After reading Spin's review I thought I would see the mindset of our board regarding Lifeline. I remember watching the cartoon where he wouldn't even touch a gun and was rather confused since after reading his file card it never mentioned him being a pacifist, plus the fact the first figure had his pistol. Going back and looking now Doc is listed on his filecard as being a pacifist so to me that made him something different and having it repeated with the next medic seems too much a coincidence to me. The filecard talks about someone willing to wade in and get Joes out if they can't get out themselves really makes me think of Lifeline as the guy willing to engage in combat to save lives. What do you guys think?

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I play him as a pacifist. Never touches a gun, and even tries to talk people out of using theirs.

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Can't be a member of the US armed forces if a person refuses to ever touch a gun. Even the Army medics go through marksmanship training. He might carry a sidearm out in the field but he'd prefer not to ever use it unless conditions were so extreme he had no choice somehow, maybe to disarm an enemy, maybe. I CAN see him refusing to ever take a life though, he would never shoot to kill. But no I can't see him being a total pacifist especially not his cartoon persona.

I always figured the cartoon made Lifeline a pacifist because they never did so with Doc. Thus they transplanted the character trait to Lifeline, personally I kept it with Doc and made Lifeline a non pacifist.

I always thought that was an inconvenient, boring feature of the character.

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Yes, if only because what other characterization was there? Both the cartoon and comics used it. His filecard makes no mention of it, but then it doesn't give us much otherwise to define him beyond skills.

I suppose new media could give him a different personality, but then why not just make a new medic character?

In my review I brought up the pacifist thing mostly to rib Hasbro a bit.

I actually tend to agree that Lifeline would use a gun if there were absolutely no other way, which is why the sidearm makes sense. An assault rifle, though? Not so much.

I do remember, though, the Special Missions comic where Lifeline used Hapkido to disarm and disable an assailant. Kind of made him seem bad-arse.

Exactly! No idea how the cartoon made such a glaring error, since the figure had a pistol molded onto his leg! And since I read the filecards as a kid, I knew Doc was the pacifist, not Lifeline. I've met and worked with plenty of PJ's before, they're not shy about using a weapon.

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Since they made him look like Agent Smith on the card art, it's easier for me to think he'd use a gun if necessary. I've always thought more of Doc being the one that absolutely wouldn't use a gun.

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I never used him as a pacifist and honestly thought it was pretty dumb in the Cartoon. I really couldn't see how someone who wouldn't touch a gun could get into the military LET ALONE one of the Elite Special Forces Teams.

I would categorize Lifeline as someone who didn't like firearms, but maintained his proficiency with them so that he could use them to protect life - not only his own, but the lives of his wounded comrades.

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If you wanted Lifeline to be a pacifist you could just say the pistol is a modified Tranquilizer gun which is what I did a few times... Or he just shoots to disable... ie shoots the hand or weapon.. Yea Lifeline used Hapkido to NOT fight Horror Show.. Cause it was a fight to the death and the winner and his team would go free. GI Joe Issue 11 Doc did use a gun but just to suppress the Cobra's and give the other Joes a chance to eat.. That was my first GI Joe comic... lol.

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You know its funny how they transplant traits, I think the fact that they created Med Alert and made him a thai chi instructor had to do with LL in the special missions

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As a chaplain in the USAF, I beg to differ. I am explicitly NOT to touch weaponry in any situation. However, your point about medical personnel stands. They can defend themselves and their patients, though if captured are to provide medical attention to anyone wounded, including enemy combatants.

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Like others have said, Doc's filecard mentions pacifist, Lifeline's doesn't. I know in issue 10 or 11 of the Marvel run, Doc says something along the lines of "the Geneva convention won't let me fire a weapon, but they didn't say anything about snow balls!"

Anyway, Doc's SMOS was chaplain's assistant, which could possible bring in a religious aspect to Doc, but I'm also reaching out on a limb there.

So back to Lifeline, I like his use of Hapkido, a way to stay with the Geneva Convention stuff, but I think with the Joes the Geneva Convention has some give

So that being said, I voted he "Only uses weapons when he has to"

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Chaplains are THE exception. My apologies for the blanket statement, mu reasoning definitely doesn't apply to the military religous.