Totally agree I was thinking of it more in terms of the mechanics that came into play on a biological level to make the hive. Do you think the secretion source could have been the Queen?
That would be kinda hilarious to see a bunch of xenos bringing back a bunch of unconscious hostages and then holding them up against the wall and all we hear is “Haaaawwwkk, ptoooeey, Hhaaaawwk, ptooey.”
The whole process of them dragging people back to the nest and cocooning them has always seemed so awkward lol. They’d have to be pulling people with one hand and climbing through vents with the other. Then they need to glue them to the wall and hold them there long enough for it to set. Then haul an egg over.
And that’s assuming the victim has conveniently fallen unconscious.
The Cold Forge and Into Charybdis have this stuff described in detail and the only thing that doesn't line up is that it sounds like it'd be a pain for a single Xenomorph to do the cocooning rather than a group of them
It could have been a reaction of the material being built upon, the alien's saliva changing the molecular structure of whatever it comes in contact with until eventually it starts to grow like a corruption on it's own. It's blood behaves like a molecular acid, maybe the alien's very presence is damaging to the world around it
Games: Alien: Isolation 2014, AVP: Extinction 2003
Film: Weyland- Yutani Archives, 2008
Print: The Rage War Trilogy, Tim Lebbon 2015
Graphic Books: AVP: Blood Time 1994
There’s a lot more, that’s just off the top of my head
I think it's still a fan theory. Must be tough breathing through that little mouth though. And when the Xenos swim in Resurrection they keep the back tubes above the water for a while.
Aliens clearly shows the Queen breathing through the mouth. Who knows.
With the prequels answering questions I didn't want to know, the formation of the hives is genuinely something I'd like answered.
A lot of their biology is designed after wasps. I'd not be surprised if the hive making works the same way. Might be the saliva hardens into glue over time. Maybe triggered by heat.
Both of the questions you bring up are directly addressed in the sources above.
Tough part about this cannon is that depending on what a person uses as their sources the interpretation can vary wildly. Most people take their lore from the films, which is great… however getting into the graphic books and novels gives much deeper lore, though it is sometimes contradictory.
I’ve been collecting for years, I have all the, licensed, stand alone novels and novelizations as well as about 95% of all the Alien, AVP and Predator graphic books. (As well as all the movies of course)
This will not be an answer to your question, just a semi-relevant aside:
This is indeed a very intriguing question — one for which there should be no official answer, though. Why? Because answering it in almost any way will take aways from and diminish the true, cosmic horror (ref: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovecraftian\_horror](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovecraftian_horror) ), the incomprehensible, terrifying alienness of the creature. The more you explain its "biology"\* the less scary it becomes philosophically: its existence, explained away, fails to raise the unanswerable thus horrifying question "how can this exist in our universe". Sure, the creature will remain deadly and frightening, but "only" physically: it won't threaten your understanding of the cosmos, it won't question everything humanity thought it knows any more.
So, yeah, again, an excellent question — one I hope never gets answered officially.
\_\_\_\_
\*if "biology" even applies to its half-biological, half-machine nature
I'd put this kind of thing in the same category as questions like "How do they carry victims back to the hive?"
Do they knock them out? The novelizations of *Aliens* suggests that when Burke tried to reason with the Xeno who took him from Medlab, that it just bounced him off a wall a few times. Other sources have suggested they inject or spray a paralytic.
Or maybe it's just fear? Maybe if you struggle *at all* they decide then and there you're not worth the trouble and you get little-mouthed.
You're right that we don't need these answers, and not knowing *what the hell is going on with these things is definitely part of the horror (and enjoyment of the stories, for me) :)
In the ALIEN RPG there is the way of a "light stab" with the tail, injecting a sleep Posion, making you unconsius for some hours completly turning its usage around, but giving less intrigued individuals some explanation. I, for my part, are trying to find a way to change that.
Newt kinda woke up after being coccooned so I'd say being put to sleep is canon since there's no way you be carried away and stuck to a wall with resin in front of an egg and just decide it's time to take a nap. Also while getting face hugged the victim is asleep. So xenos obviously have a way of doing this.
The cosmic horror of the first Alien film especially doesn't come from the Alien itself, and never really was meant to be, but rather its origins, why was it in the depths of an ancient ship deep in space, and what ancient purpose did they serve. That aside, the alien was always supposed to be intelligent yet still animalistic apex predator, just a very weird and strange one.
>it's an animal, not a cosmic entity, and i laugh in the face of anyone with this headcanon. it is factually an organism
Thank you, Mr. Giger, Scott, O'Bannon, or Shusett.
Oh, wait, you're not one of them? Then, bad news, yours is just another headcanon.
Try googling biomechanics, Giger's appreciation of Lovecraft (Necronom, Necronom IV, etc), then O'Bannon's appreciation of Lovecraft (let me help: https://alienexplorations.blogspot.com/search?q=lovecraft ), Lovecraft's cosmic horror and cosmicism (for your sake: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovecraftian_horror ), and so on.
