Artificial Man

Evangelions pre-Unit 00

Several prototype Eva models were made, all of which were deemed failures. These can be seen in the Evangelion graveyard. They all have orange armor. At least the first Evangelion prototype had five eyes. Most of these failed Evas’ organic structures have rotted away, leaving little more than an armoured head connected to a backbone, often with an incomplete number of limbs. They have the word “reject” painted on their heads in large red letters.

The New Production Cut of episode 23 showed a markedly different “Eva graveyard.” In the original version, the failed Eva prototypes were laid out on a massive empty floor, with what remained of their limbs carefully matched up with their spines and other body parts, and then circled by chalk marks. When Shinji says that it must be some type of “graveyard” for Eva units, Ritsuko says that it is actually nothing that complicated, and little more than a “dumping ground” for the wasted prototypes. The New Production Cut shows this “dumping ground” much more clearly: the remaining body parts of dozens of failed Evas are haphazardly thrown into a series of waste pits in the ground.

Some Eva rejects can also be seen in The End of Evangelion, suspended vertically by the heads. The heads themselves show a great deal of variation in facial layout, with some looking almost like human skulls. Labels identifying the vertebrae (such as CV-3rd) can be seen in other shots.

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Simulation bodies

Three incomplete Evangelion units are kept in the Pribnow Box in NERV headquarters. They are unarmored, have no legs, and have numerous cables exiting the neck instead of actual heads. These units are eventually infected by the eleventh Angel, Iruel. They may have been salvaged from earlier rejects, but they only appear in one episode and details of their construction are unknown.

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Evangelion Unit 00 (Zerogouki)

Unit 00 is the Prototype, the first successful attempt at creating an Eva Unit, and is piloted by the First Child, Rei Ayanami. The head design is similar to that of the previous failed attempts, but with only one eye. There are also two domes on the top of the head, which may be radio antennas.

It was initially colored orange like the previous prototypes, but its armor plating was damaged beyond repair by the Fifth Angel Ramiel’s particle beam. The subsequent repairs and upgrades included blue armor plating in addition to other alterations made in order to make it more suitable for combat conditions (it retains parts of the orange armor in the manga). The upgrades to Unit 00’s armor make it look more like the subsequent Evas, but there are still several differences or actual limitations. Shoulder “blades” are added to the Unit’s armor; though similar in appearance to the ones on Units 01 and 02, they are used to hold retro-rockets, as seen in the fight with the ninth Angel, Matariel. Because it is only the prototype, Unit 00 cannot be fitted with D-type equipment. The true nature of the soul inside Unit 00 is never specified and is thus the subject of some debate. Unit 00 was self-destructed by Rei in order to destroy the sixteenth Angel, Armisael.

Note
“Zerogouki” was the only Unit which defied the naming system used for the succeeding Evas. Under that system Unit 00 would have been enunciated as “Reigouki” in the series, giving both mecha and pilot (Rei Ayanami) practically the same name. Since “Rei” utilizing a different kanji symbol also matches the enunciation of the Japanese word for “soul”, the designation “00″ creates a pun meaning “soulless.”

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Evangelion Unit 01 (Shogouki)

Created in the Third Annex of GEHIRN’s Artificial Evolution Laboratory in Hakone from 2003 to 2004 and deemed a functional Eva unit in 2014, Unit 01 is piloted by Shinji Ikari (with Rei or a Rei Dummy Plug as backup pilots), and has the best battle record of all the Evangelions. It has been known to act independently (in the so-called “berserker” mode) without the instructions of a pilot and sometimes without any apparent power source. The Eva will also take action to protect its pilot while sometimes servicing other interests. The Eva’s resident soul, Yui Ikari (Shinji’s mother), appears to be responsible for such events.

Unit 01 is called the “Test Type,” perhaps because of the experimental way in which it was created: although Unit 01 seems to be an Adam-derived cybernetic organism like all other Evangelions, it is the sole Eva to have been born from Lilith. Upon savagely disfiguring the fourteenth angel, Zeruel, it proceeded to devour the Angel and assimilated its S² Engine, making Unit 01 the first physically complete Evangelion prior to the construction of the Mass Production units.

