Life Extender Machine
| “ | And then what did you think what my rat-stinking twin brother did, He built one too, thats what!
— Blutarch Mann
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” |
A Life Extender Machine, or Life Extension Machine (LEM), is a device that, when connected to someone, can extend their life indefinitely. It was first introduced in the comic Loose Canon, where two such devices of similar design were introduced that subsequently kept the two rivals Blutarch and Redmond Mann alive until their murders seven decades later. These two Life Extender Machines as well as a number of later models are fixtures of the Team Fortress 2 Storyline. These devices provide a means for the brothers' conflict to span well over a century. Additionally, these Life Extender Machines depend on access to the contentious metal Australium; not only for the intelligence enhancement needed to invent the machines, but to power them as well.
Development
The original two Life Extender Machines were completed in 1894 by Radigan Conagher, the current BLU Engineer's grandfather, after being exposed to intelligence-enhancing Australium. The first machine was built for Blutarch Mann at his request, while the second was built for Redmond Mann at the request of the Administrator to ensure the endless war never stops. Radigan Conagher's notes indicate he also built a third Life Extender Machine though the exact owner isn't revealed here, but in The Days Have Worn Away Gray Mann is shown to have one. In about 1960, the BLU Engineer was summoned by his employer Blutarch, who explained that the machine was broken and didn't work correctly. Blutarch provided Engineer with his grandfather's blueprints to repair the machine, but claimed ownership of any other technology found in Conagher's notes.
Additional improved models
Subsequently, Blutarch, Redmond, and other characters have been shown using various newer, smaller, portable, and advanced Life Extender Machines.
While each of the 1894 models was a large device with many dials, lights and mechanical components, later Life Extender Machines of diminishing size and increasingly advanced designs have been portrayed or implied:
- The actual recipient, design, size, or year of construction of Radigan Conagher's third machine has not been explicitly revealed.
- Around the time of the Administrator's attempted suicide, Gray Mann is shown to have a small life-extending machine up his sleeve. Who exactly created this one is unknown, but it is shown to revive the Administrator after the attempted suicide.
- At the time of their murders, two mobile Life Extender Machines were seen with Redmond and Blutarch Mann, attached by pumps to wheelchairs and moderated by multiple engineers, obviously different from those originally built in 1894 or even the one recently disclosed to Dell Conagher; the red one is revealed to resemble a heavily modified, small 1950s farm tractor with only small portions of the blue one being seen that suggest that it is roughly similar in size and design to the other.
- While committing those murders, a much more advanced life extender machine is shown embedded in the spine of Gray Mann. This is the first model visibly shown to run on Australium.
- The two models Dell Conagher calls Mark Four and Mark Five are small enough to fit under on a slender forearm.
- In The Days Have Worn Away, a third Life Extender Machine is shown to have kept Zepheniah Mann alive ever since Gray Mann met. Who exactly created this one is unknown, but the Engineer, his father, and his grandfather have never entered the room where it houses Zepheniah Mann.
Gallery
Redmond Mann and his Life Extender Machine, found in Mann Manor.
Blutarch Mann, his assistant, and his Life Extender Machine.
Redmond Mann's mobile Life Extender Machine.
A highly advanced Life Extender Machine on Gray Mann's spine.
The Life Extender Machine in Gray Mann's sleeve.
The Mk IV Life Extender Machine.
The Mk V Life Extender Machine.
The Life Extender Machine used to keep Zepheniah Mann alive.
Trivia
- The date of each machine's completion is recorded on the blueprints; Blutarch Mann's Life-Extender Machine was built on July 17th 1894, and Redmond's machine was created on August 3rd of the same year. The date on the blueprint for Gray Mann is April 14th of an unknown year.
