History Fridge / PacificRim

* At first, Mako's memory scene comes off as cheesy. One girl running from a giant monster in a barren, seemingly abandoned city without even any other bodies, and when she finally sees her savior, he is backlit from the sun and overly heroic. Ridiculously cheesy, right? Remember, this isn't reality, this is a MEMORY. And our own memories are colored by how we perceive them. This isn't a memory of how the event actually happened, but a memory of how MAKO saw the event. SHE saw a monster, possibly bigger than it actually was. SHE saw just herself running from it, the monster focused on her. SHE saw her savior, standing atop his mech and looking down at her in such an amazing view. The reality may have been different, but that is how SHE remembered it. Pentecost himself outright implies that this is the case. "I don't care what you ''think'' you saw." This also explains why Onibaba towers over all the buildings in Tokyo despite canonically being a Category 2, and why it seemed unrealistically focused on one tiny human instead of causing as much destruction as it can. Because as far as Mako was concerned, there was a very, VERY BIG monster that was out to get HER.

* Cherno Alpha's design, with it's massive top-mounted reactor doubling as a ''decoy'' at first seems self-defeating, as losing it's main power source would just as easily cripple it as destroying it's cockpit. But it makes more sense when you read it again. Much of it's head are ''fuel tanks'', which, while important, even a large portion wouldn't immediately cripple the Jaeger, a similar school of thought as was used in the design of a Battleship. Unfortunately, Leatherback simply destroyed ''too much'' of it for even Cherno's rugged design to hold up.

** Also, it seems like a stupid idea to waste ammo on a dead Kaiju when they could've just ripped its guts out by hand or something, but Raleigh only suggests it after he realizes where Otachi is, which is inside a heavily populated city. The plasma cannon doesn't shoot Kaiju, it shoots ''through'' Kaiju, and is incredibly hard to maneuver with in close quarters. Between those two aspects of the gun, the plasma cannon would've done more damage to the buildings around Gypsy Danger than to the actual Kaiju, so he figured he might as well use it then to make sure Leatherback was dead since they wouldn't need it later. [[spoiler: Now, they were wrong, and it would've been helpful when Otachi pulled Gyspy into the stratosphere, but in Raleigh and Mako's defense, that was completely unexpected, and they made the logical chose at the time.]]

** There are really good reasons that Crimson and Cherno were wiped out so easily.
*** When introducing Cherno Alpha, Strucker says that they've been protecting the Siberian portion of the wall, and that their watch has been unbroken for six years. But, the thing is, Kaiju mainly attack ''population'' centers. Siberia doesn't have any warm water ports, and thus, has a really low population. Cherno was protecting one of the least inhabited areas in the Pacific Ocean. In all likelihood, they were on easy mode for six years, since the Kaiju were focused on the Japanese, Chinese, American, and Australian ports instead, which is why Cherno got destroyed in the fight.
*** The thing is, Crimson, despite being a very inventive design, is one of the most predictable of all the Jaegers. To quote a troper later in this page, "You'll notice that Striker Eureka, Cherno Alpha and especially Crimson Typhoon use the same general tactics and fighting styles in all their fights -- Striker typically knocks around a Kaiju for a minute before going for the chest missiles, Cherno has been fighting (apparently non-stop) for ten years, and Crimson Typhoon has had the same tactic in use for so long that even Raleigh, who's been out of the game for five years, was familiar with it." Furthermore, in a blink and you'll miss it line, Strucker mentions that Crimson has protected Hong Kong port seven times. That means that from the pseudo-drift that the Kaiju had, the precursors likely not only knew what Crimson looked like, what its main fighting technique is, but they also knew ''where'' Crimson would be. So what happens? Two Kaiju attack Hong Kong Port and the first Jaeger they kill is Crimson Typhoon.

