Talk: Xenomorph XX121 (Alien)

Archived talk: 1

No, they're not called "Xenomorphs"—at least, not with a capital "X."

The throwaway line in Aliens that spawned decades of confusion.

"All we know is that there’s still no contact with the colony," replies the lieutenant, Gorman, "and that a xenomorph may be involved."

"Excuse me, sir," interjects PFC Frost from the back row, "—a what?"

"A xenomorph," repeats Gorman, emphasizing the syllables. It's one of the few times in all four Alien series films where the creatures are referred to directly, rather than obliquely as "them" or "it."

For more information, see this article here on arstechnica .85.255.197.126 10:14, August 8, 2014 (UTC)

Actually, according the the new novel Alien: Sea of Sorrows, the species' official designation is "Xenomorph XX21". Obviously the book's only just come out, but this information will be added to the relevant pages in the near future.--Leigh Burne ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 10:26, August 8, 2014 (UTC)

Looks like Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report also uses "Xenomorph XX121".--Toa Quarax ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 18:34, September 4, 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, I saw. I wasn't sure how to act on it at first, given that it was just in the one book, but now that it's also used in this the page should probably be updated to reflect the full designation. (I'll be honest, I was also putting it off because it will be such a mammoth change.)--Leigh Burne ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 07:47, September 5, 2014 (UTC)

Actually, it'd be pretty easy since we'd just have to change the {{Xeno}} template (and any pages that still link to the page with a manual link). I'm pretty sure referring to them as just Xenomorphs after stating their full name is still acceptable (although they now can be just called XX121s, apparently).15:10, September 5, 2014 (UTC)

There are still a few pages that don't use the template (at least, I found one the other day). But yes, I assumed Xenomorph(s) would be used generally, with only the main page and perhaps a few important links giving the full designation.--Leigh Burne ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 07:43, September 8, 2014 (UTC)

Anybody else think this name change is incredibly stupid? Why even change it, when xenomorph was so fitting and effective? It's not like there are other alien species that have that designation anyway, so the suffix is more a waste. Ovomorph is also a dumb alteration, as the eggs don't really change much to deserve the name, though I understand just calling them eggs is generic. Est Nikkas Oth Mithas ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 05:03, September 27, 2014 (UTC)

"Xenomorph" just means "alien creature" in Latin. That could apply to any number of aliens. Technically Engineers are xenomorphs. While I'm not a huge fan of "XX121", I do like that it implies there are other documented alien species in the Alien universe. But either way, like it or not, it is the official designation now.--Leigh Burne ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 07:45, September 29, 2014 (UTC)

Alien and Predator articles

Fellow Xenopedians, as it stands, I honestly feel that the Alien and Predator articles on Wikipedia are both less-biased and better researched than ours, so I have temporarily replaced them with their Wikipedia counterparts. (Which, if you were wondering, is OK to do [1], just cite it.) I've also protected the pages from editing except for the other admins. If another admin disagrees with this they can undo it. If you want a copy of your contributions, past versions are always available under "History".

I believe that the Wikipedia articles provide a good overall view of the Alien and Predator characters that we currently can't deliver, and I hope that reading these articles will clear up misconceptions and repeated misinformation and make it easier to work together to make this wiki as good as the other top wikis on Wikia. Thanks everybody :)---CadmiumX99 ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 21:05, June 13, 2011 (UTC)

Meh, when this article was changed to Wikipedia's version, the guy who did so did two things:

1. Stole work from somebody who didn't even work here.
2. Screwed up the article when we replaced everything with red links and non-existing pictures.

