So, I get there's a bit of speculation about the human fittings on it perhaps just being a bug. While typically, I'd agree and have been, thanks to CMDR Plater's video above, I got somewhat what I was after.
View attachment 141452
Things which make me think this is a legit hybrid from here are as follows. Up-front note, I'm not suggesting the PP, FSD, PD and SG presence
aren't a bug, but I think it's too early to rule it out as a bug too.
- Unknown Drives. It actually confuses me that we've so far focused on the Human fittings and the Hearts, but basically not mentioned the unknown drives. That's a pretty deliberate, addition, as we don't usually see Drives on a typical Thargoid scan.
- Shield Generator (specifically). While the presence of a fairly-typical looking shield generator might still be part of a bug, it's state is not. Thargoid Vessels don't activate shields until a heart is exerted. In this case, the shields probably don't function like the usual shields
- I note two "blank" fittings, so for balance, this suggests it could be a bug. For example, maybe other thargoids would have "Unknown Drives" but they're a hidden fitting, not hidden on this though.
So, that's all well and good, I haven't really
proven anything with that, not that I'm out to at the moment... but referring to
this good screenshot.... look very closely at the "polyps".
View attachment 141456View attachment 141457View attachment 141458View attachment 141459
Most of them are characterised by cracking around them. That's usually a by-product of joining two things which, well, aren't meant to be joined together. It's unlikely Humans can graft/grow Thargoid Vessel, err, material, to create a clean "join", so to attach any human control systems they'd need to "Brute-force" it onto the rest of the ship... think of it like trying to attach something to glass with a metal screw. The regular pattern is also indicative of things needing fixing at regular, distributed points. Thargoid ships are pretty symmetrical, so pretty likely that those points would be symmetrical/regular too.
More importantly, those cracks aren't just "growth" from the "polyp", If you look real close there's no contiguity between the polyp and the cracks, they're just cracks in the Thargoid surface. The paler, more yellow aspects, and the lack of any lighting effects typical on a Thargoid's surface also suggest the surface isn't exactly "alive" like usual as well.
For me personally, this is smoking-gun stuff that this is some hybrid vessel being "secured"... but why and who, who knows.
Welcome to speculating on things
(not excusing it, just it's been going on since day dot, and they have a habit of not wanting to discuss anything related to this)
EDIT: Can someone do me a massive? Select those subtargets and take screenies of where the little red aiming boxes appear on the Orthrus? Might be a whack of effort, but.
