I finally figured it out.

[Faceburster]

New theory on Chet/Predalien. If I have to accept him as a "Young Queen", here's my explanation; Chet was a Xenomorph Alate.

It's worth noting that Xenomorph aren't bugs. But the comparison has been made time and time again to hive insects. They have a Queen and even Hudson and Bishop compared them to social insects. Hudson said "like an ant hive" but I disagree. I'm an exterminater (every day is a bug hunt) and Aliens always reminded me of termites. Termite Queens develop the large distended Eggsack that inspired the xenomorph queen's eggsack, they use thier spittle as resin in the construction of elaborate nests, they have smoothe heads with no eyes and the soldier castes can even spit an acidic liquid at ememies. There are 5 castes of termite that you could compare to the xenomorph:

Alates [Praetorian/Young Queen]: These are young winged, fertile adults that emerge from an established termite colony to spread out and start new colonies. After mating and losing it's wings,the alate will lay several eggs that will hatch into workers to start the nest before the Alate molts into a queen and becomes immoblile. The Alate cannot produce eggs again until it molts into a Queen and forms it's eggsack. This caste seems to suit the Praetorian/Young queen theory on Chet. Perhaps before devoloping into a Queen, a Praetorian/Young Queen has a limited number of  fast developing embryos she can implant via mouth to quickly create a small swarm of Warriors to protect her and secure a location to build her nest (perhaps Chet exhuasted her embryos in the maternity ward and was having the Warriors hive the hospitol so she could molt into a Queen). Maybe she can only molt into a queen after dispersing the embryos and securing a nest location. The Royal facehugger had the ability to implant a Runner to watch over the Queen Chestburster during development, the Praetorian/Young Queen may come with a similar defense to create Warriors. Plus, Chet has already been identified as a young Queen and his head resembles the praetorians (which were young queens) from the video games. Gotta be an Alate.

Queen:This one is obvious.

King: Not sure what a king termite would compare to in a Xenomorph Hive. So screw him, this is complicated enough already....

Worker [Drone]: The Queen termite's first brood will always be a brood of workers. If we compare workers to smoothe-headed Drones, it seems to make sense that Drones appeared when a new nest was started by a Queen as we saw in Alien Res and AVP. Those were new nests that had not yet been established.The Nest in Aliens would have been what we call an established nest.

Soldier [Warrior]: These termites resemble workers but have enlarged heads and jaws. They are only found in well established termite colonies that have been around for a while, but are born the same way as workers. I consider the ridge-headed Warrior alien to be the Xenomorph version of a Soldier. They only appeared in a hive that had time to be well established (on LV-426). The age molt theory is plausible, it's possible Drones could molt into Warriors as the hive matured.


I know they're not bugs, but still, makes sense yes?

[Faceburster]

Well, even though your theory is interesting, it fails on multiple occasions... For one, the Drone & Warrior thing doesn't cooperate with what we have seen in the movies at all. In fact, the so called Drones (smooth-heads) are the Aliens that more frequently torture and kill their victims rather than dragging them back to the hive to be used as hosts.

I think that the majority of us here agree on that the smooth-head/ridge-head thing has to do with age or the adaptability to the hive environment rather than caste / different breeds.

We've seen what I would consider drones in Alien, Alien Rez and AVP. I n every case they killed people but also captured them as hosts and built hive. I don't consider the Dog Alien/Runner[which killed it's victims] from 3 to be a drone, but rather a seperate caste that keeps watch over the developing Queen. In a normal hive siuation, there would have been drones to start the nest and egg morph the royal egg.  The queen's host would have been immobilized and the Runner would have patroled the nest. Since Ripley was walking around the prison, the runner just stalked her and killed everyone.

The Age molt thing holds water for the same reason my theory does, only in Aliens have we seen a fully developed hive.

[Faceburster]

Nice theory's man but ithink the drone molts into the warrior sense in avp the queen was present when the drones were born.So it makes sense do'nt feel offened i'm giving you this info just trying to help.

True. But in Alien Res and AVP the queens were captive and no nest had been built yet.

[Faceburster]

other than the Drone/warrior issue, i think its a pretty good view on xenos.

now, two errors:

jockeys are a really, REALLY, old civilisation. i can't picture them living along with preds. and dont use the word "yaut'ja" because comics/novels are not canon(wich i think is the purpose of your post).

and mind that chet was a young queen, [according to official sources] so the "faceRape" should be a reproduction method for any young queen(see: praetorians)

Sorry bout the mispspelling, the only novel i ever read was earth hive. I think i heard them refered to by that name on here somewhere.