I think we should move it back to its original version...--{{SUBST:User:Shade Link/sig}} 18:49, June 14, 2011 (UTC)

Noted, Shade Link. And if you have any questions about the use of Wikipedia article content, click on the "Creative Commons" link. It's at the top of the page. Thanks.---CadmiumX99 ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 20:56, June 14, 2011 (UTC)

Sooo… when do we go back to the old article?--{{SUBST:User:Shade Link/sig}} 19:34, September 30, 2011 (UTC)

change it back

I think you should change it back to the old page or at least un-lock the page so that we can take off those red hyperlinks that make this page look like some dumbass made it. Anybody with me?Chargersphinx ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 14:26, October 25, 2011 (UTC)

• Im with you they have to change it back or reunlock it so we can repair the page.Ultimatex ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 16:20, February 11, 2012 (UTC)

Too many Red Links

I have made a comment on the article for the first Alien Film that it has a lot of red links or links that do not have articles, this one does as well, to help keep the articles "looking clean" can someone help with either making articles for the nesecary things or just removing all them, or something? T-888 ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 10:17, February 13, 2012 (UTC)

I can't fix red links!

I decided to help this page by trying to fix all the red links. However, this page has been locked, preventing editing. Can someone please unlock it so it can be cleaned up? Bman14 ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 01:16, February 21, 2012 (UTC)

"In some predator tribes they accept the predalien as part of their clan." I really, really highly doubt that. Sources, please. 173.11.28.229 06:53, April 28, 2012 (UTC)

The Validity of our 'Proto-Xenomorph' as an actual Xenomorph

Sorry to run on your parade but the urge to argue against the whole Proto-Xenomorph 'fact' had me at hello.

Seeing how Prometheus takes place a few decades before Alien, this creature is most likely a more evolved form of the classic Xenomorph we know. As said in the films dialogue on how the dead Engineers have been, well, dead for approximately 2000 years. Ridley Scott said himself and Dallas (according to his visual report) the Derelict in Alien is well over a million years old. The Engineers in Prometheus lost control of the black goo 2000 years ago while the eggs on the Derelict are VERY ancient

Then again, the black goo's alien might not entirely be what it's supposed to be. I speculate that it's original purpose was to simply zombify sentient beings (which it did to Fifield) by first deteriorating the body. The alien in Prometheus was possibly a mere accident seeing how it originated from a small speck of the goo mixed with alcohol then fused with Holloway's DNA (his semen to be specific) and a massive tentacle monster (evolved or pre-facehugger) which underwent the same process.

I rest my case. Nanosoldier ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 15:34, June 10, 2012 (UTC)

• We know it is not the first Xenomorph, we see them in the AvP movies, we see that the Queen Mother is eons old(Aliens:Female Wars), we know that Aliens were used on earth before humans were around (Aliens:Destroying Angel) And Ridley Scott did say that the Promethus movie would be about the engineers of space and the cleaners of the universe. The last bit is important because he is talking about Xenomorphs.--WAVE ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 16:03, June 10, 2012 (UTC)

But Prometheus is set within the Alien universe and completely ignores the events in the Predator and Alien vs. Predator franchise. Nanosoldier ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 06:43, June 11, 2012 (UTC)

• It doesn't ignore the fact that W.Y. hasn't been created yet. Also when one of the writers was asked about canon and AvP the writer said they were respecting canon. If it was noncanon the writer would had flat out said "AvP is noncanon." Besides the new feature in the blu-ray set called "Alien Saga" says that comics, novels, books, and videos are in the saga, ergo those four mediums are canon. --WAVE ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 19:41, June 11, 2012 (UTC)

Oh and as stated on the box of the Total Destruction collection, all the movies take place in the same universe.

Canon question

In Predator Concrete Jungle the game & possibly novel I never read, the Xenomorphs make a guest appearance near the end of the game, my question is how did Hunter Borgia get his hands on them and what happend to them, because Scarface did not kill them all & his clan didn't nuke Borgia industries.

