Other aliens in the Alien and Predator universe

Started by The Alien Predator, May 21, 2015, 07:50:36 PM

Author
Other aliens in the Alien and Predator universe (Read 25,732 times)

The Alien Predator

The old EU left hints here and there about other life forms, but they were mainly one-time mentions, a way of saying "they exist". A few were lucky to have a comic or a short story based on them such as "Aliens: Reapers" and "Aliens: Alien".

The recent Fire and Stone comics and the Titan Books trilogy explored a bit more on other life forms. The book "River of Pain" mentions there are benign intelligent races, most of human encounters with them weren't all that disastrous. And yet, there are hostile ones and Colonial Marines have some horror stories to tell of friends that they lost during such encounters. It also mentions that the Arcturians are trading partners with humanity.

And then "Sea of Sorrows" mentions that the Arcturians were the first alien race encountered by Mankind and thus answering years worth of debating on what exactly "Arcturian Poontang" really is.

Fire and Stone also shows a Predator go on a hunting trip across the galaxy and highlights his key encounters with hints of the Engineer's existence.



I remember people being concerned that introducing too many aliens would make it very similar to Star Trek/Wars or Mass Effect. Some fans like the universe in ALIEN to be dark and gritty.

I believe it can still maintain that isolation. Despite all of these encounters, humanity is still very much alone. I don't see any "United Federation of Planets" or "Empire" or "The Council" in this universe. It leaves a hint that every race is pretty much on its own for the most part with some interactions here and there.

The old EU may raise some eyebrows onto why most of the races are humanoid but ever since the Engineers were introduced, humans certainly weren't their only creations. That leaves room for the other aliens to have similarities and yet be different. Like the four armed red skinned primitive aliens that the Predator hunted in the first panel of that image, then the bug like things (heh, "Bug Hunt") in the second panel and I have no idea what that armoured thing is in the third.

Apparently Predator South China Sea mentions an alien life form whom the Predator jacked its hover board from while hunting on its world. But I haven't read that novel.

What do you all think of this addition of more races? How does it shape the Alien and Predator universe for you?

I think intelligent life would be pretty rare, especially space faring life. Even if there are hundreds of races, that's still a tiny number compared to the billions of star systems in the Milky Way alone.

Darkness

I like the idea of other primitive creatures in the Predator series. Like the River Ghost in Predators. I wanted them to introduce even more. I was always fascinated by their trophy cabinets. But I'm not really interested in seeing any other humanoid races like the Engineers. Humans and Predators are enough for me.

What creatures did they have in Fire and Stone?

The Alien Predator

The Alien Predator

#2
Yeah, the River Ghost was really interesting. And I agree, the trophy skulls are very creative designs.

I think they should try to minimise the amount of humanoid beings and try to introduce some more alien designs.

This is the four armed primitive race I mentioned (whose heads the Predator is holding in the first panel on the image above as he inspects their cave paintings depicting the Engineers much like our own cave paintings in Prometheus, I guess that makes them our four armed siblings)



I like how it can fight the Predator pretty evenly unlike humans who usually have to resort to more cunning methods.

Although I haven't read the Fire and Stone comics yet, I know that the other creatures were mostly Goo infected mutations of some kind. Omega showed humans hunting some hoofed biomechanoid things. I also saw a mutant monkey like creature and there are sharks that apparently have a face similar to the Deacon (according to Xenopedia), or at least the extending mouth. LV 223 sure sounds like a lovely place...

Another great thing about these other intelligent races, is that they all speak their own language or has their distinctive alien sound. No "universal translator" or anything. Predators, Engineers, four armed dudes, River Ghost (makes them weird noises) all have their uniqueness.

Which makes me wonder just how humans interact with the races they encountered as Sea of Sorrows implies with the "so? We've encountered loads of alien races" quote. Since we've been with the Arcturians the longest, it won't surprise me if some of them at least learned a bit of English. Heck, if the Colonial Marines go over there for some R&R, then they are pretty close to us compared to most aliens.

But one thing is for certain, the race that we have had the most encounters with throughout our history are the Predators, who probably understand us way better than any other race who have just met us.

Corporal Hicks

Corporal Hicks

#3
Quote from: Darkness on May 21, 2015, 08:02:27 PM
What creatures did they have in Fire and Stone?

It's pretty much just the page Thwei posted and the 4 armed ones he talks about.

I love the idea of there being more species out there than just the Aliens, Humans, Engineers and Predators. I don't think there should ever be a huge Federation of Planets or such but I do think the variety is important. They don't necessarily have to be space faring to be interesting (Aliens, for example).

