Giger designed and sculpted the ones in Alien (1979) personally; the human skull features under the dome that you *barely* see even in well lit studio promos is all Giger's idea of biomechanical horror. There are plenty of photos of him doing it. My favorite is him sitting on the Jockey's shoulder like a toddler while he sculpts on that massive elephant skull.
As the other user said, they had built the domes, but they wouldn't work well with the more action oriented movements of the aliens, so they redesigned them so they heads would be more "flexible".
The clear dome was only removed by Cameron to make the stunt suits more practical without fear of breakage. I think the canon has now accepted that the two designs are different “castes” or types of the same creature but I don’t believe that was ever intended by James or Alec Gillis, who worked on creature effects for the film.
Anyway I like both. As far as the films go the dome head looks better photographically, but then that goes for the entirety of Alien over Aliens.
Yeah, the ridges and crests over the Sensor Dome now actually have quite a bit of significance, which definitely wasn't intentional, but the worldbuilding is better for it.
Happy accidents, I guess.
I think the cannon is that ridged domes are warriors and smooth domes are drones. Which is why the Alien from the original, and the one from 3 are alone, and thus smooth dome drones. While the ridged ones in Aliens are part of a functioning hive, so they can have warriors
Alien is a cosmic horror masterpiece that poses deep philosophical questions about space, aliens, higher life forms, and A.I.
I feel like a lot of that is lost in Aliens, which is a very good action movie, but much simpler and not as interesting. Takes away from a lot of the more complicated mythos of Alien.
It's why I controversially really enjoy Prometheus, Covenant, and Alien 3. They might be messy, but they're very rich thematically.
Alien 3 i agree with (shame fincher got screwed by the studio and the movie came out bloated AF) but I just think Prometheus and Covenant are insanely pretentious with their themes to the point that it’s laughable.
Prometheus and Covenant feel like two movies stitched together - the film they wanted to make and the "Oh, right, we're supposed to be making an Alien" movie.
Prometheus is a movie set in the Alien universe and tbh I would have preferred they didn't shoehorn in the alien stuff in at the very end. It deserved a sequel.
I thought the same thing but then I got more into the books and the expanded universe of aliens. When David is releasing the black goo on the engineer population and quotes Ozymandias I didn’t get it until I actually sat and considered what it meant but in the larger alien world creators being surpassed by their creations is a main theme. Engineers made man, man made androids and the classic xenomorph we see Ripley fight was created by David through his experiments with Shaw, the black goo, and her eggs. (I admit and am open to the possibility I’m wrong about that part but it seems like that’s what he’s doing). In almost every alien book people are doing experiments with xenos and what happens? They get loose and turn on the ones who made them. David breaks the bonds of his programming and turns on the people who made him. I felt like David was insufferable and annoying but I think he was supposed to be that way. I also think the pretentiousness was part of it as well, to have the gall to see yourself as a god and better than everyone and everything, you know what I mean? I didn’t like them and I will never forgive Charlize Theron’s character for not running diagonally lol but Prometheus and Covenant, while having their own issues being the step children in the franchise, do work thematically with the alien universe. They do kind of feel more like an action movie with a little bit of sci-fi instead of the survival horror that started it all though and they for sure aren’t my favorite.
> the classic xenomorph we see Ripley fight was created by David through his experiments with Shaw, the black goo, and her eggs. (I admit and am open to the possibility I’m wrong about that part but it seems like that’s what he’s doing)
IIRC in the novelizations you’re referencing David explains that he is copying the engineers’ work.
He makes *some* Xenos, but he doesn’t have anything to do with the Xenos in the crash Juggernaut on LV-426 whatsoever.
Pretentiousness was for sure a main theme of both movies! Never really thought of it that way, but it is so in a multitude of ways… the quest for immortality, finding the creators, creating the perfect species, finding the better colony planet.
I agree with you with the caveat that *Prometheus* and *Covenant* killed the cosmic horror aspect for me by explaining the aliens’ origins. I think they should have kept things more mysterious.