** You could even throw in Raleigh, to some extant, since she's felt the pain of the loss of Yancy in the drift. Which becomes rather heartwarming if you think that Mako now considers Raleigh her family.
*** Basically, the answer is [[MathematiciansAnswer yes]].
* At first, Mako's memory scene comes off as cheesy. One girl running from a giant monster in a barren, seemingly abandoned city without even any other bodies, and when she finally sees her savior, he is backlit from the sun and overly heroic. Ridiculously cheesy, right? Remember, this isn't reality, this is a MEMORY. And our own memories are colored by how we perceive them. This isn't a memory of how the event actually happened, but a memory of how MAKO saw the event. SHE saw a monster, possibly bigger than it actually was. SHE saw just herself running from it, the monster focused on her. SHE saw her savior, standing atop his mech and looking down at her in such an amazing view. The reality may have been different, but that is how SHE remembered it. Pentecost himself outright implies that this is the case. "I don't care what you ''think'' you saw."
** This also explains why Onibaba towers over all the buildings in Tokyo despite canonically being a Category 2, and why it seemed unrealistically focused on one tiny human instead of causing as much destruction as it can. Because as far as Mako was concerned, there was a very, VERY BIG monster that was out to get HER.

* So, [[spoiler: you think that Hannibal Chau will be perfectly fine after cutting himself out of Otachi Jr.?]] You might want to rethink that seeing as how he ends up absolutely ''covered'' in Kaiju Blue...
** In the sequel comic Aftermath, [[spoiler:they do show that he is slowly dying of organ failure due to the toxicity of Kaiju Blue.]]

** Why send a pregnant kaiju in the first place, something that their surprise suggests hasn't happened before? Well, one drift wasn't enough to [[spoiler: take Newt. If the precursors wanted more information or to set up a Plan B if they are defeated or they want a man on the inside to sabotage humanity's efforts, they will need Newt to have the means to drift again. They might very well understand what Newt was looking for and that he didn't find it the first time.]]
* The fact that Kaiju blood is ammonia-based becomes much worse if you know something about chemistry.
** When exposed to soil, ammonia can react with the water inside and change into ammonium, its ionic form. This form will disassociate or nitrify if not absorbed by biomass, releasing Hydrogen Cations, which will result in soil acidification.
** While it can help with fertilization, in some environments, the nutrition ammonia provides usually promotes the growth of weedy species that will choke out ones dependent on larger amounts of nutrients.
** In aquatic environments, ammonia results in the formation of algal blooms, which deprive water of oxygen and block the sun over large areas. Some even secrete poisons into the water.
** Worst of all, while mammals have special mechanisms to help prevent ammonia from building up in the bloodstream, ''fish and amphibians don't.''
* The Kaiju are confirmed to have a digestive system, presumably need a huge amount of food, and target population centers. [[ToServeMan This says quite a bit about their eating habits.]]
** And what is to say Kaiju won't eat any sea life in the ocean as well?
*** This is confirmed in ''Ascension''. Right before a fight with a Kaiju, two Jaeger pilots muse on how awful it is that the majority of sea life around them probably won't survive what is to come, and during the fight the Kaiju casually ''eats a whale alive.''

* Humans know how to deal with Rifts now. It takes a few years to "expand" a Rift to be able to emit multiple Kaiju at a time. Even if another one opens, just wrap up a nuclear bomb in Kaiju flesh and chuck it in. Hannibal has some. Yes, it will cost a lot; but less than nuking cities or making more Jeagers.

** Another possibility (the idea that the Kaiju were reformatted/built within a few hours a little dubious) is simply that since the 'Makers' are stepping up their attack efforts by sending two Kaiju at once, it makes sense that they started adapting the Kaiju to counter specific Jeagers. Both Cherno and Crimson are older models, so the 'Makers' have had a lot of time to study them, and Striker, with it's high kill-count, is a priority target, hence the EMP.

* This turns into WildMassGuessing, but this movie's worldbuilding does set up a justification for the presence of people on rooftops, filming the Kaiju attack instead of running for their lives. When Kaiju attacks are a regular occurrence, and the Kaiju are evolving and changing with each go-round, video documentation of each Kaiju attack and (hopefully) defeat is of the utmost importance, so that the PPDC can study the Kaiju and prepare for the next one. I wouldn't be surprised if the PPDC subsidizes professional emergency camera crews on hand in every major Pacific city; maybe there's a rewards systems in place (rations cards?) for found footage shot by amateurs, if it's more informative.

