[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder: Franchise in general]]
* How exactly did the Yautja come to discover the Xenomorphs and begin to regard them as "the ultimate prey"?
** Presumably the same way humanity did, just a long time earlier.
* Why, just why, are the films set in the present? The games gave us an epic three-way fight between Xenomorphs (Aliens), Yautja (Predators) and the USCMC (Space Marines). At least for me, anything else just isn't [=AvP=].
** It's easier on the budget.
** Maybe they were just desperate to show how it all began, that's why they put [[MoneyDearBoy Lance Henriksen]] in.
** They may have felt it would make for an easier jumping-on point for more people.
** Though it does seriously undermine the entire Alien franchise, since ''every single film'' has been about, in the grand scheme, not letting the Alien get back to Earth where it could wreak untold havoc. Oh, wait, Aliens have been on Earth the whole time, and the Predators have kept them nice and secure (mostly.) Also undermines the concept of the early Alien vs. Predator comics, since the Predators have been implied to be partially responsible for the Aliens spreading through the galaxy, thanks to "hunting accidents" where the Aliens outmatched the Predators and went on to establish solid hives.
** The original idea was to make it in the future actually, but guess what, ExecutiveMeddling happened.
* At least in the games, why does the Predator mask provide no protection from Facehuggers? Even if they think a Predators who can't fend of Facehuggers deserve their fate, it seems like they would want to prevent Predaliens being created.
** Because the facehugger can melt through them. The series is very inconsistent about whether the Preds have acid proof gear but the mask is always going to be a vulnerable point because of the eyes and breathing tubes.
* Do they ever explain why the whole 'Predators only hunt when it's really hot out' thing is suddenly no longer an issue in either movie?
** It's not like the Predators necessarily need hot temperatures to survive, it's mostly a matter of preference for them. And in both movies, the circumstances would necessitate hunting somewhere uncomfortable.
** The flashbacks show that the temple wasn't always under the ice, it looked fairly lush, but at the same time, Predators whole shtick is making hunts challenging, so when the ice came along they were probably like "sweet, extra challenge!"
* Earlier, in ''Alien 3'', we see that when a dog is attacked by a face hugger, the result is a canine-Xenomorph hybrid. And we all know that the "Predalien" is the result of a Predator being attacked by a face hugger. So my question is, why is it that the Xenomorphs seem to lack any special mutations by impregnating humans? If I'm free to assume that canine and Predator hybrids are superior in some way, then why impregnate humans at all? Cannon fodder? Genetic fluke? If so, then Xenomorph mutations could be exceptionally rare, and it's just a contrived coincidence that we've seen canine Xenomorphs and a Predalien at all.
** There was an explanation in one of the games. It stated that the only significant difference the host made was whether the Alien would be bipedal ("drone") or quadrupedal ("runner") unless it had significantly different genetics (like a Predator). Given that game was set on an alien world and stated that indigenous fauna had been used as hosts, it raises a few questions about convergent evolution. For why they choose humans: humans are there, Predators (and dogs) generally are not.
** You're a little mixed up here. The standard aliens ''are'' human-xenomorph hybrids. That's why they're so humanoid-looking.
*** Yep. Presumably the xenomorph that'd burst out of the dead Space Jockey found in ''Alien'' would've looked different than any of the human-xeno, dog-xeno, or pred-xeno variants we've seen in the films.
*** One of the comics does show us a Jockey Alien. And it is massive.
*** If you want another example, in terms of the films at least, Prometheus shows us the result of the Jockey being impregnated by a different experiment-type of the alien. Nightmare fuel indeed....
** It is a bit fluctuating depending on where this is being talked about; the only clear point is that Predators Are Special in this issue, and there is still debate whether there is a difference between a Drone and an Warrior Alien. Also, Runner Aliens seem to be much less intelligent that Aliens spawned from sapient species; in the third movie, it killed EVERYBODY; while another kind of Alien would just cocoon inmates while waiting for the queen to be born.
*** The alien in the third movie was killing people at a reasonable rate until they started messing with it, then it got hostile. Plus, the inmates had already attacked the host for the implanted Queen, after that they were probably all on its kill list. I've also heard they cut a scene from the script that had Ripley finding a bunch of cocooned inmates at some point.
