Eva Unit 01 versus the Imperial AT-AT

[Mr. Oragahn]

You should read your own links, as it says nothing about Third Impact being an explosion or energy release. Third Impact caused everyone to explode into Tang(R), not a massive exothermic explosion (or any visible energy release, for that matter, unless that was the Tang(R) process).

Err... Tang?

[ILikeDeathNote]

It is a cover, however that cover explanation is an interesting one since the effects are rather remarkably similar in nature. And yes, part of Second Impact are shown, mostly through flashback, but also we see this interesting bit as shown at time index 7:08 in this YouTube video of Gendo Ikari's spaceplane transport flying near the glowing remains of Antarctica. The rest of the video has a partial explanation, and yes, there was an explosion.

...YouTube video?

...or do you want me to search for it myself now? :p

Anyway, I'll admit it's been a while since I last saw EVA; what's the specific nature of these flashbacks to Second Impact? What kind of explosion was it? Was it big enough to kill 2 million people living on the southern continents, or did it drown 2 million people by melting Antarctica?

I do at least remember the scene with Gendo; in fact that scene is where I draw my conclusions from as it seems to be the most concrete (or at least most memorable, for me) evidence of the destructive power of Second Impact.

Yeah, but Third Impact was what they were trying to prevent, or rather happen in a way that would result in Instrumentality. If the Angels had succeeded, it would have wiped out Humanity utterly.

We don't really know what kind of results an angel Third Impact would have had. Up until actual Third Impact, it seemed like the angels were trying to kill humanity in the same way Godzilla was. And the only depiction of Third Impact, that I can recall, was when NERV and SEELE were pulling the reigns with the mass-produced EVAs/EVA-01 and Shinji.

We don't know that it was a Sea of Dirac that was created by the S2 engine incident in Nevada.

I'm pretty sure Ritsuko calls it out as such. A Sea of Dirac created by the explosion of a prototype S2 engine.

That was only speculation by characters in the story. But the destructive potential was very clear.

The speculation was based on the behavior of what they saw, which matched up rather well with a Sea of Dirac event, especially since they had encounters with a Sea of Dirac-producing angel just prior.

The destructive potential is very clear, yes. But can a Sea of Dirac big enough to practically destroy a planet be reproduced in a manner reliable enough to be weaponized? Remember, the whole reason why we're debating this is that we're comparing the angel's and the EVA's (and whatever NERV can come up with) potential destructive power with that of the Imperial Death Star.

It was a very special set of circumstances that allowed Shinji to survive at all, and there is little proof that what happened in Nevada and with Shinji and the Angel Leliel are related in terms of effects.

Well, we can reasonably speculate, just as Ritsuko had, that it is a Sea of Dirac event, and I fail to see what was so special about Shinji that does not preclude surviving a Sea of Dirac event for anyone else.

Err... Tang?

Yes, exactly.

[Mike DiCenso]

It is a cover, however that cover explanation is an interesting one since the effects are rather remarkably similar in nature. And yes, part of Second Impact are shown, mostly through flashback, but also we see this interesting bit as shown at time index 7:08 in this YouTube video of Gendo Ikari's spaceplane transport flying near the glowing remains of Antarctica. The rest of the video has a partial explanation, and yes, there was an explosion.

...YouTube video?

...or do you want me to search for it myself now? :p

Anyway, I'll admit it's been a while since I last saw EVA; what's the specific nature of these flashbacks to Second Impact? What kind of explosion was it? Was it big enough to kill 2 million people living on the southern continents, or did it drown 2 million people by melting Antarctica?

I do at least remember the scene with Gendo; in fact that scene is where I draw my conclusions from as it seems to be the most concrete (or at least most memorable, for me) evidence of the destructive power of Second Impact.

Here's the YouTube video. Note the big glowing red hole hundreds of kilometers across and a dark area of devastation around that.

I'll try and see if I can find a video of the episode with the flashback. But the event was an explosive, high-energy one as seen here in the Evangelion wiki's screencap

Yeah, but Third Impact was what they were trying to prevent, or rather happen in a way that would result in Instrumentality. If the Angels had succeeded, it would have wiped out Humanity utterly.

We don't really know what kind of results an angel Third Impact would have had. Up until actual Third Impact, it seemed like the angels were trying to kill humanity in the same way Godzilla was. And the only depiction of Third Impact, that I can recall, was when NERV and SEELE were pulling the reigns with the mass-produced EVAs/EVA-01 and Shinji.

They (the Angels) were not. They were constantly trying to penetrate down into the NERV facility because that is where Adam (really Lilith) was being kept. If the Angels were to come into contract with Adam, they would have initiated Third Impact, and Humanity would have been screwed. What SEELE and NERV were trying to do is make it happen in a way that would result in a different outcome more favorable to Humanity (Instrumentality).

We don't know that it was a Sea of Dirac that was created by the S2 engine incident in Nevada.

I'm pretty sure Ritsuko calls it out as such. A Sea of Dirac created by the explosion of a prototype S2 engine.

Not really. She was just speculating. Granted based on some experiance, but she really had no more a good answer than anyone else. The only thing that argues for a SoD event, is that the 89 km devastation did not have thermal or other effects that spread beyond that... Or it maybe it did have them, but the area effected was limited largely to the 89 km area.

That was only speculation by characters in the story. But the destructive potential was very clear.

The speculation was based on the behavior of what they saw, which matched up rather well with a Sea of Dirac event, especially since they had encounters with a Sea of Dirac-producing angel just prior.

The destructive potential is very clear, yes. But can a Sea of Dirac big enough to practically destroy a planet be reproduced in a manner reliable enough to be weaponized? Remember, the whole reason why we're debating this is that we're comparing the angel's and the EVA's (and whatever NERV can come up with) potential destructive power with that of the Imperial Death Star.

The problem is that the goal of NERV and SEELE is that neither wanted to blow up the Earth or Humanity and so there was nothing developed out of the S2 engine. On the other hand, it's hard to say what they could or would do if NERV and SEELE found out they had a Death Star coming into the Sol system.

It was a very special set of circumstances that allowed Shinji to survive at all, and there is little proof that what happened in Nevada and with Shinji and the Angel Leliel are related in terms of effects.

Well, we can reasonably speculate, just as Ritsuko had, that it is a Sea of Dirac event, and I fail to see what was so special about Shinji that does not preclude surviving a Sea of Dirac event for anyone else.

Shinji was in the EVA Unit 01, which means it houses the soul of his mother and that is what helped to protect him and ultimately saved him from Angel Leliel's SoD. Interestingly enough, no other Angel ever demonstrated Leliel's abilities.
-Mike