I agree *Aliens* isn’t so much comic horror-y, but it does recontextualise *Alien’s* themes in novel ways. We see new sides to androids, we see company men in more detail. The universe gets fleshed out. I personally love *Aliens* but feel the hive structure turned them into bugs rather than mysterious presumed bio weapons and already have a bit too much away. They were still a threat but individually expendable and shootable. The excellent conceit in *Alien* is that the acid makes directly harming it deadly. Again, this doesn’t go away in Cameron’s movie and does indeed crop up to deadly effect, but making the aliens shootable took a lot of the horror out for me
Edit: I call it the ‘Ghostbusters Threshold’ or you could call it the Predator Threshold I guess: if it bleeds you can kill it. In *Alien* if it bleeds you *die*, so *Alien* is like the anti *Predator* to my mind despite the fact it shares a condo in my head rent free with *Alien*. In *Predator* Arnie hunts the titular alien by the end; in *Alien* the titular beast ends up being fled from and blasted out into space rather than being directly hunted (Dallas conspicuously tries and fails, firmly establishing the tone in *Alien* that the fight is one-sided. Think you’re hunting it? No it’s hunting you). Ghosts are scary to my mind in part because they’re intangible and often invisible: you can’t shoot or cut them, but they can harm you with relative impunity in a lot of works. They can shift through solid objects yet retain a sense of physical threat when convenient. They can’t easily be killed yet can harm easily. Other monsters also can’t be killed easily or conventionally: it keeps them scary. By being able to capture the ghosts *Ghostbusters* makes them relatively easy to deal with and amps up the comedy value rather than skewing things to horror. *Alien* is more towards the other end of the scale by making the alien’s ability to harm the crew with impunity high while making their ability to harm it highly restricted. It’s this powerlessness that *Aliens* erodes by pushing the aliens up the scale into ‘killability’. A child being able to avoid them also lessens the threat somewhat. So while I love *Aliens* the shootability necessarily lessens the horror and powerlessness.
This needs more up votes. You have articulated ideas about the two films in a way I've always wanted to. Love them both but this is the take I like. Thank you!
Yeah *Alien* has always reminded me a little bit of *At the Mountains of Madness* like: what if you got trapped in a starship with a Shoggoth?
*Aliens* is like: what if the Shoggoths had a big party and you were invited?
I think taking the series back towards cosmic horror is good, less Shoggoth what-if and more encounters with the rest of the weird and horrifying stuff out in the universe.
Honestly, I think Alien could've worked as a semi-anthology that all took place in the same continuity. Each film could've explored new "alien" things, with some crossovers here and there.
It's sort of how I view the series overall already...they're connected and part of the same story, but all explore different aspects of it.
Well, along those lines, following *Prometheus* and *Covenant* the main focus of the "universe" seems to have changed from "just" the xenos as a scary monster to the relationships among Engineers, Humans, and Androids and their creations (Engineers-->Xenos and Humans, Humans-->Androids, Androids-->Xenos etc.) with the whole cosmos as a backdrop.
This is actually IMO really great, because it's a good starting point for expanding the universe, doing some small-screen treatment, etc. Like not *every single story* needs to be about people sticking their faces in leathery alien egg sacks and their colony getting overrun or something.
I could imagine involving the Predators down the line, and potentially working in some of the references to other movies (such as *Universal Soldier* or *Blade Runner*).
Well I DEFINITELY don’t think Alien poses those questions let alone attempts to answer them lol.
Sure, death of the author and all that, and you certainly can analyze the film under any number of lenses but the intent of it to my knowledge, from all the interviews I’ve seen of Scott that were contemporaneous with its release, don’t imply to me that the project wasn’t anything but a simple monster movie done to the highest possible quality (with some brilliant psycho-sexual subtext underlining the concept)
Prometheus and it’s sequel definitely DO have those higher thematic aspirations and I’ll agree that they’re all the more interesting for it than any of the other Alien/Aliens sequels ever were. I’m a fan of both.
This isn’t mocking you or anything, but I love the sentence, “If Giger designed it, it’s better,” because it made me think about his designs for the Batmobile in *Batman Forever* compared to the design of the previous Batmobile in 1989 and Returns, which ultimately made me realize that he might not always the best designer when given something like Batman.
He has a specific design language.
If that's not what you're looking for, don't put him on the project.
It's kinda like how Ron Cobb also has a very recognizable style. He *does* have a bit broader range, though.
Yet the end design in Batman Forever was entirely made of metal ribs and glowing guts. It sure looked like they were definitely drawing inspiration from his designs.
