Cyborg: Difference between revisions

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{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Dragon Ball]]'' and ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' have Dr. Gero's creations, which are all under the blanket term "androids." However, two of the main four (Nos. 17 and 18; #16 is an android, as is, apparently, #8) in Dragonball Z are cyborgs, and it is implied that many of the previous ones were cyborgs as well. It is not revealed exactly how they were modified, only that it was enough for them to forget their previous lives. (#18 is at least human enough to bear a child, as she and Krillin have a daughter in the sequel series.) Eventually, Dr. Gero transplants his brain in a robotic body, becoming a cyborg as well. This is something of a case of [[Lost in Translation]], as the original word would be closer to "[[Artificial Human]]" (thus it includes Cell who is wholly organic).<ref>In the French version of the manga they are called Cyborgs, which makes sense for #17 and #18, but it makes less sense for #16 who is explicitly artificial.</ref>
** Frieza also becomes a cyborg after being defeated by Goku on Namek. Oddly enough, in Hell he isn't allowed to keep his cyborg body while Dr. Gero is.
** Perhaps it was because he was reverted back to how he was before he suffered the massive body mutilation in his fight with Goku. Gero was revived with a new humanoid body after escaping Hell- which was altered from the human flesh once again.
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* In ''[[All Fall Down]]'', {{spoiler|Pronto}} undergoes this treatment to regain his lost powers and attack Siphon on equal footing.
* ''[[Judge Dredd]]'' has several of them, known as Mandroids. Most notable are Judge Guthrie and Nate Slaughterhouse.
 
== Fan Works ==
* This is clearly a maturing technology in [[The Teraverse]], with cyborged animals and humans frequently encountered in the various stories.
 
== Film ==
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** Whether or not cybernetics interfere with the Force [[Depending on the Writer|Depends On The Writer]], another possible explanation for it is that the loss in Force power is directly tied to the Body Horror aspect of the cybernetics. A simple hand or limb replacement that you can easily accept? Probably not too bad. Being turned into a metal-shelled, horridly scarred monstrosity? That's got to cause some mental issues, which will definitely interfere with Force use. Or it simply creates physical handicaps that even the Force can't fully overcome.
*** What ''is'' (mostly) consistent though is that Darth Vader can't use Force Lightning because it would fry the electronics in his armor.
* [[RoboCop|RoboCop's]]'s body is almost completely mechanical. The only organic parts are his brain, part of his spinal cord, and his face. Murphy's face was peeled off and placed upon a layer of synthetic support as a posthumous honor to the dead cop.
* [[Terminator]]s are termed cybernetic organisms, though they can survive without the organic parts. Cameron has said his initial concept had the Terminator would depend on its organic parts, to reflect on how society needs machines. That metaphor didn't make it into the movies. The cyborg terminology is correct in this sense: the flesh is a useful part of the whole stealthed weapon system.
** The organic parts did, though. While the first three films had Terminators that seemingly lacked any organic part aside from the skin, the fourth one had the infiltration Terminator prototype having substantial wetware including a fully organic heart and a mostly-organic brain.
* ''[[Star Trek]]'':
** ''[[Star Trek: First Contact]]'' Data, an android, has organic parts grafted on, to a [[Nightmare Fuel|rather disturbing effect]].
** The Borg, whose name is shortened from "Cyborg to Borg". Seven of Nine from ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' who, though she supposedly had most of her Borg implants removed, always had enough left to solve or create the Crisis of the Week.
** Geordi LaForge's VISOR and, later, cybernetic replacement eyes.
** Picard's artificial heart.
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* In ''[[Army of Darkness]],'' Ash builds a fully functional artificial hand out of springs and a metal gauntlet. Why? Because he's Ash.
* Long John Silver is changed from the "one legged man" of ''[[Treasure Island]]'' to a cyborg in ''[[Treasure Planet]]'', with the cybernetic equivalents of an [[Electronic Eyes|eyepatch]], [[Swiss Army Appendage|hook hand]] and [[Artificial Limbs|peg leg]].
* Thanks to being blown apart and a [[Contrived Coincidence]] or two, Jason Voorhees becomes a cyborg in ''[[Friday the 13th (film)|Friday the 13th]]''.
* Alice in ''[[Resident Evil (film)|Resident Evil]]'' appears to be this, post-''[[Resident Evil: Apocalypse|Resident Evil Apocalypse]]'', at once point in ''[[Resident Evil: Extinction|Resident Evil Extinction]]'' being remotely shut down. Nemesis also appears to be some sort of cyborg, with his POV being shown in a blue-tinted [[Robo Cam|robo-vision]].
* Literally most of the characters seen on-screen in ''[[Alita: Battle Angel]]'', the 2019 [[Live Action Adaptation]] of ''[[Gunnm]]''.
 
