NationStates Jolt Archive

Ok, I just finished watching AVP not that long ago and a few questions came to mind. So, here they are.

How without any discernable eyes do the xenomorphs actually see?
We know that xenomorphs are hive creatures, but what sort of culture do Predators have back at home?
What do female predators look like?
They came up with a nifty name for aliens, so why do we still call predators, predators?
Why don’t the predators use xenomorph exoskeletons as a part of their armor?
I can understand Henriksen, but why weren’t there any other cameo appearances by Ventura, Schwarzenegger, Glover, or Weaver in AVP?
So, when are they going to make a Robocop Vs Terminator movie? :D

Dont they have heat vision?? Like snakes or something.

Ok, I just finished watching AVP not that long ago and a few questions came to mind. So, here they are.

How without any discernable eyes do the xenomorphs actually see?
We know that xenomorphs are hive creatures, but what sort of culture do Predators have back at home?
What do female predators look like?
They came up with a nifty name for aliens, so why do we still call predators, predators?
Why don’t the predators use xenomorph exoskeletons as a part of their armor?
I can understand Henriksen, but why weren’t there any other cameo appearances by Ventura, Schwarzenegger, Glover, or Weaver in AVP?
So, when are they going to make a Robocop Vs Terminator movie? :D
which are the xenomorphs?

Ventura was killed and weaver died, twice actually

Dont they have heat vision?? Like snakes or something.
There would still have to be some sort of visible characteristic

which are the xenomorphs?

Ventura was killed and weaver died, twice actually
Xenomorphs are the aliens

And I did say Cameo, but I can understand a bit more with some of the actors. However Weaver's original character wouldn't have even been born yet.

Xenomorphs are the aliens

And I did say Cameo, but I can understand a bit more with some of the actors. However Weaver's original character wouldn't have even been born yet.
i dont remember in any alien movie seeing through the aliens point of view, i would assume smell and sensing vibrations or something like snakes

How without any discernable eyes do the xenomorphs actually see?


According the artist H.R. Giger, who created the Alien (xenomorph), all sensory input is done through several pores in the elongated skull. No eyes or ears needed.

Ok, I just finished watching AVP not that long ago and a few questions came to mind. So, here they are.

1. How without any discernable eyes do the xenomorphs actually see?
2. We know that xenomorphs are hive creatures, but what sort of culture do Predators have back at home?
3. What do female predators look like?
4. They came up with a nifty name for aliens, so why do we still call predators, predators?
5. Why don’t the predators use xenomorph exoskeletons as a part of their armor?
6. I can understand Henriksen, but why weren’t there any other cameo appearances by Ventura, Schwarzenegger, Glover, or Weaver in AVP?
7. So, when are they going to make a Robocop Vs Terminator movie? :D

Actually, I consider myself somewhat of an expert in this area - seen all the movies (except AVP), and read most of the extended universe comics and novels.

So here we go:

1. The black, smooth area of their head is generally accepted as a primitive "eye", which apparently sees into the infrared/heat spectrum. Also, I believe they have an excellent sense for vibrations, like scorpions do.
2. A hunter/tribal society. The most direct parallel on Earth would be the Masai warriors of Africa (which heavily influenced the design of the original predator). According to the comics, they also have their own "police" who enforce the rules of the hunt and take down rogue predators who ignore the "rules"
3. Almost exactly like males - humans really wouldn't be able to tell the difference except under medical examination. As a reptilian race, they probably would not have secondary sexual characteristics (i.e. mammary glands, as in mammals). It would be similar to telling a male and female gecko apart
4. Intersting one - prbably because, in the movies, xenomorphs (aliens) have been more extensively studied then predators. Xenomorph is a fairly generalised description anyway, I think it translates from the Latin (or is it Greek) as "self-changer", meaning at various stages of it's life, it has radically different body alignments. Most insects could be decribed as xenomorphs (those that go through a larval stage - like catepillars turining into butterflies)
5. Hmm, haven't seen the AVP movie yet (hasn't opened in my country), but in the comics, at least, their body armor is already pretty acid resistant. Also, I would guess, if they were immune to the acid, it would take a lot of the thrill out of the hunt.
6. Henriksen needs the cash more than the others? :p
7. No movie, but there was an (awful) comic series of Robocop vs. Predator. Not sure if there were any subsequent series, but the first one was so badly written and drawn I gave up after about 2 issues.