* Just from the beginning of the movie -- in a world where the gap between the rich and the poor has widened, that guy and his kid resorted to scavenging for scrap metal, likely to go into Jeager-building to make money. And a bit of FridgeHorror, but the metal scraps they're more likely find is from other cities sent into the ocean by Kaiju attacks.

** Why send a pregnant kaiju in the first place, something that their surprise suggests hasn't happened before? Well, one drift wasn't enough to [[spoilers: take Newt. If the precursors wanted more information or to set up a Plan B if they are defeated or they want a man on the inside to sabotage humanity's efforts, they will need Newt to have the means to drift again. They might very well understand what Newt was looking for and that he didn't find it the first time.]]

* The movie has book ends: The plot is kicked off when Gipsy Danger is brought down by Knifehead; signaling that the Jaegers weren't invincible. It ends with the Gipsy Danger bringing down the Kaiju production facility; signaling that the Precursor's Rift wasn't unbreachable. The movie both starts and ends on one side realizing that their finest weapons have failed.

* It seems odd that Striker Eureka (and to the same extent, Crimson Typhoon)'s systems being "digital" meant it was more vulnerable to Leatherback's EMP than the nuclear Gipsy Danger and Cherno Alpha. Danger had core systems that still would've been lost if EMP'd. But being "digital" was referring to the ''connection between the pilots and the Jaeger'', not the power systems. Think about it -- in the prologue we clearly see Yancy and Raleigh's braces connected to a multitude of pistons and gears that move in conjunction with their movements. They were ''directly connected to Gipsy's drive motors through the braces''. Meanwhile, we don't see the same exposed machinery in Eureka or Typhoon. Being "digital" likely means that computerized systems "read" the movements the pilots make via the braces, and then make the motors respond appropriately -- reducing the exertion level for the pilots and allowing for movements not possible through standard movement (e.g. Typhoon's lower-torso-rotation). If the power is lost, the connection is severed, and there's no way of controlling the Jaeger -- hence, Eureka going limp. An "analogue" Jaeger has a direct connection between the pilots and the motors, so even if the systems stop working, the pilots are still somewhat capable of controlling the mech, albeit with more effort needed and a possible HUD loss. Striker and Crimson both being digital through this definition also connects to them being faster and more agile than their analogue counterparts, Gipsy and Cherno, both of which are slower models.
** It's also possible that Raleigh was [=Bsing=]. Gipsy rips out Leatherback's organ that houses the EMP before he has a chance to use it, so we never find out if Gipsy would've been affected. Raleigh could've just been [=BSing=] to get into the fight, and since nobody knew how the EMP worked (and they didn't really have any other options) they believed him and put him and Mako into the fight.