[Faceburster]

Your gestation times are out.

Gestation for Kane and Spike is in the 12-16 hour ballpark.  Aliens and Alien Resurrection don't give us much indication on gestation times.  AvP is f**ktarded.  AvP:Poo moreso.

As for turning a host into an egg, it doesn't take much more than 2-3 hours.

yeah. 6 hrs for the facehugger to implant the embryo and 6 hrs for the chestburster to emerge. (12 hours)
Spike seemed like he came to term much quicker (the royal facehugger was on and off by the time they got the EEV into the prison) and it makes sense that he come out quicker to begin watching over the queen's host.

[Haloxpok3mon]

Okay there are some things here that I just don't agree with... here we go:

The enigmatic Jockey race made use of sophisticated biomechanical technology. Spaceships, weapons and structures were "grown" rather than "built". Their most deadly creation (and for all we know the one that wiped them out) was the living biomechanical weapons that have become known as the Xenomorph. A deadly and highly adaptable hive-minded creature whos only instinct was to expand thier hive, and in the process, destroy indigeionous populations of entire planets. The method used was to load large amounts of Xenomorph Eggs onto their biomechanical ships of the type we've come to call "the Derilect" and drop them like bombs en masse into heavily populated areas. I'll start the life-cycle at the Egg...

Okay I can buy this, aliens were "created" some how, with a combination of science and a pre-existing species Xenomorph's came about...sure why not.

Runner-(seen in Alien 3)
- A smoothe-headed, extremely fast, quadrepedal caste with a short lifespan best described as a "Royal Watchdog".
-Cannot produce hive resin as it lacks the vanes on it's back
-Develops from embryo to Runner very rapidly and acts as the developing Queen's guardian, keeping watch on her host and killing any threat to it. Protects Queen Chestburster during molting.
-Dies soon after the Queen Chestburster molts into a Queen.
-is probably not intelligent and operates purely on instinct (protect the Queen during development)

Um...are you saying that runners are a specific chain of the alien life cycle. Oh god no...the dog alien was a mere mutation, just like any alien is. All aliens adapt to their host species while they gestate in their bodies.

Queen-(seen in Aliens, Alien Res, AVP)
-Can produce hive resin from the vanes on her back to build her hive, but this is usually done by Drones.
-Forms eggsack in 10 hours, and can lay one Egg per hour afterward.
-Once she has at least 10 Drones to build the hive, she will direct Chestbursters to molt into Warriors
-Once the hive has been established, she will keep hive population at about 25% Drones, 75% Warriors
-is very intelligent and can direct the actions and tactics of other castes in the hive.

Warrior- (seen in Aliens, AVPR)
-A Ridge-headed "soldier" caste. Heavier and more armored than Drones. Defends the hive and captures hosts.
-Can produde hive resin from the vanes on it's back (though not nearly at the same rate as Drones, Warriors mainly use their resin to cocoon hosts rather than for hive construction)
-Will only appear in established hives under the direction of the Queen.
-Sterile (cannot lay Eggs like the Queen or turn hosts into Eggs like Drones).
-is probably not intelligent and operates purely on the direction of the Queen.

Oh no, Warriors and drones are no different in appearance. They just have different jobs within the hive. The ridged-headedness you speak of is maturation, all aliens are born "soft" headed and later lose this trait for a harder dome.

Predaliens (here's how I crammed Chet into my cannon)
When the Jockey race encountered the Yajuta, they were confronted with a situation they had never encountered before; a civilized race able to stand toe-to-toe with the Xenomorph in combat. The Yajuta slew so many of them that the Xenomorph eventually found thier way into the rites and passages of Yajuta culture. The Jockey race , in response, modified thier Xenomorph to take on special properties when infecting a Yajuta. The resulting Predalien more closely resembles it's host and has a more rapid reproduction method; the ability to regurgetate rapidly developing embryos into the mouth of a female Yajuta.  This makes the Predalien  most offensive in the eyes of the Yajuta as it is made to look like a Xenomorph-mockery of themselves that "rapes" their women. It also makes the Predalien very effective, as it is bigger, stronger and  develops and reprodces more rapidly than Xenomorph born from other hosts. Predaliens are reviled in Yajuta society and the greastest heros are brought to bare on them when they are detected. Predaliens are initially formed whenever a Predator is infected by a Facehugger.