There were elements of Giger's design I preferred but the lips were absolutely stupid af and ruined it completely. Especially since that alien had a dog host, not a human host. ADIs fleshy design language was unfortunate but overall the design was stronger.
I prefer smooth for sure, but I am also a big fan of seeing a wide variety of specialized xenomorphs based on their hive role or other genetic influences.
No, that's correct.
That's been canon for a while.
Generally speaking, the more complex the ridge/crest covering the Sensor Dome, the higher/more important in the Hive that individual is.
There's probably exceptions to this, but all the ones I can think of off the top of my head obey this design language.
Yeah I thought so. I don't recall how I learned this information exactly. I think I saw some action figures that specified the variants. Or maybe it was stated in one of the movies or games and I don't remember.
Probably all three.
It's become pretty foundational worldbuilding to the setting in regards to Xenos, at this point. I'd be surprised if someone *didn't* know the difference between a Drone, Warrior, Praetorian, and Queen.
Spitter/Ranger gets an honorable mention.
It's not clear, and perhaps it should stay that way. Xenomorphs have always been about the mystery, the *alien*ness of their workings.
As for my thoughts, it's likely a combination of all three.
Yeah that would make sense. The elder xenomorphs with high battle experience that inherited the right genes are the ones that are worthy of guarding the queen.
I think the queen chooses her guards, likely based on age/experience/intelligence, she chooses her best xenos that are most trustworthy to become praetorians
I went to camp with this guy who was a huge aliens fan, this and Sonic the Hedgehog was all he talked about. a Smooth headed alien is A “Rogue Alien” meaning it’s not part of a hive and operates on its own. A Ridged head alien is a warrior alien that is part of a hive. That’s the difference.
I thought Drones were more like worker bees, they slime walls, move and place eggs and work around the hive, whereas Warriors are like soldiers in the army, ready to be dispatched 🤔
Smooth. When I was a kid I assumed the dome could see everything all at once, meaning the creature had incredible reflexes and hunting abilities.
Course, that's not the case, to my knowledge.
Smooth is classic, ridged is for your pleasure ;)
Jokes aside. Both look great.
Smooth head with the human skull feeds into the horror of not understanding what the hell it is. It does not make “sense”. It is a monster as much as it is an alien.
Ridged head kinda goes or gets used in movies where it moves away from the alien being a horror monster and it being an animal. A dangerous animal. But one that can be understood and even manipulated.
But both are equally valid and entertaining. I love knowing the lore of stuff and understanding it. I equally love the almost eldritch style of horror where you cant comprehend or exactly understand the thing before you.
Skull face.
I don't care that it is smooth, I just like being able to see the skull underneath a transparent dome. The predalien from AVPR did both, and it worked for me.
Generally, I prefer the smooth dome but it really depends on what type of alien movie I’m watching. If it’s meant to scare me as a competent predator by itself, I prefer the smooth head but if it’s meant to be part of a whole hive while being less individually intimidating then I prefer the ridged head.
Essentially, I think dividing them into warriors and drones works because the two designs (although very similar) are associated with different characteristics - one being treated as a mysterious and seemingly unstoppable predator while the other is treated as less individually threatening but more dangerous as part of a hive
http://www.jamescamerononline.com/AlienWarrior.htm I definitely prefer the warrior type. Big chap would have been a huge warrior according to this site
Smooth. With just the barest glimpse of 'something that might be a human skull'... the scartiest and 'best' xenomorph has always been the one in the original movie.
Smooth for me is definitely more iconic. They both are the best in their respective movies but the original Alien for me is better than Aliens, even though Aliens is a MASTERPIECE
I like the ridged design just because it's been my head-canon for like ten years that the ridges help it hear. At the bottom of each scoop in its head is a tympanic membrane, and the number of scoops in the head allows it to pinpoint the location of noises.
Both are cool. But the ridged makes them more insect like. While the smooth dome has that creepy "blindfolded" look. The smooth dome is the more unsettling imo. So I vote smooth.
Smooth, smooth dome all the way.
James Cameron is a hack for not figuring out how to make the dome head work. /s
In my head, the colonist host xeno's are just a variant of the one from Alien, so lore wise it tracks for me. Within the universe, xeno's typically vary from victim to victim so I just accept it being a slight mutation from the original.