The S² Engine seems to be used only at Unit 01’s discretion; after acquiring it, the Eva is still sent into battle with an umbilical cable. Just before Unit 01 absorbed the S² Engine, it used one of Zeruel’s arms to regenerate its severed left arm, demonstrating the Angelic ability of regeneration. The Mass Production models were also equipped with the S² Engine but it is a common misconception that they also have the ability to regenerate (see entry below).

Unit 01’s armor is primarily purple; some components are colored neon green, light blue, orange, and black. It is supposedly different from the plating used on other Evas as it is capable of sustaining a considerably higher amount of damage (as repeatedly shown throughout the series, it can withstand a point-blank “cross-flare” beam as well as the force of a self-destructing Angel), stressing the overall importance of the Eva. The helmet, with its prominent horn and “frill,” is vaguely evocative of a ceratopsid dinosaur. The pectoral plates are unlike those on any other Eva. The humanoid entity beneath the armor has dark brown skin, two emerald-green eyes, four small nostrils positioned preorbitally, and red blood.

As a result of Third Impact, at the conclusion of The End of Evangelion, Unit 01 is left floating adrift in space, fossilized and still containing the soul of Yui Ikari, where it will outlast the sun and moon, as an eternal testament that the human race existed.

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Evangelion Unit 02 (Nigouki)

Evangelion Unit 02, built by NERV Germany, is the first Production Model Eva. It is piloted by Asuka Langley Soryu and is the first Evangelion built specifically for combat. Combining the efficient construction of Unit 01 with an arsenal of concealed weaponry, Unit 02 is a walking tank designed to counter the threat posed by the Angels, although it fails to reach the power level of Unit 01, which remains the most powerful Evangelion ever built. It can be considered the most stable Evangelion as it only goes truly “berserk” once, just before its destruction. It has achieved an unusually high sync ratio with its pilot(s), on two other occasions: once in combat against the 6th angel Gaghiel, and once under the influence of the 17th Angel. The unit is colored red and has two pairs of eyes (4 total). The head armor has two movable sections, one covering both the jaw and lower eyes and the other above the upper pair of eyes. These plates can actually shift, displaying glowing white eyes. This happens underwater during the fight with Gaghiel when Asuka needed to pry open the giant Angel’s mouth. Some argue that in this state, Unit 02 has achieved “berserker” status, but fans remain divided on the subject. This also occurs when the 17th angel, Tabris, takes command of unit 02 in episode 24. As a result of being constructed by NERV Germany, and also as an accommodation for its three-quarters-German pilot, its default language setting is German. It is known to contain the part of the soul of Asuka’s mother that is defined as “mother”. Unit 02 features a different progressive knife from earlier Eva units as well as an internal weapon rack in the right shoulder binder which fires needle packs. Unit 02 has blue blood, which is first seen when the fourteenth Angel, Zeruel, cuts off its arms.

Unit 02 is damaged and incapacitated several times over the course of the series, and is finally destroyed in The End of Evangelion by Units 05 through 13. Asuka was still highly synchronized with Unit 02 as it was destroyed, thus practically suffering every wound (the frames after the Lance of Longinus is plunged just above the Eva’s left eye show her bleeding rapidly from above her eye, as well as getting her arm sliced in half by another Lance). Later, when Shinji emerges from the GeoFront in Unit 01, he is horrified to see one of the mass produced Evas carrying Unit 02’s mangled upper torso in its hands.

