[[quoteright:309:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/aliens_3.png]]
[[caption-width-right:309:''[[MamaBear Get away from her, you]] '''''[[PrecisionFStrike bitch!]]''''''']]
->''"I'm ready, man, check it out. I am the ultimate badass! State of the badass art! You do not wanna fuck with me. Check it out! Hey Ripley, don't worry. Me and my squad of ultimate badasses will protect you! Check it out! Independently targeting particle beam phalanx. Vwap! Fry half a city with this puppy. We got tactical smart missiles, phase-plasma pulse rifles, [=RPGs=], we got sonic electronic ball breakers! We got nukes, we got knives, sharp sticks..."''
-->--'''PFC Hudson'''

Awesome moments in ''Film/{{Aliens}}''.
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* The LockAndLoadMontage of the Colonial Marines preparing to drop onto LV-426.
** Extra points for [[SergeantRock Sgt Apone]]'s [[RousingSpeech rousing pep talk just prior to the drop]]; [[ThrowItIn large chunks of it are ad-libbed]] and are basically [[ActorSharedBackground former Marine Al Matthews]] [[EnforcedMethodActing falling back into character]] and hyping up his squad for real. Even knowing most of the Marines are doomed, it's a rousing display of ''esprit de corps''.
--->'''Apone:''' All right, sweethearts. We're a team, and there's nothing to worry about. We come here, and we gonna conquer, and we gonna kick some. Is that understood? That's what we gonna do, sweethearts.
** When all the Marines have hustled to the ready line, he gives them one last compliment before getting underway:
--->'''Apone:''' ''Absolutely '''badasses'''!'' Let's pack 'em in! Get in there!
** This scene, with the display of Marines getting ready to kick ass, accompanied by that rousing militaristic snare drum score, is pretty much responsible for the prevalence of the SpaceMarine and ASpaceMarineIsYou tropes. Despite their rather poor showing on the planet later, audiences were still convinced the Colonial Marines were just as good as advertised... they just got caught on a bad day.
* First battle between Marines and aliens in the nest. All of it.
** It starts with undoubtedly experienced soldiers, who were all cocky and confident up to this point, being caught completely by surprise and ambushed, resulting in a quick string of casualties in opening moments of the fight. Firstly, Dietrich gets grabbed from behind and dragged away by an alien. In panic, she opens fire from her flamethrower, accidentally lighting up Frost. The backpack full of ammo he carried also catches fire and explodes soon thereafter, killing Crowe. Then Wierzbowski is killed off-screen by another alien, who probably got him from behind as well -- all we can hear is his dying screams and all we can see is jerky movements of his camera as the image [[SnowyScreenOfDeath turns into static]]. The aliens may be "only" predatory space animals, but they are very strong and stealthy -- a serious threat even to fully armed soldiers.
** Then the Marines finally start to fight back and kill aliens in response ("Let's roooooock!!!"). We can see most of it through breaking up images from their cameras and garbled radio messages, including brief glimpses we see of aliens hit by smartgun fire coming apart like acid-filled balloons. It only serves to emphasize both the desperation of their struggle and the fact that despite the situation, they are still alive and kicking, definitely unwilling to go down gently.
** Seeing that the mission has gone FUBAR and Gorman is obviously incapable of controlling the situation, Ripley commandeers the APC and just drives straight towards the ambushed Marines in an awesome BigDamnHeroes moment.
** An important fact which is often overlooked by viewers and critics, preferring to go on and on about the Marines' supposed incompetence -- despite the fact that they were ambushed, halfway wiped out and deprived of leadership, the remaining soldiers ''still'' managed to regain control of the situation, successfully regroup and peel out. They were in the middle of an ''organized retreat'' when Ripley got to them.
*** Thank God for Hicks. All of this is because of him. Good [=NCOs=], the backbone of any decent military.
** As the APC is preparing to escape with the surviving Marines on board, an alien begins to force the door open. Hicks picks up his shotgun and shoves it down the aliens' throat ("Eat this!"). Unfortunately, Hudson gets acid burns on his arm for the trouble.
** On their way out, Marines are caught up to by a lone alien, who latches onto the APC and tries to grab Ripley. In response, she slams her feet on the brake, shoving it off, and then just runs over the alien, squashing it under the wheels like a bug.
** Another moment of awesome, and probably one of the wisest moves in the series, is Vasquez's disregard of the order "clear and lock". If she hadn't decided to carry spare ammo for the smartguns, which she shared with Drake, there's a good chance that the Marines wouldn't have made it out of the hive alive because Vasquez and Drake were managing to keep them off the others with the smartguns long enough to be able to get to the APC.
* Again with the acid blood, but Timmy Jorden managing to kill an Alien attacking him and his sister is pretty badass for a twelve-year-old, even if it does end up killing him.
* Related to examples with alien's killer getting sprayed by its acid above, the fact that the aliens can injure, maim, or kill their targets ''even while they're dying'' is awesome, in a terrifying kind of way.