** Xenomorphs don't get special mutations from humans because, well, what are you going to compare human!morphs ''to''? There is no such thing as a "standard" xenomorph because they have ''all'' picked up traits from their hosts.
*** Lies. There are Transbreed and Purebreed aliens. Purebreed aliens(Like Queen's and Praetorians have NONE of their hosts traits at all) are 100% alien.
*** So says a couple of the games, which are not canon with the movies or even the comics. I only know such terms from the RTS game, and that had to introduce such things for the sake of variety and balance.
** According to "Inside the Monster Shop" The PredAlien's likeness to the Predator as opposed to a warrior's likeness to a human was because it had 'More Potent Genes' and thus gave the designers something more to work with. It sorta makes sense, I mean they are BIGGER and STRONGER than the UN-average human, and usually that points to more superior genes(as well as physical attractiveness.). I personally think since Preds have been hunting Xenos for years, and Xenos have incredibile adaptability able to change to match their environment and it's hosts. I wouldn't be stupid to think a few unblooded warriors(like Scar, Celtic and Chopper) failed the Xenomorph test and were impregnated rather than killed so it wouldn't be stupid to think this has happened before.
*** This and the whole "Potent Genes" thing could be why Predaliens are more Predator but Warriors aren't as human.
*** [[HumansAreTheRealMonsters Aren't as human]]? They destroy and kill without thinking and are constantly pegged as a threat to overrun any planet on which they are left to their own devices. Did someone leave their subtext manual at home?
*** Go to your homepage, Agent Smith, you're drunk.
** There really isn't, in any official material, any such thing as a "pure" alien. They all take some basic traits from the host they incubate in. Aliens born from humans are predominantly bipedal, while hosts born from quadrapedal animals are primarily quadrapedal (though both can use both forms of locomotion, it seems). An alien born from a Predator is primarily bipedal, since the Predators are bipedal, but it inherits the Predator's greater size, physical strength and resilience, adding it to the Aliens' own superior size, strength, and toughness. Even in the ''one'' game where Purebreed/Transbreed was mentioned, those aliens still hatched from ordinary hosts, and required a specific action to trigger a different maturation cycle. At best, this is simply minimizing the host's influence on the final Alien form, triggering it to grow into something else. It's still not a "pure" Alien, because the very method the Alien uses to reproduce precludes such a thing.
* If the Predator (or Yatjua) civilization has indeed millions of years of existence as shown by the triceratops skull trophy, why is their tech so stagnated? They’re barely above us in technology having things like slightly more sophisticated weapons, space ships and an Ironman-like mechanic suit. Things you’ll expect from a few more hundreds of years old civilization, not millions. Shouldn't a millions-year old civilization be already around type 3 or 4 in the Kardashev scale?
** Someone has to be actively pushing for those advancements for them to happen. If the society is happy with where they are and have no interest in researching then they're not going to get any more advanced.
** You're assuming that's actually the head of a dinosaur. It could be an alien that just happens to bear similarities to an actual dinosaur.
[[/folder]]

[[folder: The first movie]]
* How did the main character shove her hand down into an alien's newly decapitated head and not lose it?
** If you mean where she's using the skull as a "shield" of sorts, then the obvious answer is that it was cleaned. The train of logic follows thus: We know the blood is acidic, but not the exoskeleton. As such, if one component of the Alien is not acidic (or otherwise obviously fatal to non-Aliens), it stands that others are not, either, such as the interior lining of the exoskeleton. It's like you take a football helmet full of battery acid. The acid is bad, but you can take the time to clean it and make the helmet usable. It stands to reason that a [[Franchise/{{Predator}} species]] who has dealt with these Aliens ''for eons'' would know how to make the skull usable and/or have technology that would do it. ...and yes, I spent way more time thinking about this than I probably should have.
** Also, think back to ''Alien''. Remember when they find the dead facehugger? At that point it's mentioned that its acidic blood neutralizes after its death. So it's natural to assume the later stages of the species do similarly after they die.
*** Which makes the scene in the fourth ''Alien'' movie where two drones kill a third so its acidic blood will eat through the floor even ''more'' disturbing: presumably, they were careful to ''keep it alive'' while they were gutting it to ensure the acid would remain potent as long as possible.
