Aliens and Predators Franchise Megathread

[Jormungandr]

Not going off of any canon but the first movie, my thinking would be once they ate enough they would grow larger and start spitting out eggs.

They definitely secrete some sort of chemical or biological compound to do this. They're capable of it since that's how they build their hives.

No mention of any retroviruses though IIRC, but since they retroactively introduced the whole Black Goo thing (like instead of planting an embryo which uses half of the host's genetic material to finish itself as in the "old" canon, the glob of Goo uses the host's own cells and material to create the embryo from scratch), it might have something to do with Egg Morphing.

 

[ThatZenoGuy]

Weirdly the first movie implies the Xenomorph's lifespan is only a couple days or so, a week tops. By the end of the film the otherwise rather quick (when it wants to be) Xenomorph is barely able to move.

 

[Jormungandr]

Weirdly the first movie implies the Xenomorph's lifespan is only a couple days or so, a week tops. By the end of the film the otherwise rather quick (when it wants to be) Xenomorph is barely able to move.

Yeah, it was dying and looking for a place to expire. Ripley ruined those plans, haha.

The longer lifespan thing started with Aliens onwards (since those Drones and Warriors were weeks' old by that point).

 

[Typhonis]

So xenomorphs are like certain types of ants. Ones where there is no queen and a worker lays eggs after a male fertilizes her.

 

[ThatZenoGuy]

So xenomorphs are like certain types of ants. Ones where there is no queen and a worker lays eggs after a male fertilizes her.

Which species are these?

 

[Typhonis]

Do all ants have to have a queen?

Answer (1 of 3): NO. There are over 14,000 ant species with a wide variety of strategies to secure the perpetuation of their species. The most typical is a colony founded by a single queen who, after mating, digs or finds a chamber and stays put until she’s brought up a half dozen or so ‘nanitic...

www.quora.com

Unfortunately the rest is behind a paywall, I think but there are several species.

Thus, if we want to mimic nature...the queen xenomorphs may exude a pheromone that prevents workers from evolving into a new queen. Thus a lone worker has a chance to become one if a queen is not already present.

OR they are like bees and a larva is chosen and it is given special pheromones to morph into a queen facehugger.

 

[ThatZenoGuy]

Do all ants have to have a queen?

Answer (1 of 3): NO. There are over 14,000 ant species with a wide variety of strategies to secure the perpetuation of their species. The most typical is a colony founded by a single queen who, after mating, digs or finds a chamber and stays put until she’s brought up a half dozen or so ‘nanitic...

www.quora.com

Unfortunately the rest is behind a paywall, I think but there are several species.

Thus, if we want to mimic nature...the queen xenomorphs may exude a pheromone that prevents workers from evolving into a new queen. Thus a lone worker has a chance to become one if a queen is not already present.

OR they are like bees and a larva is chosen and it is given special pheromones to morph into a queen facehugger.

Ahhh yes the weird obscure species that act all funny. Gotta love em.

 

[Typhonis]

Makes you wonder what Xenomorphs would be like if Ridley Scott had John Carpenter helping to design them. Along side H.R. Geiger

 

[Husky_Khan]

Makes you wonder what Xenomorphs would be like if Ridley Scott had John Carpenter helping to design them. Along side H.R. Geiger

Too many cooks I feel could be a thing.

In regards to Queens, I think Alien and Aliens were both excellent films in their own right.

Just because Aliens kind of opened a door allegedly to adding more shit that may or may not have had a negative impact on the franchise as a whole doesn't mean it wasn't a good movie on its own merits.

 

[ThatZenoGuy]

Makes you wonder what Xenomorphs would be like if Ridley Scott had John Carpenter helping to design them. Along side H.R. Geiger

Honestly, Giger had the best design for them. Every film post Alien dials down his creepy fucking fetish nightmares until they're almost unrecognizable. The only exception to this is the OG Queen.
John Carpenter having any creative addition would only dilute what was already there, and that's not me hating on John because The Thing is one of my favorite films of all time.
Edit: Oh yeah, the human-lips Runner alien is also appropriately Giger, given that he designed it.

 

[Ixian]

That being said the Thing really kind of fits into the wider expanded Alien Universe. It has a very dark forest feel and I could totally see a weyland-yutani corporate mining facility on some ice moon getting overrun by something like the Thing before a passing Three World Empire frigate nukes it from orbit.

 

[Typhonis]

That being said the Thing really kind of fits into the wider expanded Alien Universe. It has a very dark forest feel and I could totally see a weyland-yutani corporate mining facility on some ice moon getting overrun by something like the Thing before a passing Three World Empire frigate nukes it from orbit.

"Why are the aliens quiet?"

"Because the forest is dark, everyone has a flashlight and everyone also has a Davey Crocket."

 

[Jormungandr]

The Xenomorph is kinda amazing. There are so many options for it to reproduce and establish a hive that even just one Drone aboard your ship or colony means that within a week you could be overrun by hundreds of the bastards (host amount dependent).

Eggmorphing; molting and evolution; Royal Facehuggers... probably more from the comics and EU I'm forgetting.

I mean, Sevastopol. 'nuff said.

 

[ThatZenoGuy]

The Xenomorph is kinda amazing. There are so many options for it to reproduce and establish a hive that even just one Drone aboard your ship or colony means that within a week you could be overrun by hundreds of the bastards (host amount dependent).

Eggmorphing; molting and evolution; Royal Facehuggers... probably more from the comics and EU I'm forgetting.

I mean, Sevastopol. 'nuff said.

Eggmorphing seems to take a good day or so, with each Xenomorph apparently wanting to capture about 2-3 people per day.

Another day to actually make a Xenomorph from an egg, so an exponent of 2-3.
So assuming what we see from the first film only, 128 Xenomorphs in a week minimum. Spooky.

 

[Jormungandr]

Eggmorphing seems to take a good day or so, with each Xenomorph apparently wanting to capture about 2-3 people per day.

Another day to actually make a Xenomorph from an egg, so an exponent of 2-3.
So assuming what we see from the first film only, 128 Xenomorphs in a week minimum. Spooky.

If you take the EU into account, the sheer amount of ways a single Drone can start a hive is nightmarish. One Drone, you're screwed.

They adapt to pretty much any situation to create a hive.

 

[ThatZenoGuy]

If you take the EU into account, the sheer amount of ways a single Drone can start a hive is nightmarish. One Drone, you're screwed.

They adapt to pretty much any situation to create a hive.

9_6 Well the main ways is eggmorphing and Queens. Queens being made in about half a dozen ways ranging from a drone turning into one, a praetorian turning into one, or a special facehugger making one from any host.

Any other in the EU I am missing?

 

[Jormungandr]

9_6 Well the main ways is eggmorphing and Queens. Queens being made in about half a dozen ways ranging from a drone turning into one, a praetorian turning into one, or a special facehugger making one from any host.

Any other in the EU I am missing?

IIRC you've covered most of them; I should've clarified that I meant it was the amount of ways of creating a Queen and viable hive from just one Drone, lol.

Royal Facehuggers, Egg Morphing, Drone molting, Praetorian evolution... So many ways of creating a Queen.

 

[PsihoKekec]

In other words, nuking it from the orbit is really the only way to be sure.

 

[Typhonis]

"Dear grid coordinates"

If the Company or Yajuta don't fuck things up out of greed.

So Xenomorphs are genetically engineered life forms?

 

[Ixian]

"Dear grid coordinates"

If the Company or Yajuta don't fuck things up out of greed.

So Xenomorphs are genetically engineered life forms?

Weyland-Yutani fucks things up because of greed.

Yajuta Hunters fuck things up for honor.