I could never really understand this, tbh. :s
Oh, and there are spoilers bursting out the seams, kinda, so yeah. >>

Class A-2 (if memory serves me right) consisted of pilot candidates. Which means that all of them had lost a parent. That much I understand.

Now let's look at the Children. To our knowledge, each of them had a difficult upbringing, each to a certain degree. And each had a traumatic experience during childhood, too. Shinji witnessing his mother's "disappearance" and being abandoned by his father, Asuka being rejected by her mother, and later finding her dead body. Rei might be considered an exception, however, for various reasons I shan't go into.

Do you think the fact that they had rough times make them better pilots? Would someone who had a normal, slightly more fortunate, childhood be capable of piloting an EVA?

Correct me if I'm wrong on anything, I'm still learning a lot about the series.

(sidenote; yay, my first thread )

Evangerion wrote:Do you think the fact that they had rough times make them better pilots? Would someone who had a normal, slightly more fortunate, childhood be capable of piloting an EVA?

No it just makes the show a lot more interesting though.

Well as you hint at, assume that most of the kids just fit the bill of being similar in some ways to the main pilots so there was a chance they could pilot Evas, and hence them being wrangled up to live in Tokyo 3.

Eva 03 for example we have no clue on, perhaps it involved a similar incident of having a relative inside it but we will never know... same with Eva unit 4 and it's possible pilot.

How many mothers or family were involved in the creation of the evas beyond Asuka and Shinji's moms?

With them moving to mass production evas eventually though the extra candidates were pretty much just back ups in most likely scenario.

Qualifications for piloting an Eva?

-Emotionally and/or mentally scarring past.
-Abondoned when young.
-cloned
-Must be important to the pilot.
-Not be a great part of the plot
-Be a plot device and/or homosexual.
-Supporting character.
-Must be Japanese or at least part Japanese
-Dead parent
-Kitten Killer
-Live on moon.

You must have at least four or more of these to qualify.

In all seriousness, I think having a dead mother whose soul can be prepared for the core is the only stated qualification...Though in the manga Ritsuko said something strange regarding Toji. She said that he could pilot if they enhanced him physiologically. I think she said this is how his core could be prepared immediately. Who knows what Sadamoto was going for there.

Oedipusfoot wrote:She said that he could pilot if they enhanced him physiologically.

Boost his midichlorian count?

(Sadly, I'm not sure if I'm joking or not.)

In all seriousness, I think having a dead mother whose soul can be prepared for the core is the only stated qualification...

And there's the whole "biologically in early teens" thing -- but who really knows what the deal with that one is.

Reichu wrote:

Oedipusfoot wrote:She said that he could pilot if they enhanced him physiologically.

Boost his midichlorian count?

(Sadly, I'm not sure if I'm joking or not.)

Become one with the force and you will find your answer.

BattleMonkey wrote:How many mothers or family were involved in the creation of the evas beyond Asuka and Shinji's moms?

Well Kensuke's family has SOMETHING to do with Nerv (I really don't remember what exactly).

Toji said something about his dad working at a lab right? The probably has something to do with his selection as an Eva pilot if that lab had something to do with Nerv as well.

I think they have stronger A.T fields because they are so detached from everyone.

Look at you starting treads Nikki, welcome to the family.

I always thought only people born after Second Impact could be pilots... o_O And since Shinji et al. were born in the months following the incident, they would be the oldest possible candidates.

I think maybe the fact that most of the pilots were psychologically damaged was actively promoted by the people behind Gehirn/Nerv. Such fact would make them easier to handle.
Let's not forget the pilots are early teenagers who must command some of the most powerful weapons on earth, first to avoid the end of the world and then to start it in a precisely established way.
From SEELE's point of view, it would be very convenient if the pilots were easy to manipulate. Their mental traumas and weaknesses would be the means to do that.
This line of work is shown in the isolating, alienating social environments the pilots have been exposed to during most of their lives. I think Rei is an extreme case of this.
The fact that neither Shinji nor Asuka received any kind of support after losing their mothers also points to this possibility.

But maybe this is just over-analisys, and somewhat off-topic :P

I think that Gehrin sought children with either no parents, careless parents, or parents who were involved with Gehrin. This way they could avoid lawsuits from any concerned parents. I know parents who bitch to teachers and principals about their children getting only average grades. Imagine what they would do if they knew what was going on inside that organization.

I believe they are only chosen after the Mother's soul is chosen to become one with the Eva unit and they find that the child will suit well within it.

Maybe they would start putting in kids in disguises in the Eva to try and help synch. Here pilot unit 02..... with this red wig on....

BattleMonkey wrote:Maybe they would start putting in kids in disguises in the Eva to try and help synch. Here pilot unit 02..... with this red wig on....

...and pretend you hate yourself. ;)

oOoOoOo wrote:I always thought only people born after Second Impact could be pilots... o_O And since Shinji et al. were born in the months following the incident, they would be the oldest possible candidates.

Wow...that's almost verbatim of what I said in another thread:

Gamer_2k4 wrote:I always thought they had to be born after the second impact, and fourteen year olds were the most mature of those people.

I stand by our statements, but there are probably thousands of kids that fit that broad criteria. Location apparently isn't an issue (Asuka was from Germany, and it's likely that they had a pilot candidate in America as well), so what does that leave? People whose mothers had died in Nerv-related incidents?

I'm pretty sure I read somewhere that all the people in Shinji's class had lost their mothers, so that's probably the biggest factor. After that, I'm sure it just boils down to the people with the best chance of success, be it through training (Asuka), maternal bond (Shinji), special cases (Rei/Kaworu), or...by being Toji?

oOoOoOo wrote:And since Shinji et al. were born in the months following the incident

Work back 9 months from Shinji's birthday and figure out what Gendo was doing while things were getting exciting at the Antarctic base

Also -- http://forum.evageeks.org/viewtopic.php?t=4825

Gamer_2k4 wrote:I stand by our statements

HAHA! I thought for a while I was the only one who thought that. Go team us! And I guess combine that with the "mother" angle... hmm... interesting. This was one of the elements of the show that I'd always wished they'd gone into more in-depth. My first time viewing I assumed there wasn't any reason except "because".

Mister Tines, your thought process is filthy, and I love it.

- no mommy.
- born around 2nd Impact.
- be very insecure or emotionally detached.
- be suicidal or a chronic masturbater.