There might be some minor spoilers in this, not really sure.
Anyway, I've been playing X8 quite a bit lately, and I finally got around to unlocking the special armors for each character (black for Zero, white for Axl, Ultimate for X), which I never had gotten around to doing even though I've played the game quite a bit. They're all pretty interesting and useful (although they can make things a little too easy, especially X's insane Nova Strike), but I happened to noticed something about Axl's armor. Anyone else to play the game has probably already noticed this, but I haven't seen it mentioned before, so I figured I might as well bring it up. At first I just thought of it as a white alternate color scheme, similar to the black armor Zero has in this game and others (although that is kind of a reference to MMX2), but then it dawned on me.
The entire color scheme he has is nearly exactly the same as that of Lumine. Down just about every detail, including the hair. Considering the extreme similarites and what happens in Axl's specific ending, that doesn't seem like it could just be a coincidence.
OMG OMINOUS FORESHADOWING OF DOOM?!?!?11!!1?!?
*shot*
...yeah. That's about it I guess. I'll put up a couple comparison screenshots shortly if anyone's interested. I assume plenty of others already have figured this out a long time ago, but I'm just curious if anyone else noticed this and had any opinion.
Now that I think about it, this next section of speculation definitely has some spoilers.
Spoilers (Select To Read): Most comments I've heard about Axl's ending suggest the possiblity of him turning into Sigma or something along those lines, but with this in mind I'm starting to wonder if he'd be more likely to become Lumine, or at least something similar. Lumine said that the copy chip is what allowed him to do what he did, but also noted that a prototype like Axl wasn't capable of anything like that. However, what if that flash inside of Axl's helmet crystal was in fact Lumine's copy chip? Meaning that last "attack" by Lumine at the end could have actually been a last ditch attempt at survival.
Anyway, I'm kind of rambling here. Just some things that hadn't occured to me until recently, figured I might as well post it and see what anyone else would have to say on the subject.
I made a comment about that in the X9 topic. It'll either be that or Lumine can use him as a tool like she--er, "he" did Sigma.
As I said, whatever the future holds, it can't be good. I'm probably one of the few people who'd hate to see Axl go.
Heh, yeah, there seem to be a decent amount of Axl haters from what I've seen... I found him to be fairly annoying in X7 (but then, what about that game isn't?), but I find him to be much better in X8 and Command Mission. I still prefer X (for the most part) and Zero over him, but I don't have any problem with him now and would like to see him in future games. Especially considering what they could do storywise with him after X8's ending.
Spoilers (Select To Read): He wouldn't necessarily have to die though, I suppose one possible scenario could have him falling under control of the chip and trying to do pretty much what Lumine did, but ending with the chip being successfully removed after his inevitable defeat. And I suppose they could even throw in an alternate non-canon ending that results in his death for all the Axl haters out there, heh.
Anyway, here are the images for those interested, both from near the ending. The first shows Lumine a little better (since he hasn't collapsed yet), but Axl's partly blocked by Zero's sword (forgot to turn the Sigma Blade off prior to the screen captures). The second shows a better view of Axl. He's facing away from the camera in both, though.
i've never even seen his white armor before, so this is news to me.
You get it by finding and developing all of Axl's special chips, then landing the double team as a finishing move on Lumine(as Axl). With everything developed, Axl should become available as soon as you beat the game. Its got a couple of nice advantages, like infinite transformation power and the ability to always hovering while shooting without falling.
