One of the things I found most interesting was the depiction of the origianl use of the Moonlight Butterfly that brought about the dark history. Despite whiping away just about every trace of technology from Earth, it left everthing with a nuclear core intact, instead burrying those MS & ships deep under dirt & rock, so as not to expose the Earth's atmosphere to the radiation. While it served the dual purpose of making ancient Zaku's available to series, I'd like to think there was more behind it than that.
Also, I thought the final design of the Turn A wasn't directly related to Syd Mead's design, just evolved from it. Though I may be remembering wrong, I was pretty sure I remember seeing a picture of Syd Mead's actual design, which looked more generic & G-Savoiur-ish.