Hope this is helpful.

The movie, which is trash, skips over making the armor acid resistant.

It does manage to have a Predator skin an Alien (it just occoured to me that this could be classified as Aliens vs Other Aliens...) and clean an Alien Skull so it could be used as a shield by the heroine (at least they kept that consistant, only women can handle Alien attacks. Men, for some reason, fuck it up.)

It also had the worst archeologist since Lara Croft in it. I'm bordering on spoilers here, so I'll stop my complaining now. But man----what a crappy movie....from the jackass that brought us Event Horizon, Resident Evil, and the upcoming Driver. And you thought you where obsessed with video games.....

2. A hunter/tribal society. The most direct parallel on Earth would be the Masai warriors of Africa (which heavily influenced the design of the original predator). According to the comics, they also have their own "police" who enforce the rules of the hunt and take down rogue predators who ignore the "rules"
see the episode of samurai jack when he was hunted by the beast hunters from some other planet, i think actually called masai or somethnig similar

I dont think they showed anything from the aliens viewpoint in any movie. However if you play the video game you can be an alien. Old game but aliens can climb up walls its bad as as hell. Especially in multiplayer.

I dont think they showed anything from the aliens viewpoint in any movie. However if you play the video game you can be an alien. Old game but aliens can climb up walls its bad as as hell. Especially in multiplayer.
old game? you msut be talking about the newer old avp games, i like the OLD AvP games, especially the arcade version, the SNES version blows

Yes well those "new" AVP are really old. Arnt they about as old as counterstrike?? And wasnt counterstrike born in like ninety seven or something like that?? Either way its still pretty sweet they really need to make the same game except like new graphics and so on...do you... concur??

AvP on the Jaguar!!! Atari, boy-eeeee....anyone? Hello?

n-nobody...?




wah.

wow that would suck

Yes well those "new" AVP are really old. Arnt they about as old as counterstrike?? And wasnt counterstrike born in like ninety seven or something like that?? Either way its still pretty sweet they really need to make the same game except like new graphics and so on...do you... concur??
There's a Half-Life mod, Natural Selection, that you might like. Marines vs. Aliens, and yes, the Aliens can climb up walls.

wow that would suck
It was the Jaguar's markee game, along with...uh.....it's on the tip of my tongue........no, that was pretty much it......

They came up with a nifty name for aliens, so why do we still call predators, predators?

According to, I think, the AvP books, the real name for the Predator species is Yuatja. There used to be a good site called the Yautja Encyclopedia, but it seems to be gone.

IIRC, Xenomorphs (meaning, literally, outside[alien]-changer), hunt primarily by scent. They detect pheremones emitted by living creatures, and thus can even "see" cloaked Predators.

Ok, I just finished watching AVP not that long ago and a few questions came to mind. So, here they are.

1. How without any discernable eyes do the xenomorphs actually see?
2. We know that xenomorphs are hive creatures, but what sort of culture do Predators have back at home?
3. What do female predators look like?
4. They came up with a nifty name for aliens, so why do we still call predators, predators?
5. Why don’t the predators use xenomorph exoskeletons as a part of their armor?
6. I can understand Henriksen, but why weren’t there any other cameo appearances by Ventura, Schwarzenegger, Glover, or Weaver in AVP?
7. So, when are they going to make a Robocop Vs Terminator movie?

1. Aliens can detect scent, heat and brainwave activity through sensory recievers in their elongated skull.
2. Predators are a lot like samurai, they live in small family groups and are obsesed with honor.
3. Ugly as hell.
4. Because the concept people for Predator broke their imaginations on the design for the Pred's face.
5. Xenomorph skeletons aren't particularly strong, bullets tend to rip right through them. Also, the scidic blood makes skinning one a dangerous undertaking.
6. Arnie's busy playing politician. So's Jesse. The other two died.
7. Please God, no, anything but that. Besides everyone know's who'd win.

