Oh my, how some people forget these days, yet I distinctly remember a time when Aliens came out in 1986 and the distaste for the introduction of the Alien Queen. Ok, there was no internet back then, but there were plenty of other ways to communicate, like through the ALENS comics around at the time, and there were a LOT of people who felt that an Alien Queen who "layed eggs" seriously screwed with their vision of the originl ALIEN life-cycle.
The gripe back then was thie reproduction process just wasnt "alien" enough for some people, adding to the fact many even then new about the Dalllas/Brett cocoon sequence. Like today people asked questions such as "what happened to the other Space Jockeys?" and "Where do the eggs come from?", and when you think about it, what could be more alien than a creature that procreates using its victims, then that creation goes on to do something even more terriifying. On reflectiom, the introduction of the Alien Queen was a straight foward answer to the aliens life-cycle, to which those who shook their heads at have accepted over the years, partly because the cocoon sequence (which should never have been removed IMO) was by then considered canon.
And now we have a "similar" thing all over again, only this time the reproduction process is a direct result of the new creature, a Predailen who is presumably a Queen able to bypass the egg-laying and facehugging stages in favour of implanting her victims herself. If this is what the Strauss Brothers meant by taking the Alien part back to its roots I have to say I absolutlely love this idea. Its a disgusting... almost like being face-hugged but you (presumably) know its coming... and if its done as a requirement of the Aliens life-cycle and the start of something, Im quite happy with it. But thats the thing isnt it.... are we seeing (in Pic 4) the beginning of a completely new alien reproduction process thats related only to the predator, which isnt a bad idea, it'l be interesting to see how it pans out as we know there are Huggers in the movie, and that one of them is different to those seen in the Red Band trailer.
As for the design of the Predalien, I think its ok, but Im with most peoples gripes so wont go into that. But I do feel assuming this is a Queen, the creature just isnt BIG enough and should not be a man in a suite at all. Its also too Predator-like, and too different from the original Alien Queen for my liking. You'd have thought for example the Predalien Queen would also have 4 arms like the original, which has nothing to do with it been born from a human (Ripley in Alien 3) so why should it be any diferent from a Predator?
Just one last comment before I sign off.....is the Predalien actually a "hybrid"?? Ok I know what your saying, but think about it ok! If thi is the same creature from the first AVP, then how can it be a hybrid when its actually part of the Aliens own life cycle?? The Queen from ALIEN3 and probably ALIIENS too were born the same way, yet they are not classed as hybrid, and all this despite the fact we all know being hybrid means any kind of cross-breed or something made up from a variety of sources. As far as we know from AvP the Predalien Queen was created via a host like any other alien, only the embryo is different, and pressumably requires the supposed DNA reflex theory to develoip. If this is the case, shoudnt the new creature simply be the "Predalien Queen"?
Maybe there is more to this "new" creature than meets the eye.. we'll have to wait and see....