Please sign your posts, thats not really a canon question, its more like a "where did the xenomorphs come from and what happened to them?" and its a good question. Who knows how he got them, maybe one of the predator ships/pods or techs he captured contained alien eggs. Xenomorphs in that game were really just a cameo and I thiink even MOTHER says that not even she knew were hunter got them. The Cruentus ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 00:32, December 27, 2012 (UTC)

Sorry about not signing my post, still new to the wiki thing. I would like to add my own theory that Hunter recovered a lucky Xenomorph from Antartica or from another temple on Earth. Wrath425 ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 02:30, December 28, 2012 (UTC)

Genetic Xenomorph Inaccuracies

The article says the genetic Xenomorphs were Xenomorphs born from the Queen extracted from Ripley 8. This is somewhat false, as there were originally 13 Xenomorphs aboard the Auriga before Ripley 8 killed the first, but there were only five people/lab-rats in "the cargo" that birthed their aliens (Purvis was the sixth). That means that the Xenomorphs extracted from Ripleys 1-7 had to be on the ship as well, so they count as "genetic Xenomorphs", too. (13 (total) - 5 (hosts) = 8, then subtract the 1 Xenomorph killed by its "bunkmates", which Wren didn't know about, and you have 7. If Wren thought that Purvis's alien had also been "born", then he may have excluded the Queen because she doesn't leave the nest. But even if he wasn't aware about Purvis, or wasn't excluding Big Mama, there were still more than 8 Xenomorphs to start out with. Wren also had no way of knowing if any additional crew members had been abducted for use as hosts, so he would have only given the figure he was certain of.)

As for some circumstantial evidence: just because the hosts they came from were severely mutated, it doesn't mean the Xenomorphs inside them weren't functional (for want of a better word/phrase). Considering this species' DNA naturally blends with its hosts', I would assume the genetic crossing that resulted in the severely mutated "Ripleys" would have had very minimal effects on the Xenomorphs themselves. (I say "assume" because, logically, it follows exceptionally well, but I ultimately have no solid confirmation from any authority of the series.) The reason they kept experimenting up until Ripley 8 was because the Xenomorphs produced in Ripleys 1-7 didn't develop into Queens for some reason, and "Her Majesty here [was] the real payoff."

I'll make my changes to the article in 48 hours if there are no objections. Damaijin ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 01:49, March 4, 2013 (UTC)

I object becuase first off, its only a movie and you are reading to deep into this. And because it is show that there was many eggs produced by the queen before she developed a uterus. OH and lest I forget . . . THERE WAS NO EVIDENCE THAT THERE WAS ANY XENOMORPH EXTRACTION PERFORMED WITH PREVIOUS RIPLEYS, they were mostly corpses and the only other ripley that had evidence that they attempted to extract a Xeno was ripley 7. There is absolutely nothing to suggest that any viable xenomorphs were made from the ripley clones, this is all just baseless speculation . . . You are just making stuff up. 71.238.243.98 02:39, March 4, 2013 (UTC)

No need to be rude unreg user, be civil.

If it is just speculation, then no changes are to be made. There were more than six lab rats as you say, notice the cryotubes before the egg opening scene? there much more than six. The Cruentus ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 03:54, March 4, 2013 (UTC)

Actually that was me (I have been having an issue all day with wikia editing), and there is no need for you to interpret people as rude when they had no intention of being so. Assume good faith, not "assume person is a jerk" ralok ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 03:58, March 4, 2013 (UTC)

I also object to the idea. It's pretty clear from the film the only reason they kept trying to clone Ripley was because they didn't get a viable Xenomorph embryo until number 8. The "Her Majesty here [was] the real payoff" line was referring to the fact they were going to keep Ripley 8 alive as well, for study. The Alien DNA for the first 7 clones was all mixed in with Ripely's, hence the half-human, half-Alien-looking mutants. Saying there might've been a viable Xenomorph embryo in there is going against what the film was clearly trying to imply. If your only evidence for suggesting they did get some Chestbursters prior to Ripley 8 is the number of Xenomorphs on board given by characters in the film, then I'd say that's pretty poor evidence - Wren says there's 12 at one point, but in reality he has no way of knowing how many of the personnel on the ship have been impregnated following the breakout, and there are definitely eggs around to allow this because we see some later on.--Leigh Burne ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 08:44, March 4, 2013 (UTC)

