Queen's secondary set of arms.

[Eidotemit]

Hell she couldn't even reach freshly laid eggs at the end of that sack with her tail.

[~Jarrecko~]

lol  I'm still wondering why the queen has four arms and the offspring don't. After all just because it's the momma doesn't mean it should have six limbs

[Meathead320]

This is why I figured that the purpose for them would be to bring an egg or two with her if she had to leave in an emergency.

If all the adults are dead, except the Queen, and she needs to evacuate, she can take a couple of eggs with her, and this way her big Primary arms are still freed up for her to use.

Just another on of those "survive at all cost" traits.

[~Jarrecko~]

Or maybe the extra arms are for scratching those hard to reach places..

[Predator Schwarzenegger]

Look at the proportions and measurements of scale vinyl model kits out there and the illustrations of the queen.

Why when one can just look at film or production stills of the real thing?  Her secondary arms aren't 20 feet long to reach the opening of egg sac.

No, I mean where it attaches to HER - not the end of it.

[SM]

We don't even know if she can in fact lay eggs without an egg sac.

[Predator Schwarzenegger]

We don't even know if she can in fact lay eggs without an egg sac.

True, I doubt she could, but she would need to 'maintain' that area.

[Meathead320]

We don't even know if she can in fact lay eggs without an egg sac.

True, I doubt she could, but she would need to 'maintain' that area.

Well she could just as easily reach that area with her larger primary arms too.

I am of the school of thought that she can re-grow her eggsack if it is lost, and that it is not difficult for her.

It could simply grow out of her hardened exoskeletal "vagina" like orifice, that if you are familiar with her design you will notice she has, right between her legs where her eggsack descends from.

It is possible that all parts of the alien lifecycle are self cleaning.

Any how, her orifice may open up, and the new eggsack may start to descend from there, slimmer, no bigger around then her actual tail at first, and possibly just as dexterous so she can move it into whatever position it needs to be in before it fills and becomes less mobile.

The end of the new sack could then be used to secrete its own resin on the ceiling and walls that will suspend itself and the rest of the Queen's body. Starting from front to back, then once she is held in place, and the eggsack has suspended the rest of itself, then it will slowly fill with embryonic type fluid (possibly acidic too) and would start to germinate the eggs and become bulbous.

I really cannot see how the secondary arms would be use in this process, or to maintain the connection of the eggsack to her abdomen.

The eggsack looks like it is on reasonably well, and I would assume that she could maintain it just fine even if she had her smaller arms cut off.

Then again, I would also venture that any part of her that is cut off would eventually re-grow.

I just think they secondary arms serve a small but beneficial service.

Without those two smaller arms, the Queen still has her big primary arms, and she can still fight like a giant sized adult alien. Complete with every weapon a normal adult already has at their disposal, just scaled up 10 fold.

I know she is not 10 times taller than an adult, I meant 10 times the total volume and mass, which is just over twice the raw measurements. IE: a little over twice the height and length of an adult = a little over 8* the total volume and mass.
             This is why she walks more bent over like a T-Rex, although not Quite as horizontal, more like bent at 45 degrees. She is simply bigger and more gravid.

[Predator Schwarzenegger]

Well, I'm not convinced her large arms are delicate enough, they are more for attack, defense, perhaps contruction and getting around - climbing for example.
Wether the sack grows back alone or not, she would need to monitor and maintain the area with precision, only smaller, delicate and shorter arms would be beneficial.
Well, since this is all speculation anyway, thats what I'm resting on. Its one of those things in film, like the T-1000 being able to travel through time in T2 with no 'organic' or 'living' matter - in or out - what-so-ever.

[SM]

I don't think the large arms are for attack and defense - the Queen's primary purpose is to reproduce.  In most circumstances she has a horde to protect her.

[Meathead320]

 I have to disagree with you on that one SM, every part of the Queen looks like it is for attack or defense, except for the smaller arms.

