Armored Core/WMG

For Answer's Protagonist is an AI.

• By AI I mean Hustler One by the way. Here's why: Hustler One (Or more commonly known as 9Ball (which actually is his mech)) was created to protect humanity. It thought protecting humanity was easiest by killing it-- as humans like to fight wars. Now, it's known H1/9B isn't in 4/FA as an opponent- but here's a thought: On Ending C, you exterminate all of humanity- and it'd take more than just a Complete Monster to do that-- now, also, you get 9Ball's emblem (most likely, as that requires the "Occupation of Arteria Carpals", and given it's a Scrappy Level, any sane player is going save that one for the end.) when you do so most perfectly. Also, a complete copy of 9Ball is available for the player to access in AC:fA. Furthermore, as seen on "Take Back Cradle 21", and "Destroy Megalis"- Serene Haze/Kasumi Sumika (your operator) is also in your NEXT; NEX Ts and Cores are single occupant-- this is only possible if the pilot is an AI.
  • I had a similar line of thought, but the fact is that you fight H1 in 4 and he doesn't show up in 4A because of this (they've rarely put him in sequels that are directly adjacent. He doesn't show up in a number of games if he showed up in the one chronologically before it).
    • You fight H1 in AC4?! When?! Where?!
      • Not sure which, as I didn't finish the game, but a friend of mine did.
      • Your friend lies. 9Ball/Hustler 1 didn't appear.
        • Preordered Copies of Armored Core 4 from Gamespot come with two extra fights (Nine-Ball and Phantasmagoria, who take up the missing Ranks 23 and 29 respectivly (Going by Senority or something)) as well as the KARASAWA Mk. 4 and the LSI-MOONLIGHT.

Hustler 1 is ensuring humanity's survival through conflict.

• A number of shows have proven that humanity thrives when under strife and in desperation. Hell, our own history has shown this (WW 2, for example). He's intentionally causing the wars and prolonging them for the sake of forcing us into survival instinct. The more we fight, the more effectively he ensures his own programing.
  • Now to mess with you, think about this: Hustler 1 and Agent Smith are the same AI.

Hustler 1 is really the original Terminator (T1) before they started sending them back in time.

A counter to the above. The Terminator and Hustler 1 have some similar goals, it is possible that the bastard is the original model.

Kojima particles are an early form of GN Particles.

• All we're waiting for now is a squad of mysteriously powerful Nexts to appear and start armed interventions around the world.
  • One of the Torus model torsos in For Answer looks like it has a massive GN drive in the back of it. And what happens when you overboost? A massive wave of green particles appear.
    • The Torus Core (There's only one) has a Sol Dios Cannon for an Overbooster, FYI.

Everyone is Nine Ball.

• After all, you never see anyone's face, and NB's shown that he can change his voice. Thus, the reason every mech fights pretty much the same is because they're all the same AI!

The Disorder Units are made by the same people who created IBIS and DOVE

• It can't be coincidence that the Disorders have so many similar features (Force fields,strange doors and grav-lifts in their base, AC-like minions etc.) surely?

OP-INTENSIFY is based off of the Controller.

• Why else would it have the Controllers logo when it mails you to tell you you've unlocked a new feature for it?

Every Armored Core game and Chromehounds belong to one timeline.

• I see it this way: the timeline begins with Chromehounds, progressively working its way to Armored Core 4. Take Hard Mode of both 4 and FA as canon, and have the FA ending be the League win. This progresses to the Great Destruction, leading into Armored Core 1 and eventually 2. Another Age is the end finale of this timeline, but Armored Core 3 is a Canon AU in which Leos Kline succeeded in Colony Dropping Phobos, then proceeded to wipe out the Earth Government as well. Armored Core 3 and forward takes place on Mars, and all of the weird stuff (the Controller, IBIS) is Disorder technology or human tech based on Disorder tech. There, the AC games made into one effective continuity

Armored Core V is set after Last Raven and before Armored Core 4

• The early signs of quickboost, the additional armor, and the menacing looking designs.

The Armored Core's in 5 are actually Normals.(The game takes place before Armored Core 4)

• Given how small a Normal is and how they have to be in numbers to take down a NEXT if they are lucky and given that AC 5 will be based on team play. The final boss will most likely be an 03-AALYAH since they were the first fully functioning mass produced NEXT in the Armored Core 4 verse.
  • Except Normals are actually as big as a NEXT, the same as the MTs (which are actually taller). Ignoring the size, though... It adds up, especially given how 'square' and slow these mechs seem to be (if the trailer's to be believed, which is always a gamble).

Omer Science is the Big Bad for the 4/for Answer games.