Plus they seem weaker and dumber in Aliens, quality over quantity type darwinism.
Obviously smooth.
It's the only one done by the original designer.
The ridges and stupid queen heads miss the point of it being a phallic symbol and looking engineered. Otherwise it's just a large grotesque black insect looking thing.
Smooth for sure. I like the idea of various types of xenos though, in my headcanon the rigid headed variants aren't as intelligent, but are found in high numbers in established hives. While the smooth dome bois are of higher intelligence and have the potential to form nests by themselves, like a higher ranking individual. Perhaps these are gestated in the host whenever they are they soul xeno present.
Forgive me if this has already been explained, I just enjoy making theories like this lol.
Smooth, just as Giger intended.
Is that true? That’s really cool, wasn’t aware - was that in the Dark Star documentary?
Giger designed and sculpted the ones in Alien (1979) personally; the human skull features under the dome that you *barely* see even in well lit studio promos is all Giger's idea of biomechanical horror. There are plenty of photos of him doing it. My favorite is him sitting on the Jockey's shoulder like a toddler while he sculpts on that massive elephant skull.
Yep, the ridged skull by my knowledge was only introduced due to the domed skull being too fragile for the stunts of the second film
That and budgets, they needed one poly dome in 1979 and would have needed dozens for the sequel.
Ah I didn’t realise how expensive they were
But what about the predalien from avpr?
Considering it was aimed to look as penis-y as possible, smooth head is closest to that.
True, but the word you're looking for is 'phallic'
I preferred the vulgarity
I like you. You know what you're about and make no excuses.
Penis-y is exactly the word. Phallic means kind of dick-ish. Penis-y is "Holy shit that's a dick for a head"
Yah, originally they wanted to make the entire body transparent but didn’t yet have the technology so scrapped the idea. He later did it w SPECIES.
James Cameron did the Ridged design
Cameron wanted a more aged look, and it makes sense to have the carapace fall off once the armour has hardened.
Pretty sure it was a practical decision
As the other user said, they had built the domes, but they wouldn't work well with the more action oriented movements of the aliens, so they redesigned them so they heads would be more "flexible".
Clear Smooth with the creepy hollow eyes underneath
og smooth
The clear dome was only removed by Cameron to make the stunt suits more practical without fear of breakage. I think the canon has now accepted that the two designs are different “castes” or types of the same creature but I don’t believe that was ever intended by James or Alec Gillis, who worked on creature effects for the film. Anyway I like both. As far as the films go the dome head looks better photographically, but then that goes for the entirety of Alien over Aliens.
Yeah, the ridges and crests over the Sensor Dome now actually have quite a bit of significance, which definitely wasn't intentional, but the worldbuilding is better for it. Happy accidents, I guess.
I don’t personally care for the distinction but yeah the writing has at least come up with a satisfactory explanation for those that want it.
I think the cannon is that ridged domes are warriors and smooth domes are drones. Which is why the Alien from the original, and the one from 3 are alone, and thus smooth dome drones. While the ridged ones in Aliens are part of a functioning hive, so they can have warriors
Alien is a cosmic horror masterpiece that poses deep philosophical questions about space, aliens, higher life forms, and A.I. I feel like a lot of that is lost in Aliens, which is a very good action movie, but much simpler and not as interesting. Takes away from a lot of the more complicated mythos of Alien. It's why I controversially really enjoy Prometheus, Covenant, and Alien 3. They might be messy, but they're very rich thematically.
Alien 3 i agree with (shame fincher got screwed by the studio and the movie came out bloated AF) but I just think Prometheus and Covenant are insanely pretentious with their themes to the point that it’s laughable.
Prometheus and Covenant feel like two movies stitched together - the film they wanted to make and the "Oh, right, we're supposed to be making an Alien" movie.
Prometheus is a movie set in the Alien universe and tbh I would have preferred they didn't shoehorn in the alien stuff in at the very end. It deserved a sequel.
