Flamethrower

R.J. McReady using a flamethrower in the 1982 film.

The flamethrower is a mechanical incendiary device designed to project a long, controllable stream of fire. The iconic weapon first appears in the 1982 film The Thing and is frequently used throughout the various films, comic-books and video-games to incinerate the Thing.

Appearances

The Thing (1982 film)

M2A1-7 Flamethrower.

M2A1-7 Flamethrower

This flamethrower is used by several members of the team throughout the movie. Palmer uses a different flamethrower, apparently a propane powered model sold commercially, used for burning weeds, and removing ice from planes and other equipment; the flame on the propane model is very short, at most usually 2,13 meters. Even so, many scenes in the film use genuine, military-spec liquid-fueled flamethrowers, something of a rarity in movies.

The Thing (2002 video game)

In the 2002 video-game The Thing, flame weaponry is the only way for players to kill large, self-repairing Thing Beasts. The game also features a short-range variant, the Blowtorch, and Flame Grenades.

The Thing (2011 film)

Nearly all of the characters, including Sam Carter (Joel Edgerton), Dr. Kate Loyd (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Lars and Peder use a custom flamethrower throughout the film.

The Thing: Station Survival (2011 video game)

Played from the first-person perspective, usable weapons include M2A1-7 flamethrower.

The Thing: Flame Thrower (2011 video game)

Players must move their mobile devices 360° to defend themselves from the attacking alien creatures lurking in the shadows by incinerating them with the flamethrower.

Gallery

Film Screenshots

Sam Carter wields a flamethrower, as seen in The Thing (2011).

Kate Lloyd operates a flamethrower - The Thing (2011)

Game Screenshots

A flame-thrower, as seen in The Thing: Station Survival (2011).

A flame-thrower, as seen in The Thing: Flame Thrower (2011).

Blake uses a flame-thrower, as seen in The Thing: video-game (2002).

A flame-thrower, as seen in The Thing: video-game (2002).

Flame-thrower fuel, as seen in The Thing: video-game (2002).

Trivia

• The flamethrower provides the concept for the 2011 mobile shooter game developed by Metaio, The Thing - Flame Thrower.
• It is strange that a flamethrower would be used by occupiers of bases in Antarctica , especially that all of bases based in Antarctica are scientific, the flamethrowers normally being military equipment. It is possible that the flamethrowers are used to thaw the locations of bases that were attacked by frost and snow at the basis.