What happened to Unit 04?

[Sachi]

i kno it said that when the S2 engine was being tested on it, that it exploded
but wat really happened???
and who was going to b the pilot if it didnt "explode"?

[The Eva Monkey]

i kno it said that when the S2 engine was being tested on it, that it exploded
but wat really happened???
and who was going to b the pilot if it didnt "explode"?

The satelite would indicate that it was an explosion. However Nerv suggested that when activated, the S2 generated a Dirac sea, swalling the facility into a field of energy. The particulars are ambiguous to this day, but there's more than one person with an elaborate idea of what happened.

[BobBQ]

Unit 04 is more of a MacGuffin than any of the other Evas; its only role in the entire series is to set the stage for Unit 03's transfer to Japan and the resulting shenanigans.

I'm still curious as to who or what they were synchronizing it with, though...

[The Eva Monkey]

Presumably, it would have gotten a pilot after its S2 was integrated. I got the impression that Unit 03 was unloaded on Nerv Japan, like the Americans wanted off of their hands after Unit 04 went kablooey.

[BobBQ]

Presumably, it would have gotten a pilot after its S2 was integrated.

Presumably, but (as I'm pretty sure I've pointed out before) dialogue from episode 17 refers to synchro data for the missing Eva already being available at the time of its loss.

Best I can come up with is that they borrowed a dummy plug or something like that. It was sufficiently complete to synch with an Eva by that point, and building them doesn't seem to be terribly complicated.

[tinmeigut]

I think it was said that Unit 04 was a prototype of the MPs that no human pilot would assigned to sync with it? I don't think there would be a pilot even if it didn't blow up.

[BobBQ]

Unit 04 was a second-gen production Eva, the same as Unit 03. It was no more an MP model than Unit 02 was.

And I don't see any compelling reason why the MP Evas couldn't use human pilots. They appear to load entry plugs in the standard manner, and the original design work was presumably undertaken with the assumption that the MP Eva design would need to be deployed against whatever Angels might remain by the time working units were ready.

[Reichu]

Presumably, but (as I'm pretty sure I've pointed out before) dialogue from episode 17 refers to synchro data for the missing Eva already being available at the time of its loss.

WHERE?

...What's a "MacGuffin"?

[darth_mark]

...What's a "MacGuffin"?

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MacGuffin[/url]

[Anonymous_Evafan]

Presumably, but (as I'm pretty sure I've pointed out before) dialogue from episode 17 refers to synchro data for the missing Eva already being available at the time of its loss.

WHERE?

HYUGA (OFF):
Anyway, 1st Branch is okay, right?

TECHIE (OFF):
Send the info from Satellite 5 immediately. It's top priority.

TECHIE (OFF):
Just the schedule for Unit 04 is fine.

HYUGA (OFF):
It doesn't matter, we'll have the Magi evaluate
the data discrepancies from the sensors!

TECHIE (OFF):
I'd like confirmation on the synchro data and the S2 engine.

TECHIE (OFF):
We'll get rid of the noise over on our end.
Just send us the originals.

Not that it matters since all it ever was was a plot device.

[BobBQ]

WHERE?

Ohtehnoes, itstehdejavu!

Where?

In the dialogue that runs during the bridge shot immediately after the 'red lights over Nevada' sequence, about four and a half minutes into the episode (on my DVD, at least).

I couldn't find this line in the LTP scripts and didn't hear it in the English dub, but it appears in the subtitles [and can just barely be made out in the Japanese audio; it's one of the female speakers]:

Anyway, First Branch is okay, right?

Send the info from satellite five immediately. It's top priority.

Just the schedule for Unit 04 is fine.

It doesn't matter; we'll have the Magi evaluate.

I'd like confirmation on the synchro data and S2 engine.

We'll get rid of the noise on our end. Just send us the originals.

...What's a "MacGuffin"?

Percival Ingram "Pigsticker" MacGuffin (1947-????] was one of the most talented yet obscure soldiers of fortune of the latter half of the 20th century.

MacGuffin apparently came to the United States from Scotland as a child, though his exact origins are unknown. What is known is that in 1965 he was sent to Vietnam, where he quickly became fed up with both sides of the conflict. After leaving the US Army as a PFC in 1966, he moved to Canada and joined the newly formed Forces Canadiennes' Land Force Command in 1969. His service record was not particularly distinguished; he left the CF in 1973 as a Lance Corporal, whereupon he disappeared from official record.