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Evangelion Unit 04 (Yongouki)

While Evangelion Unit 04 never actually appears in the series, it still serves a function in the story. Unit 04 was constructed at the Second Branch of NERV in Nevada, USA, acting primarily as a test subject for S² Engine (provided by the Third Branch of Germany) experimentation. Unit 04 was destroyed along with the entire Second Branch and all facilities within an 89 km radius. The cause of the accident remains unknown. NERV determined that the incident occurred when the S² Engine was being installed in the unit, and that there were numerous factors that could have led to the accident. The very nature of the destruction itself is unknown as well. One theory behind Unit 04’s destruction, suggested by Ritsuko Akagi, is that the S² Engine had opened up a Dirac sea similar to the one that was believed to comprise the twelfth Angel, Leliel. Others suggest that the machine simply converted all matter in the vicinity into pure energy when the containment field was compromised. One unsupported speculation states that the destruction could have been planned and carried out by SEELE, in a premature attempt to control NERV’s acquisition of a working S² engine, but there is currently no evidence to support this. Unit 04’s design is virtually identical to that of Unit 03. According to Gainax material, this unit is silver in color, with black and red detail. While Unit 04 doesn’t appear on-screen in the series, it does make appearances in the continuities of various Evangelion spin-offs and games. The pilot of Eva 04 is never specified in the series; it is possible that it didn’t have one during the activation test.

According to Misato in episode 22, Unit 05 and Unit 06 were originally planned to be more or less a continuation of the production model design used for Units 02-04. However, when SEELE began construction of the mass production model Eva Units 05-13, these plans were scrapped. The unfinished original Units 05 and 06 were scrapped for spare parts used to repair Unit 00 and Unit 02 after their fight with the Angel Zeruel. In Japanese, continuing the naming convention used for previous Evas, Units 05 and 06 would be Gog?ki and Rokug?ki, respectively.

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Mass Production (MP) Evangelions (Units 05 - 13)

These Evas appear in The End of Evangelion and were produced at seven different NERV branches around the world, probably Germany (Third Branch), the United States (First Branch, Massachusetts), Japan (Matsushiro), the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China. Units 05 and 06 were made in Germany; 08 was produced in China. SEELE had them produced as part of their backup plan for initiating Instrumentality, but only nine out of an envisioned twelve were completed. They are controlled directly by SEELE via Kaworu’s Dummy Plug system.

Their physical build is different from previous Evas, being narrower in the chest and shoulders and wider in the hips, but the greatest difference is in the head: rather than humanoid, it is streamlined and vaguely cetacean in appearance, and apparently covered by the same reinforced plastic that coats the arms. The long jaws have red muscular lips, metal-plated teeth, a large grey tongue, and produce large quantities of saliva. There are no apparent eyes.

Each MP Eva contains an internal S² Engine, which grants them complete mobility (being freed from the umbilical cable) and no operational time limit. Although the S² Engine would theoretically allow them to regenerate damage they have taken (like the Angels), they never display this ability, despite a common misconception to the contrary. The misconception stems from a continuity error: after they reactivate, they are drawn for several cuts without their injuries. However, later, in “Magokoro o, kimi ni”, the injuries are clearly visible in numerous cuts; no regeneration has occurred.

Perhaps the most striking feature of the MP Evas is that they are equipped with large, mechanical, avian-style wings that enable them to fly, and which can be fully retracted into the back. Another key difference in their design is that they lack the shoulder-mounted armor “blades”, characteristic of previous Evas. Their primary weapons are the unwieldy Heavy Lances, which eventually transform into their true form, dark gray replicas of the Lance of Longinus. Additionally, the Evas themselves are capable of formidable savagery and behave in a manner similar to vultures, as they are shown circling in the air over the fallen Unit 02 before descending to tear the Eva apart.

During the opening credits of the anime, a Tree of Sephiroth is shown, but is not explicitly referenced during the series. However, during The End of Evangelion, the MP Evas arrange themselves to form a Tree of Sephiroth in the middle of Instrumentality, with Unit 01 in the center. Also, as part of Instrumentality’s progression, the MP Evas sacrifice themselves by impaling their cores with their replica Lances. After Third Impact occurs, the MP Evas fall dead to Earth in crucifixion poses.

An individual “Mass Production Unit” could be referred to as “Ryousanki”.

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Credits: Evangelion (mecha)