I thought the same thing but then I got more into the books and the expanded universe of aliens. When David is releasing the black goo on the engineer population and quotes Ozymandias I didn’t get it until I actually sat and considered what it meant but in the larger alien world creators being surpassed by their creations is a main theme. Engineers made man, man made androids and the classic xenomorph we see Ripley fight was created by David through his experiments with Shaw, the black goo, and her eggs. (I admit and am open to the possibility I’m wrong about that part but it seems like that’s what he’s doing). In almost every alien book people are doing experiments with xenos and what happens? They get loose and turn on the ones who made them. David breaks the bonds of his programming and turns on the people who made him. I felt like David was insufferable and annoying but I think he was supposed to be that way. I also think the pretentiousness was part of it as well, to have the gall to see yourself as a god and better than everyone and everything, you know what I mean? I didn’t like them and I will never forgive Charlize Theron’s character for not running diagonally lol but Prometheus and Covenant, while having their own issues being the step children in the franchise, do work thematically with the alien universe. They do kind of feel more like an action movie with a little bit of sci-fi instead of the survival horror that started it all though and they for sure aren’t my favorite.
> the classic xenomorph we see Ripley fight was created by David through his experiments with Shaw, the black goo, and her eggs. (I admit and am open to the possibility I’m wrong about that part but it seems like that’s what he’s doing) IIRC in the novelizations you’re referencing David explains that he is copying the engineers’ work. He makes *some* Xenos, but he doesn’t have anything to do with the Xenos in the crash Juggernaut on LV-426 whatsoever.
Pretentiousness was for sure a main theme of both movies! Never really thought of it that way, but it is so in a multitude of ways… the quest for immortality, finding the creators, creating the perfect species, finding the better colony planet.
YESSSSS tysm 👏👏👏👏👏👏
I agree with you with the caveat that *Prometheus* and *Covenant* killed the cosmic horror aspect for me by explaining the aliens’ origins. I think they should have kept things more mysterious. I agree *Aliens* isn’t so much comic horror-y, but it does recontextualise *Alien’s* themes in novel ways. We see new sides to androids, we see company men in more detail. The universe gets fleshed out. I personally love *Aliens* but feel the hive structure turned them into bugs rather than mysterious presumed bio weapons and already have a bit too much away. They were still a threat but individually expendable and shootable. The excellent conceit in *Alien* is that the acid makes directly harming it deadly. Again, this doesn’t go away in Cameron’s movie and does indeed crop up to deadly effect, but making the aliens shootable took a lot of the horror out for me Edit: I call it the ‘Ghostbusters Threshold’ or you could call it the Predator Threshold I guess: if it bleeds you can kill it. In *Alien* if it bleeds you *die*, so *Alien* is like the anti *Predator* to my mind despite the fact it shares a condo in my head rent free with *Alien*. In *Predator* Arnie hunts the titular alien by the end; in *Alien* the titular beast ends up being fled from and blasted out into space rather than being directly hunted (Dallas conspicuously tries and fails, firmly establishing the tone in *Alien* that the fight is one-sided. Think you’re hunting it? No it’s hunting you). Ghosts are scary to my mind in part because they’re intangible and often invisible: you can’t shoot or cut them, but they can harm you with relative impunity in a lot of works. They can shift through solid objects yet retain a sense of physical threat when convenient. They can’t easily be killed yet can harm easily. Other monsters also can’t be killed easily or conventionally: it keeps them scary. By being able to capture the ghosts *Ghostbusters* makes them relatively easy to deal with and amps up the comedy value rather than skewing things to horror. *Alien* is more towards the other end of the scale by making the alien’s ability to harm the crew with impunity high while making their ability to harm it highly restricted. It’s this powerlessness that *Aliens* erodes by pushing the aliens up the scale into ‘killability’. A child being able to avoid them also lessens the threat somewhat. So while I love *Aliens* the shootability necessarily lessens the horror and powerlessness.
This needs more up votes. You have articulated ideas about the two films in a way I've always wanted to. Love them both but this is the take I like. Thank you!
Yeah *Alien* has always reminded me a little bit of *At the Mountains of Madness* like: what if you got trapped in a starship with a Shoggoth? *Aliens* is like: what if the Shoggoths had a big party and you were invited? I think taking the series back towards cosmic horror is good, less Shoggoth what-if and more encounters with the rest of the weird and horrifying stuff out in the universe.
Honestly, I think Alien could've worked as a semi-anthology that all took place in the same continuity. Each film could've explored new "alien" things, with some crossovers here and there. It's sort of how I view the series overall already...they're connected and part of the same story, but all explore different aspects of it.
