly shutting down her patients., taking them offline instead of healing them. It seems only logical. So many of her patients will eventually go offline in battle, their lives a meaningless flicker in the darkness; why not simply skip straight to that final, fatal end? So far, Lifeline finds herself unable to follow through on these dark impulses, any more than she can defy the programming that gives her face her distinctive, hollow, smile.

Hovercar mode:

Author notes:

For those wondering: Lifeline was originally a background character, known for the longest time as "Paradron Medic". She's a mint green version of Arcee who was best know for nursing Cyclonus back to health in the episode Fight or Flee.

And that was it for Lifeline, until she got a name and a bio in 2016 as a part of the final round of Transformers Collectors Club figures. That bio was wonderfully screwed up, and I've used elements of it here while reconciling it with the original cartoon series. I thought an interesting twist on the bio the TCC wrote would be to have Lifeline be suffering PTSD and becoming increasingly nihilistic, to the point that sooner or later she just might snap and turn into a full-on serial killer doctor. On reflection, that is an unnecessarily dark and depressing take on the character. I might have to revisit this one day and work out something a bit more uplifting.

Toys of Transformers Generation 1 Lifeline

Transformers Earthrise Lifeline

This version of Lifeline is from the Galactic Odyssey two-pack. I only wanted a Paradron Medic for my collection; I sent the Ratchet to a good friend. She's a nice female action figure, but a poor quality Transformer. The poseability is really good, showcasing just how far Hasbro has come with the poseability on these toys in recent years, but the transformation is very lackluster, mostly involving unfolding a shell on the robot mode's back (which is removeable for a cleaner robot mode) and then tucking the robot mode inside. The car mode doesn't look great;, it's basically a block of soap! On balance the Generations mold did it better, even though this release has a nicer robot mode.

More information on Transformers Earthrise Lifeline at TFW2005

See more Transformers Earthrise toys in my collection.