There is evidence to suggest they may have attempted an embryo removal from ripley 7, perhaps believing that she was "close enough" but there is nothing to suggest that they were successful in the slightest. ralok ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 16:40, March 4, 2013 (UTC)

@Ralok, I do assume good faith, its why I have given you loads of chances despite your attitude and uncivil behavior in comments and its why I corrected the Original Poster instead of accusing him of making stuff up. You were being rude (intentional or not) and now hypocritical "you are just making stuff up." which was quite rude, so where was your good faith? Practice what you preach. There was no excuse for it, if you were having a bad day, don't post. Never post when angry, we all get bad days and it is annoying when wikia plays up like it does so I can understand completely, but always take a breather and calm down before making edits or posts. There is no rush to get a post in or to make an edit and the wikia is not going anywhere anytime soon.

@Leigh, I think there was plenty of cargo hosts to make up around 12 xenomorphs, there was two cryotube carriers (those yellow vehicles) and there was about six cryotubes on each one. Might have been four, I can't remember but according to wren there was 12 xenos left and since not all cargo people were killed at once (purvis was still alive and some others were not tied to the bed thingy, so those that were shown waking to the eggs, were not all of the cargo peeps.

And yes there was eggs around, so more could have been made. The Cruentus ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 03:01, March 5, 2013 (UTC)

Yeah, but the numbers still don't add up. There were two crates with four tubes each, so them plus the queen still isn't 13. And I don't see why the information Wren provides should be discredited when he was the director of the project. I did mention above that he could not have known how many new Xenomorphs were made, so he would have given the number he was certain of. And the bodies being strewn all over the lab kind of told me that those chestbursters had been born during the chaos after the escape, so he might not have been including them. Also, I knew the "pay off" quote was about Ripley 8, but I used it to emphasize that they were trying for a queen. Also, when Ripley 8 told Gediman she knew her "baby" was a queen, I interpreted his surprise as saying that it could have been something other than a queen that she could have guessed at. The same goes for the "pay off" quote too. It sounded to me like they'd been trying for a queen (so they could "mass produce") but kept winding up with something else.

By no means am I saying I'm right and you're wrong--I probably am wrong--I'm just trying to say that the idea isn't entirely baseless and made up. And @Ralok: yes it is just a movie and I was reading too much into it, but at the same time, THAT'S WHY I PUT IT ON THE TALK PAGE. I don't go around making big changes all willy-nilly without input from others first. That's the point of these things, yes? ...Now would you kindly return my jugular to me, please? Damaijin ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 04:16, March 5, 2013 (UTC)

Wait, is there anything indicating that these crates were the only shipment? or that they didnt have anybody on the ship for this already? Wait a minute? are you basing this solely on visual or audio information? because . . . if its visual information . . . BRB I gotta check this. ralok ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 04:47, March 5, 2013 (UTC)

@Damaijin My reason for disregarding Wren's comment as hard fact is because it's just one of many inconsistencies in the film's script, which has more holes in it than Swiss cheese. Information contained within a film that can't even be consistent with itself should probably be accepted with caution. Let's say there were 12 bodies brought aboard — at least one (Purvis) didn't hatch. I imagine Wren would have to know that, because, as you say, he's the project director. But Wren seems pretty surprised to see Purvis later on. So what, are they're actually only 11 Aliens? Or where there 13 bodies and 12 birthed?

That's not to mention the fact that Wren saw an Alien get killed by Ripely just before he quotes the number 12, so actually there would have to have been 13 live Aliens to start with. Plus one was killed so that the others could escape their cell, and there's at least enough time between this happening and the outbreak really taking hold for some random soldier to be sent to investigate, so it's possible Wren knew about that too, bringing the original total to at least 14. My point being, the numbers don't really add up whichever way you look at it, and honestly I'm not sure they were meant to.