* Towards the end of the film, the archaeologist comes to the conclusion that the heat bloom was supposed to lure humans into the pyramid so that they could be used to breed Aliens. That's rather a stretch, considering that the pyramid had been abandoned for thousands of years, long before humans would have had the technology to detect such a thing. Which also [[strike:begs]] raises the question of why the Predator's included such a feature in the first place.
** Yes, but the pyramid originates from a time when that area was lush, fertile and--most importantly--populated. It wasn't buried under a mile of ice when it was designed. If the heat bloom had any sort of visual component (probable; it was probably a big signal flare) then surrounding humans at the time would've seen it.
*** The idea that the heat bloom was for the sake of alerting the locals doesn't seem to hold up for two reasons; 1) if the local populace worship the Predators, why do they need some giant flashy light show to tell them when to go in, rather than just incorporate it into the calendar, and 2) if the "flare" creates enough heat to be detectable by satellite, then it is dreadfully inefficient.
*** Given that the Predators were willing to blow the place up if the Aliens got loose they were presumably ready for the possibility that it might be abandoned and might have set up the heat bloom in case humans ever got to that level of tech and they could use it to start again. If so, it kinda worked. Or the heat bloom was just the machines starting up and the archaeologist was talking out of his arse.
*** The key word here is "archaeologist". He has no idea how complex machines work or the thought that goes into building them. He has also studied primitive human cultures all his life. The Predators are a completely alien culture to him. An engineer may be able to tell more about why the Preds made the pyramid this way.
*** A bit of fridge brilliance here. The heat bloom wasn't primarily for the humans, it was also for the Predators. Predator and Predator 2 make it clear that Predators hunt in hot climates. Why would they ever hunt in Antarctica unless their hunting ground was heated?
*** That's actually a pretty brilliant theory, and it would indeed explain the heat bloom and why the explorers were doing fine while wearing less clothing than they should have been.
** Thy pyramid had been used 100 years previously. Early in the movie it is mentioned that the whaling port had been in use until everyone suddenly vanished. They vanished because the predators showed up, fired up the alien queen, and fed in a bunch of whalers who happened to be living close by. This time around, the predators were lucky enough that a bunch of humans were lured in by the heat bloom. I think it just saved them from having to scrounge up some people - most likely they would have grabbed the crew or crews from any boats they found anywhere around Antarctica.
* Where did all of those Aliens come from? There were only about twenty people in the expedition, and several of them were killed before they could be implanted with Chestbursters, yet by the end of the movie there are dozens of Aliens.
** There weren't actually that many. Maybe about a dozen at most. The 'grid' alien did most of the work in the movie and when they attacked in groups they only lost a couple before retreating to free the Queen. The last predator kills one to mark himself, Lex killed one, the Pred plasma cannoned two or three before they retreated and then Lex shot one in the head before they all blew up. So that's only about six killed with a couple others getting blown up.
* Why is it so critical to stop the Aliens? Even if they reach the surface of Antarctica, what are they going to do? Swim hundreds of miles in order to reach civilisation? If they wanted to create tension from a threat of the Aliens escaping into the world at large, they probably shouldn't have set it in the most remote place on Earth.
** Yes. They would swim hundreds of miles to populated land, infesting whatever life-form they can find along the way. There are two things to remember here: Aliens don't just hatch from humans, and they are incredibly resilient to environmental conditions. Even the vacuum of space isn't quite enough to kill the one in the first Alien film. Which is something that just bugs me about this film. So they drop the Queen down into the freezing depths beneath the ice, and we're supposed to believe she just freezes to death? If she can survive for any length of time in a vacuum, surely she can survive the arctic waters long enough to free herself, resurface and wreak havoc on the world.
*** Just to point out, Alien Resurrection shows that the xenomorphs can swim proficiently, and the start of AvP shows that extreme cold is not lethal to the xenomorphs (just as Film/Alien3 showed extreme heat wasn't lethal in itself). Additionally, there would still be some indiginous animal life in the area- can you imagine what a penguin or seal alien would look like?
*** [[SpaceIsCold Space isn't actually cold]].
*** One word - ''pressure''. Cold won't kill her, but water exerting one ton per square ''centimeter'' of her body will turn that alien queen into a big tub of toothpaste.
