What if... The Xenomorph could morph?

Gavin

Xbox One gamers have this month been treated to Evolve: Ultimate Edition (pictured below) for free as part of their Xbox Live Subscription promotion "Games With Gold". For those of you unfamiliar with the game it is a team based shooting game in which a team of hunters must pursue and eliminate the player assigned as the monster. During matches players controlling the monsters are able to evolve new traits and abilities to help them evade the hunters and win the match. Watching some gameplay footage of Evolve I was reminded f the multiplayer aspect of Aliens: Colonial Marines, in which players controlling the Aliens could collect a "power up", transforming them into another breed of Alien. It was then that my overactive imagination kicked in - what if an Alien can morph.

The idea isn't actually as far-fetched as it initially sounds with director James Cameron having suggested that his warrior Aliens were originally Drones, like the Alien from the first movie, but that they shed their carapace before the Colonial Marines arrived. The video games and Dark Horse comics have also postulated the possibility of a Drone/Warrior being capable of morphing into a Praetorian, of which could then go on to morph into a Queen. Even in terms of the "canon", we know that the Alien morphs from a Chestburster, adopting traits from both its host and environment, but it seems as though this ability is a "single use" only deal. But what if it wasn't...

What if the Xenomorph could truly live up to its name, adapting and evolving constantly to further adapt to and dominate its environment. Imagine a Chestburster being born from a human host and growing into the classic smooth carapace Drone which is then outsmarted by its human preys reliance on motion detectors. Upon learning that the aforementioned motion sensors help the humans prepare against slow moving targets the Drone hunts down and ingests a dog. After consuming enough genetic material from the dog the Drone morphs, losing it's dorsal appendages and acquiring a quadrupedal stance, essentially becoming a Runner (Alien 3, pictured below). Able to move freely among its prey the Alien then encounters the human's defensive hardware, likely being injured in the process. After healing its wounds the Alien tracks and devours an insect such as a ****roach before morphing again, keeping its Runner-like appearance but vastly increasing the thickness and coverage of its exoskeleton.

I think most of you will agree that such an ability would improve on the perfection of the Perfect Organism, allowing them to adapt and evolve to a greater degree than already imagined and the possibilities are almost endless with so many characteristics available and the possible combinations of those traits. Imagine the traits a Xenomorph Drone/Warrior could acquire from a Chameleon such as being able to blend into its surroundings and grab distant prey with a long inner jaw, imagine a Xenomorph acquiring traits from an Electric Eel such as being able to breathe underwater and generate electric impulses.

This idea would make individual Xenomorphs much deadlier but wouldn't be beneficial to a teeming hive, unless the Queen was able to somehow adopt these traits, or more correctly the genetic code for these traits by cannibalizing those of her young that have acquired these traits. The Queen could then ac***ulate many traits and pass them onto her newly laid young, though this would mean that previously laid eggs would be deemed inferior and likely free to be cannibalized, supplying food for her hive.

What's even more interesting about this idea is that it could be easily introduced in a new Alien movie with little exposition, as in truth we know very little about the Xenomorphs biology and abilities. Would you like to see an Alien movie whereby the Xenomorph showcases this ability to morph? What interesting ways could you imagine such a Xenomorph evolving throughout the course of a movie, possibly becoming an undefeatable Giger-esque behemoth or super-streamlined hunting and killing machine?

ali81

I completely buy into this idea. iv often mentioned that it could be possible for a chest burster to not be predetermined as to what it becomes, more so adapting to its environment. for example, a chest burster is born and at the stage its going to molt, it can detect whether o not there is already a queen in the area or not. this would determine how the burster molts. now say a hive has been established with a queen. she is killed. there is no evidence to say that a more mature warrior could evolve and assume that position. I believe all xenos have the ability to become queens. like a bee hive. the hive is all females, all of whom r capable of reproducing which only a queen bee does. the queen secretes a pheromone which dulls the other bees and prevents them from becoming queens themselves. if the queen dies the usually have a big fight and one takes her place. or several leave and establish hives of their own. I don't see why this idea cant be adapted to the xeno. id love to see something like this on screen

suwhited

Depends on what the limitations of they could morph into...Say a Xeno could morph into another type of Xeno (Dog-alien, cow-alien, Rosie O'Donnell-alien, etc, etc..)....I could buy into that...

However, if we try to go a little further and have a Xeno morph into say, Newt, Ripley, or even a decent steak for under $40, then I find that highly unlikely...

Kingviper

There is a proper term for this "morphing", it's called molting. Such as when a chestburster changes or sheds its skin to grow into a drone, then the drone molts into a warrior and so on so forth. And by the way, the Xenomorphs are not carbon-based but are silicon-based, yes they are literally made of rock and they have a scientific name other than xenomorph, which is Linguafoeda Acheronsis and/or Internicivus Raptus.