Nightmare Fuel pages are Spoilers Off.
Looking at the Lighter and Softer appearance of the trailers, you'd think this film would have less nightmare fuel than the first. Nope.
- The Kaiju-controlled drones. Initially running fine, they suddenly start convulsing in mid air and tear away at the helicopters around them before Kaiju material starts coming out of its control unit. Things just keep getting creepier from there.
- The fact that when the drones start to transform, their pilots who are controlling them remotely at Shao Industries are electrocuted from the headgears on their heads. And if those drones are anything like the Jaegers they are based on, this means the pilots can feel the drones' transformations into Kaiju beasts all while being electrocuted to death. Nasty way to go.
- Look at one of the drones’ body language as it transforms into a Kaiju. These men could definitely feel the transformation and were understandably terrified to watch it happen.
- Word of God claims that the movements and behavior of the Hybrid Drones were based on depictions of werewolves in film, and they certainly do act the part, as vicious, feral beasts bent solely on death and destruction.
- Newt, of all people. His attitude seems to be like it was in the previous film (if a little bit more egotistical), and his constant efforts to rift with Kaiju seem to be a peculiar habit at worst. Still, you can tell right away that something's off with him, with his cockier-than-usual demeanor... Then it turns out the Precursors have taken over his brain and turned him into their puppet - and even worse, Newt's mind is still there, completely unable to fight back, with a Voice of the Legion speaking every time they take complete control. By the end of the film, it seems like the original Newt is completely gone.
- The Obsidian Fury, full-stop. The thing's a killing machine that can show up anywhere without anyone noticing before completely laying waste to its targets. It is ruthless in its attacks, showing an ability to adapt to its opponent's tactics and hit where it hurts, especially using its two chainsaw blades. It also looks and acts awfully human-like for a Jaeger. It becomes a Hero Killer when it manages to kill Mako Mori by shooting down the helicopter she's on, and comes close to finishing off Gipsy Avenger several times. And this is all before the reveal that it's piloted by a Kaiju brain. There's just something disturbing about seeing that weird...brain...thing in the place of where Jaeger pilots are usually located.
- It's even worse when, considering previous foreshadowing, you think you're going to see a drone brain from the drone Jaegers. A Kaiju brain is the last thing you expect to see at that point.
- That the Precursors had a plan B so thoroughly in place and prepared. Humanity believed that this threat was over, that even though they were still advancing technology, there is a great sense of things winding down and wrapping up - jaegers are still being built, but they’re more as a standing peacekeeping force (since a giant robot trumps just about everything else during a riot), Shao’s drone program would reduce the need for pilots, nothing has happened in ten years... And all the while, the Precursors have had plan B percolating in the background.
- The design of the kaiju Raijin. It's disturbingly somewhat similar to certain parts of a female's anatomy, but with teeth.
- The merging of the three kaiju into the Mega Kaiju. A horde of tiny drones swarm all over the kaiju, linking them together and forming bridges that pull them close. And then, the drones start cutting them apart, using scalpel-like precision to slice through their flesh and literally disassemble them like a piece of meat at a butcher shop. Then they link the Kaiju chunks together, acting as the stitches themselves, pulling the pieces of Raijin, Hakuja and Shrikethorn into one single monstrous creature.
- During the process the Kaiju are very much alive and conscious. They themselves seem to be caught off-guard by the appearance of the drones, apparently unaware of what is about to happen to them, and as the drones begin to disassemble and reassemble them you can hear them groaning in agony...
- We also get a lovely close-up of pieces of Hakuja's lower jaw being grafted to half of Shrikethorn's head. Thank goodness the kaiju have glowing blue innards, otherwise this film would have gotten a much higher age restriction...
- The concept art of their fusion
makes it even worse. They weren't so much dismantled and reassembled, as literally shredded into unrecognizable flesh and the resulting biomass condensed into a single creature.
- They gloss over it quickly due to the gravity of the situation, but Ilya was still connected to Suresh when the latter died. Unlike Rayleigh, who was an experienced pilot and adult who has seen combat conditions, Ilya was still a kid on his first ever mission. No wonder he looked so broken afterwards.