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* In the classic short story "[[Scanners Live in Vain]]" by [[Cordwainer Smith]], humans are unable to cope with the "[[Space Madness|Great Pain of Space]]" and rely on [[Human Popsicle|cold sleep]] ships crewed by ''habermans'' whose brain has been severed from all sensory input except the eyes, and whose body therefore has to be regulated by implanted instruments.
* [[Alastair Reynolds]]' is in love with this trope. The ''Revelation Space'' universe has the Ultranauts, which are the crews of the slower-than-light interstellar freighters, who use extreme cybernetic replacements to counter the effects of age and help with ship maintenance. Revelation Space novella ''Diamond Dogs'' has the main character being slowly, ''voluntarily'' being turned from a human into a cybernetic dog like creature with a skull full of computer bits. Unfortunately the doctor who did this took himself apart so he wouldn't have to undo his 'greatest work'. There's also a cyborg in the [[Steampunk]] area of his novel ''Terminal World'', a man whose lungs were crippled in a war; he's linked up to a furnace which powers a pump that replaces most of his chest.
* Possibly the earliest example of a full-body-replacement cyborg in modern literature is the Tin Woodsman from ''[[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz]]''—once a perfectly ordinary human being named Nick Chopper, he had progressively more parts of his body replaced with tin prosthetics as they were chopped off by a cursed axe—until essentially all that was left was a mind in a tin shell. Given that it's too primitive to have life support for his actual fleshy brain, one must assume his mind/soul has somehow been moved into the tin body.<ref>The tinsmith kept his old head in a closet, where, due to the no-death nature of Oz, it remained sentient, desiring nothing to do with the Tin Man when he returned to retrieve it.</ref>
** This is precisely what happened according to [[Philip José Farmer]]'s ''[[A Barnstormer in Oz]]'', although the Woodsman didn't wait until most of his body had been replaced first, so as to spare himself the continuing effects of the curse which caused him to accidentally chop off pieces of his own body.
** In a later book - ''The Tin Woodsman of Oz'' - he meets a soldier named Captain Fyter, another victim of the curse who was rebuilt the same way.
* In ''[[Soon I Will Be Invincible]]'', by Austin Grossman, the heroine Fatale agrees to have her legs - and right arm - replaced after an accident. The scientists have to modify most of the rest of her body in order to make those parts work. After the experiment she weighs hundreds of pounds because of all of her cybernetic parts. The corporation that funded her reconstruction promptly vanishes, leaving her to pay for the regimen of antibiotics necessary to prevent infection caused by her new parts.
* Non-humanoid example: The Rat Things in ''[[Snow Crash]]'' are basically cyborg dogs.
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* [[Anne McCaffrey]]'s Brainships in the ''[[Brainship]]'' series are cybernetics carried about as far as possible, with human brains implanted into and in complete control of entire space ships and space stations. It's implied that the human body is still there, but only as a life-support system for the brain.
* [[Street Samurai|Molly Millions]] in ''[[Neuromancer]]'' has retractable razors beneath her fingernails and can see the time by pressing her tongue against a tooth. Most impressively, though, her eyes sockets have been [[Awesome but Impractical|sealed with mirrors]] and her tear ducts rerouted to her mouth so that, when she cries, she spits.
* The ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]'' novel ''Q Squared'' featured an inversion of the usual form of this trope. An alternate universe version of Data consisted of a positronic brain in a cloned human body.
* ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'': Mad-Eye Moody could be a "magical cyborg" given that he replaced a lost eye with a magical one that gives him enhanced abilities. He also has a prosthetic leg, but this isn't described as giving him any extra abilities and is more often than not a hindrance.
* Lila Amanda Black, the protagonist in Justina Robson's ''[[Quantum Gravity]]'' series begins as a fairly standard (if fusion-powered) cyborg of the [[We Can Rebuild Him]] variety. It all eventually gets subverted and the experimental prototype first-of-your-kind thing gets pulled to tiny little bits.
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* ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]''. Extensively modified cyborgs, especially Necrons and servitors, seem to be a substitute for undead in 40K. Though one can be mixed with the other - some hereteks have devices raising nearby bodies as zombies (known, but proscribed) as implants.