Anyway, to get back on topic, while I can see where you're coming from suggesting there could have been Xenomorphs harvested before Ripley 8, I think the film is clearly trying to imply that Ripley 8 was their first success. Gediman's surprise when Ripley 8 points out that she knows the embryo was a Queen is just another aspect of the subplot about her having memories from her previous life (remember she found out the embryo was a Queen in Alien³), coupled with the fact she seems to have a telepathic link with the Genetic Xenomrophs.

As for there being more Xenomorphs than we see hosts, as Ralok says there's nothing to suggest there weren't other shipments brought to the Auriga other than the one on the Betty, or even additional bodies from the Betty that we don't see. In the context of what the film shows us, I think that makes far more sense than saying some of the other mutants contained Xenomorphs; the clone flaming scene makes it fairly obvious that the Chestburster parts of Ripelys 1-7 were completely mixed up with the human parts, not happily gestating inside, hence the horrific mutants we see.--Leigh Burne ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 12:23, March 5, 2013 (UTC)

Leigh is right, in alien 3 it is stated that the embryo is a queen therefore all the clones would have had a queen embryo in them but due to the mass genetic crossing and mution, there was no balance and the embryo likely died or was not viable. In fact the current genetic xenos and queens were not perfect as the queen eventually lost the ability to create more eggs (eggs which seemed unstable and not properly sealed)

Gediman was surpised because Rilpey 8 knew about the queen, the scientists were hoping that she would not have any memories of Ellen Ripley. You are right about the four tubes per vehicle but we only see two vehicles, there may have beem more that had already been through but as Leigh said, there are errors and continuity problems.

There would need to have been 19 xenos before killing one to escape their cells. 12 xenos left, two of each killed 1 to escape so that is 6 xenos dead, which would bring the number to 18 then add the xeno Ripley killed, its 19 but then... shouldn't the xeno ripley killed been a part of a pair that killed a xeno to escape? so then it would have been 20 in total. The Cruentus ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 16:33, March 5, 2013 (UTC)

When they were first named "Xenomorphs"?

In which film or video game the characters begin calling aliens Xenomorphs? Did this type of title for the creatures were metioned in one of the alien films and /or games that is based upon the aliens?

Sign your post please, the word was first used in the film Aliens (film) by Gorman. The Cruentus ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 01:18, June 1, 2013 (UTC)

The term Xenomorph was also used by Ripley and Aaron in the extended Assembly Cut of Alien³.--Leigh Burne ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 15:49, June 1, 2013 (UTC)

Chordates?

One question about Xenomorphs; are they chordates, just like human beings? Because they possess a skull made of actual bone. I personally think they are chordates. But are they TRUE chordates? please leave me a response.

Sign your posts please.

They do have a skull but they have also been said to possess an exoskeleton and an endoskeleton, however, AVP-R showed a predator peel flesh from a Xenomorph skull, so its a bit muddled up. Personal opinion is not enough to change an article I'm afraid, if you can find more info to back up twhat you believe or go through the many different medias to see if the inner workings of a xeno are explained, then we can consider it. The Cruentus ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 20:46, July 11, 2013 (UTC)

Just viewed a Kids program called Ben Ten i think and they have a Creature/Character called XLR8 that looks like a Xenomorph... It also seems similear to MY Fan character Hybrid called Sixnic the Hedgemorph. ( A combination of Sonic and Six. ) 92.18.235.62 18:19, July 14, 2013 (UTC)

Acheron's physical properties.

I'd like to point out an inaccuracy I read about Acheron in this wikia. This moon's diameter measures approximately 12,200 km and its surfice gravity is 0.86g, therefore how can it be a lot denser than the earth??? That's preposterous, because, in fact, it's less dense than our current planet. Could anyone please check this information, thank you.

201.22.28.103 22:46, November 19, 2013 (UTC)

The statement about it being far denser than Earth was related to the original size of the moon given in Alien, which was only 1,200 km diameter. However, the size has now been accepted as 12,201 km. That statement about density clearly wasn't changed when the moon's size was. I'll fix it now. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Although would it not have made more sense to post your comment on the talk page of the article where you found this mistake?--Leigh Burne ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 08:44, November 20, 2013 (UTC)

New page?

