Movies - Xenomorph

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The Xenomorph (colloquially known in the Alien
series as the Bugs or Aliens) is a fictional extraterrestrial life-form within the Alien universe, created by writers Dan O'Bannon and Ronald Shusset. Its original design was created by Swiss surrealist artist H. R. Giger. The Xenomorph is the quintessential violent defiler, existing only to reproduce its kind. That is its drive, its focus, its reason for being; to parasite living hosts before it dies. In the words of Ash, the android from the Alien film, "A perfect organism. Its structural perfection is matched only by its hostility. A survivor unclouded by conscience, remorse or delusions of morality."

Throughout the quadrilogy, none of the characters had officially named the species. Fans of the film took the term Xenomorph as the de facto scientific name for the species. The term originated from the Aliens
film in which Lt. Gorman, the lieutenant of the United States Colonial Marines, uses it to tell the troops that they are facing anything other than humans. It was used here as a generic term indicating any unidentified nonterrestrial entity. By its latter occurence, though, the word had become synonymous with the titular creatures. Later in 2003, Charles de Lauzirika gave "Xenomorph" the pseudo-taxonomic mantle internecivus raptus, as incorporated on the Quadrilogy DVD set. The Greek word xenos means stranger or alien (in the sense of foreigner), the common name of the Xenomorph. Morphê means form, a Greek term that should not be confused with the English morph which refers to change. Gorman's line in Aliens is the only time that the word Xenomorph is used canonically: that is, truthfully spoken from the film itself. It was also spoken by Sigourney Weaver's character, Lt. Ripley, in the special edition version of Alien³
.

Characteristics

Life cycle

Socially, in ideal situations, Xenomorphs are hive-minded animals with a defined caste system which is ruled by a queen. They reproduce as parasitoids and grow to full size very rapidly. The Alien queen lays eggs that eventually release a single parasitic Facehugger when a host comes near. The Facehugger attacks the host and slides a tubular proboscis down the victim's throat, implanting an embryo within their chest. The Facehugger then dies and the embryo's host shows no outward negative symptoms for several hours.

This embryo takes on some of the host's traits (such as bipedalism or quadrupedalism), then over the course of about 24 hours develops into a parasitoid Chestburster, at which point it emerges, violently ripping open the chest of the host. Within hours, the Chestburster grows to adult size. Xenomorphs are roughly humanoid with a skeletal or insectoid appearance.

Typical adults are about seven feet in height (two metres) and have a hard outer shell, an exoskeleton which is skeletal in appearance and is usually muted shades of gray, dark green, brown and black. They have an elongated, cylindrical head but lack visible eyes. The creature's lack of visible eyes serve to remove a massive weak point from a nigh invulnerable beast. Symbolically, a lack of eyes helps to emphasise the alien quality in the creature.

Behavioural and defensive attributes

The adult Xenomorph is a living weapon, noted for its ferocity and deadliness in any condition. It has strong, sharp claws and a venomous blade-like tip on the end of its prehensile tail. Its mouth contains a secondary jaw at the end of an extendable, piston-like appendage. This appendage can be rigid enough to penetrate body armor or an adult human skull, and has been illustrated to be surprisingly mobile and almost prehensile at the same time. It is often employed as a weapon. Xenomorphs, once fully matured, possess great physical strength and uncanny agility.

Despite their ferocity and savagery, Xenomorphs are, like any good predator, masters of stealth. A favored method of acquiring prey is to simply wait in a dormant stage until an appropriate host strays near and then drop down silently from behind. The prey is generally blind to the idea that a Xenomorph is present, due to its propensity to camouflage itself within its nest walls or the surrounding artificial environment given its biomechanical appearance. The Xenomorphs' blood is an extremely potent acid that is very similar to liquid fluorine and is capable of dissolving on contact almost any substance with alarming speed. The creature also has the ability to spit this acid, though this seems to be a rare behavior seen only in Alien³ and Alien: Resurrection
as well as various comic books and video games.

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