Subject: Depends.
Author:
Posted on: 2011-09-26 14:33:00 UTC
Rule of Funny, and always by the skin of their teeth. Everything else is pretty secondary.
Therefore: no, canon would be just fine with such devices, right up until the point where it's vital that canon not be disrupted. Then, KABOOM.
... before I intend to have a shot at Permission within the week - it is understandable that characters in fiction may have a particular piece of equipment that would keep them alive. However, in some canons, merely using this device (or having it merely seen on the person) could be detrimental.
For example: the Helghast of the video game "Killzone" used to have been forced to wear cumbersome, orange-goggled breathing apperatus in order to adapt to the atmosphere of their home planet and, while it has largly fallen out of disuse, their vast military continues to wear this as a matter of pride (and, it can be assumed, when being involved in environments that their lungs aren't capable of adapting to).
Point is, would the use of similar devices disrupt canon and compromise an agent if they are working in a non-native environment?
Rule of Funny, and always by the skin of their teeth. Everything else is pretty secondary.
Therefore: no, canon would be just fine with such devices, right up until the point where it's vital that canon not be disrupted. Then, KABOOM.
I could be mistaken, but I don't think so. Especially what with the disguise generators being able to cover up stuff like that.
Remember that the Disguise Generator built into the console morphs the entire physiology of the Agent using it (except the brain).
So, any kind of device needed to keep an Agent alive in "normal" conditions would be either disguised alongside the Agent himself or made redundant until the mission is over. Probably both.
Be sure of playing the fun out of it! Agent A forcefully removing the gas mask from Agent B in order to make him realize that thanks to the disguise he can breathe normally (and B panicking until that dawns on him) has a lot of comedy potential.
Huh, I swear this little bit of comedy has been used once before:
"How dare you open a Space Ranger's helmet on an uncharted planet! My eyeballs could have been sucked from their sockets!"
- Buzz Lightyear, "Toy Story".