*** Expanded universe reveals that xenos can actually breathe underwater.
*** Also a flipping water tower would have crushed her even more.
*** We're making several assumptions here namely a combination of depth, speed of decent, and xenomorph strength and intelligence. It's entirely possible that the ocean is only a few hundred feet deep where they are. All we know for certain is that the Alien Queen, who is black, sank out of sight. Anybody who's been to a natural body of water (or a dirty pool) can tell you that it doesn't take much, She could be just ten feet blow the surface and completely out of sight. Second she could easily get free before she reached a crushing depth which even for puny humans is around pretty deep. Third, she could probably break the chain or remove it from herself once she calmed down if she knew to do it which leads me to my final point. Alien Queens are a little rare if we only count the movies as canon but in the EU they are incredibly intelligent. The equivalent of a 200 IQ by some measures. If she hit bottom without dying (probable) she'd eventually get free and she'd likely not be crushed by the water tower. In all likelihood the queen survived that encounter assuming she didn't drown which is of course always a possibility. We don't know that they can't drown, we know they can survive in space for limited periods of time and they can swim but there is no evidence they don't require oxygen just that they are considerably tougher than humans.
*** Considering that this was supposed to be set in the same universe as the Alien and Predator movies (until Prometheus expunged it from canon, but that's besides the point), I think it's fairly safe to assume the Queen died right there, since the Earth in the future wasn't overrun by Xenomorphs.
*** It's still set in the same universe as the ''Alien'' and ''Predator'' movies. ''Prometheus'' simply made it official that there are separate timelines (one with the AvP movies, one with Prometheus) both incorperating the later movies into their canon.
*** The amount of wounds and damage the Queen had accumulated by the time it was knocked into the water might have also been contributing factors in its death.
** I thought it was stated early on that tons of people knew about the hole the laser drilled into the ice, only that Weyland's team beat them all there to get the good stuff. The risk is that other researchers will show up later and walk into the same ambush.
*** Weyland mentions that he's not the only one with a satellite over Antarctica, and others would have detected the heat bloom and be on their way as well. They weren't aware of the laser-drilled hole until they arrived on the site. But even if someone comes later, all the aliens are (presumably) dead, although it does seem highly doubtful just dropping her in the water would have killed the Queen, given what we've seen lesser aliens survive in other films.
* The fact that Celtic reversed his wrist blades so as to be able to better cut the (future-)grid xenomorphs (tail? whatever) really bugs me. Before they decided to make the wrist blades [[BiggerIsBetter four feet long]] in this movie (which is its own issue) it seemed more logical for the sharper cutting surface to be that facing away from the predators' hands since there was a lot more of it exposed. At the very least there was no reason to have the inner edge (the one facing towards the hand) sharper than the outer (the predator in Predator 2 seemed to be mostly stabbing and hacking with the inner edge, but the outer edge of his blades were all jagged and threatening-looking anyway. The video games seemed to the use as much of the outer edge as the inner edge at least). I understand that the whole point was to look cool but instead it looked ridiculous and resulted in a painful amount of FridgeLogic.
** The concave edge is the fighting edge. Facing it "down" is a much more natural configuration for hand-to-hand combat. Try to imagine fighting someone using only backhand strikes. Probably seems pretty awkward, doesn't it? I do agree though that there is no real reason for only one edge to be sharp.
*** And yet, when the Predator fights Dutch hand-to-hand in the first Predator movie, he uses mostly backhand strikes...
** As to the “making the blades four feet long” thing, there are actually two kinds of blades Predators carry. The regular wrist blades, which are presumably larger in this movie because they’re dealing with significantly more dangerous prey, and the “Scimitar” wrist blade. Chopper, the first Predator killed, carries two of them. They only have one blade to the wristblade’s double edge, but they are about four feet long.
*** Amusing that you refer to the Xenomorphs as "more dangerous prey" since the book series went with the idea that hunting missions like this one against Xenomorphs are a fitting first trial for complete rookie hunters, but you have to be an established master with a lot of dangerous hunts under your belt to be allowed to hunt humans. But yes, longer blades are more practical for fighting something with acid blood.