* The soldiers, after the retreat, debating how to deal with the xenomorphs and get vengeance for their fellow soldiers, and Ripley states they should take off and nuke the entire place from orbit, stating ItsTheOnlyWayToBeSure. Hicks gives her a meaningful look and Hudson voices his approval by saying [[PrecisionFStrike "Fuckin' A"]]. In that moment Ripley gained their respect and truly became one of them.
** It's also this moment when Hicks, after a little light prodding from Ripley, asserts himself as ranking officer and establishes himself [[OnlySaneMan as the one Marine left standing with his act together]] and a DistaffCounterpart to Ripley. How does he do this? By blowing off Burke's self-serving corporate double-talk, calling in the dropship and stating his intention [[IronicEcho to take off and nuke the site from orbit]] -- [[MeaningfulEcho after all, it's the only way to be sure.]]
** Vasquez gets two back-to-back, and Hicks another, in this same scene. Hudson notes that "The Sarge and Deitrich aren't dead," seeing their biosigns on the monitors. Vasquez immediately says that they go back in and get them. She just barely escaped that nightmare-infested hellhole, lost her smartgun and fellow smartgunner Drake in the process, but it takes Ripley shouting her down to get her to give up on NoOneGetsLeftBehind. Her next suggestion? They have a bunch of nerve gas canisters: roll them in and let the Aliens choke on it. Hicks says it's worth a try, but it might not affect them: showing this "grunt" has some understanding of BizarreAlienBiology, at least in theory.
* Burke objects to nuking the site because of its monetary value. Ripley's response?
--> ''(scoffs)'' "They can ''bill me!''"
* Everything about sentry guns. They are fully autonomous, they can track and shoot targets individually and they unleash a hell of MoreDakka on any aliens foolish enough to get in their range. And since they're machines, they don't feel fear of the xenomorphs and just dispatch them with brutal efficiency. They are particularly awesome during the alien assault on the second defensive position guarded by them. We are treated both to images of xenomorphs being ripped apart (complete with their pained howls) by their fire and ammo counters quickly going down. And just when it seems that it's all for naught and both turrets will run dry again, the aliens just ''give up and run''. You can't help but feel relieved and refreshed when Ripley says this line "Wait. They're retreating. Guns stopped them". It actually makes one wonder why Cameron decided to leave the sentry gun sequences out of the original theatrical cut.
* After being trapped with the facehugger, Ripley signals for help from the Marines, and they make their way down to sickbay, where they're momentarily horrified. What does Hicks do to save Ripley and Newt? He jumps through a glass window and starts wrestling with the facehugger to keep it away from Ripley. And what about Newt? She gets saved by HUDSON, who single-handedly shoots her creature to bits. The fact that the latter was proclaiming "Game Over" just a short time ago only elevated the scene's level of badass.
** A moment of respect for Newt, a terrified little girl who manages to fight and stave off a creature that's killed grown-ass men armed with flamethrowers. The terrified girl who survived for weeks with no weapons and no training. When one of the facehuggers goes after her, she uses a table to trap its tail against the wall until help arrives. It's this kind of smarts that has kept her alive all of this time.
* Hudson's summation of how to deal with Burke's betrayal, especially once he finds out he planned to impregnate the women and kill the Marines in their sleep to cover it up. He probably would've executed him right there with no objections if the xenomorphs hadn't attacked.
-->"I say we grease this rat-fuck son-of-a-bitch right now!"
** "You know, Burke, I don't know which species is worse. You don't see them fucking each other over for a goddamn percentage."
* Hudson screaming "Fuck you!!" even as he's being dragged to his death by the aliens. Especially when he shoots the one that ambushed him right in the face with his rifle.
* It has dire consequences but Vasquez pinning a drone down with her foot and shooting it at point blank with a pistol is awesome.
** In perspective; The Drone is a monster strong enough to knock a 6-foot-tall mountain of muscle like Parker from “Alien” dazed and weakened with a single flick of its tail, and Vasquez is able to wrestle a similar beast into submission *with her bare hands.* She really is just Too Bad.
** ''"You always were an asshole, Gorman."''
*** Speaking of Gorman, can we give him a little award of awesomeness for his attempt to save Vasquez after the above-mentioned moment? When he and Hicks realize she's not behind them, he tells Hicks to go and he goes back to get her with only a pistol (a weapon that doesn't do anything against a xenomorph), risking his life for her. It's a large step up from how he started, with being someone who'd only been on one previous combat drop and couldn't keep cool when the xenomorphs made themselves known to the squad at the atmosphere processor.
* Bishop's {{Big Damn Gunship}}s moment.
* Ripley strapping on a flamethrower and a pulse rifle together to go save Newt is ''the'' moment when Ripley went from mere ActionSurvivor to full-on badass. Up to this point she has barely fought the monsters, received minimal training to fight them, had all the reasons not to go back into the alien hive, and yet she marches right into the gates of hell itself to save the little girl whom she's come to treat as a daughter. CharacterDevelopment does not come any more defining or awesomely, people.
