User blog comment:Tvirus1234/What if Javik isn't an actual Prothean?/@comment-1221773-20130522004710

According to the official art book "The Art of the Mass Effect Universe", the Ilos statues were an early placeholder design for the Protheans; the devs didn't know how much they were going to show the Protheans in later games, so they made a vague template they could detail later if necessary. Their physical appearance as seen in ME3 is essentially a retcon of that original design. The art book shows other concepts for Javik which more closely match the Ilos statues, but those were rejected in favor of the Collector-based design.