** Cybernetic prosthetics and improvements are widely available in the Imperium, except low-tech worlds. Even a lowly adept may turn out to have data-port on the neck and scribe-tines instead of a hand, a run-of-the-mill pilot may control the shuttle via standard vehicle interface, and so on. Every series of ''WH40k'' RPG from ''[[Dark Heresy]]'' on introduced more possible implants.
** Servitors - sometimes criminals and heretics who have their personality and higher reasoning wiped and turned into cybernetic slaves, and often bodies vat-grown for this specific purpose, without any higher brain functions that would just be removed as soon as they're done growing. The applications range from servo skulls (which already cover most single functions that can be done in a small weak package, be it a flying lamp, semi-autonomous first aid station or light gun drone) to gladiator-warriors and walking heavy weapon platforms. After the [[Robot War]] ended Humanity's golden age tens of thousands years in the past, there's taboo on A.I. (which stands for "Abominable Intelligence") - the Imperium, including Mechanicum, considers full AI heresy of the highest order, and requires all robotic lackeys of sophistication beyond that of an automatic defence turret or so to be [[Wetware CPU|based on a human or beast brain]]. Of course, lobotomised things are not good at ''complex'' tasks... which is why some cyber-constructs can also be [[Assuming Direct Control|remotely controlled]] to much greater extent than giving them the same voice commands via integrated vox receiver - and yes, this involves implanted cybernetic interfaces.
*** [[Space Marine|Space marines]] also have some servitors, but common criminals are unworthy of serving them - they prefer space marines who sinned or trainees whose minds have broken.
** [[Super Soldier|Space Marines]] are cyborgs themselves, although not full-conversion. The Black Carapace implant that is an inalienable part of any fully qualified battle brother is a neural interface to his [[Powered Armor]], making them in effect a single organism. They also have a lot of other nifty implants, though they are generally [[Organic Technology|organic]] (created by the Emperor himself from modified samples of his own clones).
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** Eldar wraith technology is somewhat similar to the Necron example in that once-living souls are [[Soul Jar|stored]] and grafted into completely artificial bodies.
** Orks make extensive use of cybernetics. Due to their extremely tough physiology they can survive having extremely crude cybernetics added (and in one instance, replacing a large portion brain).
** The Rak'Gol are typically augmented, often extensively so, and their Techno-Shamans have implanted devices making them sort of Psykers. Those are artifacts of Yu'Vath, who were the overlords in their area of Galaxy until it transpired that they have enslaved a lot of humans and a full-blown Imperial crusade ran them over. So just in case being a thick skinned lizard-spider monstrosity with Ork grade toughness (but better aim), using heavy machinegun as a personal weapon and being capable of running on the wall or ceiling with all equipment was not enough, they have [[Implanted Armor]] and other goodies.
* The denizens of Phyrexia in ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]''. Upon birth, they are immediately gutted with most of their body parts replaced with mechanical ones. Even the robots they build themselves are borderline cybernetic. Someone dissecting one of their artifact creatures pointed out: "its as though someone started out with a living thing, and then replaced bits piecemeal until there was nothing of the original left."
** Similarly, the denizens of the Esper shard of the Alara plane use a [[Unobtainium|metallic substance with numerous useful properties called etherium]] in making themselves human/mechanical hybrids.
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** Oddly, the cybernetic enhancements are stated to be tailor-made to an individual's biochemistry, preventing both interchangeable prosthetics and cybernetic enhancement to the genetically altered Medeans. [[Technology Marches On|Hmm.]]
* The ''[[d20 Modern]]'' supplement ''d20 Future'' has some coverage of this topic and ''Cyberscape'' expands on it.
* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]''; the Xixchil are a race of mantis-people related to the thri-kreen whose "hat" is body-modifying surgery. As a result, many Xixchil and many of their patients have mechanical limbs and/or organs. Often more than necessary, as they ''really'' love their jobs...
 