Predalien Chestburster-(seen in AVP, AVPR)
-emerges in 4 hours
-Molts into  Predalien in 4 hours

Predalien-(seen in AVPR)
-Can produce hive resin from the vanes on it's back (same rate as Warrior)
-Can produce an embryo every hour, and can store up to 20 embryos inside itself.
-Can forcibly regurgetate these embryos into the mouth of a female host.
-Can regurgetate 1-3 embryos which will emerge as  Predalien Chestbursters (in a Yajuta host) in 3 hours
-Can infect female hosts of other species but the resulting Chestbursters will always molt into sterile Warriors.
-Appears to be able to implant more embryos into pregnant hosts.
-Assumed to have intelligence comparable to a Drone.

Whoa there is no way the aliens were engineered to become predaliens,All Xenomorph are hybrids. Plus anything about the predaliens, including its looks, taken from those god awful AvP movies are non-canonical.

"The Newborn" -(seen in Alien Res)
-It's a genetic cross between humans and Xenomorph and as such is a mutant. It has no place in the Hive hierarchy or normal life cycle of the Xenomorph. Once you deal with the fact that it's not a Xenomorph, it's acctually a pretty cool monster in my opinion.
It's life cycle or reproductive methods will never be known because it was sucked screaming through a window into space.

Agreed.

[SpreadEagleBeagle]

I'm sorry Faceburster, but the major part of us Alien fans (i.e. fans that are dedicated to the Alien franchise, and especially the first film) won't agree with this theory of yours since it makes the Alien seem way too terrestrial. Sure, you tell us time after time that Aliens aren't bugs/ants, yet you compare them to termites, which makes my skin ripple and my blood boil.

Aliens are supposed to be  A L I E N, because that's what the creature is about. As soon as we simplify them (like Cameron did) and start to find 'solid explanations' to dictate the presumed behavior of theirs, existence and biology, we indirectly render them un-Alien and thus turning the creature into a mere bug easy to distinguish, figure out and diminish.

The Alien creature was meant to be a Lovecraftian oddity, a warped psychosexual serial killer from outer space that unintentionally gloats and gorges in our fears and weaknesses. A faceless nightmare that we can't relate to to or understand no matter how hard we try. A creature so extraterrestrial that it takes (...and makes) an misanthropic android to ave it.

With that said I'd like to add that to me the charm of the Alien is its specie's "inconsistencies" and their unpredictability.

[Haloxpok3mon]

I'm sorry Faceburster, but the major part of us Alien fans (i.e. fans that are dedicated to the Alien franchise, and especially the first film) won't agree with this theory of yours since it makes the Alien seem way too terrestrial. Sure, you tell us time after time that Aliens aren't bugs/ants, yet you compare them to termites, which makes my skin ripple and my blood boil.

Aliens are supposed to be  A L I E N, because that's what the creature is about. As soon as we simplify it (like Cameron did) and start to find 'solid explanations' to dictate its presumed behavior, existence and biology, we indirectly render it un-Alien and thus turning it into a mere bug easy to distinguish, figure out and diminish.

The Alien creature was meant to be a Lovecraftian oddity, a warped psychosexual serial killer from outer space that unintentionally gloats and gorges in our fears and weaknesses. A faceless nightmare that we can't relate to to or understand no matter how hard we try. A creature so extraterrestrial that it makes an misanthropic android to ave it.

With that said I'd like to add that to me the charm of the Alien is its specie's "inconsistencies" and their unpredictability.

Ugh I'm sorry but I have to disagree. What made me so interested in Xenomorphs has always been their physiology. Their uncanny ability to survive and kill. Their hive mind. The way they remorselessly kill to give birth to their own, a trait that they are so good at that they ultimately run out of prey. I've always loved xenomorphs since I discovered their similarities to ants and their similarities to us, we are all animals trying to survive.

[SpreadEagleBeagle]

I'm sorry Faceburster, but the major part of us Alien fans (i.e. fans that are dedicated to the Alien franchise, and especially the first film) won't agree with this theory of yours since it makes the Alien seem way too terrestrial. Sure, you tell us time after time that Aliens aren't bugs/ants, yet you compare them to termites, which makes my skin ripple and my blood boil.

Aliens are supposed to be  A L I E N, because that's what the creature is about. As soon as we simplify it (like Cameron did) and start to find 'solid explanations' to dictate its presumed behavior, existence and biology, we indirectly render it un-Alien and thus turning it into a mere bug easy to distinguish, figure out and diminish.