** Even more striking when you remember that the climax of the previous film had Ripley running around in near hysterics trying desperately to flee from just ONE Alien; now she's willingly going into a hive filled to the brim with them to save Newt. Character Development, indeed.
** Becomes even better when you remember that Creator/SigourneyWeaver DoesntLikeGuns.
** And least we forget, like last time, she has a clock against her. This time, she willing goes into the atmosphere processor knowing there's a good chance that she may not be able to make it out in time.
* When she's retreating from the Queen's nest with Newt in her arms, and an egg ominously opens up next to her, Ripley cocks her head to one side, as if to say, "Well, that's it. Now you're toast." and ''torches the entire room with her flamethrower before blowing the holy shit out of the Queen's egg sack with pump-action grenade after pump-action grenade.''
** Right before that is a fantastic scene that establishes the Queen as, well, the Queen, and not one of the instinct-driven drones we've gotten accustomed to; as Ripley and Newt slowly start to back away from the egg chamber, the Queen hisses and two drones approach -- on on the left, one from the right. Ripley fires her flame thrower toward one of them, the Queen hissing in anger, and then she points the weapon at the eggs, and glares at the Queen, who immediately signals to the drones to back off.
* When the alien queen comes out by surprise and splits Bishop in half. That's some practical effects right there.
* Just ''the Alien Queen!'' This was in the time before CGI everything and that is the biggest fully-functioning monster puppet ever made (alongside Audrey II from the same year's ''Film/LittleShopOfHorrors''). And the result? Quite possibly the single most awesome monster ''ever'' seen on the screen! Even H.R. Giger was impressed with the Queen's design and he didn't even make it! CGI just ''can't'' replicate that level of terrifying realism!
* How about the entrance of the freakin' power loader?! Picture this: The DwindlingParty is down to three uninjured members, one a child, the second an untrained civilian, and the third is quickly taken out of the fight by the biggest, meanest Alien of all. They've got no weapons, no backup, nowhere to run. The civilian escapes behind a blast door while the child hides in a drain, but is hunted by the Alien. When all hope seems lost and the Alien is about to devour the child, the blast doors open, and silhouetted in the darkness, strides forth a mech almost as big as the Alien, servos whirring, footsteps clomping, closer and closer towards its giant nemesis, and the rider inside issues forth the immortal challenge:
-->'''Ripley:''' [[MamaBear Get away from her, you BITCH!]]
** "I remember seeing the film, midnight screening on Hollywood Boulevard, and that line ''brought the house down.'' People stood up and cheered. It's probably the most gratifying moment of my producing career, was the reaction to that shot." -- Gale Anne Hurd
** The battle itself is not only awesome, but it's quite rare to see two {{Mama Bear}}s duke it out in the form of Ripley who was defending Newt and the Queen who is pissed because Ripley and Co. blew up her babies.
** When the power loader overpowers the Queen and has it ThrownOutTheAirlock, it just grabs its leg and drags it in too, doing everything in its power to make sure [[TakingYouWithMe Ripley goes down with it.]] You have to credit Ripley who manages to hold on despite the blatant agony the Queen tugging at her causes as it is sucked into space.
** And then Bishop follows with one of his own: despite being torn in half, he manages to save both himself AND Newt when the airlock is sucking them out of the ship.
* You know it's awesome when Bishop says after the entire fight scene, "Not bad for a human."
* Another one for Hudson. In an extension of the scene where Bishop gives his report on what he was able to learn about the Facehuggers, and Ripley asks "who's laying these eggs", it's Hudson that proposes that it might be a Queen. Granted, he relate it to bees and ants, but it turns out his guess was right. Even though he was clearly inspired by what he knew about insects, his guess that there was a Queen running the whole thing shows he actually had some brains.
* The sequence where Ripley subverts Burke's efforts to implant her and Newt with xenomorph embryos; realising she's been set up and that the two immediate ideas - breaking the glass and trying to signal for help via the CCTV - aren't working, Ripley sets off the fire extinguishers; both she and Newt just about manage to hold the facehuggers off until the Marines arrive; cue them blasting the glass and Hicks ''leaping through'' to rescue the civilians. Once the two creatures are disposed of, Burke's also finally exposed as the slimebag he is.
* The scene early on when Ripley impresses Apone and Hicks by showing her skill with the power-loader. Not only does this foreshadow the climactic confrontation, it's a great bit of character establishment for all three--Ripley proves to Apone and Hicks that she's competent and won't put up with any chauvinistic crap, Apone starts off blowing her off but comes to respect her, and you can see by Hicks' grin that he's starting to feel more than respect for her.
-->'''Ripley''': Where do you want it?\\
'''Apone''': ''[laughs heartily, then]'' Bay 12, please.
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