I think the introduction of the Engineer's and their genetic experiments opens up a lot of possibilities. Especially as our creators and the assumption they had something to do with the Aliens creation. The ability to create lifeforms such as us gives them more power in my opinion. I'd like to see that explored a little bit and see more of their creations - as those pages in Fire and Stone show us, there are plenty.

The Alien Predator

Variety is the spice of life.  ;D

I agree, these new additions made the universe even more interesting for me now.

I remember a member of the forum saying that just having Predators, Aliens and Humans really limits the stories.

A random Predator hunt here, Colonial Marines or corporate corruption over there, a Xenomorphs infestation here and there...

While enjoyable, it can feel slightly recycled. (Not that I am complaining.) Engineers just added so much more with their life building capabilities. We can now have some seriously horrifying Cthulhu monstrosities thanks to them.

The Predator Ahab shows the human a prey he hunted somewhere that looked like it belongs right in a horror game such as Dead Space, perhaps an Engineer experiment gone wrong? Or just a beast that evolved on a harsh death world.


Corporal Hicks

It really depends on what is done with them. If they become "Alien of the Week" then yeah, it does get stale.

I think what would be interesting would be to see another Engineeer experiment like ourselves. I'd like it be a prominent role, show what else the Engineers were up to with sentience.

Xenomrph

There have been some other alien races that haven't been mentioned yet that have been hinted at or outright shown:

- the myriad skulls in the Predator trophy cases in 'Predator 2' and 'AvP Requiem'

- the indigenous life on LV-1201 in AvP2 for PC

- the indigenous life on Ryushi, seen in AvP: Prey and AvP: Duel

- the indigenous life in AvP: Extinction

- the aquatic creatures in Aliens: Colonial Marines (comic series). Implied but not shown

- the myriad lifeforms name-dropped in 'Predator: South China Sea'

- the Harvesters (basically giant unintelligent space-armadillos) from the Leading Edge 'Aliens' RPG (this was also the first time the Arcturians were properly detailed, not sure if their portrayal contradicts how they're described in Sea of Sorrows)

- some of the random extraterrestrial skulls seen in other Predator sources, such as Bad Blood, 'Predators'

You'll notice that the vast majority of these are "indigenous life", although some of the ones from Predator sources are unknown quantities since all we know about them is that they exist and Predators have killed them and taken their skulls.

The Alien Predator

I picture that the Arcturians you mention (the sub-intelligent hive minded subterranean creatures) may be a different kind of animal that either lives on the same planet as the Sea of Sorrows Arcturians, or just lives in the Arcturus area and can sometimes be referred to as an Arcturian.

We have yet to see the Arcturians from Sea of Sorrows appear properly, they are only name dropped. We have no clue to what they even look like yet but I think it was Tim Lebbon who said that "there are plans for them", maybe in the upcoming novels.

And thanks for adding that list Xenomrph. I like to see other life forms in this universe.

OmegaZilla

OmegaZilla

#8
Didn't Concrete Jungle also have its share of alien creatures?

The Alien Predator

Yeah, those bug things in the intro.

It also showed a skull next to the human skulls that looks like it could belong to a sapient alien.

It's at 1:39


Corporal Hicks

I thought those were meant to the Scorpion things from Extinction?

Xenomrph

Xenomrph

#11
Yeah, I took them to be similar to the bug things from Extinction.

Outside of that I don't really remember any other extraterrestrials in Concrete Jungle, aside from the Xenomorph cameo late in the game and the skull from the intro.

The Alien Predator

Does anyone have any info on aliens mentioned in South China Sea?

I think there was an armoured worm.

Anything else? Apparently the Predator stole a hoverboard from a different alien. Is that true?

Xenomrph

It's been a long time since I read that book, so I don't remember many specifics.

I do vaguely remember some sort of sentient whale creature that the Predator mentioned having hunted.

The Alien Predator

Quote from: Xenomrph on May 25, 2015, 10:06:07 PM
It's been a long time since I read that book, so I don't remember many specifics.

I do vaguely remember some sort of sentient whale creature that the Predator mentioned having hunted.


Oh boy!

Someone mentioned some fungal type of sentient alien somewhere on this forum.

AvPGalaxy: About | Contact | Cookie Policy | Manage Cookie Settings | Privacy Policy | Legal Info
Facebook Twitter Instagram YouTube Patreon RSS Feed
Contact: General Queries | Submit News