* At first it seems that there's nothing particular about the [[CurbStompBattle ease]] at which Striker disposed of Mutavore, series of uppercuts followed by the chest missiles. But remember that Mutavore's eyes are [[EyesDoNotBelongThere inexplicably underneath its mouth]]. And those common uppercuts become effectively [[EyeScream eye gouging]] lead ups to the finishing move. Never saw it coming.
* Those little helicopters accompanying Jaegers during missions won't do much outside of carrying the mechas to battle. But they worked pretty well as eye in the sky or a warning system for the [[MightyGlacier gigantic Jaegers]]. Consider the weather during Hong Kong fight, how Kaijus are destroying surface environment and how Raleigh reported low visibility under water.
* Why did Scunner attack Gypsy Danger unrelentingly until Slattern called in for back up? Well, consider how much of a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute he is for Knifehead. Dual sets of split arms, sharp head ornaments, shell on back; and large mouth for biting. Now consider the Precursors were actively changing and adapting the kaiju to better deal with the Jaegars. They knew Gypsy Danger was a threat so they created a kaiju based on the last one of their forces that took Gypsy out. Scunner was made to be a bigger, stronger, more dangerous version of Knifehead specially make to take out Gypsy. Now recall the HiveMind the kaiju had. If Scunner had Knifehead's memories it make sense for him to go after Gypsy, it remembered getting killed by it.
* Pentecost's last words to Mako are "You can always find me in the Drift!" It's a heartwarming reminder that he'll be there for her when she needs him--it also makes sense as more than a metaphorical statement because as we've seen earlier, Mako gives in to chasing the RABIT when Drifting, going back into her memories. On top of that, Geiszler and later Gottlieb have shown that it's possible to Drift outside of a Jaeger, so it's entirely possible that, if she needs his presence, she can purposefully chase the RABIT in a safer Drift setting to be with him.
* The fact that, to destroy the Rift, Raleigh and Mako had to send Gipsy Danger through it to destroy the Rift. Remember that, for the entire movie, the Precursors have been sending their monsters through the Rift to attack humanity. Now, think about the tagline for the movie "To Fight Monsters We Created Monsters". So, in essence, the climax of the movie was humanity turning the Precursor's own tactic against them: Sending a monster (In this instance the Jaeger Gipsy Danger) through the Rift to destroy/defeat those on the other side. You even get a closeup on one of the Precursor's face as they realize exactly what's happening.
** A second layer of symbolism: The humans made monsters to fight the monsters the Precursors were sending, so in a way, the Jaegers were humanity's version of the Precursor's monsters. But humanity didn't just send an upgraded version of the Precursor's monsters, they sent their own monster into the Rift as well, which was much worse. The humans sent into the rift the one weapon so destructive, they were scared to use it on themselves. [[NuclearWeaponsTaboo The one thing humans had that was even more destructive than any Kaiju.]] Gypsy Danger may have been the Precursor's nightmare, but her nuclear reactor was ours. [[HorrifyingtheHorror And even though the Precursors sent dozens of their monsters to our world and couldn't bring us to heel, all we had to do was send one of ours.]]

* How did [[spoiler: Slattern survived a ''nuke'' detonating in his face? Simple. Before Jaegers, nukes were the only effective weapons capable of taking Kaijus down. Even Trespasser, the first Kaiju ever, took three nukes before it's finally dead. Now factor in how the Precursors made each of the latest generation Kaijus to specifically deal with opponents they have to face, it's no wonder why Slattern is capable of withstanding a full nuke blast with ease. This also leads to a FridgeHorror: any possible new Kaijus after Slattern ''will all be immune to nukes''. It's a good thing Raleigh and Mako managed to seal the breach when they did, otherwise it'd be just a matter of time before the Kaijus win.]]
* There's a load of Fridge Brilliance behind not just positioning Jaegers in front of the Rift and attacking the Kaiju there, but the biggest bit concerns how the Kaiju and Jaegers fight. Jaegers are based off of humans so they like to stand up and fight, while Kaiju are more reptilian. Why does this matter? Because humans are built to fight on land. Jaegers don't swim, they just walk underwater, while Kaiju like Scunner and Slattern are basically like giant snakes. Kaiju have a massive speed boost when they swim underwater, while Jaeger's can run faster on land and have can use the environment to their advantage. Letting the Kaiju exhaust themselves by having to travel all the way across the ocean and fight in a completely different type of environment than what they're used to (because the Precursor's realm is aqueous), gives the humans a massive home-field advantage.

** Fridge Brilliance for the Precursors as well. The Kaiju primarily attack population centers on the Pacific Coast. That's not just to cull the human population, that's to force the Jaegers out. If they attacked depopulated areas, the Jaegers would just wait until they're heavily inland, in a defensible location, then attack, while heading for population centers forces Jaegers to intercept them in port at worst, and at best in the open ocean, in either case, they have the advantage.
* The Australian Jaeger being to most advanced and powerful makes alot of since due to geography, Australia is a subcontinent completely surrounded by ocean and most of the population is situated along the coast meaning a kaiju rampage would be particularly devastating. Stryker Eureka was made that strong so it could kill the kaiju as quickly as possible before it can cause widespread destruction.

