What do Xenomorphs do with their dead and wounded?

[AhabPredator]

I never noticed the Aliens in the hive. That is some cool shit right there!

That's why these films are a masterpiece. You could watch it a dozen times and there are still things you don't notice.

[Still Collating...]

A particular scene and pieces of dialogue have been eating at me. Remember in Aliens when the team of marines and Ripley are first going through the colony? They find several decks eaten away by what Ripley recognizes as molecular acid. With holes so big that have eaten through a lot of decks it stands to reason that a xeno was killed or severely wounded. Yet the marines comment that no bodies are found from the defending colonists or attacking aliens. We know the fate of the colonists, but what of the fallen xenomorphs? Do they drag their wounded and dead away? If so, to what ends? For what purpose? What do you all think?

As has been said they're taken back to the hive.  The one referenced above could also have been dead underwater.

My one and only gripe with Aliens is that the acid was somewhat underused and under-powered.

Acid hit four marines and led to two of them dying; it would've been three had Ripley not saved Hicks.  How much more used and powered do you want it?

Fair enough.  Though it does feel just a tad bit weaker than what's seen in Alien, IMO. I'd maybe like to see more use of the toxic acid fumes that must result when being blasted by guns, and the dangers of blowing up more aliens at once in a small space. Aliens did it very, very well, I'd just like for any future media to not forget that aspect and to try and be consistent with it. More environmental damage and acid toxicity to human flesh is all I ask for.
If I'm not mistaken, just a drop of some types of super acids can poison and kill you relatively quickly.

[Local Trouble]

Was it the old RPG?

Yep.

Do you have the relevant passage committed to memory?

[Voodoo Magic]

On an ironic note, AVP:R at least made the acid shred the humans, though completely ignored it for Wolf.   

Ha, I noticed that too.  Blain doesn't have time to bleed, and Wolf doesn't have time for acid splash damage. 

[SM]

A particular scene and pieces of dialogue have been eating at me. Remember in Aliens when the team of marines and Ripley are first going through the colony? They find several decks eaten away by what Ripley recognizes as molecular acid. With holes so big that have eaten through a lot of decks it stands to reason that a xeno was killed or severely wounded. Yet the marines comment that no bodies are found from the defending colonists or attacking aliens. We know the fate of the colonists, but what of the fallen xenomorphs? Do they drag their wounded and dead away? If so, to what ends? For what purpose? What do you all think?

As has been said they're taken back to the hive.  The one referenced above could also have been dead underwater.

My one and only gripe with Aliens is that the acid was somewhat underused and under-powered.

Acid hit four marines and led to two of them dying; it would've been three had Ripley not saved Hicks.  How much more used and powered do you want it?

Fair enough.  Though it does feel just a tad bit weaker than what's seen in Alien, IMO. I'd maybe like to see more use of the toxic acid fumes that must result when being blasted by guns, and the dangers of blowing up more aliens at once in a small space. Aliens did it very, very well, I'd just like for any future media to not forget that aspect and to try and be consistent with it. More environmental damage and acid toxicity to human flesh is all I ask for.
If I'm not mistaken, just a drop of some types of super acids can poison and kill you relatively quickly.

We see acid burn through three levels of the colony, and Aliens was the first time we saw it react to flesh.

[Local Trouble]

Didn't the novelization suggest that living flesh is bit more resistant to the acid than inorganic material?

[SM]

Don't know.

I just figured it was a way to rationalise why doesn't get her hole foot burned off and stuff.

[Local Trouble]

Don't know.

[Still Collating...]

The burning through three levels was fantastic, but I do feel Ops wasn't damaged accordingly then, having that context. Or do you suggest that the place was burning and falling apart after the aliens having been killed with explosive bullets and grenades, but we just didn't see it? If that's what can be argued, then I can understand that. Though I still think the APC's wheel should've been more damaged after crushing the alien.

