Pumpkin Scissors/Headscratchers

• Just how old is Randel, anyway?
  • I'd guess about late 20s, early 30s.
  • I'd give him mid-thirties. Considering how much he's presumably had to go through, training-wise and experiment-wise, to become an ATT, and then be deployed in the lengthy war, and then wander around during Reparation for a while before meeting Alice, he's probably at least in his thirties.
  • Well considering the things they probably pumped inside him, (And I'm not saying it that way) it is possible that he is younger than he looks. Also, if you try to imagine him without the scars, he isn't that old. I'd give him mid-20s.
    • On the other end of the scale: With everything they pumped him up with, he could also be *older* thank he looks because the physical enhancements reset the cell-death timer.
  • Come to think of it, how old are Oreldo, Stecchin, and Machs? Stecchin looks like she should still be a freshman in high school or something. Which leads to another question...
• Is Stecchin possibly Hunk's granddaughter?
• The flamethrower. Just the design alone bugs me. Who on earth designs a weapon system like that? It makes no practical sense to construct a weapon that burns the soldier along with the enemy! And yes, I am taking into account Cut Lex Luthor a Check here. I just don't get their reasoning behind a ridiculous weapon.
  • I always took it as the designers not having the technology available to design a flamethrower that didn't burn the wielder. Remember, the idea of self-loading ammunition is brand new. Also, the R&D woman pretty much said that they couldn't find a way to keep the wielders from getting burned, which was why the design was scrapped--it was too horrible for allies and enemies alike.
  • Unlike real-world flamethrowers, these appear to literally spread burning fuel inches from the end of the wand. Radiated heat's a bitch.
• So is the series over now, or are they planning more?
  • Well, with Studio Gonzo now pretty much dead in the water, I'd say it's pretty unlikely, although I guess there might be a slim possibility of AIC putting together a second season like what they're doing with Strike Witches. Although they obviously set it up for a second season, my guess is that there's probably nothing in the works, at least now.
    • And the next manga chapter? Or did that die too?
      • The Manga is still going on; it just hasn't been translated into English yet.
• Why, in God's great name, did Kauplan decide to toss out that burn cream formula when it could be used to save peoples lives?
  • Because she didn't care about anyone who wasn't one of "her" supersoldiers. To her, only they are important.
    • It's been a while since I've read or watched the series, but I thought it was because there was no burn cream formula. It was some sort of anaesthetic so the soldiers didn't notice that they were slowly burning to death...or am I thinking of something completely different?
      • Actually, the burn cream formula seems to have been authentic, just finished too late to be put to any use she would consider worthwhile. The anaesthetic seems to have been a makeshift, to hold until they got the real thing developed. Having your flamethrower troops be unable to take off their suits is a serious problem, especially if they'd been a bit less eager to get out of their suits. Can you say 'Roaring Rampage of Revenge'?