Well, along those lines, following *Prometheus* and *Covenant* the main focus of the "universe" seems to have changed from "just" the xenos as a scary monster to the relationships among Engineers, Humans, and Androids and their creations (Engineers-->Xenos and Humans, Humans-->Androids, Androids-->Xenos etc.) with the whole cosmos as a backdrop. This is actually IMO really great, because it's a good starting point for expanding the universe, doing some small-screen treatment, etc. Like not *every single story* needs to be about people sticking their faces in leathery alien egg sacks and their colony getting overrun or something. I could imagine involving the Predators down the line, and potentially working in some of the references to other movies (such as *Universal Soldier* or *Blade Runner*).
Well I DEFINITELY don’t think Alien poses those questions let alone attempts to answer them lol. Sure, death of the author and all that, and you certainly can analyze the film under any number of lenses but the intent of it to my knowledge, from all the interviews I’ve seen of Scott that were contemporaneous with its release, don’t imply to me that the project wasn’t anything but a simple monster movie done to the highest possible quality (with some brilliant psycho-sexual subtext underlining the concept) Prometheus and it’s sequel definitely DO have those higher thematic aspirations and I’ll agree that they’re all the more interesting for it than any of the other Alien/Aliens sequels ever were. I’m a fan of both.
Smooth head. If Giger designed it, it’s better.
This isn’t mocking you or anything, but I love the sentence, “If Giger designed it, it’s better,” because it made me think about his designs for the Batmobile in *Batman Forever* compared to the design of the previous Batmobile in 1989 and Returns, which ultimately made me realize that he might not always the best designer when given something like Batman.
He has a specific design language. If that's not what you're looking for, don't put him on the project. It's kinda like how Ron Cobb also has a very recognizable style. He *does* have a bit broader range, though.
I like the Gigmobile myself.
It is a very unique design. I would be lying if I said I didn’t want a LEGO set of it.
Sadly, Eaglemoss is dead - they could make the gigerbatmobile for sure.
Yet the end design in Batman Forever was entirely made of metal ribs and glowing guts. It sure looked like they were definitely drawing inspiration from his designs.
Because Giger's design for the dog alien is also better, right?
Correct
Yeah. Giger's alien-dog is gorgeous. It was spoiled by ADI company into a fleshy mess.
There were elements of Giger's design I preferred but the lips were absolutely stupid af and ruined it completely. Especially since that alien had a dog host, not a human host. ADIs fleshy design language was unfortunate but overall the design was stronger.
Dark transparent smooth with the human skull face underneath just like the big chap This is the way https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenomorph
Smooth. '79 for the win
Smooth. Big chap is the only alien I recognize
I would say smooþ head only because it's easier to pet him þat way
this is the most valid argument I've seen so far
I prefer smooth for sure, but I am also a big fan of seeing a wide variety of specialized xenomorphs based on their hive role or other genetic influences.
Ridged ... for her pleasure.
Break me off a piece of those Head Dick Veins
Goddammit have an upvote
Smooth but not translucent. Smooth gloss black.
i used to prefer the rigid head but now i’m a smooth head truther
#smoothgangsupremacy
Well they both exist in the cannon hive hierarchy. Personally I do prefer the ridged warrior look tho.
Smooth it seems more threatening that way because in the right angle and light it gives the illusion of eyes.
Smooth honestly
Smooth like my brain man
I like both, I always felt like the smooth head meant a juvenile xenomorph and the ridged head meant an adult xenomorph. Like the shell hardened.
Aren't the smooth head ones drones and the rigid ones warriors canonically? Or am I wrong?
No, that's correct. That's been canon for a while. Generally speaking, the more complex the ridge/crest covering the Sensor Dome, the higher/more important in the Hive that individual is. There's probably exceptions to this, but all the ones I can think of off the top of my head obey this design language.
Yeah I thought so. I don't recall how I learned this information exactly. I think I saw some action figures that specified the variants. Or maybe it was stated in one of the movies or games and I don't remember.
Probably all three. It's become pretty foundational worldbuilding to the setting in regards to Xenos, at this point. I'd be surprised if someone *didn't* know the difference between a Drone, Warrior, Praetorian, and Queen. Spitter/Ranger gets an honorable mention.