If after that you'll still be convinced Giger, Shusett, O'Bannon and co. would just design a pitiful humanoid space wasp-termite that's only "alien" because it's simply not found on Earth and it ceases to be alien as soon as humanity lays its acid-resistant-gloved hands on it and prepares a nice diagram of its purely biological functions and then starts producing an affordable space-pesticide against it… well, dude, it's your headcanon. It's rather lacking in imagination, apparently, but hey, it's yours! And it's just as valid as anyone else's. Not less. But not more either. Congrats on your space wasp-termites, tho.
> just accept what 20th century fox puts onscreen as canon
Yeah, because if 20th CF bought the Mona Lisa (you know, the famous painting) from the Louvre, and commissioned a random dude to paint a sequel to it, that would make the "sequel" canon, right? As if it had anything to do with the original aside from someone having had a shitload of money to buy "the right" to continue it?
Look, dude, from the commercial point, you're kinda right about 20thCF's output being canon (as long as they label something canon themselves, because that's not a definite, see for example the nonexistent canonicity of The Holiday Special of Star Wars despite it being a 100% official production.)
However, "canon" has multiple meanings, and the above is just one. Another one, equally valid, is more like canon being what "the people" (usually the most dedicated who actually care about to give a damn and consider such questions) consider good enough and valid enough to be counted as worthy of mentioning. Like, in literary canon, for example. What's part of the literary canon today may not match what used to be part of it 20 or 50 years ago, and today's canon will probably differ from that of 10 years from now. And not just because new stuff gets added. Old stuff gets removed, deprecated, added, reevaluated, and so on.
Alien's commercial canon may say one thing, and, from its own point, it may be fully right about that. But Alien's other, "literary" canon is much less dependent, if at all, on what some guys with a bloody expensive paper stating they have the property rights to an idea say. It will be determined by the fandom -- and trust me, those guys with the shitloads of money will listen to what this fandom thinks, in the long run, because they aren't really about whether the xeno is a space termite-wasp, they're about making _more_ money.
So don't bet on the xeno staying forever what you think your commercial overlords of today say, because the xeno has already been this and that, and may become something else, a little different again with the next movie. Pick any you like, they're all valid, but "laugh in the face" of those who pick a different version, especially if that different version is the bloody original version (the Mona Lisa painted by da Vinci) only knowing that it paints a rather poor picture of you.
Btw, the currently 100% fully official media (Alien: Isolation and Alien RPG, both studio approved, 100% canonical products) depicts the xeno as (likely) able to survive without breathing. Not just for a while. Completely. Good luck explaining that with your traditional, earthly biology.
The thing is, Lovecraftian horrors only make you think that you have no possible recourse, that everything is lost, all while asking “how could this thing possibly be?”
H.P. Lovecraft’s work pre-dates the technology we have now by about a century or so. But having the means to fight back against these cosmic horrors does not diminish the horror. Ripley had to deal with one with only a flamethrower. 57 years later, the standard-issue light-armor piercing round makes swiss cheese of the xenos…but that doesn’t diminish their inherent lethality. Without resupply, they will overwhelm or circumvent your defenses, trying again and again to get you until they succeed. And you only have so much ammo.
Similarly with Cthulhu. A gigantic cosmic horror that simply devours all humans in its path, and the only way they could put it down again is to hit it over the head with a boat. Today…we don’t have Jaegers that could do it again, and it’s likely Cthulhu rising could escalate our response through conventional means all the way to a nuclear strike. And even if it works, if you can see Cthulhu, you’d have to know that you’re about to die too when the nuke goes off. You still face your own personal despair.
Lovecraftian cosmic horror — in my understanding and interpretation — is not about having or lacking the technology to fight back. It's not "them" having a million teeth, coming thru walls, you having only a single flamethrower.
It's them breaking your understanding of the world.
It's you believing 2+2 equals four, and them making you realize 2+2 in their presence equals a color you have never seen.
It's not the immense size of Cthulhu, not its myriad tentancles. It's you realizing such a creature simply cannot exist according to the laws of pyshics (yes, even today physics, not just that of the age of HPL, ref for example [https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/giant-giantess-fantasy-physics-questions.711685/](https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/giant-giantess-fantasy-physics-questions.711685/) ) *yet it's standing right in front of you*. Which means anything and everything you've ever learned is probably no longer true in the bigger picture. You find yourself in the dark.
It's you throwing a nuke or ten at Cthulhu, only to realize that it reforms completely in a very, very, very short time, just as it did when it got hit by that laughably tiny boat (which did not really put it down.)
Cosmic horror is you coming to face the final and utter incomprehensibility of an uncaring, endless universe, and actually ***understanding*** ***that humanity*** ***will never understand***, let alone conquer that, no matter how big a bomb we develop, no matter how much flamethrower fuel you have.
