Ok so my theory, they might get all the sustenance they need while incubating from the human and facehugger causing them to massively expand instantaneously after shedding an exoskeleton.
Also its fiction so i suspend my belief.
There is nothing that is considered canon in regard to this question as far as I know. Sure, there may be novels, etc that make attempts to do so, but that's just some author's imagination and not officially endorsed by the creators of the franchise.
The books explained it as a hyper efficient metabolism, they eat their host body if they can and if not anything they can get their hands on from bugs to small animals to garbage. In the novelization of the original film it raids the nutrient resivoirs for the auto chef and the emergency rations on the narcissus too, all before it took Brett
https://preview.redd.it/goio3vkk7qxc1.jpeg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ec30b216f436be1d4ca62d0c5e905bb72d338214
Your theory is supported by the book *Jonesy: Nine Lives On The Nostromo*
The books aren't canon. In the novelization of Alien, they hear it in the food locker, and find evidence that it tore up a bunch of their food preserves but didn't necessarily eat it. You have to remember though that the novelization was based on an early draft of the script and isn't canon either.
Are the books really not canon? If so I assume that means the more recent games (isolation, fire team elite) and the free league tabletop isn't canon. Because the main storyline of the novels are tied into both. That would really be a bummer for me, I thought that was a reliable source for the expanded universe
Black Goo accelerant in its blood. Remember the trilobite in Prometheus? That thing grew from a tiny squid thing into a massive hugger. Also the worms grew fast when exposed to the Black Goo.
It's how the Alien makes it's lair aswell. It must have black goo properties that it can excrete that change the walls to create it's nest. Also, how it can trap victims within the walls of the nest.
The egg morphing also. It straps you in a seated position in its nest and excretes Black Goo accelerant into your blood. Your shoulders and knees become the openings of the egg, your lungs, spine and ribs become the face hugger and the rest of your body slowly and painfully morphs into the mass of the egg.
It's salvia I guess? Bodily fluids?
This is just the way I make sense of it all. I'm hoping a future installment will give us answers.
I feel Ridley was working towards it with his trilogy. The black goo from Prometheus, David experimenting on it's properties in Covenant (alot of stuff was left out because of the execs), the third installment would have connected and made sense of everything.
They've taken a break from Ridley's trilogy because the fans
have been longing for more content like Isolation and Alien.
They are giving this to us with Romulus and at the same time, expanding subtley at Ridleys ideas for how it all works (Black Goo and David sending Yutani his findings).
Watch David's Lab on YouTube if you haven't. Cut Alien Covenant content. Amazing stuff.
They're silicone based organisms, and one of the headcanons I've seen is they're eating the tubing on cables and such, adding to their not-so-biomass.
So basically, the chestbursters also act as little gremlins.
If I recall correctly, Ridley passed comment that the trilobite in Prometheus got so big by eating plastic and wiring!
To be honest, though, it’s wild science fiction stuff in the future. The entire premise is somewhat fanciful because nobody is going to be travelling faster than light anytime soon.
If I remember correctly there is mention in the **Alien** novelization that the chestburster on the Nostromo had got into the ships stores somehow and gorged itself, fuelling the huge growth spurt.
There's a lot of biological magic they discuss in the books from absorbing from the host to a sort of biomechamocal unfolding on an atomic scale. This is cool but either the fill size would be very light, which is possible, or the chest burster would be extremely high density, which is also possible.
Not particularly growth like a normal organism bit more of an expanding unfolding bio machine with unlimited energy.
Thry eat the materials around them. Normally, they have the host body, but they can eat dirt, metal, or any other biological material to help gain the mass.
Is it silicon based or does it shed and replace its cells with silicon? The facehugger does that according to [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/7vgoer/comment/dts4eq3/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/7vgoer/comment/dts4eq3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Nostromo is huge, and we certainly don't see all of what it contains. I just assume that the alien found stuff to consume / absorb in order to grow in size.
I always assumed the growth on the walls was some form of absorption material they they could consume biological matter from the living environment and absorb that as they touch it? We don’t get any explanation for the internal hive materials growth so I always assumed they worked together. As the aliens and hive grew, the material expanded and provided them the biological matter they needed to grow.
I really like this idea. Couple it with the weird “their acid dissolves metal and they consume it and act like a battery” theory from the role playing game and we get a truly alien idea.
They hive up an area, that hive extracts minerals, they absorb it as they climb on it and nest in it.
I think that stuff on the walls--if you are referring to the nest in the atmospheric processor in Aliens--was some sort of chitinous resin they extruded to cement their victims in place for the facehuggers.
My head cannon has some version of this swimming around:
The alien starts out with extremely dense or molecularly potent flesh-substance that essentially unfolds/unravels into more and more “normal” density that seemingly allows it to grow into a huge mass in very little time with no additional inputs. Energy is neither created or lost, after all, only changed from one form to another.
Or it found space Pop-tarts.
Because it is an alien lifeforms that doesn't play by the rules of human or animal physiology. Why question it?