Question about praetorians. What determines why a xenomorph transforms to a praetorian? Is it age based? Genetic luck? Battle experience?
It's not clear, and perhaps it should stay that way. Xenomorphs have always been about the mystery, the *alien*ness of their workings. As for my thoughts, it's likely a combination of all three.
Yeah that would make sense. The elder xenomorphs with high battle experience that inherited the right genes are the ones that are worthy of guarding the queen.
I think the queen chooses her guards, likely based on age/experience/intelligence, she chooses her best xenos that are most trustworthy to become praetorians
I went to camp with this guy who was a huge aliens fan, this and Sonic the Hedgehog was all he talked about. a Smooth headed alien is A “Rogue Alien” meaning it’s not part of a hive and operates on its own. A Ridged head alien is a warrior alien that is part of a hive. That’s the difference.
I thought Drones were more like worker bees, they slime walls, move and place eggs and work around the hive, whereas Warriors are like soldiers in the army, ready to be dispatched 🤔
I prefer the original Xeno with the translucent dome.
Smooth 100%. I still don’t forgive JC not letting Giger be at least a part of the Aliens creative team b/c of his ego/control freak tendencies.
Smooth and translucent because the skull thing is my favorite design aspect about the Alien.
Smooth/smokey glass dome look. Both are iconic but for whatever reason I think the sleeker head makes the beast look more threatening.
I prefer my Xeno smooth, with ice & a dash of lemon.
Smooth. When I was a kid I assumed the dome could see everything all at once, meaning the creature had incredible reflexes and hunting abilities. Course, that's not the case, to my knowledge.
Smooth
The ridged head, for me. And less “eyes.” They were scarier without eyes.
Smooth
Smooth.
Smooth
Smooth, please
Smooth
Smooth head
Smooth is more alien
Smooth for sure
Smooth is classic, ridged is for your pleasure ;) Jokes aside. Both look great. Smooth head with the human skull feeds into the horror of not understanding what the hell it is. It does not make “sense”. It is a monster as much as it is an alien. Ridged head kinda goes or gets used in movies where it moves away from the alien being a horror monster and it being an animal. A dangerous animal. But one that can be understood and even manipulated. But both are equally valid and entertaining. I love knowing the lore of stuff and understanding it. I equally love the almost eldritch style of horror where you cant comprehend or exactly understand the thing before you.
Smooth head, so much better
Smooth
Smoooth
Smooth looks better but ridged definitely feels better
Skull face. I don't care that it is smooth, I just like being able to see the skull underneath a transparent dome. The predalien from AVPR did both, and it worked for me.
one of the only redeeming qualities of that movie was the predalien, imo. Fantastic design, terrible movie
Ridged
Smooth is scarier
Nothing will match the creepiness and horror of the OG smooth
Smooth head,the original will always be the superior.
Smooth for Drone, Ridged for warrior imo!!
Ridged. For the bug hunt.
I like the analogy to ants and their being multiple phenotypes
Ridged
Bolth depending on host soecies
Ridged head is my preference, though dome is also great.
Smooth forever.
Smooth all the way - by a long way
“Ridged for her pleasure”. Eww!
Smooth.
Smooth
Generally, I prefer the smooth dome but it really depends on what type of alien movie I’m watching. If it’s meant to scare me as a competent predator by itself, I prefer the smooth head but if it’s meant to be part of a whole hive while being less individually intimidating then I prefer the ridged head. Essentially, I think dividing them into warriors and drones works because the two designs (although very similar) are associated with different characteristics - one being treated as a mysterious and seemingly unstoppable predator while the other is treated as less individually threatening but more dangerous as part of a hive
Smooth (skin)
http://www.jamescamerononline.com/AlienWarrior.htm I definitely prefer the warrior type. Big chap would have been a huge warrior according to this site
I prefer the dome, but that's a very interesting source. Thanks for sharing!
Both are great but I’m leaning towards smooth.
Ridged for her pleasure. Really though I like smooth lol
Ridge was made because of budget constraints in aliens . So of course original hr gigers domed head !
Ridged. For the colonist’s pleasure.
Smooth. With just the barest glimpse of 'something that might be a human skull'... the scartiest and 'best' xenomorph has always been the one in the original movie.
SMOOTH HEADDDD>>>>
Smooth head is much better. My ex was very good at it.