• Every bad thing in some way shape or form has Omer involved. In 4 they make you take down Berlioz and his squad which might of been the start of ORCA The mission that had you destroy Rayleonard headquaters Exavil? Omers doing. The destruction of Anitolia at the hands of Josh? Yup. If he fails in hard mode? They sick Cleo on you. In for Answer they pretty much run the Leauge, are the ones that want Line Ark out of the way and do if the player wishes, gets rid of White Glint, and if we go on the ORCA path they had a hand in the the death machine that is Answer and if we take hard mode canon then Thermidor goes after you which doesn't sound that awful until you realize he was also employed by Omer. I think they win.

Ninebreaker was a comatose dream your pilot has after the events of Nexus, and Formula Front was his life before becoming a Raven.

• Ninebreaker was merely a What If dream to represent the remorse your pilot has for bringing apart the Second Great Destruction, a Valhalla paradise where all ravens could coexist with corporations (and not be a Complete Monster in the public view). When the Raven realizes this is a dream world, he goes into epilepsy where My Life Flashes Before My Eyes. Thankfully, he got better, and is now back in action for defeating the pulverizers.

No one really lives in the Cradles.

If the cradles were really occupied by 20 million people each, why are they so small, and why aren't there any kind of defense turrets on the cradles if there are groups like Liliana that are capable of attacking the cradles with little to no effort? Chances are that the cradles are either completely empty, filled with the same expendable goons in Armsforts, or do have people, except the fewer that did know about the inevitability of pollution reaching cradle airspace all left Earth before the assault cells were activated.

All of the Corporations unit's are AI's.

Given the way they move, how alien there designs are and the fact that Chief and Carol are AI's.

• But since you fight on the Corporation's side in the first mission, either the pilot's a really dumb migrant, or...

Your Playable Character is a prototype from the Corporation.

First of all, notice Chief's interest in your skills as the game goes on, as you graduate from rookie to his ultimate sparring partner. Sure, evidence may point to the Chief simply not knowing who's piloting the thing, but that's what the corporations want others to think. Remember mission 09: your objective was to protect the resistance, yet neither operator chimes in during the final battle. So, what are the implications here?

Your PC was a Manchurian Agent.

Specifically, a rogue AI/remnant Human+ test subject who cannot tell if it's human or not. Why do the operators keep referring to you as the "Star pilot"? They never see your PC in the flesh. In fact, perhaps the only reason your PC switched sides was the tragedy for Fran and her father, audible only by you. Come time the resistance disbands, your PC may have actually seeks the corporation out, until they found it first. And the ambiguous dialogue spouted by Carol either implied that they would rebuild Chief, or have your PC turned in to extract all the information about the resistance.

• This Troper is mind blown, also consider how the Resistance's attacks and movements are always predicted by the Corporation every single time. Maybe from the start you are siding with the Corporation and then was given the order to be a sleeper agent within the Resistance. The last few line after defeating Chief in Exusia would also imply that you have a sense of belonging onto the Corporation. It would also only make sense and keep up with the theme of brainwashed/merged pilots as well considering the Zodiac ACs.

Move aside, White Glint. We've got a badass on our hands...

Armored Core V is an alternate timeline to Armored Core 4 and For Answer

And in fact, nothing can safely come after Armored Core 4/FA because the setting is so ruined by the apocalyptic combination of Kojima pollution and the two wars that took place in both games. Specifically, ACV is an alternate timeline wherein Kojima Particles are never discovered and the Cradles are not constructed, so the major concern on the planet is not Kojima pollution but resource depletion. Armored Core V takes place a long time after people left Layered, which explains why Cores and parts are being found underground in shafts and tunnels that look suspiciously like some of the shafts and underground bases from the Layered era, and all of the technology and capability of a modern Core is explainable as each unit being a mishmash between Cores and MTs that come close:

• Cores using boosters meant for units twice their size allow them to glide around and quickly boost from place to place. Flight is still difficult because the salvaged tech isn't the most efficient, so anything thrust-intensive still draws too much power for long stretches
• The blades and swords are now rendered too large for the ACV-era Cores to properly mount on their forearms and so they need to be carried using handles that the Cores must hold. For that reason built-in arm weaponry is also rendered obsolete since the balance and recoil would ruin a Core
• Most Ultimate Weapons are examples of large shoulder-mounted weapons from the Layered era which were adapted to be used by current-generation Cores. Giant and Grind Blades, as well as the Legion Pulse, are the only U Ws which are developed specifically for the Cores in ACV. Since they are still made using salvaged technology meant for Cores with a greater weight limit and power requirement they still overload and overwork ACV Cores
• Radar as other generations know it is nonexistent because the technology didn't keep well after numerous conflicts, but was still preserved in an incomplete form in scan mode and scan drones from technology salvaged from Core heads, since built-in radar in certain heads would be smaller, perform less well and most importantly be preserved inside something meant to take as much punishment as a Core head