== Video Games ==
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* Present in ''[[Orion's Arm]]'', and very diverse, ranging all over the scale of biology-vs-technology.
* There are plenty of them in the ''[[Whateley Universe]]''. At the Whateley Academy there's [[Mary Sue|She-Bot]]. One of the Powers Lab teachers has a couple robotic limbs, probably from when he used to be a superhero (although that's just guessed by one of the protagonists). And the dreaded supervillain Deathlist is all robot except for his brain and his face.
* The protagonist of ''[[Robo GirlRoboGirl]]''.
* Cybernetics is a growing industry in ''[[Nexus Gate]]''.
* ''[[Quirky Misadventures of Soldine the Cyborg]]''
** The titular protagonist.
** His [[Evil Knockoff]], [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|Robosol]].
* Most members of the Church of the Broken God, from the ''[[SCP Foundation]]'', and they show a lot of variety in cybernetics, including [[Clock Punk]] themes, [[Steampunk]], and far more modern. They believe their god sundered himself to imprison the evil god Yaldaboath (now the god worshipped by their enemies, the [[Blood Magic]]-using the Sarkites, and are trying to find and reassemble his parts. Should they succeed, they believe he will transform humanity into a race of living machines, which they believe is perfection.
 
== Western Animation ==
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* The Platyborg from ''[[Phineas and Ferb]] [[Phineas And Ferb The Movie Across The Second Dimension|The Movie]]''. An evil, brainwashed cyborg Perry from another dimension.
* In ''[[Rick and Morty]]'', this is sometimes the case with Rick. And the "sometimes" part id ''not'' a case of [[Depending on the Writer]]. His current body is not the original one, and he has often avoided death by using technology to clone himself or steal the body of an alternate Rick. Thus, in " "The Whirly Dirly Conspiracy" he clearly has a few cybernetic enhancements, and this would explain his unnatural strength in "The Rickshank Redemption", but in "The ABCs of Beth", he seems fully human again.
** In Season 5 he clearly has more cybernetic enhancements; in the season finale, he even claims "I'm basically [[Inspector Gadget]]."
* Professor Honeycutt (aka the Fugitoid) from most versions of ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' is a brilliant scientist who, via some accident, had his mind transferred to the body of his robot assistant.
* [https://knd.fandom.com/wiki/Bradley Bradley the Skunk] in ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]''; in his second appearance ("Operation: H.O.S.P.I.T.A.L.") he was run over by a car, and then healed via cybernetic implants, turning him into R.O.B.O.B.R.A.D.L.E.Y.! [[Fun with Acronyms|(Robotic Operative's Ballistic Odor Blasting Rocket Armed Derriere Launches Extreme Yuckiness.)]]
 
== Real Life ==