Peter Spaulding

It's a little Kirk/Spock-y, except the logical one wears the toupee.

Psychologist Peter Spaulding was given a once in a lifetime opportunity when, by chance, he met the "living" robot, Machine Man. At first a fascinating case study in viewing humanity through an outsider's lens, Peter came to care deeply for Aaron Stack as a man. Now, he aids in any way he can to help fulfil Aaron's dream of living the human experience, all the while enjoying a refreshing perspective from his robotic logic.

The gooseberry in this perfect symbiosis is Machine Man's new ally, Gears Garvin, on whom Aaron increasingly relies for repairs. Peter sees the mechanic as a boorish lout, while Gears sees him as a stuffed shirt. Time will tell if the two men come to blows over what Peter sees as Aaron being treated like another one of Gears' devices to tinker with.

Fiction

Peter arranged to meet with his old friend, Byron J. Benjamin. When he and Aaron arrived at Benjamin's condo, Aaron was confused by the lack of security guards. Aaron found that they were busy attending a break-in in Benjamin's apartment, and flew up the stairwell to investigate. By the time Peter had ran upstairs to join him, Machine Man's motor control was going haywire under the effect of one of the Binary Bug's techno-breakers. The Bug tried to stun Peter as well, but Peter fought through the pain long enough to free Machine Man.

After Benjamin returned home, Peter and Aaron explained the break-in, and though the Binary Bug had escaped, he had gone empty-handed, as Aaron had prevented the theft of Benjamin's valuable bonds. Peter revealed that they were actually visiting to ask his old friend if Aaron could get a job at Benjamin's company and, despite his bemusement, Benjamin accepted. The following morning, Peter took Aaron to get a suit fitted for his first day at work. Later, he took Aaron to the movies, trying to introduce him to the idea of "All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy". Byte of the Binary Bug!

After being tricked into drinking 190 proof alcohol by Eddie Harris, Aaron was unconscious for almost nineteen hours. He awoke in Peter's apartment, where Peter compared his condition to a hangover. Aaron couldn't stop long, as he received an ultimatum from Khan on a frequency only he could hear. Machine Man departed, leaving Peter with unanswered questions. Xanadu!

After an occasion when Machine Man saved a school bus from plunging into the ocean and returned to help fix the bridge, Peter encouraged him to play up the good deed for the assembled press, readily admitting that it was a response to Senator Miles Brickman's latest round of attacks on the living robot. In particular, Peter tried to dissuade the idea that someone as powerful as Machine Man would even need a job, though TV reporter Dorothy Mayson argued that at that moment, he was taking a job from a derrick operator. As the press dispersed, Machine Man, who found the whole situation unnecessary, departed for the job he already had.

That evening, Peter phoned Aaron to warn him about a news report by Mrs Mayson in which Wall Street security guards alleged Machine Man broke into a vault. In short order, Peter was visited by the NYPD, who were out for Machine Man with a warrant for his arrest – and a warrant for Peter's arrest, for not co-operating! Peter was jailed, and Machine Man visited him at his cell's window, but the scene was snapped by Mrs Mayson, and reframed as an invasion by the Daily Bugle the next morning. A frustrated Aaron decided to give himself in to the authorities, and when another robbery by the impostor Machine Man occurred while he was behind bars, the police were convinced of his innocence, and let Peter and Aaron go free.

They regrouped at Peter's apartment, but were interrupted by Archie Goldsmith bursting through the door, chased by the fake Machine Man, who had orders to kill him. The bout took both Machine Men out through the window.

The next day, Peter was with Aaron when the fake Machine Man, Barry Witherspoon, was deprogrammed and returned to normal by Dr Broadhurst. Machine Man stood with Peter and Broadhurst, and watched as his doppelganger reunited with his loving wife and children, solemnly wondering what else anyone could want. The Man Who Could Walk Through Walls

Peter, at this point living with Aaron, found his mechanical maintenance routine a bit much in the morning – especially on a Monday. The two shared a cab downtown to their respective workplaces. Kill Me or Cure Me

After Machine Man's arm went missing in the conflict with Baron Brimstone, Baron Brimstone and his Sinister Satan Squad! Aaron regrouped at his and Peter's apartment, where Peter bickered with Gears Garvin that they needed to slow down and analyse before they made a plan of action. Aaron shut down their arguing by asserting that he was a person and he wanted his arm back. After a tense silence, Gears excused himself to work on a device to track the missing member. Peter silently reflected that their bickering hadn't helped, and encouraged Aaron to unwind with some Billy Joel or The Carson Show, but Aaron nonetheless went out to patrol for his arm.

The next morning, Peter discouraged Aaron about going in to work, but Aaron insisted he needed to mingle with ordinary people under everyday conditions, and continued to fashion one of the apartment's metallic folding chairs into a false, "sprained" arm. Arms and the Robot!

Notes

Peter Spaulding on Marvel Database, an external wiki

• Peter's surname was spelled "Spalding" in issues of Machine Man written by Jack Kirby.  It gained a "u" for the Marv Wolfman/Tom DeFalco era, the majority of which was printed in The Transformers.
• Fitting with contemporary views on mental health practitioners, Peter is referred to as a psychologist and psychiatrist pretty interchangeably. We're sticking with the former, as per his first TFUK appearance in "Byte of the Binary Bug!"