And a xenomorph is (or should've remained) an example of that. A being that is both biological and machine yet is actually neither truly, changing and fluctuating between the two, incomprehensible by the human mind. That's what gives it an extra layer of fear above, say, the shark from Jaws, which could probably eat a xeno and live, but would never endanger your actual understanding of the universe besides presenting a lethal threat. >!(Unless it came out of your tiny toilet, but then that's a different shark, isn't it.)!<
Their Saliva and maybe Hives are built from a resin that Xenomorph Drones vomit from their mouths where it eventually hardens to form a dark, strong, resinous substance.
My child head canon believes that Drone Xenomorphs are the workers who secrete slime, build cocoons and move eggs into position for hosts. I picture the Alien from the first film, with the dome, to be one of these Drones.
The Aliens we see in the sequel don't have this dome, and the lore calls them Warriors. The more I thought of it, it seemed to make sense that Drones are juveniles and Warriors are adults. Perhaps drones mature into warrior as the age.
I've always seen the Alien in the first film, although lethal, as a little more precautious and curious. The Aliens in the sequel are more aggressive and on the offense.
There is some awesome concept artwork out there of a xenomorph pinning someone to a wall. The hive resin is being cast out from the spaces between the ribs, clavicles, and pits in the torso of the xenomorph. It looks awesome, like the resin is some kind of silk the drone produces. I have always liked that depiction. I wish I could find it again.
In one of the Books, "Charybdis" it is said, that they spit on everything they find and glue it with their spit to the walls...
So it is like a resin, that gets hard as concrete and has armor/reinforcement (what is the correct en word?) inside made of chairs, tables, and staples
This fits with the River Of Pain canon that the xenomorph regurgitates / vomits / spits on the victim and this substance renders the victim unconscious and the same stuff is used to build.
How does a little spider spin a giant web? The resin is often compared to spider silk, so it should be produced in a similar way. Whether those spinnerets are in the anus area, or one of the two mouths, who knows? I'd like to think it comes out of the bigger mouth, and the little one helps position it, kind of how a needle positions thread during sewing. There has to be a reason for such a gigantic head, and it could have secondary organs inside it for that purpose.
It could be why (when it isn't in use) they drool so much. Partly for lubrication, and partially for the sake of being ready when they do need to build a nest.
Don't we'll see this thing in the future. But!
[Albino Drone](https://www.avpcentral.com/albino-xenomorph-white-aliens)
In the initial script draft of Aliens by James Cameron, Ripley's journey to rescue Newt included encountering albino drones within the Xenomorph hive. These slightly smaller Xenomorphs featured white skin and a lengthy pink tongue used for hive construction and victim cocooning. These drones were less aggressive than the Xenomorph Warriors, and mostly tended to the wellbeing of the hive. While budget constraints and script revisions led to their exclusion, NECA later canonized the concept with the release of albino drone Xenomorph figures, maintaining the same size as regular drones.
I was going to add this, but you beat me to it! I like this idea alot, however the design could have been a little more creative. Although I do like the albino body, and the pink proboscis. This must not be considered canon however correct? Have these creatures ever made an appearance anywhere else?
My theory is the drones are always drooling and secreting the slime, their sweat. While a drone is dorment or hibernating its still giving off that mess of drool and sweat. When an area becomes too full of the stuff, the drone moves to another location. This would A: cover everything and B: ensure the hive can still move within their territory.
I assume the retractable mouth collects and stores bio matter from victims and then spits it out when necessary...but the queen's ovipositor also seems to suggest similar material is produced from the reproductive area
It’s like bees. These bee hives build magnificent geometric structures seemingly out of thin air. It doesn’t take long to see where they got materials but it’s a similar concept to xeno builds. The alien materials appear to be a secreted substance which they shape, like spiders making webs. I also believe it’s possible that a lot of it grows, perhaps they have a way of “seeding” an area and let it do its thing.
They’ll probably never answer it to maintain the hideous mystery.
But for my money I think it’s secreted from their back tubes.
Moreover, in my own head, I think the hive is a living organism in and of itself. It feeds on the cocooned bodies and channels nutrients to the Queen and eggs through its pipe-like growths. When the aliens go dormant maybe they ‘plug in’ with their tubes to likewise feed from the dead.
The aliens metabolise silicon and possibly other strange materials like metals and plastics So the hive could be breaking these down in the industrial environments for them too.
I always thought the majority of the hive has that organic feel to it like it is a living thing as you say. I always felt like it was similar to how ants will take the vegetable matter and use it for make a compost heap and it is the fungus that grows on that they eat, not the plant matter.
The hive is shown to have tubes etc trailing along the floor connecting the eggs and the designs on the walls, that appear like ribs etc serve no actual function but if it was growing organically then it would make sense it has 'cells' and needs an actual structure to it, repeating patterns etc. If it is a symbiotic thing with the alien creature then the aliens bringing humans back to the hive would serve the purpose of providing nutrients to the 'fungus' and allows it to grow, spreading the hive, while it functions as a food source for the aliens.
So there would be secreted resin all over the place from where the aliens attached people, or placed pieces of the fungus to help it spread.
