User blog comment:Suparockr/List of Plotholes throughout the series/@comment-4950455-20120725013903/@comment-4950455-20120725020312

They look similar, but there are structural differences. You can see it pretty clearly in the fleet battle cutscene at the beginning of Priority: Cerberus Headquarters, which I think is the one time you see Alliance and Cerberus cruisers side by side. And that's why I'm confused - if they were just recolors, it would make sense to assume that they were surplus Alliance ships Cerberus had acquired somehow. But it looks like they're a unique design, which implies that Cerberus is building its own capital ships - billions of credits or not, that's a much bigger deal then a few advanced fighters or Atlas mechs, and doesn't seem to fit with the claim that the Lazarus Project took a big chunk out of their resources.

Although I suppose that could have been a lie, actually.