Quote from: Prez on May 12, 2020, 02:06:32 PMSo what actually happens to Traeger? I know Munn calls his name out and he turns along with his shoulder canon but ... it happens so fast that I'm still unsure why or what...
In the film it looks as though he shoots himself purely because Brackett calls his name and he turns to look at her and fires into the back of his own head like a dipshit.
The novel offers a slightly better explanation - his trouser [pants] leg is set on fire during the shootout that sets the Upgrade ablaze, and Brackett calls out to him to warn him (the implication being that in the chaos of the firefight and with the adrenaline pumping, Traeger hasn't noticed right away). The shock of realising he's on fire releases a surge of whatever hormones into his bloodstream, and this
unintentionally triggers the plasmacaster and kills him, the weapon apparently having a degree of telepathic control built into it (not the first time that's been suggested) that he obviously hasn't mastered. It's still kinda silly, but it does make a hell of a lot more sense.
If you look
very closely in the film, you can see Traeger's leg catching fire right before he kills himself, but it's cut so fast it's almost impossible to notice. I didn't pick up on it at all until
after I read the novel and was specifically looking out for it, and even then I barely clocked it.