Size advantage, more armored head, 6 lance like spikes on her back replacing the four tubes and singe dorsal horn on the regular Adults, she has a comparatively longer tail, etc...

Actually now that I think of it, the smaller chest arms could grab onto anything trying to attack her center while her Primary arms are for ripping things to pieces.

By the logic that she is not designed to fight, then she should also be smaller and weaker than the regular adults.

She is not weaker than they are however, and is very much the opposite.

She is monstrous, larger and far more powerful than a normal adult alien.

I would bet her primary arms would be far stronger than the arms of a regular adult too.

Visually you can clearly see they are larger. Not just longer, but bulkier too, as is every other part of her.

I think her evolution, or creation, definitely took into account the possibility of her becoming the last one in the hive, and then having to fight for herself.

Just for the possible scenario that every adult has died trying to protect her. Now whatever killed them is coming for her.

It is possible the arms are multi purpose. We keep falling into the single purpose mindset. The could be used for:

A). Chest protection while fighting
B). Mating (that is IF they ever do mate)
C). Grooming
D.) Feeding
E). Bring an egg with in an emergency

F.) ALL OF THE ABOVE

[SM]

Okay I willl grant she's built for defense but not for attack.

You only have to look at how she ran at the door on the Sulaco when Ripley went to get the powerloader.  A normal Alien would've had hands and limbs under the door to stop it from closing.  The Queen just ran straight into it.

[Meathead320]

Okay I willl grant she's built for defense but not for attack.

You only have to look at how she ran at the door on the Sulaco when Ripley went to get the powerloader.  A normal Alien would've had hands and limbs under the door to stop it from closing.  The Queen just ran straight into it.

That door was closing either way, it was about 4 feet thick at least.

If she, or any other adult would have stuck their hands under it, they would have two less hands.

If they would have put their body under it, they would have been crushed, and although she is bigger and stronger than her brood, that door was about 30 feet tall, 20 feet wide and 4 feet thick solid metal, of "who knows what?" kind of strong alloy.

That was not a typical 2" thick door that can just be bashed through, and it looked more like the Queen was ramming it to test its strength.

Similar to how the big AVP Queen rammed the Caldron at the end of AVP, although she had more success with this than the A2 Queen.

The Queen is built for both attack and defense. The kind of strategy of "a good offense is a good defense."

Her jaws are bigger, her claws are bigger, and he comparatively longer tail is also very strong, with a bigger stinger on it too.

The AVP Queen also killed the heck out of Scar, and the A2 Queen ripped Bishop in half as if he was tinfoil.

When Ripley dropped the Queen down the airlock, the Queen took Ripley with her too.

Had the Queen not been built for offense and just defense she would have ran and hid on the Sulaco, or just waited in the drop ship for every one else to leave.

She was pissed off, and was going to kill them all.

That was a back and forth fight, and had Ripley not thought to drop the Queen out of the airlock, and simply stayed to keep fighting the Queen, Ripley surely would have been eventually killed.

Ripley knew damn well she would not be able to kill the Queen with the loader, and the longer it went on, the greater the advantage would go to the Queen. Ripley was on the defensive here, the Queen was all Offense.

SM, I could easily agree that the Queen is NOT, definitely NOT built for hunting. She may be strong and dangerous, but that size advantage in a fight, is also her disadvantage when hunting.

She is by no means stealthy, she cannot fit into the cramped spaces that the adults can, heck she would probably have trouble fitting through most space ship corridors, and not all flooring may be able to support her weight. Her form does NOT look like it would be well functional running on all fours, either. She seems like she is just too massive and awkward to be an efficient hunter.

[SM]

That door was closing either way, it was about 4 feet thick at least.

Doesn't matter.  Look at the Aliens that tried to get into the APC and SB lift.  Closing doors and hands put out to stop them- completely unlike the Queen.

[Gangster Predator]

Yeah I noticed that in alien vs predator when the queen had a second pair of arms!