I dont think they showed anything from the aliens viewpoint in any movie. However if you play the video game you can be an alien. Old game but aliens can climb up walls its bad as as hell. Especially in multiplayer.

Alien 3 (IMHO, the weakest in the series) showed quite a bit of footage from the aliens perspective, running down corridors on the celings and walls...

Come to think of it... im gonna download taht game now. This thread is making me horny for it.

I started a thread this afternoon, its already fallen to page four, commenting on the AVP movie. In short my biggest beefs with the movie is that it is PG-13. The fights scenes would have been much better had it not been rendered impotent by studio execs. Also, the heroine is trying way too hard to channel Ripley and it doesn't work for me.

YAH... I was wondering where that one went. Ill have to check page four I was looking for it just not THAT hard.

Actually, I consider myself somewhat of an expert in this area - seen all the movies (except AVP), and read most of the extended universe comics and novels.

So here we go:

1. The black, smooth area of their head is generally accepted as a primitive "eye", which apparently sees into the infrared/heat spectrum. Also, I believe they have an excellent sense for vibrations, like scorpions do.
2. A hunter/tribal society. The most direct parallel on Earth would be the Masai warriors of Africa (which heavily influenced the design of the original predator). According to the comics, they also have their own "police" who enforce the rules of the hunt and take down rogue predators who ignore the "rules"
3. Almost exactly like males - humans really wouldn't be able to tell the difference except under medical examination. As a reptilian race, they probably would not have secondary sexual characteristics (i.e. mammary glands, as in mammals). It would be similar to telling a male and female gecko apart
4. Intersting one - prbably because, in the movies, xenomorphs (aliens) have been more extensively studied then predators. Xenomorph is a fairly generalised description anyway, I think it translates from the Latin (or is it Greek) as "self-changer", meaning at various stages of it's life, it has radically different body alignments. Most insects could be decribed as xenomorphs (those that go through a larval stage - like catepillars turining into butterflies)
5. Hmm, haven't seen the AVP movie yet (hasn't opened in my country), but in the comics, at least, their body armor is already pretty acid resistant. Also, I would guess, if they were immune to the acid, it would take a lot of the thrill out of the hunt.
6. Henriksen needs the cash more than the others? :p
7. No movie, but there was an (awful) comic series of Robocop vs. Predator. Not sure if there were any subsequent series, but the first one was so badly written and drawn I gave up after about 2 issues.

Hope this is helpful.

1. While in Alien 3, they do show from the Alien perspective, it looks like normal visible spectrum to me. In the comics, they are described as sensing smell, vibrations, and electrical. I don't know of any reference to them seeing infrared, and being as they have no heat signature, I'm guessing that would make it hard to spot one another in a hive society...

2. Predator society is also very male-oriented. Females don't hunt (Aliens vs. Predator comics)

3. Actually, the females were presented with "mammary" glands of a sort in the comics...don't know why...it looked fairly stupid.

4. Alien changer really...and being that it was a generic marine term, I think they are really using morph to mean "form". So alien form...it is no more a name than E.T. is.

5. The Predators do have some acid resistant alloys (probably developed from the aliens themselves as the Predators have used them a lot). But just because they have them doesn't mean they use them. A band of fully outfitted Predators can easily take on an entire hive of aliens.

6. The reason "Bishop" was in it is because that is supposed to be the human from which all the future androids are based. He was the owner of THE robotics company in the movie remember. Ripley's momma wasn't even born yet...and why would the other two characters be there for anything but cheesy cameos.

7. It made a good video game...but let's leave it at that please.

1. While in Alien 3, they do show from the Alien perspective, it looks like normal visible spectrum to me. In the comics, they are described as sensing smell, vibrations, and electrical. I don't know of any reference to them seeing infrared, and being as they have no heat signature, I'm guessing that would make it hard to spot one another in a hive society...