I'm wondering should there be a new page on the queen chestburster? Deathblade 100 ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 01:37, August 23, 2014 (UTC)

Considering a unique Queen Chestburster has only been seen on-screen once, in Alien³ (the one in Resurrection looked more-or-less like a typical Chestburster), I'm not sure we need a separate page just for it.--Leigh Burne ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 14:04, August 25, 2014 (UTC)

Yeah, well didn't the chestburster sort of pull its head out? Deathblade 100 ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 02:30, August 27, 2014 (UTC) 

You mean in Alien³? Yes, briefly. You never really get a good look at it though. I couldn't even tell it had four arms or little Queen legs until I saw it in a behind the scenes clip on the bonus DVD.--Leigh Burne ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 07:35, August 27, 2014 (UTC)

Halcyon did release a model kit of the Queen Chestburster, although I'm unsure if the box had a blurb on it; I couldn't find any pictures. Either way, there's not really enough info on it to warrant having a separate article. A section on the Chestburster page will suffice.--Toa Quarax ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 23:18, August 27, 2014 (UTC)

In Resurrection, the Queen sort of slides its head out. Deathblade 100 ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 23:29, August 27, 2014 (UTC)

No it doesn't. They redesigned the Chestburster for the film to have a wider mouth, that's all. Plus the infant Queen at the beginning looks no different to the one that erupts from Purvis at the end.--Leigh Burne ^{(Talk) (Contribs)} 08:25, August 28, 2014 (UTC)

Ok, we'll just make a new section on the chestburster page. Deathblade 100 ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 00:20, August 29, 2014 (UTC)

Plantigrade vs Digitigrade

In all movies (other than brief glimpses in the first), the xenomorphs are very clearly shown to be digitigrade. I don't think that warrants the claim that, "Xenomorphs have been alternately portrayed as both plantigrade and digitigrade organisms." This also claims that the xenomorphs in AvP were plantigrade while they were clearly digitigrade.

Electric Frog ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 16:35, May 24, 2015 (UTC)

"In all movies (other than brief glimpses in the first), the xenomorphs are very clearly shown to be digitigrade."

That's simply not true. The only film that "very clearly" shows the Alien to have digitigrade legs is Alien Resurrection. The creature is also digitigrade in the third film, although to be honest this is pretty hard to see in the movie itself. In the first two they're plantigrade, simply because they were played by people in suits and so that's the only option they had. There is not a single shot in either movie that suggests they might have digitigrade lower limbs. As for Alien vs. Predator, I honestly can't remember what we saw. But based on the Alien movies alone, the Xenomorph's legs changed from the first two films to the second two.-- LEIGH BURNE^(Talk) 17:02, May 24, 2015 (UTC)

I don't have the movie on hand, but all images I can find of the warriors in the second movie show then with their heels off the ground. Walking in this manner is the very definition of digitigrade locomotion. It's not about the structure of the leg and foot, but the way in which it's used. In Alien: Isolation, for instance, the xenomorph has a noticeably short foot compared to most digitigrade animals, but it walks solely on the toes and balls of its feet with its heel off the ground at all times. Aliens also introduces the queen, which has extremely digitigrade posture. Electric Frog ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 17:30, May 24, 2015 (UTC)

First of all, do not edit other people's comments on talk pages. You deleted a line from my previous reply. I'll assume it was an accident, but you should never alter other people's comments, regardless of whether you agree or they are incorrect. By all means argue the point, but comments should be left as the author posted them as they form a record of what was said.

The Queen in Aliens does indeed have digitigrade legs, but the Warriors do not. If you have evidence proving otherwise, then by all means share it. But I don't remember the Warriors' feet ever being shown in the film, save one very brief shot of the Xenomorph hauling Dietrich up the wall inside the Hive, which is just too brief to determine the creature's posture.-- LEIGH BURNE^(Talk) 07:57, May 26, 2015 (UTC)

I think I may have began replying in the three minutes prior to your edit of your comment? I'm sorry for that, I wasn't aware of the second notification until after I had published and I apologize. It gave me an error when I tried to publish at first.

