Derantor wrote:The reason I say the old suit was destroyed is that in Ha, the NERV crew mentions that the 9th Angel is creating a new core for itself inside the Entry Plug. We can see that the blue core stuff in fact covers the plug; Asuka is of course the source. If she becomes an amorphous blob of core, I doubt her suit would survive that.

That's the test suit. Old plugsuit is last seen in a sync test after the 8th Angel encounter.

Derantor wrote:The suit got an additional round thingy below her chest, too, and that black patch near her crotch. ... I doubt her suit would survive that. ... So yeah, maybe Mari did bring it (even though from memory, I can't really say that it was indicated in any way), but why it was still around if it was damaged is still a mystery. ... Anyway; I feel like I'm beginning to detract from everybody elses fun, so I'll just give this topic a rest.

You aren't detracting from the fun, but it doesn't seem like you are engaging closely with the source material or some of our posts either! Szmitten's response covers the test suit versus old suit issue; my prior post mentioned the round thingie and the black patch as well as a plausible indication that Mari did bring the old suit. Would like to see your further thoughts here in light of these points even if your conclusions are unchanged.

Whoops ... I shouldn't try to do three things at once while I'm dead tired. No clue why I memory-holed the Test Suit. Anyway, I don't have anything more to add, I think. I'd mostly be restating my points, and I don't really see the point of taking another look at the Manga and nitpicking it to death.^^ Imo, it could easily have been better, but it is what it is.