I know this is extreme nitpicking on my part and I really adore Aliens, but those little instances do keep me wanting more of an effect from the acid in just some of those moments. It's probably just my personal taste in wanting to make the alien feel slightly more deadly (by emphasizing the acid) without making the creature immortal and completely bulletproof. I feel that some of the other expanded media could use a reminder of that aspect of the alien.
I don't think that Aliens devalued the creature and "made them into bugs". I love what they did with the idea. But the expanded media more often than not, by interpreting Aliens continued to forget more and more about how to make the creature feel deadly. 

[TheSailingRabbit]

I think this has been brought up in other threads, but several acid continuity errors come from the fact that there was only so much you could do with effects back then. Maybe it wasn't considered when the APC crushes a Xeno, or maybe the tires resist it, I dunno. Not to mention I think it'd be overkill if we saw more severe damage from it (i.e., acid blood completely taking Hudson's arm off, half of Hicks's face getting destroyed to the point where the man's unrecognizable). No, the Alien should not be invincible, from a storytelling standpoint. They need to be challenging for the protagonist, but not unstoppable. If they're unstoppable, the story becomes boring because you're sitting there thinking, "The Alien's gonna win anyway. What's the point of even trying?"

[Samhain13]

If it dies close to the hive, its remains could be used to built more stuff. If it dies too far away, they just leave it there.

For the wounded, in the ALIEN novel the alien grew back a limb so if it survived the wound it will recover on its own.

[Local Trouble]

I wonder how many aliens were killed hauling their dead out of the corridor before the last sentry gun stopped firing.

[SM]

The burning through three levels was fantastic, but I do feel Ops wasn't damaged accordingly then, having that context. Or do you suggest that the place was burning and falling apart after the aliens having been killed with explosive bullets and grenades, but we just didn't see it? If that's what can be argued, then I can understand that. Though I still think the APC's wheel should've been more damaged after crushing the alien.

The transaxle was blown.

And the ops scene is less than two minutes long.  Acid would be burning through the floor, but it wasn't in a position to affect the characters so there's no need to waste time with it.

One possible exception is just after Hudson is taken and Hicks this fecking awesome roll and fire as an Alien leaps over him.  If he hit it - which I'm thinking he didn't - he should've been acided.

Aliens probably features acid more than any of the other flicks.

[Still Collating...]

Touche. 

I think this has been brought up in other threads, but several acid continuity errors come from the fact that there was only so much you could do with effects back then. Maybe it wasn't considered when the APC crushes a Xeno, or maybe the tires resist it, I dunno. Not to mention I think it'd be overkill if we saw more severe damage from it (i.e., acid blood completely taking Hudson's arm off, half of Hicks's face getting destroyed to the point where the man's unrecognizable). No, the Alien should not be invincible, from a storytelling standpoint. They need to be challenging for the protagonist, but not unstoppable. If they're unstoppable, the story becomes boring because you're sitting there thinking, "The Alien's gonna win anyway. What's the point of even trying?"

I agree on that point completely. I don't wan't a godmode alien, it really would be boring and going way over the top. I honestly hate Ridley's idea that the Covenant alien reattaches itself after being smushed. I don't want to see that. I'd just like for new entries to not forget and keep using the acid blood in creative ways.
I'm okay with partial regeneration. All limbs: yeah, whole head: no thanks.
I always liked the crawling aliens from AVP:Extinction and AVP2010 when they lost their legs. 

[SiL]

And the ops scene is less than two minutes long.  Acid would be burning through the floor, but it wasn't in a position to affect the characters so there's no need to waste time with it.

Even then they kind of do -- the reason Ops gets so smokey is the acid fumes.

Fun fact in regards to "couldn't show the acid damage": They used an A/B smoke compound (which is now illegal) when filming Aliens dying. One half of the compound would be applied to the set, and the other would be in the squibs when the Aliens got shot. When the blood from the squibs hit the set, it completed the reaction that created the smoke. Every time Aliens get shot in that movie, there's acid fumes.