** Considering the Plan B was to wall off the Pacific Ocean from Kaiju... what if there were people still left in the Pacific who couldn't get off? Areas like the Pitcairn Islands are extremely remote -- for all we know the people on the Pitcairn Islands or Tahiti were left huddling in their homes in fear waiting for the day a boat or a plane finally comes to rescue them, not knowing if they'll soon become a snack to Kaiju.
** Given how many of the islands in Oceania's economy is dependent on tourism, when the film takes place, nobody will go out for a vacation in the tropical paradises of the Pacific anymore -- and given how much damage the Jaegers and Kaiju have done to the fishing scene, there'll probably be almost ''nothing'' for the Pacific islanders to go back to after the events of the movie.

* Imagine the damage Slattern could have done if he had made landfall, considering the damage he withstood at the hands of Striker and Gipsy. Remember what Dr. Geizler said about 'the extermination wave isn't even here yet'. That leaves two possibilities: a) The main body of the invasion is an entire ''army'' of Slatterns. Or b) The main body of the invasion is an entire army of something '''even worse'''. It's possible the extermination wave was simply a gigantic army of Kaiju (in two scenes, Newt's first Drift and then Gipsy arriving at the Kaiju base, we can see a whole line of what looks like an army of Knifeheads hovering in the air), but still, it's a scary thought either way.
* The first battles against Trespasser and the other pre-Jaeger Kaiju were probably the the most horrific things ever experienced by a soldier. Imagine fighting a creature the size of an apartment building though streets pockmarked with crater sized footprints, some filled with -- unpleasant remains. Being forced to clear corpse riddled debris for fighting vehicles to maneuver through. Knowing that you could be attacked from any direction, with your only hope for survival being the alleys and side streets. God help you if you're in a tank and the thing comes storming out of an adjacent road, the turret probably couldn't turn fast enough, even if you had air support calling out its location. Now, imagine six days of that. It's probably a good thing Raleigh skimmed over the opening bit.

** Being a ChildSoldier probably didn't help his emotional issues, either. It's revealed that Chuck was enlisted in the Jaeger Academy at age 12 in 2015, was first deployed in Striker Eureka at 16 in 2019, and has the highest Kaiju kill count in history at 21 in 2025. Herc even admits that Chuck was "raised in the cockpit", which couldn't have been healthy for a young, traumatized boy. And when you consider how royally screwed up most RealLife child soldiers are (especially those who started fighting before the age of 17), it shouldn't be surprising that Chuck has some very serious emotional and social problems. He was literally raised to kill Kaiju in a CrapsackWorld, not to interact with other humans or people his own age.
** Suppressing feelings of fear or guilt is a common theme in molding effective child soldiers in real life. Chuck vehemently refuses to show either of these emotions and acts extremely hostile when someone wrongs him in any way. It's likely that such a belief had been drilled into his mind since age ''12'' and unlike an emotionally and physically mature adult, he was never able to differentiate between the appropriate time to suppress those emotions and the appropriate time to release them off the battlefield.
** His initial animosity towards Raleigh may be due to concern about the latter's ability to do his job, but there are other reasons. Based on film and supplemental data, Raleigh is the only pilot to flat-out ''quit'' the Jaeger program. All other pilots have been either killed or reassigned (like Pentecost). Yes, Raleigh lost his brother, but Chuck lost his mother, entire extended family, and had to see many of his fellow pilots fall during the past five years. (Striker Eureka wasn't Australia's only Jaeger, just its only surviving one.) To Chuck, Raleigh did ScrewThisImOuttaHere not only to humanity's best defense, but to a program he spent his entire adult life in.
** To add further insult, Raleigh wound up working on the Wall project, which was just proven ineffective since Chuck had to use Striker Eureka to take out the Kaiju that breached the Sydney wall. Two other Jaegers, Vulcan Specter and Echo Saber, were also destroyed while protecting it from the outside. To Chuck, Raleigh is a reminder that the Jaeger program is being scrapped in favor of a worthless publicity stunt.

** In the sequel comic Aftermath, they do show that he is slowly dying of organ failure due to the toxicity of kaiju blue.

