Aliens attack human leaders?

[Meathead320]

In a pack animal setting this is a good way to easily disrupt natural order, and lead to panic behavior in sub-ranking individuals.

What evidence do we have for it or against it?

Do Aliens target high ranking members of host species?

I am not claming the only target leaders first, but there seems to be some evidence they do target leadership positions when given the first opportunity.

A1. Would Dallas be considered a leadership role taken on purpose? Was his just wrong time wrong place?

A2. Taking out Sergeant Apone very fast. Was this because the other marines were looking to him for direction, or was it just because he was dicking around with his com-mic?

A3. Taking out the warden, right in front of all the inmates. Was this another just wrong time and place, or was the Alien really intending to cause panic in all subordinate members of the human group?

A4. Taking out General Perez, and Eglyn, again, early on. These aliens were contaminated on a genetic level, so these can be taken with a grain of salt, but combine with the others, it would seem to fit the pattern.

[SM]

Dallas - Wasn't taken first.  Brett was.  Brett was on his own; so was Dallas.

Apone - Dietrich and Wirezbowski were taken prior to Apone.  The Aliens didn't subsequently target Ripley, Hicks or Gorman.  They took whoever was in reach.

Andrews - Bad luck standing under that open vent.  Murphy, Boggs, Rains, and Clemens were all killed before this.  And Dillon and Aaron weren't targeted.

Perez and Elgyn - Again, simply opportunity.  Anyone could've walked down the corridor to retireve the guns.  Opportunity is the only pattern here.  Not leaders being targeted.

[Undeadite]

Who knows if aliens can even tell us apart?

[Meathead320]

 I was thinking they "may" be able to observe dominant vs. Submissive behavior.

Also, I did not say they "always" take a leader first, but that they would take them at first opportunity.

Lt.Gorman may have been a leader in title, but not a good enough one to have the others behaving toward him the way they did Apone. Just because one has the title of leader does not mean that they truly behave as one, or are socially viewed in such a role.

Brett may have made himself a more convenient target before Dallas, and the Alien is not going to pass up an opportunity to catch someone alone. Then again, the same argument could be made for Dallas as well putting himself in the Alien's path.

Same thing goes for Dietrich and Wirezbowski being more convienent, but they did not take long to get Apone after them.

A3, Murphy, Boggs, Rains all had made themselves convenient targets. Again, they will take any chance they can get, but Clemens was a leader in a way, more than Andrews was. Sure Andrews was not and inmate, and was 2nd in command in title, but really no one displayed submissive behavior to him.

As far as Dillon goes, he was fortunate enough to be NOT be as soft a target.

Again, I am not saying that the Alien would only attack them first, but that in general a victim that others are showing submissive behavior toward, with body language and such, that this is like saluting in a combat zone. If you look like a leader you may be a "preferential target."

They seem to get picked off early on, not exactly the first to get it, but still early on compared to the rest of the victims.

[SM]

Can't see how it holds any real weight as a theory.

Apone had the trust and respect of his subordinates and his voice was the one giving the orders AND he was the one who torched the chestburster.  A 'preferential target' if ever there was one - if only he's because he was the most aggressive as far as the Aliens had observed.

Yet Dietrich and Wierzbowski were taken first.  Why?  Opportunity.  Dietrich practically backed into an Alien on the wall and Wierzbowski was dazed and left propped up a pillar by Hicks after the ammo explosion.

[Private Hudson]

In my opinion, the aliens go after the one who is most agressive, or poses the biggest threat to the hive.
For example, Apone was obviously the most agressive, and biggest threat at the time before the first attack, hence they went for him early on.
Another example is how the aliens went after Hudson in the control room when he was going nuts and being the most agressive in the room.

[SM]

For example, Apone was obviously the most agressive, and biggest threat at the time before the first attack, hence they went for him early on.

But not first.

Similarly Parker was the only one acting aggressively towards the Alien when it was born, yet he was the last to die.  The one giving the orders was Ash and as far as we know the Alien never went anywhere near him - let alone attack and kill him.

[Private Hudson]

I just thought they went for the Synthetics last due to the fact they couldn't be used for hosts and rarely (From what we saw of Alien and Aliens) used a real weapon.

[Undeadite]

I just thought they went for the Synthetics last due to the fact they couldn't be used for hosts and rarely (From what we saw of Alien and Aliens) used a real weapon.

Well the EU has several theories about alien and synthetic interaction, but the only thing we have is in the movie where the queen doesnt hesitate to rip Bishop to shreds.

[SM]

Bishop was in her way.

As for how Aliens view androids - we really don't know.  Ripley didn't suspect something was up with Call.  And the Queen was in no mood to make Ripley a host - it was trying to kill her just like it did with Bishop.

[Undeadite]

Bishop was in her way.

Exactly, she treated Bishop like she would have any other real human.

[Private Hudson]

Then why didn't she finish him off? I'm sure she saw, or senced, that Bishop was still alive.

[SM]

Priorities.

[Meathead320]

So much for this theory.

Trail and error...

[The Necronoir]

It isn't really surprising. The traits which we associate with a natural leader also make them more vulnerable. They stand apart from the crowd even as they give it cohesion and direction, they're often necessarily louder than those around them, and most of all they naturally tend to lead the group physically, from the front.

That's why the ostensible leader in each of these situations was killed/taken, nothing more.