>Hmm, dead parents doesn't count as tragic?

Ah, but that's all in the past. It's the super-happy ending that got to me. And the way it came about. But regardless of my opinion on that, I still don't think it counts as social commentary. Commentary, in order to be commentary, has to say something about a situation. What was this story saying about the way children bully each other? That it's bad? Big frickin' duh. No new insight, other than that we should all become cyborg soldiers of justice and protect all the poor little orphans--wait a minute, that's a pretty good idea! GO GO FIGHT! FOR ETERNAL HAPPINESS!!

>...and I'm not sure sympathy was really the angle. I think PCHammer
>was shooting for "let's make the UF universe just a little bit MORE
>insane". That, or he was just watching Animaniacs while trying to come
>up with a story idea.

I can hardly fault him for that: it's the rampant inclusiveness of anything the authors can think of that helps make UF so charming. I don't know why: I just like the clever ways people tie things together in crossovers.