* Considering what the neural load of piloting a Jaeger solo does to a human (bloody sclera and [[PsychicNosebleed nosebleeds]]), chances are good that even with the Drift to share the load, piloting a Jaeger isn't doing anything good for the pilots lifespans. Fighting giant monsters aside, putting that level of strain on the brain can't be healthy.

** And what is to say Kaiju won't eat any sealife in the ocean as well?
*** This is confirmed in ''Ascension''. Right before a fight with a Kaiju, two Jaeger pilots muse on how awful it is that the majority of sea life around them probably won't survive what is to come, and during the fight the Kaiju casually ''eats a whale alive''.
* The Drift makes it so that co-pilots while in the Drift don't really need to communicate since they are in each others heads. So when Yancy is KilledMidSentence at the start of the film, you would think that his last words were echoed in Raleigh's mind. Only, sometimes our minds get so scrambled we need to speak in order to organize them; chances are, Raleigh could only guess at what his brother wanted to say to him. Yancy could have wanted to say anything along the lines of pride, regret, reassurance -- maybe even all of these things and more at once. Raleigh may have some semblance of what Yancy wanted to say to him -- after all, the sentiment is there, and the connection is empathic -- but the fact that Yancy never got to vocalize these thoughts to Raleigh is another painful reminder of how brutally Yancy was taken from him.

* It seems odd that Striker Eureka (and to the same extent, Crimson Typhoon)'s systems being "digital" meant it was more vulnerable to Leatherback's EMP than the nuclear Gipsy Danger and Cherno Alpha. Danger had core systems that still would've been lost if EMP'd. But being "digital" was referring to the ''connection between the pilots and the Jaeger'', not the power systems. Think about it -- in the prologue we clearly see Yancy and Raleigh's braces connected to a multitude of pistons and gears that move in conjunction with their movements. They were ''directly connected to Gipsy's drive motors through the braces''. Meanwhile, we don't see the same exposed machinery in Eureka or Typhoon. Being "digital" likely means that computerized systems "read" the movements the pilots make via the braces, and then make the motors respond appropriately -- reducing the exertion level for the pilots and allowing for movements not possible through standard movement (e.g. Typhoon's lower-torso-rotation). If the power is lost -- the connection is severed, and there's no way of controlling the Jaeger -- hence, Eureka going limp. An "analogue" Jaeger has a direct connection between the pilots and the motors, so even if the systems stop working, the pilots are still somewhat capable of controlling the mech, albeit with more effort needed and a possible HUD loss. Striker and Crimson both being digital through this definition also connects to them being faster and more agile than their analogue counterparts, Gipsy and Cherno, both of which are slower models.
** It's also possible that Raleigh was BSing. Gipsy rips out Leatherback's organ that houses the EMP before he has a chance to use it, so we never find out if Gipsy would've been affected. Raleigh could've just been BSing to get into the fight, and since nobody knew how the EMP worked (and they didn't really have any other options) they believed him and put him and Mako into the fight.
* Gipsy being unaffected by the EMP. Being nuclear, it already put out a lot of radiation of its own. In order to deal with that, it would need more shielding just to protect itself from its own electro magnetic radiation.So naturally it'll be more resistant to an EMP.

* Why did Scunner attack Gypsy Danger unrelentingly until Slattern called in for back up? Well consider how much of a SuspiciouslySimilarSubstitute he is for Knifehead. Dual sets of split arms, sharp head ornaments, shell on back; and large mouth for biting. Now consider the Precursors were actively changing and adapting the kaiju to better deal with the Jaegars. They knew Gypsy Danger was a threat so they created a kaiju based on the last one of their forces that took Gypsy out. Scunner was made to be a bigger, stronger, more dangerous version of Knifehead specially make to take out Gypsy. Now recall the HiveMind the kaiju had. If Scunner had Knifehead's memories it make sense for him to go after Gypsy, it remembered getting killed by it.

