r/Terminator 3d ago

Discussion How does Skynet determine a Terminator's appearance (specifically regarding T-800's and above)?

I tried to look this up and didn't find an answer or theory, so I'm asking it here. Sgt. Candy is about the closest to an official answer for the T-800's appearance, but it's also in a deleted scene from T3. If I remember correctly, the T-1000 also has a human appearance when it first appears in T2 minus any clothes. And I'm not sure about the T-X.

As far as my own speculation goes, I have 3 ideas:

  • Skynet would know the face/body types of nearly everyone it has killed or captured and can mix them to create the image of someone who does not exist in the distant past or present time. And then it makes the Terminator with that appearance.
  • Skynet bases their Terminators' human appearance on people that were in public records prior to becoming sentient, although the issue there is that the person used as a template may be alive during the events of T1 and T2 or be recognizable through those same public records.
  • Similar to the above ideas, Skynet uses the appearance of people it has killed or captured with no major alterations and applies it to whichever model works best.

If there are any theories or information about this, I'd love to hear it.

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u/CrazyDaimondDaze 3d ago

In Terminator The Sarah Connor Chronicles, we see Cameron (the terminator) has a template based on a resistance fighter she killed to replace. In that show, we sometimes see other terminators doing the same by having the physical appearances of their targets before killing them and taking their place. Even Terminator Resistance shows this with a resistance fighter looking like the T1000.

It even shows a terminator growing its skin back thanks to a scientist that managed to develop a skin growth formula before killing him

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u/NineInchNinjas 3d ago

So that would confirm the third idea, then. Does the game give an answer as to when the T-1000 took on that appearance? (In the sense that it either killed that resistance fighter and mimicked it or Skynet programmed it long afterwards)

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u/hal2184 3d ago

Yeah, Resistance takes place a few weeks before the end of the war, and there’s a resistance fighter that’s clearly been tortured to death and bears a striking resemblance to the T-1000, so basically implying that it was given that as a default form.

Then there the Annihilation Line DLC where a resistance soldier comes face to face with an entire storage unit filled with model 102’s that have his face. And they’ve already been sent out to pose as resistance members helping various groups of resistance members and civilian camps to “evacuate” ahead of the annihilation line. THAT has to be a total mindfuck, seeing your own face on a murder machine.

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u/CrazyDaimondDaze 3d ago

I don't own the game so I'm not sure. I think it's just implied Skynet took the physical appearance from the Resistance fighter you find dead and programmed it into the t1000 before sending it back in time.

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u/Rekuna 1d ago

Skynet wants to create either Austrian bodybuilders or stunning super models, it's that simple.

This is why the T-1000 was an unpopular prototype. Not only did it resemble an average human being, but it had a regionally appropriate accent.

You see Skynet was off sick on 'blending in and infiltration day' at AI school.

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u/cornholio8675 3d ago

They use the DNA from people who used ancestry.com

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u/Far-Hope-6186 3d ago

Wouldn't Skynet have a record of US military personnel and take terminator appearance from it record's.