Why bring flamethrowers?

cant really say about the flamethrower other than i dont think there is any organism that isnt afraid of fire.....it can also be a little homage to prometheus ya know inside joke..but thats obvious lol

I want to know why they would bring a bicycle, christmas tree, pool table!!! It seems like they are flying my first year halls of residence to the planet!:-)

Perhaps they were created ad hoc. Recall in Alien that Parker rigs up some incinerator units. It is suggested they weren't stock items on the Nostromo, much like the motion tracker Ash hacks up. Hey, they also have axes. I guess they're expecting to chop some firewood for a camp fire. Bet they even have marshmallows! :)

Legit Question, especially since even now (which would be like the Dark Ages to these future peeps) they were banned by the US Military and by international treaty (I think). However, they may be on board to serve as a way to clean or decontaminate parts of the ship. Much like the Stoner Ground Crew from the movie The 5th Element. They used the flame throwers to get rid of 'parasites' in the landing gear . . . Whatever the reason they're bada$$, so relax, sit back and enjoy the crispy goodness . . :)

I can understand making the ship feel like Home, but flamethrowers?? Methinks Weyland definately knew what they might encounter. The Homage is to Alien of course:O)

Why bring flamethrowers to a gunfight... Flamethrowers seem to be a pretty useful general destructive tool, versatile with, importantly, several potential applications. Even more importantly, if I recall correctly, these ones are some special Sci-FI, [Weyland], ones that draw their fuel from whatever combustible elements that they can detect in the immediate atmosphere, whatever that atmosphere is. It would seem, to me, to be a pretty handy thing and rational thing to have in the, "We Are A VERY Long Way From Home", Locker - along with all those axes you see in the trailers... Makes sense to me.

They may have been a suggestion from John Carpenter. :-)

"Perhaps they were created ad hoc. Recall in Alien that Parker rigs up some incinerator units. It is suggested they weren't stock items on the Nostromo, much like the motion tracker Ash hacks up." Them are some damn crafty fools . . . I would have been mid-construction . . . (noise on the left). . . ."what's that" . . . . SQUISH . . .

I think it's obviously just for effect and not very likely, considering the future setting and all....technology must be beyond axes and flame throwers by the time of Prometheus.

I think it is for effect too. I think that it will look great, a gush of flames on 3D. This is more RS the visual artist than a must have in the alien universe

Super-industrial-sized marshmellows?

Because Mac might ask for it, you never know when it comes in handy.

Well, wouldn't it suck if a gun/rifle penetrated the skin of the ship while in space? Ergo, Flamethrower instead...

@Dave_b, @anothergloriousdayinthecorps "Just for effect"? In [i]this[/i] film? LOL. And as a [i]contingency device?[/i] Technology can [i]never[/i] be "beyond", flame and an axe. Think about your feelings toward flamethrowers and an axes if you were to crash land in some remote rain forest - or distant alien planet - with most of your technology in pieces.

And graham crackers I hope, with Hershey-Weyland chocolate bars?? And maybe some of that milk running through david-8's veins!

@Dave_b What? Meaningless.

I would want a mini-gun, then I would feel safe. No Preditor link intended!

"Legit Question, especially since even now (which would be like the Dark Ages to these future peeps) they were banned by the US Military and by international treaty (I think)." Well... According to wikipedia: Flamethrowers have not been in the U.S. arsenal since 1978, when the Department of Defense unilaterally stopped using them. They have been deemed of questionable effectiveness in modern combat and the use of flame weapons is always a public relations issue due to the horrific death they inflict. They are not banned in any international treaty the U.S. has signed, thus the U.S. decision to remove flamethrowers from its arsenal is entirely voluntary. according to [url=http://www.cracked.com/article_17016_7-items-you-wont-believe-are-actually-legal.html]this[/url], flame throwers aren't illegal except for California: "There are currently no federal laws governing or restricting the ownership of flame-throwing devices. Some states have laws restricting possession of flamethrowers, with violations only considered to be misdemeanors, but 40 states have absolutely no laws whatsoever concerning flamethrowers. Only in America would a device capable of launching rivers of fire at people be less regulated than marijuana." legal references: http://www.atf.gov/publications/download/p/atf-p-5300-5-2011/atf-p-5300-5-iowa-2011.pdf http://www.atf.gov/publications/download/p/atf-p-5300-5-2011/atf-5300-5-maryland-2011.pdf http://www.atf.gov/publications/download/p/atf-p-5300-5/atf-p-5300-5-indiana.pdf http://www.atf.gov/publications/download/p/atf-p-5300-5/atf-p-5300-5-iowa.pdf

Think of it like this... if you were going on a ship into outerspace.. to unknown planets.. would you bring a flamethrower? I know I would...

Besides the fact that I happen to have a flamethrower in the trunk of my car at all times, I think the reason they also have them is because it is part of their protocol, like taking off their helmets and rolling around naked in alien biological weapon goo. When they first encounter the the big blue engineer, for example, their directive was to poke him in the ass with something sharp, it is just how they roll. Oh, and those flamethrowers are only to be used on other crew members, as per the Weyland employee handbook.