>>43983971Whenever Murdoch's father shows up in his server's region, I'm going to have him wear this exact outfit.
>>43988255The humans within The Homeland are tremendously outnumbered by the Pokémon living there, with the total recorded population in the entire region only equaling about 400,000 people. Unlike many regions where the Pokémon are usually minding their own business, the more powerful ones won't hesitate to try and wipe out humans that set foot outside the settlements if given the opportunity. Because of that, they won't skimp on protection, especially when it comes to their more accomplished scientists and security. Murdoch's coat is actually among the lightest outfits they have to offer due to him only being one of the junior researchers, even though it already provides substantial protection itself.
As for the assault vest similarity, the engineers used the same material you'd find inside of one as a base to modify in order to enhance its protection even further, and in a way that requires less "bulk" for better mobility. Murdoch received a prototype of the cloth variant due to him suffering a nearly fatal electrocution when fighting against one of the other two possible protagonists of the story. Or rather, Orzabal used his abilites to "convince" one of Murdoch's superiors to allow it. A major flaw in the current version of his coat was that the temperature plates inside of it were strong conductors and thus didn't protect against electrical shock. The improved coat's temperature plates didn't have this problem, and the fabric also protected against most energy-based attacks in general.
>>43982153Murdoch is 20. While he's certainly smarter than your average human being at that age due to his rigid upbringing, he's still not among the greatest of the Homeland's researchers due to his lack of experience.