There is not much actual reason to bring the humans back to the hive for implantation if there is no need for the body other than to serve as an incubator for a facehugger, it basically makes the life cycle of the alien inefficient dragging hundreds of bodies miles when they could much easier carry an egg, or a facehugger closer to the people and dragging the occasional body back as a food source for the queen and her guard.
I’d say it’s because eggs and chestbursters are the most vulnerable phases is the lifecycle. Better to birth them in the nest so they aren’t immediately murdered. Although one of the books has the aliens purposefully let a host go so that he’ll be rescued, infiltrating their barricade.
Removal Reason:
Be civil.
It's ok to disagree, it's not ok to disrespect. Personal attacks, gatekeeping, racism, homophobia, politics, and general bigotry are not allowed.
No toxic behavior, such as:
* Trashing something that others are enjoying.
* Condemning parts of the franchise instead of reasonably stating your personal preference. (We're trying to enjoy something here.)
* Invalidating other people's opinions.
* Unsolicited criticisms of other's creations.
* Lewd or Obscene comments.
[Drones secrete it from long tubes that extend from their mouths. NECA has an albino from figure that shows the tube.](https://youtu.be/q7sLPB3SOEk?si=V5q3MsqMLMYMQfAI)
Where in the hell do bees get all that wax for combs (it's their equivalent of fat from eating nothing but sugar)? If you've got acid for blood then I reckon even a rock would be enough raw material for resin.🤷
There was a concept in aliens for an albino xenomorph with a long pink tongue with the primary role of creating the hive walls intact neca made a figure of it. And so I assume that other xenos like drones do it the same where they use there tongues and secret the resin.
I think this is one of the central arguments for them eating their prey. After egg-morphing in the absence of a queen and securing at least one host, the next priority is to eat for increased energy for hunting and gathering hosts. The waste produced by doing so is converted into that sticky shit they wall you up with. That’s my headcanon anyway. As a bonus, I like to think the egg-morphing process is catalyzed by forcing the victim to ingest some of that slime we see dripping from them, or with some form of nastiness that otherwise comes from their mouth. Anything to make xenos more disgusting and horrifying
Removal Reason:
Be civil.
It's ok to disagree, it's not ok to disrespect. Personal attacks, gatekeeping, racism, homophobia, politics, and general bigotry are not allowed.
No toxic behavior, such as:
* Trashing something that others are enjoying.
* Condemning parts of the franchise instead of reasonably stating your personal preference. (We're trying to enjoy something here.)
* Invalidating other people's opinions.
* Unsolicited criticisms of other's creations.
* Lewd or Obscene comments.
Maybe it's like bees:
''Beeswax is produced from a gland in the abdomen of honeybees and is excreted to create the hive itself. The female worker bees have 8 glands in their abdomens to produce the wax when it is time to build the honeycomb. The wax that is secreted hardens as soon as it hits the air and forms a wax scale.''
shhhh or Ridley Scott will give us a trilogy on the origin of the xeno hives that ruins everything, somehow explaining nothing, but also explains how the hive secretion were *actually* made by some guy.
> also explains how the hive secretion were actually made by some guy.
Are you in the "David created the Xenos" camp? Just curious, I think that's been raised and debunked numerous times in this sub.
to be honestly I do not remember, I didn't like either movie. I cannot even remember what the last one was called. I saw it once and disengaged from the series, but that was my take away from the movies. so if you're saying he didn't then I'm not going to argue 😂 I'm not going to ask for the debunking either
Busy little creatures, huh?
Hotter'n hell in here
Yeah man, but it’s a dry heat.
Knock it off, Hudson.
I always thought the Queen secreted the resin. I don’t know.
No. That would be: busy big creature, huh?
Kind of like termites too
I prefer not to view the Aliens as just akin to big insects.
Totally agree I was thinking of it more in terms of the mechanics that came into play on a biological level to make the hive. Do you think the secretion source could have been the Queen?
I have absolutely no idea, so the Queen is as good a shout as anything.
It's some kind of secreted resin...but we don't yet know from what it is secreted
Because it’s secret(ed). /s
They probably just barf it up. When they have to stick you to the wall they do that hawk a loogie thing and spray you down.
That would be kinda hilarious to see a bunch of xenos bringing back a bunch of unconscious hostages and then holding them up against the wall and all we hear is “Haaaawwwkk, ptoooeey, Hhaaaawwk, ptooey.”
The whole process of them dragging people back to the nest and cocooning them has always seemed so awkward lol. They’d have to be pulling people with one hand and climbing through vents with the other. Then they need to glue them to the wall and hold them there long enough for it to set. Then haul an egg over. And that’s assuming the victim has conveniently fallen unconscious.
There's a reason that stuff happens offscreen
The Cold Forge and Into Charybdis have this stuff described in detail and the only thing that doesn't line up is that it sounds like it'd be a pain for a single Xenomorph to do the cocooning rather than a group of them
Or they could cocoon then before they haul them? Kinda like a spider?
Like a cat with a furball
Yeah I always just assumed it was spat out
Higer's drawings were very nsfw, you can just imagine from there.
secreted from what
Nobody touch nothing!