* Scar is impregnated by a facehugger, which later leads to the predalien chestburster in the mother ship. Up there, all right. However, immediately after the off-screen FaceFullOfAlienWingWong, he seems to completely shrug the fact, as his only posterior reaction is putting on his mask and continuing the hunt. Did he really ignore the fact he had got a Xenomorph inside of him? Or was he deliberately ignoring it in a strange "If-if I close my eyes, it will be gone, r-right?" attitude?
** It's entirely possible the Predators, given their extremely advanced technology, have a way of safely removing an implanted xenomorph. If so, he must have gambled that he and his comrades could finish the hunt before his time was up.
** Victims of facehuggers often suffer from short term memory loss, likely due to the reduced oxygen and trauma as the facehugger knocks them out. Scar took off his mask to mark himself, blacked out for however long and then woke up confused and continued. Maybe he should have assumed he'd been impregnated but we'll never know.
** The ''real'' question about Scar's implantation is, why didn't any of the elder Predators who collected his body notice the thing inside him was still alive? We'd ''only just seen'' that masked Predators can see living Xeno embryos writhing around inside their hosts' torsos.
* ''Film/Alien3'' established that aliens will avoid killing hosts that are carrying an alien queen. Scar was carrying a queen, but the existing queen skewered him rather messily. I know Scar was antagonizing her, and that not having him die dramatically would make the end of the movie and the next movie not work, but what gives? Was this queen blinded by rage and didn't notice Queen Junior inside of him? Did she stab him to prevent Queen Junior from challenging her? Or was she intelligent enough to realize "Oh hey, if I kill this guy, the predators will take him back to the ship, where Queen Junior can escape and wreak havoc, allowing her to crash on the planet below and spread, just in case I somehow can't survive a fight with this human woman!"?
** It probably more had to do with the Queen not wanting competition, in alien 3 there was only one dog-alien and the incubating queen. the species survival on that planet relied on the queen maturing. In AvP there's already a Queen. Two Queens in such a remote and desolate area means they'll compete for hosts and food.
** The situations in Alien 3 and AvP are not exactly equivalent. There it was closed quarters and hot climate, and the Runner was around Ripley for a while, so it had time to smell the "fetus" (I guess it must work via smell because how else). The Queen in AvP had none of those advantages, so it may be it had no idea Scar was infected. If it did, then yeah, killing Scar was a higher priority than preserving the Queen Junior.
** Considering the chestburster emerged only a few minutes later the survival of the host was likely irrelevant at this point. Like when Lex mercy killed her friend earlier, the Queen killing Scar wouldn't harm her offspring.
* Why did the mechanism to bring the Alien Queen up not lower her back in when she laid the eggs? It seems like a simple enough failsafe, the sacrifice chamber only has so many tables for eggs, so after the queen laid enough eggs for the tables she should have been lowered back into her cyro prison, it would have stopped or at least slowed down a full blown infestation, meaning the Predator don't lose you know, a whole civilization that worships them and provides them with hunts.
** They're not trying to minimize the chance of a full infestation. The scenario is a challenge to test if the new hunters are worthy, if they let the situation expand beyond the initial challenge then it's their responsibility to clean up the mess. Just like at the end of the movie where the ship full of Predators was just sitting there watching the final fight with the Queen instead of helping. The second movie does show that if things get too out of control they'll send in forces to clean up the mess.
* The Predators appear to be idiots in this film. Apparently standard issue gear for hunting xenomorphs includes constricting nets that draw acid blood and then ''immediately dissolve in said acid blood''. The mothership at the end gives the fallen Predator a big funeral procession... but then doesn't screen him for infestation. Supposedly they've been hunting xenomorphs for ''centuries'' -- how have they survived this long if they're still making administrative mistakes that big?
** Remember, the Predators were supposed to have the shoulder cannons during the test which would have made the hunt a LOT easier than it turned out to be. A net is supposed to incapaciate an enemy and that's exactly what it does to the Aliens as well, the Predator it was fighting just didn't react fast enough, a flaw he demonstrates several times during their fight, to take advantage of it. As for the ones at the end they probably figured if a Predator was infected it would self destruct or be cacooned and not finish the test, it's really only blind luck the Predator didn't get grabbed before he woke up.