The Alien creature was meant to be a Lovecraftian oddity, a warped psychosexual serial killer from outer space that unintentionally gloats and gorges in our fears and weaknesses. A faceless nightmare that we can't relate to to or understand no matter how hard we try. A creature so extraterrestrial that it makes an misanthropic android to ave it.

With that said I'd like to add that to me the charm of the Alien is its specie's "inconsistencies" and their unpredictability.

Ugh I'm sorry but I have to disagree. What made me so interested in Xenomorphs has always been their physiology. Their uncanny ability to survive and kill. Their hive mind. The way they remorselessly kill to give birth to their own, a trait that they are so good at that they ultimately run out of prey. I've always loved xenomorphs since I discovered their similarities to ants and their similarities to us, we are all animals trying to survive.

Ergo Cameron fawked up the Alien.

[Haloxpok3mon]

I'm sorry Faceburster, but the major part of us Alien fans (i.e. fans that are dedicated to the Alien franchise, and especially the first film) won't agree with this theory of yours since it makes the Alien seem way too terrestrial. Sure, you tell us time after time that Aliens aren't bugs/ants, yet you compare them to termites, which makes my skin ripple and my blood boil.

Aliens are supposed to be  A L I E N, because that's what the creature is about. As soon as we simplify it (like Cameron did) and start to find 'solid explanations' to dictate its presumed behavior, existence and biology, we indirectly render it un-Alien and thus turning it into a mere bug easy to distinguish, figure out and diminish.

The Alien creature was meant to be a Lovecraftian oddity, a warped psychosexual serial killer from outer space that unintentionally gloats and gorges in our fears and weaknesses. A faceless nightmare that we can't relate to to or understand no matter how hard we try. A creature so extraterrestrial that it makes an misanthropic android to ave it.

With that said I'd like to add that to me the charm of the Alien is its specie's "inconsistencies" and their unpredictability.

Ugh I'm sorry but I have to disagree. What made me so interested in Xenomorphs has always been their physiology. Their uncanny ability to survive and kill. Their hive mind. The way they remorselessly kill to give birth to their own, a trait that they are so good at that they ultimately run out of prey. I've always loved xenomorphs since I discovered their similarities to ants and their similarities to us, we are all animals trying to survive.

Ergo Cameron fawked up the Alien.

NO THAT'S HERESY

[SpreadEagleBeagle]

NO THAT'S HERESY

But he did! And you'll find that I'm not the only one who think so.

Cameron made Scott's Alien a Hollywood superstar by simplifying it (i.e. he took the easy way out). Cameron didn't want no fiendish surrealistic rapist weirdo stalking his flick - he wanted beautifully paced action and a perfect Hollywood storytelling flow... so the creature drew the short straw and had to bite the dust, and so it transformed into cache of cannon fodder bugs and one big scary end boss for Ripley to duke it out with Godzilla vs. style.

In other words: The Alien went from Pandora's Box to Space Ants thanks to Cameron.

[xeno_alpha_07]

In other words: The Alien went from Pandora's Box to Space Ants thanks to Cameron.

Nicley put there bud...

NO THAT'S HERESY

As much as i am a fan, and LOOOOOOVE James Camerons Aliens myself and other people will agree with SpreadEagleBeagle.

[predatorfandrc90]

NO THAT'S HERESY

But he did! And you'll find that I'm not the only one who think so.

Cameron made Scott's Alien a Hollywood superstar by simplifying it (i.e. he took the easy way out). Cameron didn't want no fiendish surrealistic rapist weirdo stalking his flick - he wanted beautifully paced action and a perfect Hollywood storytelling flow... so the creature drew the short straw and had to bite the dust, and so it transformed into cache of cannon fodder bugs and one big scary end boss for Ripley to duke it out with Godzilla vs. style.

In other words: The Alien went from Pandora's Box to Space Ants thanks to Cameron.

agreed.

[Sabres21768]

NO THAT'S HERESY

But he did! And you'll find that I'm not the only one who think so.

Cameron made Scott's Alien a Hollywood superstar by simplifying it (i.e. he took the easy way out). Cameron didn't want no fiendish surrealistic rapist weirdo stalking his flick - he wanted beautifully paced action and a perfect Hollywood storytelling flow... so the creature drew the short straw and had to bite the dust, and so it transformed into cache of cannon fodder bugs and one big scary end boss for Ripley to duke it out with Godzilla vs. style.

In other words: The Alien went from Pandora's Box to Space Ants thanks to Cameron.

I agree.

Beautifully put.