Evangelion Unit-08

Evangelion Production Model Custom Type-08α (汎用ヒト型決戦兵器 人造人間エヴァンゲリオン 正規実用型（ヴィレカスタム） 8号機α) is an Evangelion unit introduced in the Rebuild of Evangelion tetralogy.

It appears briefly in Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo, the unit is piloted by Mari Makinami Illustrious and is fighting alongside Evangelion Production Model-02'β, against the Evangelion Mark.04 during the Operation US.

Profile
Evangelion Production Model Custom Type-08α (汎用ヒト型決戦兵器 人造人間エヴァンゲリオン 正規実用型（ヴィレカスタム） 8号機α) sports the same basic shape as other production model Evangelions, mainly colored pink with white trim and some yellow details. Its status as a custom type, however, causes it to have some noticeable differences. The helmet of the unit sports three horns aimed slightly backwards, with eight individual eyes colored neon green distributed in the front.

Features
As the Evangelion itself wasn't shown that much in 3.0 (and when it was seen, it was in a support role), the real extent of its abilities are unknown. It is seen to be compatible with support weapons like the sniper rifle.

Evangelion: 3.0 You Can (Not) Redo
Having been acquired through unknown means by WILLE in the 14-years-gap after Near Third Impact, Evangelion Unit-08α was first deployed during the Operation US, as support unit trying to get hold of the Tesseract imprisoning Evangelion Unit-01. Misato's original plan was for Mari to lead the operation with Asuka in support, as Unit-08 was less damaged than Asukas's Unit-02, but Mari insists that Asuka take the lead in order for Shinji for Shinji's sake. It was unable to go into orbit, and was forced to simply act as a backup for Unit-02'β for a brief moment, and engage a bunch of Mk.04A with a sniper rifle before re-entering the atmosphere.

Evangelion: 3.0+1.0 Thrice Upon A Time
Mark.06 makes it's last onscreen appearance when Gendo destroys all of the Evangelion Units with the Spear of Gaius piercing Unit-01 and Evangelion 13 to remove everything related to Evangelion.

Development
At the end of Evangelion: 2.0 You Can (Not) Advance, the Unit-08 is seen in the preview for 3.0. It is drastically different from the actual unit seen in the movie. It has a dark purple color scheme on its whole body and an helmet with a pink visor similar to the Evangelion Mark.06. It also has a halo, can float and is also said to "awakened". The "awakened" unit is later revealed to be Evangelion 13 instead of Unit-08. In April, 19 2021, Ikuto Yamashita revealed a design dated to 2009 of the early design of Unit-08, that according to Yamashita, was supposed to have a dual entry plug system, but it was dropped, since Evangelion 13 would also have one. The design features also matches the one used in the preview of 2.0. The color of it is also highly different and more likely to be a tentative color scheme.