1) Yes, of course, I took the pads out of the caliper.
2) I should've supported the pad so that it wasn't laying on the fins while I torched them. I did not expect the aluminum to heat enough to deform while trying to get the pads to smoke.
3) Most of the use cases that resulted in breaking were due to some sort of misuse (over-torquing, torching) but not by a massive margin, which leads me to believe the safety factor of brakes is low. Why? To save weight. People care about weight, and this is where shimano will do their best to outdo their competitors. I'm not a big fan of shaving 10-15g/caliper to lose significant strength. I've swapped brakes DOZENS of times before with no problems. This is the first time I've had an issue.
4) There were use cases which showed poor engineering - i.e. no breakaway clamps on the shimano levers isn't good. AVerage/mediocre 1 finger braking performance on 160mm rotors (locking up was fairly difficult but doable. At least lever feel was good).

They're definitely a decent brake for the price, but...if I had to do it again, I'd probably avoid the Deore/SLX line at least.