[senknvd]

> There are also these new image lines, I can't recall the funky name for them, that are even smaller.

You might be thinking of the chiselled images. An interesting idea but very much incomplete[1].

[1]: https://github.com/canonical/chisel-releases/issues/34

[Rapzid]

Yes, that's it! I've been working with .Net a lot recently and recalled Microsoft's announcement about them. Specialized runtime images for JRE, .NEt, Asp.Net, and etc.