From 1977 to approximately 1989, Pigsticker MacGuffin worked as a professional mercenary in Africa, southeast Asia and the middle east. He gained minor attention for his exploits as a CIA contractor in Afghanistan, where his trademark accurized C1A1D battle rifle and AMT Automag 180 became sources of terror among the Soviet troops he hunted.

After Afghanistan, MacGuffin vanished only to reappear in 1994 in Russia. His whereabouts and activities since 1997 are unknown, and his death has been rumored or erroneously reported several times. Other rumors say that he has retired, or is training other mercenaries prior to retirement.

Though quiet and never violent unless being paid to be, MacGuffin had a reputation for being ruthless and driven while on the job. Legend has it that he once tracked a gunrunner halfway around the globe over the space of seven months while trying to acquire a NAACO Brigadier, only to discover that only one Brigadier had ever existed and was no longer available.

But I digress.

[cat42]

I think it was said that Unit 04 was a prototype of the MPs that no human pilot would assigned to sync with it? I don't think there would be a pilot even if it didn't blow up.

I'm sure this doesn't have much credibility design wise, but there is an official design for UNIT-04 that has been used to make toys... such as this one

[ObsessiveMathsFreak]

One thing can be said about the loss of Unit-04. It was a genuine accident. No conspiracies involved. We know this from episode #17:

Kouzou: How are you going to report to the committee on the accident
with Unit four?
Gendou: With the facts: the cause is unknown.
.....
Kouzou: But the committee is in a panic.
Gendou: Of course, because it's an unscheduled accident.

[Reichu]

No wonder I hadn't noticed the 'synchro data' stuff -- it's 5.1 supplemental dialogue added for Renewal. Mysterious. There was no registered pilot, so, hmm. Given the cooperation between the Second and Third Branches on EVA-04 -- Kaworu dummy plug, maybe?

[Sachi]

Unit 04 was a second-gen production Eva, the same as Unit 03. It was no more an MP model than Unit 02 was.

And I don't see any compelling reason why the MP Evas couldn't use human pilots. They appear to load entry plugs in the standard manner

the only reason they injected the entry plug is because the Dummy System is located in there, which is operated by the S2 engine.
they should use a pilot, becuase it would b more efficient then the Dummy System, and more human.
if there was going to b a pilot, who do u think it might b? Hikari?

[Reichu]

the only reason they injected the entry plug is because the Dummy System is located in there, which is operated by the S2 engine.

What on Earth?

The Dummy System and the Dummy Plugs are not the same thing. But I'm not entirely sure how the hell it works.

The S2 Engine does not "operate" the Dummy System. They have nothing to do with one another. It simply provides the Eva with theoretically limitless power.

they should use a pilot, becuase it would b more efficient then the Dummy System, and more human.

But unlike human pilots, the Dummy System always follows orders, and it eliminates all sorts of ethical problems and "petty concerns". The Dummy System does not, for example, stand to receive any vicarious harm if the Eva it is pilotting has her body ripped in half or her skull split open.

[BobBQ]

The Dummy System and the Dummy Plugs are not the same thing. But I'm not entirely sure how the hell it works.

Seems to me that the relationship between the two is like that between a PC and a USB stick.

[Ornette]

The Dummy System and the Dummy Plugs are not the same thing. But I'm not entirely sure how the hell it works.

Seems to me that the relationship between the two is like that between a PC and a USB stick.

More like a CD and a CD tray? (you guys remember when you needed a special try to place CD-ROMs into before sticking it into a computer?)

[cat42]

I think they were testing one of the Kaworu dummy plugs with UNIT-04

[Reichu]

More like a CD and a CD tray? (you guys remember when you needed a special try to place CD-ROMs into before sticking it into a computer?)

Wouldn't that require the existence of a dummy system exists inside every dummy plug? What exactly IS the dummy system, anyway? It's supposedly an artificial soul, but ... WHAT IS IT? Is it nothing more than raw data stored on something, like that giant CD drive, and can be endlessly replicated? The connection between the CD drive in the normal entry plugs and the red dummy plugs, and the brain-looking thing in the Dummy Plug Plant and the tank of Rei clones, is never really established.

Is a tank of clone bodies of the person whose personality has been digitized for the dummy system even necessary for the dummy stuff in the first place? Or are the clones just located in the Plant because the brain-thing also acts as a 'backup' of sorts for Rei, and data contained there is 'downloaded' into a new Rei should the previous one die?

I'm confused.