As much as i like Ratchet, I think EVAC was a better name for an Autobot medic. but still, i wish Hasbro or Takatomy (is that the same company building that John McClaine blew up in Die Hard?) would in the near future give us a decepticon medic toy. Just to toy with your heads, name him: TOETAG. And to Guarantee, GUARANTEE that he'd be a BotCon exclusive only, make his alt mode a hearse. (Ratchet did the ambulance thing to death.) kinda makes getting shoved outta Astrotrain in the movie sound pretty good knowing your saviour coulda been named TOETAG. maybe the goths here woulda bought him...
I'd worked up a design for one of those awhile back, though, I kinda like the name "Flatline" for a Decepticon medic-kinda guy. I mean, Hook can't fix everyone, right? Oh, yeah, for Flatline's personality, I figured he'd be a hell of a lot like Steve Martin's character in "Little Shop of Horrors". Sadistic Rockabilly Physician.
Well in G1 Starscream was stuck patching everyone in some eps, I guess because he was a scientist, he probably had alot of knowledge of the way the TF body worked, so he made for a good medic bot.
never followed kissplay, so didn't know about that one. flatline would instill just as much faith as toetag, i agree. hard to be the (pun alert) OPTIMIS-tic Decepticon without megatron wanting to blow your head off because it is easier to kill you than Optimus. i gotta sleep more than 2 hours a month...
That's a big reason I got the Kissplay cassette set... just 'cause I was so excited to have a Decepticon medic after twenty years! Although a medic without opposable thumbs seems a little peculiar: Injured Thundercracker: "The CAT?!? I'm having my leg re-attached by the CAT?!?" Anyhow, I would love to get a more official Decepticon medic character. If they wanted to stick with the "unmitigated evil" angle, he/she could be a mad-doctor type (you know the character, every low budget B-movie horror flick has one). It could make a good arch-rival character for Ratchet or Perceptor, too. The idea of a hearse as an alt mode is cute. Or, in the vein (ha!) of ILoveDinobot's post concerning Starscream's medical prowess, what about a specialized Medical Seeker? Could be kinda neat.
It was Nakatomi plaza, btw. A deceptecon sawbones would be pretty neat. A Mad Doc, with lots of buzzsaws, syringe looking things, and maybe even an oil/energon spattered smock deco. Bwaha! A little sadistic, but it'd be a neat twist.
Dentist. I can definitely see the appeal of a Decepticon sawbones. But here's a thought... since there doesn't appear to be one planned for the foreseeable future, if you really want one, why not create your own? It doesn't even need to be a convoluted kitbash; if there's a suitable-looking fig that you don't particular like the character of, delete them from existence and turn the toy into someone else! I do that all the time. How many of us took our Energon Downshifts and just called them Wheeljack? My Cybertron Evac got a few new paint apps and became an upgraded version of the Micromaster Blaze Master. Cybertron Wing Sabre just got renamed Apex (as in Apex Bomber). It's great that Hasbro attaches all these characters to the toys, but there's not a rule in the world that says you have to stick to 'em. Just apply a bit of imagination. How about re-designating Cyb. Cannonball..?
True, but I think the point was (among other things) that he's the only medic the Decepticons have ever had, and therefore he's had to deal with everything. And story-wise he hasn't really been highly credited for his skills, either. But the Autobots have had several docs to share the load, including Ratchet, First Aid, Fixit, and in later series Red Alert.
Instead of making the character stereotypical, why not opt to create something a bit more conflicted and interesting? Flatline was a bright young physician fresh out of one of Cybertron's finest medical schools when the Great War broke out. Eager to take part in the conflict, he approached the Autobots with his services, but had his request to serve in the medical corps declined, as the Autobots were looking for soldiers at the time. Unwilling to be a grunt, he defected to the Decepticons, who offered him a position providing medical attention on the front lines. At least he's on the battlefield, doing what he loves.
LOL! I was just about to mention that waaaaay back circa 1988, I made a Transformer RPG to play with my crew, and a friend of mine created a Decepticon medic that transformed into a Huey Defender (little egg-shapped chopper)... named Sawbones! I always thought it was a great idea. And yeah... I have a few kitbash projects based on fan characters friends and I made. Why not? He was the "Surgical Engineer"... which kind of implies that he took the very tricky jobs... but it's true... Hook was about the only thing the cons had in terms of medical aid. In fact the Cons were really short on Engineers (outside of the constructicons) and real Scientists. Starscream, Shockwave and Soundwave sometimes get cast in that light, but it's really not the primary designation for any of them. Starscream's a flight jock, Shockwave's a strategist and Soundwave's an intelligence officer... IS there a Decepticon scientist that I'm forgetting? zmog
Here's what my mentor at college told me: "There are only 3 real rules to follow to make a good story: 1. Adjectives. it isn't a truck. it was a sky blue Nissan Tundra with a bad timing belt that sounded like Nazis torturing primates under the hood. 2. Character=Personality with quirks. That guy isn't a bad guy. He's a sick puppy who snacks on sunflower seeds and somehow reads Danielle Steele for laughs. 3. Stupidity is in every story. People make mistakes, do things without thinking. Girl sees blood and sharp objects everywhere and ignores the need to run because she just HAS to know where the blood is coming from and....dies. Duh. Hasbro names the figures and gives you just a little information, just enough, maybe for you to endear yourself to it. the rest you have to come up with yourself. which i like. And Basketball Jones hits upon one thing that explains why a lot of good people go bad. They try to fit in and shine, and when rejected, they wind up as loners or worse, end up serving in the wrong crowds where they feel like they belong; or at least what they do matters to someone. With Flatline, we could relate to that. He ain't a mad scientist or some b-grade villain anymore; he's now that kid in class that was smart as hell and it creeped out everybody too much. we know that guy. and sadly, we fear him now. do ya think as a neat feature on him, his hands could be charged like Defib paddles- weapon or lifeline, don't matter to him, right?
