Nihilego looks like Lillie??

[nimbasacity]

Is it just me? Like it's shaped like her hat and hair and dress and everything, I wonder if there is some sort of backstory there or if it's just meant to be a coincidence/easter egg...

 

[Frozocrone]

There's a backstory behind it.

I'm not going to spoil it. It's not important and yet at the same time it signifies something big.

 

[Z25]

Is it just me? Like it's shaped like her hat and hair and dress and everything, I wonder if there is some sort of backstory there or if it's just meant to be a coincidence/easter egg...

Well did you play through the story fully? If so you may have still missed it as its subtle but when you think about it, you realize how the answer to this question makes sense. I'll leave it below in spoilers so open at your own risk as there's spoiler for multiple big story points.

Spoiler:

So basically it begins when you are on the second island and talk to Lillie when you arrive at the clothing shop. She expresses desire in changing outfits and then asks "Does your mother pick out your own clothes". You may think this is ordinary as a lot of mothers help young kids pick out their clothes for the day. Later in the story you learn Lusamine is obsessed with Nihelago and views it as perfection. The disappearance of her husband ( most likely Mohn base on the looks, game files, and npc dialog on a professor Mohn). According to Gladion when their father vanished into an Ultra Wormhole he left behind cosmog and blueprints for what Nihelago looked like and was made of.

Going back to the earlier question Lillie asks, we learn Lusamine went insane because of Nigelago and starting doing some terrible things, and even worse to Lillie when Gladion left Aether. It's likely she became abusive and the game heavily implies she forced Lillie to wear that outfit as it makes her look like the object of her desire Nihelago. Her actions likely reduce Lillie's will and are why Lillie acts so shy and quiet at the beginning of the game, with your main character bringing her back to her former self and making her feel better about herself.

 

[blue]

Tangentially related but who the heck is Kartana supposed to look like?

edgy gladion ofc

 

[Nah]

Tangentially related but who the heck is Kartana supposed to look like?

I don't think that all the UBs were meant to look vaguely like certain characters. Nihilego (and Pheromosa possibly) was likely done on purpose, but the other ones? I doubt it (Xurkitree's head looking like Guzma's hair seems more like a coincidence to me).

 

[Nihilego]

Spoiler:

So basically it begins when you are on the second island and talk to Lillie when you arrive at the clothing shop. She expresses desire in changing outfits and then asks "Does your mother pick out your own clothes". You may think this is ordinary as a lot of mothers help young kids pick out their clothes for the day. Later in the story you learn Lusamine is obsessed with Nihelago and views it as perfection. The disappearance of her husband ( most likely Mohn base on the looks, game files, and npc dialog on a professor Mohn). According to Gladion when their father vanished into an Ultra Wormhole he left behind cosmog and blueprints for what Nihelago looked like and was made of.

Going back to the earlier question Lillie asks, we learn Lusamine went insane because of Nigelago and starting doing some terrible things, and even worse to Lillie when Gladion left Aether. It's likely she became abusive and the game heavily implies she forced Lillie to wear that outfit as it makes her look like the object of her desire Nihelago. Her actions likely reduce Lillie's will and are why Lillie acts so shy and quiet at the beginning of the game, with your main character bringing her back to her former self and making her feel better about herself.

my bad