Seriously, no one is gonna tell me they're comfortable carrying to massive guns, running in high heels through a tundra, or desert. Is it alien? Did the VS create a new species to operate the Max suit? Is it a cyborg? A human brain in the helmet, controlling the suit? Is it a robot? Did someone who transferred their consciousness take control of it? Honestly, it certainly doesn't look like mining equipment to me.
It's style over substance. I mean, they need batteries just to get their guns to work. And they claim to be high tech. You are living a lie VS! Living a lie!
MAX is a acronym... I'm not 100% but I think it's Mechanized Assault eXoskeleton or something similar. Definately an exoskeleton, so there's a dude or lady under the armour. The NC had the idea first, but the VS, to spite the TR and NC counterparts, made a far slimmer, sleeker and sexier model - allowing it to have the exact same operational paramaters as its counterparts but maintaining a much smaller size and higher sexomarating. It's our way of saying "we have the technology to make a vastly superior unit - but you are beneath us, behold our butt shape!!!... BEHOLD IT!@$"
I'd imagine the persons feet don't actually go all the way to the bottom of the "high heel feet", and that area is just stylization. Either way, a MAX suit is going to be so immensely heavy that the entire suit is going to be reliant on the support of the exoskeleton. Thus the operator is probably not going to feel any of the weight of running around like that, they are for the most part along for the ride. Also none of them look like they would be particularly comfortable to wear. At times they don't even look possible for a normal human to operate as some proportions are a bit excessive.
There where do their feet go ?!?! I'm looking at my Max, and I don't see anything. Hell even the Max's feet don't fit a human foot. Look how it bends, I don't think our feet bend like that at the middle unless you're fine with a broken foot.
If I had to guess I would say the bottom of your foot is actually on the top of the "arch" in the middle, and the foot doesn't actually bend at all. But I'm really not sure. Maybe the MAX suit operators are genetically modified, something like space marines in WH40K . Dunno.
You know what? Just because they're trans-humanists. I'm just gonna leave it at them being another species that they created to specifically fight in Max suits. Since you know...VS equals advanced society.
In the NC MAXs' case you can see parts of the pilot(A bit too exposed actually). Armour seems to be direction based. That is unique to them I think and goes well with the NC style and the story behind MAXs. The TR one is... Reasonably designed and has good armour coverage but not as thick plating. It's still generic and bland. As for the VS MAX I think it is obvious the pilot's feet rest on the heels' arches. There is nothing strange about that in my eyes at least, if the operator can't bend their foot, this MAX probably has more advanced motion systems than the rest and can do it on its own. I also doubt the operator is in for the ride, I think they are way more involved and get plenty of feed although I agree they probably don't feel the weight. The spine design and the VS MAX heels(Suggesting inability to move the foot) could imply that the MAX is plugged into the operator much like Space Marine armour(Though those require a certain carapace implant for compatibility, right?), becoming the operator's body. There is also no special UI while in a MAX(Like there would be if you were in any Vehicle or a Mech or robot) which reinforces this notion. My problem with this is that the NC and TR one can't be THAT advanced. Then again, Crysis 1/2/3...
And why do you all see lobsters? I see HR Giger in the VS MAX! In fact the TR MAX reminds me a lot of Lobster-Men from Terror From The Deep. A lot more than the VS MAX at least, especially if you put on OGRE Armour. Edit : Yeah OK the weapons do seem like pinchers.
Right now I'm looking at it, I can't see any room for a human foot. On top of that, just take off the plated armor with your mind, and observe the body shape, it's inhuman. Look at the legs especially, they make human legs look like twigs, on top of that, the feet itself are like Velociraptor feet. I'm looking at the spine and the way it stands right now, and it might just be me, but its posture is strange. And if you look at a the head of a normal soldier, look at a LA or something where they're wearing thin helmets, and just check the width, and height of their heads. The Max helmet is way too too small. Since they're trans-humanists, I'll have to assume that based of what modern trans-humanists want, this thing is either an alien operator, someone who uploaded their consciousness, controlling it, or a robot. You know what, call the devs! We need answers. What the **** is the VS Max? Tell them that, right there. That very question. Dear devs, What the **** is the VS Max? Is it human? Is it alien? Is it a robot? The tyrants, rebels, and zealots demand answers!
I have recently been drawing some Vanu concept art, I might draw a VS max's head with teh helmet split open. It is my opinion that the VS MAX should be/is a genetically modified human, created specifically for the MAX suit: I think it's head would look like a humans but very pale, with it's eyes and scalp removed and replaced with interfaces. It is also my opinion that the VS MAX should have an inhuman, garbled voice, and be incapable of speaking English (or whatever language you play PlanetSide 2 with). It would be really cool to "alien-fy" the VS MAX.
Aye, I think you two are probably near the right of it. Kunavi is nearish, in that Space Marines do interface directly with their armor (by way of the implanted Black Carapace) in such a way that it functions as a second skin rather than just a hunk of foreign material between you and the other guy that is made to roughly fit the body. That said, they aren't the only groups that have similar uplinks, which brings me to TriumphantJelly's assertion. The Titan legions make extensive use of hard-plugs which attach from the Titan to the nervous system of the crew, through cables plugged into ports in the spine, to cause literal interfacing with the machine. The difference between this interface and that of a Space Marine is that the armor supplements the Space Marine, while the Titan crew are subsumed by the machine itself when they're plugged in. The system presumably also extends to the "Knights," which are basically one-man mini-titans. TL;DR: Yes, there is sci-fi precedent for this manner of actually being connected to your armor, or being in a state of symbiosis with it, even though our MAXes lack additional UI, overlays, etc. that one might expect from it being a machine that you're plugging into as per the WH40K method.
For the NC, you can actually see the person's real arms and legs inside the suit. I imagine the TR actually have a normal person inside of it as well. For the VS, I imagine that when they spawn in their bodies are modified to match the exoskeleton and are actually one with the suit. Like Iron Man, but way less awesome. Keep in mind that VS technology is new and was built taking into account the rebirthing facilities and nanite technology. The TR/NC technology was adapted. It would make sense for the NC/TR to have normal people inside while the VS have specialized bodies.
I typed in Vanu concept art. It's another species then, at that level of modification I don't even think it's a human. It would be cool to just have a no helmet option. Then the VS could scare the **** out of their enemy with their alien warriors XD