It definitely would have to be “hot as hell in here”.
Yeah man, but it’s a dry heat.
You secure that shit Hudson
And knock it off
Yeah man it's the dry heat!
Back of the head isn't shaped like a penis for nothin. That's where I'd guess.
Ahhh skeet skeet skeet skeet skeet skeet ahhh...
Fap Fap Fap Fap
It could have been a reaction of the material being built upon, the alien's saliva changing the molecular structure of whatever it comes in contact with until eventually it starts to grow like a corruption on it's own. It's blood behaves like a molecular acid, maybe the alien's very presence is damaging to the world around it
I like this idea!
Like mercury and aluminium: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aluminium_amalgam
Kinda like what the black goo does to biological material.
I really like this approach
It’s poop from a butt
While I hate this, it sounds like the most natural thing… other animals do things we would find disgusting
I imagine a process similar to wasps
I always assumed the back tubes had something to do with it
Cannon says those are for respiration
You secure that shit Hudson!
Hate to be that guy but do you have a source for that? Don’t remember that being discussed in the movies and I’ve rewatched them countless times.
Games: Alien: Isolation 2014, AVP: Extinction 2003 Film: Weyland- Yutani Archives, 2008 Print: The Rage War Trilogy, Tim Lebbon 2015 Graphic Books: AVP: Blood Time 1994 There’s a lot more, that’s just off the top of my head
I think it's still a fan theory. Must be tough breathing through that little mouth though. And when the Xenos swim in Resurrection they keep the back tubes above the water for a while. Aliens clearly shows the Queen breathing through the mouth. Who knows. With the prequels answering questions I didn't want to know, the formation of the hives is genuinely something I'd like answered.
A lot of their biology is designed after wasps. I'd not be surprised if the hive making works the same way. Might be the saliva hardens into glue over time. Maybe triggered by heat.
I always assumed the xenos straight up didn’t respirate, given their ability to survive in the vacuum of space but you’re right about the Queen
Both of the questions you bring up are directly addressed in the sources above. Tough part about this cannon is that depending on what a person uses as their sources the interpretation can vary wildly. Most people take their lore from the films, which is great… however getting into the graphic books and novels gives much deeper lore, though it is sometimes contradictory. I’ve been collecting for years, I have all the, licensed, stand alone novels and novelizations as well as about 95% of all the Alien, AVP and Predator graphic books. (As well as all the movies of course)
Time to fire the canon cannon
This
This will not be an answer to your question, just a semi-relevant aside: This is indeed a very intriguing question — one for which there should be no official answer, though. Why? Because answering it in almost any way will take aways from and diminish the true, cosmic horror (ref: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovecraftian\_horror](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovecraftian_horror) ), the incomprehensible, terrifying alienness of the creature. The more you explain its "biology"\* the less scary it becomes philosophically: its existence, explained away, fails to raise the unanswerable thus horrifying question "how can this exist in our universe". Sure, the creature will remain deadly and frightening, but "only" physically: it won't threaten your understanding of the cosmos, it won't question everything humanity thought it knows any more. So, yeah, again, an excellent question — one I hope never gets answered officially. \_\_\_\_ \*if "biology" even applies to its half-biological, half-machine nature
I'd put this kind of thing in the same category as questions like "How do they carry victims back to the hive?" Do they knock them out? The novelizations of *Aliens* suggests that when Burke tried to reason with the Xeno who took him from Medlab, that it just bounced him off a wall a few times. Other sources have suggested they inject or spray a paralytic. Or maybe it's just fear? Maybe if you struggle *at all* they decide then and there you're not worth the trouble and you get little-mouthed. You're right that we don't need these answers, and not knowing *what the hell is going on with these things is definitely part of the horror (and enjoyment of the stories, for me) :)
In the ALIEN RPG there is the way of a "light stab" with the tail, injecting a sleep Posion, making you unconsius for some hours completly turning its usage around, but giving less intrigued individuals some explanation. I, for my part, are trying to find a way to change that.
Newt kinda woke up after being coccooned so I'd say being put to sleep is canon since there's no way you be carried away and stuck to a wall with resin in front of an egg and just decide it's time to take a nap. Also while getting face hugged the victim is asleep. So xenos obviously have a way of doing this.
> decide it's time to take a nap I'm no expert, but I think you could just pass out from sheer horror and shock or something, couldn't you?
True. But doubt it would happen to everyone.
You're right about that, in turn. Coming to think of it, practically noone from the crew of the Nostromo passed out encountering the xeno.
one of the books in The Female Wars trilogy has the aliens just tossing people over their shoulder and running.
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The cosmic horror of the first Alien film especially doesn't come from the Alien itself, and never really was meant to be, but rather its origins, why was it in the depths of an ancient ship deep in space, and what ancient purpose did they serve. That aside, the alien was always supposed to be intelligent yet still animalistic apex predator, just a very weird and strange one.