** There's really good reasons that Crimson and Cherno were wiped out so easily.
*** When introducing Cherno Alpha, Strucker says that they've been protecting the Siberian portion of the wall, and that their watch has been unbroken for six years. But, the thing is, Kaiju mainly attack ''population'' centers. Siberia doesn't have any warm water ports, and thus, has a really low population. Cherno was protecting one of the least inhabited areas in the Pacific Ocean, in all likelihood, they were on easy mode for six years, since the Kaiju were focused on the Japanese, Chinese, American, and Australian ports instead, which is why they got destroyed in the fight.
*** The thing is, Crimson, despite being a very inventive design, is one of the most predictable of all the Jaegers. To quote a troper later in this page "You'll notice that Striker Eureka, Cherno Alpha and especially Crimson Typhoon use the same general tactics and fighting styles in all their fights -- Striker typically knocks around a Kaiju for a minute before going for the chest missiles, Cherno has been fighting (apparently non-stop) for ten years, and Crimson Typhoon has had the same tactic in use for so long that even Raleigh, who's been out of the game for five years, was familiar with it." Furthermore, in a blink and you'll miss it line, Strucker mentions that Crimson has protected Hong Kong port seven times. That means that from the pseudo-drift that the Kaiju had, the precursors likely not only knew what Crimson looked like, what it's main fighting technique is, but they also knew ''where'' Crimson would be. So what happens? Two Kaiju attack Hong Kong Port and the first Jaeger they kill is Crimson Typhoon.

** You could even throw in Raleigh, to some extant, since she's felt the pain of the loss of Yancy in the drift. Which becomes rather Heartwarming if you think that Mako now considers Raleigh her family.

* At first, Mako's memory scene comes off as cheesy. One girl running from a giant monster in a barren, seemingly abandoned city without even any other bodies, and when she finally sees her savior it is backlit from the sun and overly heroic. Ridiculously cheesy, right? Well remember, this isn't reality, this is a MEMORY. And our own memories are colored by how we perceive them. This isn't a memory of how the event actually happened, but a memory of how MAKO saw the event. SHE saw a monster, possibly bigger than it actually was. SHE saw just herself running from it, the monster focused on her. SHE saw her savior, standing atop their mech and looking down at her in such an amazing view. The reality may have been different, but that is how SHE remembered it. Pentecost himself outright implies that this is the case. "I don't care what you ''think'' you saw."
* Maybe the reason why the Russians piloting the older suits don't have the same [[spoiler: radiation poisoning]] as those piloting other models (like [[spoiler:Pentecost]]) is because post-Chernobyl the Russian team building them is more scrupulous about radiation shielding. Plus, Cherno Alpha's reactor is above the pilots, the only Jaegers to have that configuration. Now look at how big and chunky it's pilots helmets and shoulderpads are -- they might have backup shielding in their suits.
* It's mentioned that Kaiju decompose rapidly. [[spoiler:While the Kaiju's creators may not have known about how Drifting works, the rapid decomposing of Kaiju is still an effective method of preventing the enemy from studying them.]]

* This movie takes the cliche of the hero and splits it in half. Mako and Raleigh form two variations on the classic hero story; the rookie who suffered a traumatic past and seeks to avenge her family and the old guard, who suffered a traumatic incident in battle but is looking to return for one last hurrah.

* The Kwoon Fight between Mako and Raleigh
** The fight ends when Mako takes Raleigh down with a 4 to 3 win, showing how compatible they are as fighters. Considering that Raleigh had been outclassing everyone he fought with this is awesome all on it's own, but it's even better when you consider the FridgeBrilliance of Mako's tactics.
*** The first thing Raleigh says to her is "Remember, it's a dialogue, not a fight." And then Mako proceeds to ''let'' him score with a strike to her head and then quickly responds with a defense and strike to ''his'' head, as in "Hi, nice to meet you" to "Hi, nice to meet you too." Then she deliberately braces and does not defend against his next strike against her hip and ''out of nowhere'' begins to actually fight and parry and ''repeats'' the strike against his head - even better, you can see Raleigh's visible frustration like "Oops, underestimated here." And then they go all out and she ends up ''flipping'' him and landing a strike ''back'' at his head and this time you can see his ''awe.'' At this point, Raleigh actually flips her back they go full tilt and you can see Raleigh is actually visibly working this time to keep up as he has not had to do with any other opponent until Mako takes him down ''again'' and Raleigh declares them drift compatible. What makes this Mako so brilliant? Not only did she take Raleigh's advice about dialogue vs fight, she actually used Raleigh's own tactics against him. The thing that originally got her on the mat with him? ''Her frustration that he could have taken all of them '''two''' moves sooner.'' Since she didn't actually defend against the first few strikes, Raleigh only actually scored '''one''' legitimate point.