** It's explained the Predators hunting in this movie are on an "initiation hunt". They're [[ComingOfAgeStory teenagers]]. Doesn't explain the elder Predators on the ship however...
** Especially egregious since the comics immediately established that Predators use acid-proof or resistant weapons and armor when hunting aliens. To not do so would be suicidal stupidity. And indeed, one of the Predators gets his wrist blades dissolved by acid early on. One can easily imagine a Predator quickly running out of weapons and having to resort to fighting aliens bare-handed, or JustShootHim.
** The general idea is that these Predators are younger, less experienced hunters and haven't fought the Xenomorphs before. Think of them as cocky teenagers, all out to say to their mates at the Interstellar Tavern later, "Last night at the Coming of Age Ritual I killed an Alien with half a toothpick and this lump of cheese!" They've had all their elders say how frikkin' dangerous it is, but who's gonna listen to some ''old people?'' It seems necessary to use certain weapons like the Shoulder Cannon, but it looks like their other kit can be gimped down or switched around and still pass. It's also been established in the Predator movies that Predators hunt just for the hell of it. If there wasn't a risk and it wasn't tough, it wouldn't be a challenge.
** They don't even consider Weyland as a target initially. Who the hell thinks a guy dying of cancer is a threat? "You take his skull, Frank." "No, you take his skull, Bob." "I don't ''want'' his skull! Let Barry have it." "What, you're acting like I want some dying dork's skull? Come on, there's Xenomorphs to kill. Maybe when we're done, his skull will be less cancerous by then."
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Video Games]]
* In the 2010 game, after the marine character is knocked unconscious during the drop, why did the other marines bring him with them into what they knew was likely a xenomorph infested building? He couldn't very well fight in that condition and would probably slow the rest of them down.
** And leave him outside, where a xenomorph could grab him, coccoon him, and give you one more alien to fight?
** No, I was thinking of bringing him aboard the dropship where he would be (relatively) safe until he could fight again, or at least stand without assistance. They had just gotten off the dropship, so it was definitely near by, and certainly closer than it would be for some time.
* In the 2010 game, how did Specimen 6 figure out that the Elite was wearing a mask? Up to that point, it had only fought and killed like two other Yautja, so how could she have figured out their biology from just one fight?
** Two things: 1) the Aliens have a hive mind, what one knows they all know, especially if that someone happens to be the hive's queen and the Matriarch is stated to be the first Alien ever hunted so she'd be aware of how they function and would guide her children in how to impregnate them. 2) The Aliens can clearly tell organic and inorganic materials apart (they're always well aware of who is human and who is an android throughout the series) and so Six knew to remove the barrier from the face of it's victim before impregnation.
* In the first AVP game on the PC, what is the point of the Xenoborgs? Yes, they have bitchin' weapons, but they are also slow, cumbersome and unable to cling to walls and ceilings. In other words, outside of "deadly" they are everything an alien is NOT. So what's the point in making them? A heavily armed robot could do the same role, and nobody would have to be nommed by aliens to have it made.
** It's Weyland-Yutani, they have a history of ForScience.
** [[AllThereInTheManual The manual]] specifically notes these things; the Xenoborgs were a bright idea someone had that produced a killer robot but ultimately robbed the alien of its essence and was thus considered a failure, in-universe.
* In the 2010 game, why did the Predator player, who went to the planet specifically because other Predators had been killed by Aliens, go there without any weapons for fighting Aliens or even a mask that could detect them? Sure, you pick stuff up along the way but he didn't know he'd be able to do that.
** HonorBeforeReason. Going down there with nothing but his claws makes for a more glorious tale.
* So in the *thinks for a moment* second FPS on the PC, both the Marine and Predator are present at the both Predator's release from suspended animation and escape from the Forward Observation Pods. The problem is that the Marine used a catwalk to go to another pod, while the Predator did not, leaving them both in separate buildings. Ruling out either the Marine or Predator having an evil twin, how do we go about reconciling this?
** Perhaps an elaboration on the problem here might help?
** Honestly it just sounds like a mistake, likely due to a script change happening after the scene was animated. Nobody realised that the change would put them in drastically different places that that point so they didn't change it.
[[/folder]]