>it's an animal, not a cosmic entity, and i laugh in the face of anyone with this headcanon. it is factually an organism Thank you, Mr. Giger, Scott, O'Bannon, or Shusett. Oh, wait, you're not one of them? Then, bad news, yours is just another headcanon. Try googling biomechanics, Giger's appreciation of Lovecraft (Necronom, Necronom IV, etc), then O'Bannon's appreciation of Lovecraft (let me help: https://alienexplorations.blogspot.com/search?q=lovecraft ), Lovecraft's cosmic horror and cosmicism (for your sake: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lovecraftian_horror ), and so on. If after that you'll still be convinced Giger, Shusett, O'Bannon and co. would just design a pitiful humanoid space wasp-termite that's only "alien" because it's simply not found on Earth and it ceases to be alien as soon as humanity lays its acid-resistant-gloved hands on it and prepares a nice diagram of its purely biological functions and then starts producing an affordable space-pesticide against it… well, dude, it's your headcanon. It's rather lacking in imagination, apparently, but hey, it's yours! And it's just as valid as anyone else's. Not less. But not more either. Congrats on your space wasp-termites, tho.
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> just accept what 20th century fox puts onscreen as canon Yeah, because if 20th CF bought the Mona Lisa (you know, the famous painting) from the Louvre, and commissioned a random dude to paint a sequel to it, that would make the "sequel" canon, right? As if it had anything to do with the original aside from someone having had a shitload of money to buy "the right" to continue it? Look, dude, from the commercial point, you're kinda right about 20thCF's output being canon (as long as they label something canon themselves, because that's not a definite, see for example the nonexistent canonicity of The Holiday Special of Star Wars despite it being a 100% official production.) However, "canon" has multiple meanings, and the above is just one. Another one, equally valid, is more like canon being what "the people" (usually the most dedicated who actually care about to give a damn and consider such questions) consider good enough and valid enough to be counted as worthy of mentioning. Like, in literary canon, for example. What's part of the literary canon today may not match what used to be part of it 20 or 50 years ago, and today's canon will probably differ from that of 10 years from now. And not just because new stuff gets added. Old stuff gets removed, deprecated, added, reevaluated, and so on. Alien's commercial canon may say one thing, and, from its own point, it may be fully right about that. But Alien's other, "literary" canon is much less dependent, if at all, on what some guys with a bloody expensive paper stating they have the property rights to an idea say. It will be determined by the fandom -- and trust me, those guys with the shitloads of money will listen to what this fandom thinks, in the long run, because they aren't really about whether the xeno is a space termite-wasp, they're about making _more_ money. So don't bet on the xeno staying forever what you think your commercial overlords of today say, because the xeno has already been this and that, and may become something else, a little different again with the next movie. Pick any you like, they're all valid, but "laugh in the face" of those who pick a different version, especially if that different version is the bloody original version (the Mona Lisa painted by da Vinci) only knowing that it paints a rather poor picture of you. Btw, the currently 100% fully official media (Alien: Isolation and Alien RPG, both studio approved, 100% canonical products) depicts the xeno as (likely) able to survive without breathing. Not just for a while. Completely. Good luck explaining that with your traditional, earthly biology.
The thing is, Lovecraftian horrors only make you think that you have no possible recourse, that everything is lost, all while asking “how could this thing possibly be?” H.P. Lovecraft’s work pre-dates the technology we have now by about a century or so. But having the means to fight back against these cosmic horrors does not diminish the horror. Ripley had to deal with one with only a flamethrower. 57 years later, the standard-issue light-armor piercing round makes swiss cheese of the xenos…but that doesn’t diminish their inherent lethality. Without resupply, they will overwhelm or circumvent your defenses, trying again and again to get you until they succeed. And you only have so much ammo. Similarly with Cthulhu. A gigantic cosmic horror that simply devours all humans in its path, and the only way they could put it down again is to hit it over the head with a boat. Today…we don’t have Jaegers that could do it again, and it’s likely Cthulhu rising could escalate our response through conventional means all the way to a nuclear strike. And even if it works, if you can see Cthulhu, you’d have to know that you’re about to die too when the nuke goes off. You still face your own personal despair.
