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The Alien; Ripley's nemesis
Topic Started: Sep 7 2009, 05:46 AM (7,884 Views)
sam999
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You know the alien. That face hugging, acid dripping, stomach bursting, cantankerous creature of HR Giger's fantastic imagination. We're talking about Ellen Ripley's nemesis and Ridley Scott's meal ticket.

Terrifying and slightly resembling your boss, she has made an indelible impression on movie-goers for 30 years. Unfortunately that impression has been watered down as this ferocious beast of deep space has never been explaned. For this we want how it works. Is the facehugger, chestbuster, monster a working idea? Could it evolve? What good is it? So here is where to post ANYTHING that has to do with this space monster.
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Ànraich
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L'évolution Spéculative est moi

Perhaps, but they just seem too efficient at reproduction to me. Though thinking about something that would actually prey upon the Alien, the most powerful of any fictional non-sapient extraterrestrial I know of, is a terrifying thought.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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Xenophile
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I read the Wikipedia page and all of its traits seem to add up. The xenomorph's acid blood is not actually blood, but more of a pressurized deffense fluid located in between its layers of skin. When it is said that the creature is a silicone, I mean silicon based organism it is ment that the creature's cell walls are linned with silicon like many microrganisms on earth. The only problem I have with the creature is its ability to survive without an atmosphere. Perhaps the creature is anorobic and has a pressurized body, but I am not convinced.
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colddigger
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i'd hate/love to see what their predator is...
Oh Fine.

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CarrionTrooper
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Addressing Empyreon's question on how new alien queens are created...
From what I've gathered from the games (especially AvP Extinction), an egg can mutate (or be made to mutate) into a Praetorian egg. It hatches into a Praetorian facehugger which infests in a host a Praetorian chestburster. It becomes a Praetorian, which may be the closest to the original genes the aliens have (purebreed), and it then grows into a Queen at the end. In AvP Extinction there's even a genetically engineered Predalien Queen, a deviation to the original gene...
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colddigger
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Joke's over! Love, Parasky
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in other words it's a fictional alien who's life cycle hasn't really had much thought put into it.
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Empyreon
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Are you plausible?

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in other words it's a fictional alien who's life cycle hasn't really had much thought put into it.


Spoilsport. ;)
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food for thought
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ashwinder
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I love the design of alien, it's not hugely realistic but it is so well designed to invoke fear. It combines human fear of rape, childbirth, parasitism, infection and suffocation into one horrible creature.

I guessed that aliens are much like eusocial insects, so perhaps all 'female' aliens have the capability of being a queen but have their reproductive system actively surpressed by the living queen (much like in callitrichids). When the old-queen dies there would be a brief skirmish between the stronger females for dominance and the ability to breed. As for eating, in the 3rd film there are many scenes where the alien is seen feeding off it's prey, so I don't think it kills just for the fun of it.
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sam999
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Sep 8 2009, 03:32 PM
On their homeworld organisms would have evolved ways to deal with them, maybe even preyed on them.
I would hate to be near something that prayed on aliens however cool it sounds! Lets find out how IT would work!
Edited by sam999, Sep 9 2009, 01:45 PM.
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lamna
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Maybe the Chestburster is 'born' from the face-hugger instead of metamorphises.

Correctamundo, though it actually lays an egg rather than gives birth.
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As for eating, in the 3rd film there are many scenes where the alien is seen feeding off it's prey, so I don't think it kills just for the fun of it.

Really? Apart from the AvP ones that is the only full film I have seem and I don't remember that. And I don't think they are smart enough to kill for fun. Looks like they are clearing areas of threats and collecting hosts.

Also about the growth, it's really rather queer. Seals pups, some of the fastest growing large animals need to drink large amounts of fat rich milk, while these aliens seem to get all they need to be a large active predator. I mean the chestburster just does not contain enough molecules to get that big. That doesn't seem physically possible.
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Are nipples or genitals necessary, lamna?
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sam999
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lamna
Sep 9 2009, 02:14 PM
Also about the growth, it's really rather queer. Seals pups, some of the fastest growing large animals need to drink large amounts of fat rich milk, while these aliens seem to get all they need to be a large active predator. I mean the chestburster just does not contain enough molecules to get that big. That doesn't seem physically possible.
That is why it kills so much at has to get food.
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lamna
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But it kills after it is fully grown, where did the atoms to make up it's body come from?
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CarrionTrooper
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Maybe it's not as heavy as it seem? The Facehugger and egg could be lighter than the seafood used in Alien 1 as the Facehugger's insides... the strength to capture prey could be from modified, super-efficient muscles...
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sam999
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Sep 10 2009, 08:06 AM
The strength to capture prey could be from modified, super-efficient muscles...
Tell me how they would work and evolve and I will beleave you.
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Simple. They could actually evolve the way ours did, however:

Iron and copper make up a higher degree of the muscle tissue.
The cells use the iron and copper to reinforce themselves, making them harder to rip or tare like ours do all the time.
This means they can use a higher percentage of their muscles.

We only use about ten percent as a 'normal maximum' at any given moment, though more of the strength can be unleashed when your life depends on it. These modifications would allow a much higher 'normal maximum' so more strength can be used.

Though, since they are alien, it could be completely different then our muscles. Maybe hydrolic (like Nemo Ramjets') or pnuematic, who knows?
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sam999
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Sep 10 2009, 04:02 PM
Iron and copper make up a higher degree of the muscle tissue.
The cells use the iron and copper to reinforce themselves, making them harder to rip or tare like ours do all the time.
This means they can use a higher percentage of their muscles.
You know... THAT MIGHT ACTLY WORK! :lol:
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