2. Predator society is also very male-oriented. Females don't hunt (Aliens vs. Predator comics)

3. Actually, the females were presented with "mammary" glands of a sort in the comics...don't know why...it looked fairly stupid.

4. Alien changer really...and being that it was a generic marine term, I think they are really using morph to mean "form". So alien form...it is no more a name than E.T. is.

5. The Predators do have some acid resistant alloys (probably developed from the aliens themselves as the Predators have used them a lot). But just because they have them doesn't mean they use them. A band of fully outfitted Predators can easily take on an entire hive of aliens.

6. The reason "Bishop" was in it is because that is supposed to be the human from which all the future androids are based. He was the owner of THE robotics company in the movie remember. Ripley's momma wasn't even born yet...and why would the other two characters be there for anything but cheesy cameos.

7. It made a good video game...but let's leave it at that please.

I guess I am basing some of my answers also on the aliens pen and paper RPG - they have a whole chapter dedicated to the physiology of xenos. As with all "extended universe" material (comics, novels, games) it isn't strictly "official" - only the movies themselves can be considered gospel.

Why would aliens see into the infrared/thermal spectrum - to detect prey, I would assume. If the do have enhanced vibration sensing abilities, that should be enough to "dodge" each other in a hive sitation. Yes, also, I forgot their enhanced sense of smell - and that the queen communicates via pheromones (as well as "verbally").

I still think the "morph" part of xeno morph refers to the fact that the aliens have at several destinct body forms (egg, facehugger, chestburster, drone/queen).

As an interesting sidenote, it was specualted in many of the novels and comics that the xenos were a bioengineered species - i.e. created as a living weapon.

Anyway, always happy to discuss theories on Aliens and Predator, two of my all time fave movie series. :)

What is with talk this channeling of Ripley, why can't the black girl be her own person?
I thought the movie great, I saw no reason to up the rating to R, if its good keep it.
It had all the aliens who would fit in the pyramid: Jugganuats (i think thats those huge ones with blade-like sycthe arms) wouldn't fit so not them.

I like the Aliens verss predator games, Preds love odds so only send few at a time. Plus the movie shows why the first pred movie occured.

It is extrodanairly rare for 'tentpole' films (these big splashy high concept pieces that studios release with the hopes of sustaining the studio overhead for the year) to be R rated. It cuts their number of opening screens by a third and sharply reduces the audience that buys the most amount of popcorn and concessions (where the exhibitors make thier money on opening weekend, with @ 90% of the box going to the studio on the opening weekend, that number dropping off as the weeks go on.) So movies like AvP have to have ratings no higher than PG-13 or be frickin' spectacular, which AvP was FAR from........I expect a huge second week drop in ticket sales.

Well xeno can either mean different, foreign, foreigner, strange, or stranger. And morph can either mean change or morphology. What I think it’s a reference towards is that depending on which species of animal the face hugger attaches too. The adult form will have qualities that resemble the host species. The xenomorph that had a dog as a host looked differently than one that had a human as a host. It had some k9 qualities to it. While a xenomorph that had a predator as a host would look bigger and beefier than one that had a human host. More simply put, different host species produce different adult morphologies even though it’s the same species. Xeno=different, morph=morphology, Xenomorph=different morphology. Or something like that.

I guess I am basing some of my answers also on the aliens pen and paper RPG - they have a whole chapter dedicated to the physiology of xenos. As with all "extended universe" material (comics, novels, games) it isn't strictly "official" - only the movies themselves can be considered gospel.

Why would aliens see into the infrared/thermal spectrum - to detect prey, I would assume. If the do have enhanced vibration sensing abilities, that should be enough to "dodge" each other in a hive sitation. Yes, also, I forgot their enhanced sense of smell - and that the queen communicates via pheromones (as well as "verbally").

I still think the "morph" part of xeno morph refers to the fact that the aliens have at several destinct body forms (egg, facehugger, chestburster, drone/queen).

As an interesting sidenote, it was specualted in many of the novels and comics that the xenos were a bioengineered species - i.e. created as a living weapon.