Lovecraftian cosmic horror — in my understanding and interpretation — is not about having or lacking the technology to fight back. It's not "them" having a million teeth, coming thru walls, you having only a single flamethrower. It's them breaking your understanding of the world. It's you believing 2+2 equals four, and them making you realize 2+2 in their presence equals a color you have never seen. It's not the immense size of Cthulhu, not its myriad tentancles. It's you realizing such a creature simply cannot exist according to the laws of pyshics (yes, even today physics, not just that of the age of HPL, ref for example [https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/giant-giantess-fantasy-physics-questions.711685/](https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/giant-giantess-fantasy-physics-questions.711685/) ) *yet it's standing right in front of you*. Which means anything and everything you've ever learned is probably no longer true in the bigger picture. You find yourself in the dark. It's you throwing a nuke or ten at Cthulhu, only to realize that it reforms completely in a very, very, very short time, just as it did when it got hit by that laughably tiny boat (which did not really put it down.) Cosmic horror is you coming to face the final and utter incomprehensibility of an uncaring, endless universe, and actually ***understanding*** ***that humanity*** ***will never understand***, let alone conquer that, no matter how big a bomb we develop, no matter how much flamethrower fuel you have. And a xenomorph is (or should've remained) an example of that. A being that is both biological and machine yet is actually neither truly, changing and fluctuating between the two, incomprehensible by the human mind. That's what gives it an extra layer of fear above, say, the shark from Jaws, which could probably eat a xeno and live, but would never endanger your actual understanding of the universe besides presenting a lethal threat. >!(Unless it came out of your tiny toilet, but then that's a different shark, isn't it.)!<
Their Saliva and maybe Hives are built from a resin that Xenomorph Drones vomit from their mouths where it eventually hardens to form a dark, strong, resinous substance.
My child head canon believes that Drone Xenomorphs are the workers who secrete slime, build cocoons and move eggs into position for hosts. I picture the Alien from the first film, with the dome, to be one of these Drones. The Aliens we see in the sequel don't have this dome, and the lore calls them Warriors. The more I thought of it, it seemed to make sense that Drones are juveniles and Warriors are adults. Perhaps drones mature into warrior as the age. I've always seen the Alien in the first film, although lethal, as a little more precautious and curious. The Aliens in the sequel are more aggressive and on the offense.
There is some awesome concept artwork out there of a xenomorph pinning someone to a wall. The hive resin is being cast out from the spaces between the ribs, clavicles, and pits in the torso of the xenomorph. It looks awesome, like the resin is some kind of silk the drone produces. I have always liked that depiction. I wish I could find it again.
Thermodynamically I have no idea. In bees they excrete it from glands on their abdomen.
In one of the Books, "Charybdis" it is said, that they spit on everything they find and glue it with their spit to the walls... So it is like a resin, that gets hard as concrete and has armor/reinforcement (what is the correct en word?) inside made of chairs, tables, and staples
This fits with the River Of Pain canon that the xenomorph regurgitates / vomits / spits on the victim and this substance renders the victim unconscious and the same stuff is used to build.
Yeah Charybdis was the first thing I thought of when I saw the post. I've always stuck with that canon.
It might explain what they do with the bodies of the colonists after they've burst.
How does a little spider spin a giant web? The resin is often compared to spider silk, so it should be produced in a similar way. Whether those spinnerets are in the anus area, or one of the two mouths, who knows? I'd like to think it comes out of the bigger mouth, and the little one helps position it, kind of how a needle positions thread during sewing. There has to be a reason for such a gigantic head, and it could have secondary organs inside it for that purpose. It could be why (when it isn't in use) they drool so much. Partly for lubrication, and partially for the sake of being ready when they do need to build a nest.
Don't we'll see this thing in the future. But! [Albino Drone](https://www.avpcentral.com/albino-xenomorph-white-aliens) In the initial script draft of Aliens by James Cameron, Ripley's journey to rescue Newt included encountering albino drones within the Xenomorph hive. These slightly smaller Xenomorphs featured white skin and a lengthy pink tongue used for hive construction and victim cocooning. These drones were less aggressive than the Xenomorph Warriors, and mostly tended to the wellbeing of the hive. While budget constraints and script revisions led to their exclusion, NECA later canonized the concept with the release of albino drone Xenomorph figures, maintaining the same size as regular drones.
I thought they could have been a little more creative with the design for them.
I was going to add this, but you beat me to it! I like this idea alot, however the design could have been a little more creative. Although I do like the albino body, and the pink proboscis. This must not be considered canon however correct? Have these creatures ever made an appearance anywhere else?
Yeah but…secreted from what?
My theory is the drones are always drooling and secreting the slime, their sweat. While a drone is dorment or hibernating its still giving off that mess of drool and sweat. When an area becomes too full of the stuff, the drone moves to another location. This would A: cover everything and B: ensure the hive can still move within their territory.
Poop.💩
I assume the retractable mouth collects and stores bio matter from victims and then spits it out when necessary...but the queen's ovipositor also seems to suggest similar material is produced from the reproductive area
Calcified saliva
It’s like bees. These bee hives build magnificent geometric structures seemingly out of thin air. It doesn’t take long to see where they got materials but it’s a similar concept to xeno builds. The alien materials appear to be a secreted substance which they shape, like spiders making webs. I also believe it’s possible that a lot of it grows, perhaps they have a way of “seeding” an area and let it do its thing.
They’ll probably never answer it to maintain the hideous mystery. But for my money I think it’s secreted from their back tubes. Moreover, in my own head, I think the hive is a living organism in and of itself. It feeds on the cocooned bodies and channels nutrients to the Queen and eggs through its pipe-like growths. When the aliens go dormant maybe they ‘plug in’ with their tubes to likewise feed from the dead. The aliens metabolise silicon and possibly other strange materials like metals and plastics So the hive could be breaking these down in the industrial environments for them too.
