Alien "stinger" tail

[gameoverman]

So how does the alien knock out the victim so quickly to get it back to the hive?

[SiL]

No idea. The only times they've used their tails, they didn't use it to knock somebody out.

[gameoverman]

I know I meant off screen, like with Apone. 

[Corporal Hicks]

Stab 'em with it. It's got venom in doesn't it? I can't remember exactly what happened in the novel.

[SiL]

In the script of Aliens and its novel it says the stinger is used to knock people out.

[Noir-Gojira]

Where's the fun in that?  They should be dragged kicking and screaming.

[SiL]

Yeah, but everyone wakes up in the hive, so from being dragged kicking and screaming to getting cocooned, they're knocked out.

[Noir-Gojira]

I forget was Newt knocked out too?  Actually, never mind; it's not that important.  Sil DOES bring up an interesting point though; I'd like to see the actual cocooning process someday instead of having them just wake up as facehugger fodder.  Preferably, we can have the victims scream bloody murder to keep the process from getting dull.

[SM]

" Now, why was Newt asleep?  Did she pass out from fright when she was abducted?  Or do the Aliens administer some sort of paralysing agent to a potential host in much the same manner as a facehugger puts the host into a coma for implantation.  It's difficult to believe that Hudson would've gone quietly or just passed out when he was abducted, as it seemed he was extremely pumped up on adrenaline.  Or maybe potential hosts aren't always unconscious.  It's entirely likely that a 6 year old girl would feint from fright, but a pumped up marine, even one who displays such cowardice as Hudson does, wouldn't.  Since we don't see Hudson anywhere in the hive when Ripley is rescuing Newt, we don't know if he was conscious when he was coccooned or not – if indeed he wasn't killed.  If there is a paralysis agent involved it is very mild, as only approximately 20 minutes passes between Newt being taken, and Ripley finding her."

From The Complete Record of Alien Encounters #2-22

[Uncanny Antman]

Since we don't see Hudson anywhere in the hive when Ripley is rescuing Newt, we don't know if he was conscious when he was coccooned or not – if indeed he wasn't killed.

  Kinda on a tangent, but I feel that Hudson is almost certainly dead.  Isn't that kinda why Hicks pumps a burst of bullets into Hudson and his abductors?  Granted, we don't see Hudson actually hit, but...

[SM]

Hicks didn't shoot into Hudson and the Aliens.  Right after Hudsion got nabbed an Alien leapt at Hicks and he shot it as it flew overhead.  Then Vas grabbed him and he looked at the hole while Vasquez shoved him towards the door.

[Uncanny Antman]

Uhhh...oh yeah.  Where's that shame-face smiley at?


Ah, there it is.   

Lousy false memories.

[Xenomorphine]

Yeah, I feel sorry for Hudson... He must have woken up and endured the horror of what almost happened to Newt. There would not have been enough time for the process to be completed, but still, the character must have been shitting himself with terror when he realised what would occur.

[Ballzanya]

I think the stinging tail is non-canon. Sure it was originally in the script but didn't make it to the film, so it doesn't count. Perhaps the hosts are rendered unconscious by pheromones from the aliens or they are put into a state of shock. Maybe some hosts are conciouss while being cocooned but after futile struggling tires them they eventually pass out.(without outside help, no human host has escaped their own cocoon residue.
Perhaps some are given non-fatal wounds from the tail and tongue enough to render them unconciouss. Surely the alien would have control over how hard it bites, just as a person does when punching or kicking.
apone and dietrich had "low life signs" implying they were at least hurt by the aliens but kept alive to be cocooned. Aliens in a hive only need to restrain/hurt a host enough to immobilize them, a far cry from the one in alien 3 which killed by intent everytime.

[Plokoon111]

I heard, and I deffently think, Hudson ethier suicided himself, or he got head bitten cause he was surley trying to shoot the alien, or he had an acid death.