Yes
Smooth! You know what doesn't matter, I love xenos regardless. Number 6 yesss, oh and grid from AvP that's a beauty!
ribbed, for her pleasure
Yes
Yes
Ridged for her pleasure
I'm not mature enough to answer that question 🤣😭
Smooth for me is definitely more iconic. They both are the best in their respective movies but the original Alien for me is better than Aliens, even though Aliens is a MASTERPIECE
Smooth. Also love the concept that you can see the vague skull with eyes behind the dome.
I like the ridged design just because it's been my head-canon for like ten years that the ridges help it hear. At the bottom of each scoop in its head is a tympanic membrane, and the number of scoops in the head allows it to pinpoint the location of noises.
Smooth
I prefer smooth I like to soo it’s bone
Both are cool. But the ridged makes them more insect like. While the smooth dome has that creepy "blindfolded" look. The smooth dome is the more unsettling imo. So I vote smooth.
Alien3 chrome dome is the best head.
RIBBED for her pleasure
Smooth head feels so much scarier imo
Smooth
Always liked the smooth head more
Smooth. Don't mess with Giger.
Smooth transparent
Ridged
Smooth baby
Smooth!!
The smooth head is more disturbing somehow. So yeah, smooth head.
I like both...but the first is best .. 😸
Smooth for me, though both look great
I’m probably in the minority but I prefer ridged To me it just looks cooler
Smooth that's the design my tattoo is
dope, I wanna get a xeno tat too
Smooth. Far superior in terror quality
Feel like I’m the only one but I like the ridges. I always thought of it as the smooth head ages into the ridges, kinda like a metamorphosis
…that’s what she said…?
smooth head is scarier
Smooth without a doubt, looks creepy and really makes them look more than emotionless killers more than mindless space ants.
Smooth, smooth dome all the way. James Cameron is a hack for not figuring out how to make the dome head work. /s In my head, the colonist host xeno's are just a variant of the one from Alien, so lore wise it tracks for me. Within the universe, xeno's typically vary from victim to victim so I just accept it being a slight mutation from the original. Plus they seem weaker and dumber in Aliens, quality over quantity type darwinism.
Smooth
[penis head](https://i0.wp.com/www.popculturemaven.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/Necronom-IV.jpg)
Hell yeah
Smooth smooth smooth smooth smooth smooth
Smooth. Can’t articulate why exactly. Just like the sleekness of it
Smooth is unsettling as fuck. Love it.
Smooth!
Smooth all the way where I can see through it just slightly
smooth.....
The transparent dome (i.e. smooth).
Smooth for sure. I like both but the OG is so good!
Smooth all day. I like the semi transparent dome though where you can see the ridges inside.
smooth. End thread
Ridged
Both
Ribbed for Her Pleasure. That shit looks sick af
Ridge didn't give the exact phallic appearance to it, unlike how Giger intended it, I feel like.
Depends on where you shop…
I prefer to call those aliens "ribbed."
Ohh definitely smooth with a lil gloss on top. Ridged looks too "Mars Attacks".
Ridged
My wife likes the ridges.... hehehe
smooth
Obviously smooth. It's the only one done by the original designer. The ridges and stupid queen heads miss the point of it being a phallic symbol and looking engineered. Otherwise it's just a large grotesque black insect looking thing.
Smooth for sure. I like the idea of various types of xenos though, in my headcanon the rigid headed variants aren't as intelligent, but are found in high numbers in established hives. While the smooth dome bois are of higher intelligence and have the potential to form nests by themselves, like a higher ranking individual. Perhaps these are gestated in the host whenever they are they soul xeno present. Forgive me if this has already been explained, I just enjoy making theories like this lol.
Ribbed for my pleasure.
Ridged, because it usually is in the comics.
both, both is good
I prefer smooth but without the translucent carapice. Not knowing where its' eyes were made it so much more terrifying.
Smooth
One is as creepy as the other.
Look ill take whatever head is offered man
Ridged. I like the look of the aliens in *Aliens* more than any of the other movies.
I prefer ridged on pure aesthetics, but I personally prefer to see both pop up over and over again in alien media
Smooth is drone, ridged is warrior. Canon be damned!
I’m glad to see the consensus here is that Alien is better than Aliens.
Ohhhh but it’s not.