Combat fatigue

When Autobots reach a certain age, the will to fight in an eons-old conflict leaves them and they start to lose their fighting edge. Judged as a liability to their fellow Autobots, sufferers of combat fatigue are given a ship and sent out into the galaxy to drift through space alone.

Fiction

Marvel The Transformers comics

Combat fatigue appeared exclusively in the UK portion of the Marvel Comics continuity.

Kup was diagnosed as suffering from combat fatigue and sent away from Cybertron in a ship to spend his time drifting from planet to planet without any real purpose. When he was forced into rescuing Hot Rod and Blurr from the Tyroxians, he found that he was able to overcome his condition and subsequently rejoined the Autobot army. Kup's Story!

2005 IDW continuity

Survivors of Babu Yar, and the Gideon's Glue attack there, suffered from a specific version of combat fatigue in that they always sought cover from the sky. This is due to the fact Gideon's Glue was dropped on them and fell in the form of rain that ate through their bodies. Flattop was one notable sufferer, whose mental state was not helped when the spectre of death known as the Shimmer appeared before him. Bullets

Notes

• Combat fatigue (also called battle fatigue or shellshock) happens to be one of the old names for [[wikipedia:{{#if:|:}}posttraumatic stress disorder|{{#if:||posttraumatic stress disorder}}]]. While a complex issue, it can normally be boiled down to the sufferer being unable to function in certain situations due to a trauma in the past. For example, someone who nearly drowned may develop a great fear of deep water. For soldiers, this may result in certain patterns of behaviour, such as always sitting with their backs to a wall or (like Flattop above) preferring to stay away from the open sky.