** This ties into another bit of Brilliance - after the timeskip, it is explicitly said that the Kaiju are adapting to their tactics (with Herc Hansen ''standing right there''), and yet the Jaeger pilots continue to use the same moves even as the Kaiju mix things up. Gipsy doesn't, in accordance with Raleigh's improvisational fighting style that carries over to the Jaeger fights -- using cargo containers as knuckle dusters and a freaking oil tanker as a bat/kendo stick -- and thus the Kaiju can't plan for Gipsy as well as they did for Striker, Cherno or Crimson. During their fight, literally the second Chuck starts countering Raleigh's moves, he changes styles, keeping him off balance. One of the biggest problems the individual Kaiju have is lack of adaptability - and it bites them in the ass every time, especially when faced with an opponent that specializes in ConfusionFu.

** Also note that this is their first action together. Even with the Neural Handshake and a strong Drift compatibility, a fresh team-up runs the risk of falling apart easily because of differing ideas in how to tackle the situation, no matter how compatible the numbers make them out to be. Raleigh and Mako are an example of the classic rookie-veteran team-up, and most often this particular team-up will have a show of the two polar forces contradicting each others intentions, usually during their first action. Fortunately for this team, Raleigh understands Mako's potential and trusts her, even before their first Neural Handshake, so his directions gives Mako the needed edge to make sure they stay on form during the fights. The following fight scenes see less of Raleigh directing Mako, their teamwork having improved dramatically.
* Otachi is the first Kaiju with a demonstrated ability to fly. This, after the humans started working on the wall. Given that the Kaiju Builders didn't know whether the human wall would end up being strong enough to keep the Kaiju out, it makes perfect sense that they would start working on a countermeasure. Though [[http://pacificrim.wikia.com/wiki/Scissure Scissure]], the fourth Kaiju, had wings as well, though its unknown if it could fly.

* Pentecost's convincing of Raleigh to return to being Jaeger pilot instead of remaining a construction worker in Alaska includes him asking "Where would you rather die? Here? Or in a Jaeger?" [[spoiler: Pentecost is dying of radiation poisoning. What he's saying isn't just an inspirational line for Raleigh, he's speaking from experience; Pentecost would also rather leave this life knowing he was doing something he felt worthy doing, rather than waste away. And at the end of the movie, that's exactly what he does]].
* It really says just how powerful Striker Eureka is when [[spoiler: the Precursors]] had to use an EMP to stop it. ''Temporarily''. They were able to find strategies to easily destroy [[spoiler: Crimson Typhoon and Cherno Alpha]] but could not find a way to do the same to Striker. And in the fight with [[spoiler: Slattern, a '''Category 5''']], the Kaiju had to call for ''help'' against Striker Eureka. What better way to go up against a Mark-5, the newest, most advanced Jaeger, than with [[spoiler: a Category 5, the newest, most advanced Kaiju]].
* The two Kaiju sent against Cherno Alpha and Crimson Typhoon, Leatherback and Otachi, respectively match their abilities. Crimson Typhoon has three arms, Otachi fights with its two arms and PrehensileTail. Cherno Alpha has massive fists combined with [[ShockAndAwe Tesla cells]], Leatherback likewise has huge fists and an EMP ability.
* Just as [[spoiler: Mako was saved from Onibaba by its being distracted by Coyote Tango, she in turn got to save Newt by distracting Otachi in Gipsy Danger, although she probably is unaware of this.]]

** ''Film/{{Hellboy}}'': Ron Perlman plays '''H'''ellboy (an appropriated nickname), an emotionally-driven monster-fighting secret agent demon who's constantly chafing at the bit of authority. His most distinctive features, besides his red skin, are his fist and his firearm.