The merchandise for Aliens had them adopting minor digitigrade foot postures. Do you think that it would be reasonable to state that any plantigrade status in the early films was likely a result of technical limitations? The toys and thee seemingly deliberate avoidance of clear shots of the feet while standing seems to imply they never intended the creature to present as a plantigrade? Electric Frog ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 10:47, May 26, 2015 (UTC)

Ah that's OK, no problem. Like I said, I'd assumed it was an accident!

Hmmm I dunno. I'm always wary of second-guessing the filmmaker's intentions. You could equally argue the lack of clear shots of the feet in Aliens is simply a result of the fact there aren't really any clear shots of the Xenomorphs at all — they're largely hidden in the shadows, and apart from the odd shot of a puppet torso getting blown away the only lingering closeups we get are on the jaws. Here's a thought — can we see what posture the Aliens adopt in AVP:R?-- LEIGH BURNE^(Talk) 08:46, May 27, 2015 (UTC)

I'll try to rewatch it to see, but remember that many scenes in that film are so dark as to be nearly indistinguishable. I will try, though. I'll also rewatch the first AvP movie for a chance at a clearer view. Electric Frog ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 13:10, May 27, 2015 (UTC)

Yeah, that film was ridiculously hard to see. But you never know. I have AVP on DVD but not the sequel, although I'm off on holiday at the end of the week so I may not get a chance to check it myself any time soon. Incidentally, should I suddenly stop replying to you, that would be why!-- LEIGH BURNE^(Talk) 15:16, May 27, 2015 (UTC)

The first two films had Aliens with plantigrade legs and feet, the third didn't due to host type, Resurrection messed things up by having the human spawned Aliens with digitigrade legs. AVP Aliens had plantigrade though they did reuse the suits from Resurrection. Can't say much for Requiem because it is indeed very dark and the feet you do see are Chet's, probably for the best considering the quality of the Aliens in it. -- The Cruentus^(Talk) 13:03, May 29, 2015 (UTC)

Behaviour

"Xenomorphs are primarily solitary ambush predators, although they have been known to adopt swarm tactics when acting in larger groups. "

Is this true? It was my understanding that the aliens primarily lived in hives, worked together etc, and it's only when one is split apart from the rest of the group that they assume the role of 'solitary ambush predator' so as to maximise it's efficiency and attempt to start a new hive.

Folstaria ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 12:14, July 15, 2015 (UTC)

Even when the Marines are inside the Hive in Aliens, the creatures still use lone ambush attacks to pick them off. Dietrich is surprised and grabbed by a solitary individual, and Drake was about to be ambushed by a lone creature when he is killed. It seems to me they prefer to attack alone and use surprise, only resorting to all-out frontal assaults when absolutely necessary (e.g. against the sentry guns). Even in the Operations assault, you could argue the Xenos' attack would've been very different had Hicks not discovered them in the ceiling.-- LEIGH BURNE^(Talk) 07:45, July 16, 2015 (UTC)

Overhaul

I've just begun a pretty major overhaul of this page. It really needs to be more "in-universe" to bring it in line with our other articles; at the moment there's a lot of "in this film, in that film"-type stuff. All that should really go in the Behind the Scenes section or be reworded and cited so as not to directly mention it exists in a movie. There's also quite a lot of stuff that could probably be moved to other articles/deleted altogether, as its either superfluous or just repetitious. The section on the different life cycle stages in particular is too long-winded, given that each stage has its own separate article anyway. I'll look into moving what needs to be moved and cutting down on the rest.

