I would like to start out by saying I've only actually seen the original OVA series and the AD Police files, and am basing things on them.
In these we seem to have three types of "Mad Boomer" type incidents:
1) Deliberate.
---Most of the "Mad Boomer" incidents we actually see were deliberate. The Boomer had been given instuctions to go out and do what it did for whatever reason. In these cases there was no fault with the actual merchandise.
2) Mechanical.
---While it is implied that breakdowns can make them flip out, the only truly mechanical based failures we see were due to illegal refurbishing. If anything the fact the Boomer could still run reasonably well, despite being used beyond design parameters and funkiness with a backstreet refurbish job, indicates that Boomers are actually a rather solid technology in this area and not exactly prone to this kind of mechanical failure. Thus if the unit is used as designed and properly maintained there probably tends to not be a issue.
The 33S from Genaros might fall under this, but it's debateable whether they can truly be considered Mad Boomers. AD Police would likely classify them as such, however they didn't flip out or otherwise become mentally disordered. They also did seem to try to minimize casualties, and were doing what they were doing as a act of self preservation as any intelligent lifeform would be expected to do.
3) HAL syndrome.
---The HAL 9000 from 2001 is well known, although details aren't as widely known. This computer system basically was fed a command it wasn't really designed to handle, which in turn lead to a psychosis resulting in it killing the crew it was responsible for.
The poster child for this would probably be the boomer Leon shot up as a normal police officer. Given what it was, and the way it was acting it's not hard to see what type of perverted nonsense it was being put to. Apparently the programming in dealing with this developed a HAL-like syndrome leading to it being a "Mad Boomer."
Thus it seems that for the most part incidents of "Mad Boomers," based on avaliable evidence, are the fault of the owner and related people doing things they weren't supposed to and not the actual machine itself.
Non-Combat Boomers appear to be easy enough to take down, although able to take quite a bit of damage due to having redundant systems and what not keeping them operating in some cases. Given that even a everyday tire or pair of glasses can provide solid resistance against pistols, that the serverbot was shrugging off the normal Police's likely 9mm pistols may simply be an incidental effect of the necessary construction. What appeared to be 5.56x45mm carbines that the ADP were using, based off the brass ejected, certainly did just fine.
Thus that the Tac squads we see usually just carrying carbines, with the occassional shotgun and what not, don't seem quite that insane when you consider their job is not to take down illegal Combat Class, but civilian Boomers and Civilians who have become boomeroids and are engaging in criminal activity or otherwise endangering the public. Not that they didn't keep getting new gear in the form of Armored Troopers, to deal with Combat Class and certain officers had gear capable of dealing with Combat boomers.
Why the JSDF weren't brought in to handle any suspected combat boomers though is a question I can only speculate on. Given that Japan in present day is in such denial about having a military they basically hide their servicemen from the public view, perhaps it could just be treated as an extension in another bizarre bit of PC-style "logic." On the other hand perhaps they didn't feel mobilizing the military for every suspected incident was worthwhile, it's certainly implied that they will come in to handle it although we never saw them actually do so.
So what's your take on the issue and concept of Mad Boomers? If you agree, disagree, or just want to talk about opinions I'd like to hear it. Well proverbially anyway, given I'd be reading as opposed to actually hearing your response, but you get the idea.
In these we seem to have three types of "Mad Boomer" type incidents:
1) Deliberate.
---Most of the "Mad Boomer" incidents we actually see were deliberate. The Boomer had been given instuctions to go out and do what it did for whatever reason. In these cases there was no fault with the actual merchandise.
2) Mechanical.
---While it is implied that breakdowns can make them flip out, the only truly mechanical based failures we see were due to illegal refurbishing. If anything the fact the Boomer could still run reasonably well, despite being used beyond design parameters and funkiness with a backstreet refurbish job, indicates that Boomers are actually a rather solid technology in this area and not exactly prone to this kind of mechanical failure. Thus if the unit is used as designed and properly maintained there probably tends to not be a issue.
The 33S from Genaros might fall under this, but it's debateable whether they can truly be considered Mad Boomers. AD Police would likely classify them as such, however they didn't flip out or otherwise become mentally disordered. They also did seem to try to minimize casualties, and were doing what they were doing as a act of self preservation as any intelligent lifeform would be expected to do.
3) HAL syndrome.
---The HAL 9000 from 2001 is well known, although details aren't as widely known. This computer system basically was fed a command it wasn't really designed to handle, which in turn lead to a psychosis resulting in it killing the crew it was responsible for.
The poster child for this would probably be the boomer Leon shot up as a normal police officer. Given what it was, and the way it was acting it's not hard to see what type of perverted nonsense it was being put to. Apparently the programming in dealing with this developed a HAL-like syndrome leading to it being a "Mad Boomer."
Thus it seems that for the most part incidents of "Mad Boomers," based on avaliable evidence, are the fault of the owner and related people doing things they weren't supposed to and not the actual machine itself.
Non-Combat Boomers appear to be easy enough to take down, although able to take quite a bit of damage due to having redundant systems and what not keeping them operating in some cases. Given that even a everyday tire or pair of glasses can provide solid resistance against pistols, that the serverbot was shrugging off the normal Police's likely 9mm pistols may simply be an incidental effect of the necessary construction. What appeared to be 5.56x45mm carbines that the ADP were using, based off the brass ejected, certainly did just fine.
Thus that the Tac squads we see usually just carrying carbines, with the occassional shotgun and what not, don't seem quite that insane when you consider their job is not to take down illegal Combat Class, but civilian Boomers and Civilians who have become boomeroids and are engaging in criminal activity or otherwise endangering the public. Not that they didn't keep getting new gear in the form of Armored Troopers, to deal with Combat Class and certain officers had gear capable of dealing with Combat boomers.
Why the JSDF weren't brought in to handle any suspected combat boomers though is a question I can only speculate on. Given that Japan in present day is in such denial about having a military they basically hide their servicemen from the public view, perhaps it could just be treated as an extension in another bizarre bit of PC-style "logic." On the other hand perhaps they didn't feel mobilizing the military for every suspected incident was worthwhile, it's certainly implied that they will come in to handle it although we never saw them actually do so.
So what's your take on the issue and concept of Mad Boomers? If you agree, disagree, or just want to talk about opinions I'd like to hear it. Well proverbially anyway, given I'd be reading as opposed to actually hearing your response, but you get the idea.