Anyway, always happy to discuss theories on Aliens and Predator, two of my all time fave movie series. :)

The "morph" part could be that...no question. I'm just going from how they said and responded to it. I'm at work, I can't throw the movie in for a direct quote sorry :D but basically they react with "Another bughunt" and they are all disgusted. Like they've been sent after aliens before, but it was just a false alarm or something. So, I figure it was just a generic term...I guess we'd have to ask the writers really. Alien changer I guess works for em though.

Oh, and the weapon thing...I could so see that. But, I don't know...if I were designing face huggers, I'd make em repeat killers, but that is just me. They work well enough as weapons though, that is for sure.

The only reason I didn't bring up infrared for hunting is that I keep thinking that if they have no heat signature, their prey might not either. And we are never really led to believe they do really. No one pulls an "Arnold" and smears themselves with mud to get away...and I'm not volunteering :cool:

Ok, I just finished watching AVP not that long ago and a few questions came to mind. So, here they are.

How without any discernable eyes do the xenomorphs actually see?


They don't. According to the books, they use a form of telepathy to home into other creatures brain signals. See Alien3, where the alien is aware of the Queen in Ripley


We know that xenomorphs are hive creatures, but what sort of culture do Predators have back at home?


A feudal, heirachical one, where martial skill is honoured. Similar to medieval europe or Shogun Japan in social development. I'm not a trekkie, but I recon they're something like Klingon culture.


What do female predators look like?


Like male predators.


They came up with a nifty name for aliens, so why do we still call predators, predators?


Don't know? There possibly is another name for them in the books, but I don't remember, it's been so long since I read them.


Why don’t the predators use xenomorph exoskeletons as a part of their armor?


Probably because they see it as cheating to use weapons or armour they didn't develop themselves.


I can understand Henriksen, but why weren’t there any other cameo appearances by Ventura, Schwarzenegger, Glover, or Weaver in AVP?


Because they couldn't afford them? Arnie was too busy being govenor to go playing with guys in alien suits?


So, when are they going to make a Robocop Vs Terminator movie? :D

The Alien vs Predator books and comics are well established. I don't believe there are any Robocop Vs Terminator books, so probably (hopefully?) never

The AvP game (The one made in 1999) was awesome. Just thought i'd throw that in :D

I am a huge fan of AVP, and ALIENS and PREDATOR, Alot of the communication from the aliens too is done through the queen, now the jury even in the alien community is still out as to how exactly the queen communicates with the soldiers but it is widely thought of as telepathic, because there is one book that states that the queen is captured and held in a completly sealed off room and the soldiers are in another room, a human is put in the room with the soldiers and every time the soldiers come towards the human the queen is burned and the soldiers back off. so it was thought that the queen can communicate as long as it is from her hive, now another interesting thing in the books as well is that the alien hives fight against each other too...I think from the creators of Aliens it is very much like Ants, at least that is the way Aliens (the movie) and the books portray it. If you want to play a fun game on the PC go out and get AVP 2 on the PC very much a great game. I enjoyed the movie, and the armor is acid resistant but not acid proof for the predator...thats why the predator took the armor off but was not injured from the acid. I hope this helps out, any questions on here I would be more than happy to answer, and about Weaver's character...yeah she wasn't even a cell yet when this movie is supposed to take place. There was talk of doing the movie in the future with Weaver but I think alot of that came down to money, it was the games that really helped push through both the companies that owned Aliens and owned the predator, thats what has kept any sort of movie from happening until now. Post any other questions I will try to answer

1. How without any discernable eyes do the xenomorphs actually see?

The viewpoint in the AVP 2 game [whereby you can sometimes see the Alien's teeth on screen] implies an Alien's eyes are in it's mouth. They're also said to hunt by smell, though.

5. Why don’t the predators use xenomorph exoskeletons as a part of their armor?

Something to do with horribly corrosive acid?

7. So, when are they going to make a Robocop Vs Terminator movie?

When they can think of a way the tin man won't get his ass handed to him.