Being such a big page, it might take me a while to get through it all, but I'll work on it over the next few days. I'm keen to bring it up to snuff as this should really be one of our flagship articles. I haven't exactly checked, but I suspect the Yautja page might be just as bad, so that will probably be my next port of call after I'm done here.-- LEIGH BURNE^(Talk) 15:39, July 22, 2015 (UTC)

Remove AVH from this site?

I'm of the mind that mention of that Spideroid thing should be deleted from this page and the AVH page be deleted as well, since it's an entirely different creature and not technically a depiction of a Xeno, non-canon or not. Alien 2 was at least written intentionally as a sequel to the first film and for that reason merits inclusion and a page of its own, but AVH, mockbuster or not, is a completely unrelated thing. Its inclusion on Xenopedia, in my mind, is akin to the Walking Dead wiki having a page or pages for Z Nation or the GI Joe wiki having a page or pages for Act of Valor. Ghost Leader ^{(talk) (Contribs)} 20:29, November 22, 2015 (UTC)

I have actually considered this before, but didn't feel strongly enough about it to remove it at the time. But if there's no particular disagreement over the next few days or so then I'll delete it and remove the relevant info from this and any other pages that might refer to it. However, I will add mention of the film to the Alien and Predator references pages we have, as I think it would warrant mention there.-- LEIGH BURNE^(Talk) 12:03, November 23, 2015 (UTC)

Change Article Name

This article name is very tedious to link to plus it's not popular. Xenomorph is more commonly used and just as official. All this XX121 nonsense just needs to listed as a other name, just like all the other not-as-popular name variations.Werebereus - ಠ_ಠ 02:04, March 9, 2016 (UTC)

Like it or not, that is the official name. "Popularity" is irrelevant. It is the name used throughout Alien: The Weyland-Yutani Report and has appeared in other recent canonical releases too. It is the name Fox is now giving to the species. Contrary to what you say, I don't believe "Xenomorph" was ever used officially as a name for the creature; its use in the films is arguably as a generic term for alien life in general rather than as a specific designation for this species in particular. It was simply adopted by the fans. To my knowledge, Xenomorph was never used in the comics or older novels, for example.

If you're having trouble linking to it, I suggest you use the {{Xeno}} template, which will give you this: Xenomorph. Neatly formatted and will link to this article.-- LEIGH BURNE^(Talk) 09:04, March 9, 2016 (UTC)

Maybe so, but "Xenomorph" is the more common name used both within and outside of universes. It was "officially" used in the films, adopted as the official name by fans, and then officially adopted after it got popular enough and has been used in every major game/book so far. It's as official as any other, I'd say the MOST official, second maybe to the general "Alien" name.Werebereus - ಠ_ಠ 11:54, March 10, 2016 (UTC)

Doesn't change the fact that "Xenomorph XX121" is now the official name being used by Fox. So it's the one that's used for this page.

But like I said, I'm pretty sure none of the novels or comics use the singular word "Xenomorph" to designate the species. Certainly none of the ones I have read. It most definitely hasn't been used in "every major book so far" as you claim, because the sole time I've read the word in a novel was when the Xenomorph XX121 name was first given in Alien: Sea of Sorrows. Only the more recent games seemed to pick up using Xenomorph/Xeno as a name for the Aliens, everything else has been pretty vague on giving the creature a definite name.

Being used a lot by the fans doesn't automatically make Xenomorph correct either — for decades, the Engineers were Space Jockies according to fans, but the official name is Engineers, so that is used for the name of the article on here. And like I explained, the "official" use of the word in the films, as you cite it, likewise doesn't mean very much because there's no proof the word specifically refers to this species individually. Given that it literally translates as "alien form", it could conceivably be a generic blanket term for any undocumented alien life. The manner in which the term Xenomorph is used in the films certainly doesn't do anything to disprove that.

But anyway, regardless of all of that, as the official name, Xenomorph XX121 is automatically the right one to use for the page. Xenomorph is still liberally used as an abbreviation of it throughout this site anyway.-- LEIGH BURNE^(Talk) 12:25, March 10, 2016 (UTC)