Predalien: Dreads or No Dreads

[BlueMarsalis79]

Dreadlocks are incredibly cool,  and more rare in character design than a scarf or cloak that often gets used to similar effect, do not want the Alien having any of them though.

[jacobo1122]

Dreadlocks are incredibly cool,  and more rare in character design than a scarf or cloak that often gets used to similar effect, do not want the Alien having any of them though.

Jeri the Alien could use a cloak

[Neila]

I actually hadn't even thought about the jockey inheritance thing...it's always nice when you learn something new and shame on me

As far as the heated discussion is concerned, I also think that we can never really clarify it, because everyone has their own opinion and has to be accepted.
I also tend to write quite a lot and I wonder if the filmmakers are sometimes amused by the theories being put forward and discussed here.
Most of the time it is certainly the case that a decision is made simply for visual reasons and has no deeper meaning whatsoever. Fans often try to find the best explanation for this and that is one of the reasons why we are all here. We exchange opinions but at the end of the day we're all in the same boat because we love these films.
If I'm upset about a creature design or find a movie plot shitty, it's never against a person in a personal sense, but only against the decision itself or the opinion of it.
Surely sounds very cocky and know-it-all now
but at the end of the day we should stick together because without the fans these brands would be dead.

[Still Collating...]

There's a perfectly valid, consistent explanation given by the films:

Aliens collect traits as they go. Scott suggested it back in the 70s.

So Big Chap is Alien - Jockey - Human.

The Runner is Alien - Jockey - Human - Dog, and you can see the biomechanical details are taking a hit.

Alien Resurrection is awash with human. AvP and AvPR, there'd be no Jockey in the mix either, so they look similar.

Covenant even bares this out with the new Alien being fleshy and largely devoid of biomechanical detailing, as Engineer/Jockey hasn't been added to the mix yet.

Aliens have a basic shape but the detailing is a product of intergenerational trait collection. Each generation builds on the last, they don't reset.

Scott says a lot of things. He is the dude who said that a shredded Alien can completely regenerate from its little bits. Let's ignore that he turned the Space Jockey into a barely tall pale Greek God, but he took the potential of their history and showed us a lame single primitive city as their home civilization in Covenant.
He has never been about consistency and logic. He does what looks cool to him. He drastically changed not only the Space Jockey suit, but also the Derelict design, making it a lot less biomechanical in Prometheus/Covenant than in Alien. There was no great mastermind plan there, he did it just because.


But going with the Alien design implications, that means that through multiple Queens unleashed on Earth for example, we would get in a few generations the design from A:R to be the main/default variant? Disgusting...
And I agree with Xenomrph, I do not find the changes to the creatures in Aliens to be any less biomechanical. And the leg changes in Rez make little sense in going for a more human influence.

I see the potential of the hypothesis, it's interesting, but it does have holes IMO and the implication is pretty bad. I'm sure future series and movies will ignore this route eventually. A really biomechanical Alien will return sooner or later, I'm sure of it.   

[SiL]

But going with the Alien design implications, that means that through multiple Queens unleashed on Earth for example, we would get in a few generations the design from A:R to be the main/default variant? Disgusting...

I agree it's disgusting.

But it's consistent with the films.
 

And I agree with Xenomrph, I do not find the changes to the creatures in Aliens to be any less biomechanical.

And yet they are. The hands and feet are fleshy.

And the leg changes in Rez make little sense in going for a more human influence.

They're still genetically mutated.

I'm not suggesting this is what's happening. I'm saying if you want an in universe explanation for the different designs, this fits the available information. That's all.

[Local Trouble]

But it's consistent with the films.

But that upsets people.

[SiL]

But that upsets people.

Acknowledging the AvP films will do that.

[Immortan Jonesy]

I see the potential of the hypothesis, it's interesting, but it does have holes IMO and the implication is pretty bad. I'm sure future series and movies will ignore this route eventually. A really biomechanical Alien will return sooner or later, I'm sure of it.   

This! 😅 The fleshy-morphs are as disgusting as the zombie Fifield lol I mean, I understand the logic too, but the end result is soooo disappointing.

So yeah, Giger alien please! someone? Mr. Fede?

[Thatguy2068]

How did we get from "Should the Predalien have the dreadlock or not?" to "Are the Xenomorph even Biomechanical at all?"

Please more Biomechanical Xeno, it the one of the things that make them unique in the first place.

[BlueMarsalis79]

I always thought the Resurrection Aliens looked contaminated not only with human DNA but also with Queen DNA...





That might explain the head shape, having no fifth back spine, and them being digitgrade. 

[SiL]

How did we get from "Should the Predalien have the dreadlock or not?" to "Are the Xenomorph even Biomechanical at all?"

You asked for an in universe explanation for why they look the way they do in AvP, I gave one.

[Xenomrph]

I wouldn't call the hands and feet in 'Aliens' "fleshy", and they still have some biomechanical bits. Sure I guess it's not as much as the one from the first movie, but the hands and feet in 'Aliens' look *less* human than Big Chap. That's where the theory falters a bit.

[SiL]

I wouldn't call the hands and feet in 'Aliens' "fleshy", and they still have some biomechanical bits. Sure I guess it's not as much as the one from the first movie, but the hands and feet in 'Aliens' look *less* human than Big Chap. That's where the theory falters a bit.

You'll notice I never said more human, just fleshier, otherwise I'd be suggesting that on a long enough time line the Aliens would just look like people, which is dumb.

Everyone's acting like I'm trying to convince anyone that this is the literal actual thought process running through the series. I'm not. It just addresses why mutants and AvP Aliens look similar.

Nobody is under any obligation to like it. It just explains what we see if people want an in universe explanation.

I for one don't. I don't care.

[Local Trouble]

You'll notice I never said more human, just fleshier, otherwise I'd be suggesting that on a long enough time line the Aliens would just look like people, which is dumb.

That's pretty much what tyranid genestealers do.

[Xenomrph]

You'll notice I never said more human, just fleshier, otherwise I'd be suggesting that on a long enough time line the Aliens would just look like people, which is dumb.

That's pretty much what tyranid genestealers do.

Isn't it in reverse, though? Like you start with humans and then all of a sudden they've got a third arm or ridges on their forehead and if you wait long enough you end up with purestrain genestealers? I'm not as familiar with genestealer cults.