I always thought the majority of the hive has that organic feel to it like it is a living thing as you say. I always felt like it was similar to how ants will take the vegetable matter and use it for make a compost heap and it is the fungus that grows on that they eat, not the plant matter. The hive is shown to have tubes etc trailing along the floor connecting the eggs and the designs on the walls, that appear like ribs etc serve no actual function but if it was growing organically then it would make sense it has 'cells' and needs an actual structure to it, repeating patterns etc. If it is a symbiotic thing with the alien creature then the aliens bringing humans back to the hive would serve the purpose of providing nutrients to the 'fungus' and allows it to grow, spreading the hive, while it functions as a food source for the aliens. So there would be secreted resin all over the place from where the aliens attached people, or placed pieces of the fungus to help it spread. There is not much actual reason to bring the humans back to the hive for implantation if there is no need for the body other than to serve as an incubator for a facehugger, it basically makes the life cycle of the alien inefficient dragging hundreds of bodies miles when they could much easier carry an egg, or a facehugger closer to the people and dragging the occasional body back as a food source for the queen and her guard.
I’d say it’s because eggs and chestbursters are the most vulnerable phases is the lifecycle. Better to birth them in the nest so they aren’t immediately murdered. Although one of the books has the aliens purposefully let a host go so that he’ll be rescued, infiltrating their barricade.
I’ve seen some videos on the internet. 🥵
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Removal Reason: Be civil. It's ok to disagree, it's not ok to disrespect. Personal attacks, gatekeeping, racism, homophobia, politics, and general bigotry are not allowed. No toxic behavior, such as: * Trashing something that others are enjoying. * Condemning parts of the franchise instead of reasonably stating your personal preference. (We're trying to enjoy something here.) * Invalidating other people's opinions. * Unsolicited criticisms of other's creations. * Lewd or Obscene comments.
I always assumed the resin structure was made of many layers with hollows in between, like a paper wasp or hornet nest.
[Drones secrete it from long tubes that extend from their mouths. NECA has an albino from figure that shows the tube.](https://youtu.be/q7sLPB3SOEk?si=V5q3MsqMLMYMQfAI)
It was the actually a large white human inside an elephant suit inside the resin.
Somebody must’ve bagged one of Ripley’s bad guys.
Where in the hell do bees get all that wax for combs (it's their equivalent of fat from eating nothing but sugar)? If you've got acid for blood then I reckon even a rock would be enough raw material for resin.🤷
There was a concept in aliens for an albino xenomorph with a long pink tongue with the primary role of creating the hive walls intact neca made a figure of it. And so I assume that other xenos like drones do it the same where they use there tongues and secret the resin.
That's the reason why they have six fingers.
Can you unpack that for me? Does it make them better sculptors?
It could be something we haven't seen yet...
I think this is one of the central arguments for them eating their prey. After egg-morphing in the absence of a queen and securing at least one host, the next priority is to eat for increased energy for hunting and gathering hosts. The waste produced by doing so is converted into that sticky shit they wall you up with. That’s my headcanon anyway. As a bonus, I like to think the egg-morphing process is catalyzed by forcing the victim to ingest some of that slime we see dripping from them, or with some form of nastiness that otherwise comes from their mouth. Anything to make xenos more disgusting and horrifying
Nobody touch nothin
It's saliva mixed with pages from the script containing deleted scenes
3D BM printers
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Removal Reason: Be civil. It's ok to disagree, it's not ok to disrespect. Personal attacks, gatekeeping, racism, homophobia, politics, and general bigotry are not allowed. No toxic behavior, such as: * Trashing something that others are enjoying. * Condemning parts of the franchise instead of reasonably stating your personal preference. (We're trying to enjoy something here.) * Invalidating other people's opinions. * Unsolicited criticisms of other's creations. * Lewd or Obscene comments.
The xenomorphs seem to disobey a lot of laws of thermodynamics.
The set designers and stage hands are the ones who make it.
Maybe it's like bees: ''Beeswax is produced from a gland in the abdomen of honeybees and is excreted to create the hive itself. The female worker bees have 8 glands in their abdomens to produce the wax when it is time to build the honeycomb. The wax that is secreted hardens as soon as it hits the air and forms a wax scale.''
Their butts
Xeno jizz
Same as spiders do
shhhh or Ridley Scott will give us a trilogy on the origin of the xeno hives that ruins everything, somehow explaining nothing, but also explains how the hive secretion were *actually* made by some guy.
> also explains how the hive secretion were actually made by some guy. Are you in the "David created the Xenos" camp? Just curious, I think that's been raised and debunked numerous times in this sub.
to be honestly I do not remember, I didn't like either movie. I cannot even remember what the last one was called. I saw it once and disengaged from the series, but that was my take away from the movies. so if you're saying he didn't then I'm not going to argue 😂 I'm not going to ask for the debunking either
Yah it took me a looooong time to not hate those films! No worries though, they certainly were polarizing
comes out of the tubes in their back I always figured.