Here, you'll find a little info on the Evangelions.
The official classification is "General-purpose Humanoid Decisive Combat Weapon Artificial Human Evangelion." Now that's the biggest mouthfull. As mentioned before, the Eva series are cloned from the remains of the First Angel. Evangelions are capable of generating their own A.T. Field and are the only weapons that are capable of neutralizing it. The Evas operate on external electrical power. Thus, it is fed to them through umbilical cables attached to their backs. That is their only current minus. Without this external power, they can only maintain 5 minutes of activation time.
These humanoids originally have no soul and need a pilot to give them a soul and basically, the power to move and fight. For reasons that are never revealed, only fourteen year old children are able to pilot the Evas. The pilot sits inside an entry plug, which is then inserted into the Evangelion's spine. The entry plug looks like a huge, long capsule. Now, activation depends on the synchronization between the Eva and pilot. To aid this, the pilot wears a control interface on his/her head (they look like funky hairpins) and a skin-tight plugsuit and the plug is filled with LCL, or Link Connection Fluid. This fluid not only aids synchronization. It also acts as a shock absorber and, basically, liquid oxygen.
The pilot then has two methods of controlling the Eva. He/she has two manual hand controls. I read somewhere that there are also foot pedals. The second comes as a benefit of synchronization. Whatever the pilot thinks, the Evangelion will do. However, there is a major downside that comes as a result of synchronization: Whatever physical damage that is incurred to the Eva is felt by the pilot. For example, if the Eva receives a sharp blow to the head, the pilot will feel it and will be in pain. The Evangelions themselves are pretty mysterious.
Unit 00 was the final product of many failed attempts at making the first Eva. It was originally intended as a test prototype and not a combat unit. Unit 00 appears to be quite unstable, going berserk during activation tests. It was originally yellow but after sustaining heavy damage in combat it was painted blue and shoulder blades were added. It was then reclassified as Unit 00'.
My personal fave! The second Evangelion ever built. This purple and green unit was built for combat. It is the most active Eva and has the best combat record. However, this unit seems to be the most unstable. On one occassion, it activated on it's own will, without any power. Other than that, it reactivated well after it's power supply runs out on 3 different occassions, going berserk. A dormant S2 engine lies secretly within Unit 01. An incredible amount of mystery surrounds Unit 01.
The third Evangelion ever built. Unlike the first two, this model was assembled in Germany by the NERV branch there, the parts having been shipped from Japan. It is less cumbersome to operate and by this time, all the bugs have been worked out, making it the most stable. Unfortunately, it's the least effective in combat, especially as a single unit. This red unit is described by it's pilot as being "the first real Evangelion."
The fourth Evangelion to be built. Black in color, this unit was built in the U.S. Unfortunately, it is invaded by an Angel while being transported to Japan for testing. It is finally destroyed, it's pilot receiving critical injuries as a result.
This unit never appeared in the series. It is apparently destroyed along with the second branch of NERV in the U.S. when the entire facility mysteriously vanishes during a test involving the new S2 engine. It is revealed that the entire facility was swallowed into a Sea of Dirac. Unit 04 looked just like Unit 03, only in a silver finish.
These Evangelions do not appear in the series but are mentioned. They do appear in "The End of Evangelion." These units were not built by NERV but were built by SEELE. They operate on the S2 engine and do not need external power. They also use the dummy plug system. They are white in color and have the ability to fly. They are said to be particularly effective in combat but lack experience. I personally find them quite repulsive.
But what is the Dummy Plug System and S2 engine??
Okay, I guess I can tell you about that.
The Dummy Plug System: Later on in the series, a kind of "auto pilot" project goes into the making. This is the Dummy Plug System. The first Dummy Plug System, made by NERV, is modeled on Rei. This one is tried on Unit 01. The second, made by SEELE, is modeled on Kaworu. That is the one used on Units 05 through 13.
The S2 engine is a Self Sufficient engine. A unit with this engine requires no external power and has pretty much unlimited internal power. The Fourth Angel was defeated but remained pretty much intact. NERV obtained a core sample (the red core) from the Angel and modeled the S2 engine on it.
Email: nassers@db.erau.edu