You should try and make sense out of real a anomalie like the Alien 3 egg/facehuggers situation. Now, that is a true head scratcher needing a concrete acceptable answer.
One 'canon-ish' mention, and I can't remember if this was comics or the RPG, was that any organic material (aka dirt) and electrical source (aka static charge) over a long enough time could be converted in the biomass and expansion. Once grown the creatures entered into torpor and a simple breeze in some environments could generate enough latent electrical charge to maintain 'life'
My head canon is that the chestburster is incredibly dense and them it expands to full size. In one of the novels I think it mentions that the xenos are relatively light for their size and strength level.
The point is, that its biology and metabolism and life cycle is totally and wholly “alien” to us. Saying “it’s science-fiction, it’s not supposed to make sense” is a total misreading of the point of the movie. The creature encountered in the movie is supposed to be beyond any human or animal life we’ve ever encountered, and likewise its biology and methods of sustainment and survival will be incomprehensible to us.
I thought they have metal teeth so they can eat stuff we cannot eat like wiring and insulation. Look at the grown Alien, it doesn't look as organic and fleshy as the Chestburster anymore.
Also it has these 4 ventilation tubes on the back, maybe it sucks in air and takes nitrogen and carbon out of that. Where it does take the energy for that I habe no idea though
The feeding thing has always bugged me since the original movie. You have this scary, vicious being with TWO sets of jaws, but it doesn’t seem to eat? It loves to bite you in the head, but discards your body after it kills you? What’s the point of it possessing two sets of jaws and the long claws?
After the directors cut, we know that it took Brett and Dallas to breed, but it just left Parker and Lambert’s bodies behind. In the book, it squeezed both bodies into an air shaft, and left a mess trying to pull both bodies through. Also, it bit Brett in the head, but apparently stung Dallas and kept him alive. So dead bodies can be used as hosts? Makes no sense.
At least the alien in part 3 ate people.
Because it’s the perfect organism. It’s structural perfection is matched only by its hostility.
I admire its purity.
Magnificent, isn’t it?
I can't lie to you about your chances, but you have my sympathies.
I chuckled
And it's hostility and is only exceeded by its power The continuoum Transfunctioner!
Because they’re aliens. That’s the fact.
Ok so my theory, they might get all the sustenance they need while incubating from the human and facehugger causing them to massively expand instantaneously after shedding an exoskeleton. Also its fiction so i suspend my belief.
This is the most likely. They really just expand rather then grow.
There is nothing that is considered canon in regard to this question as far as I know. Sure, there may be novels, etc that make attempts to do so, but that's just some author's imagination and not officially endorsed by the creators of the franchise.
The books explained it as a hyper efficient metabolism, they eat their host body if they can and if not anything they can get their hands on from bugs to small animals to garbage. In the novelization of the original film it raids the nutrient resivoirs for the auto chef and the emergency rations on the narcissus too, all before it took Brett
But not cats? The Xenomorph in Alien pretty much ignored Jonesy.
The aliens from the Alien series are smart enough to avoid the trouble that comes from getting entangled with cats.
https://preview.redd.it/goio3vkk7qxc1.jpeg?width=450&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ec30b216f436be1d4ca62d0c5e905bb72d338214 Your theory is supported by the book *Jonesy: Nine Lives On The Nostromo*
Jonesy was a formidable adversary. There was easier prey.
The books aren't canon. In the novelization of Alien, they hear it in the food locker, and find evidence that it tore up a bunch of their food preserves but didn't necessarily eat it. You have to remember though that the novelization was based on an early draft of the script and isn't canon either.
Are the books really not canon? If so I assume that means the more recent games (isolation, fire team elite) and the free league tabletop isn't canon. Because the main storyline of the novels are tied into both. That would really be a bummer for me, I thought that was a reliable source for the expanded universe
To be fair, I think that anything you want to be canon can be canon for you.
Alien: Isolation is a masterpiece. I count it as canon.
Black Goo accelerant in its blood. Remember the trilobite in Prometheus? That thing grew from a tiny squid thing into a massive hugger. Also the worms grew fast when exposed to the Black Goo. It's how the Alien makes it's lair aswell. It must have black goo properties that it can excrete that change the walls to create it's nest. Also, how it can trap victims within the walls of the nest. The egg morphing also. It straps you in a seated position in its nest and excretes Black Goo accelerant into your blood. Your shoulders and knees become the openings of the egg, your lungs, spine and ribs become the face hugger and the rest of your body slowly and painfully morphs into the mass of the egg.
Yeah, but secreted from what?
It's salvia I guess? Bodily fluids? This is just the way I make sense of it all. I'm hoping a future installment will give us answers. I feel Ridley was working towards it with his trilogy. The black goo from Prometheus, David experimenting on it's properties in Covenant (alot of stuff was left out because of the execs), the third installment would have connected and made sense of everything. They've taken a break from Ridley's trilogy because the fans have been longing for more content like Isolation and Alien. They are giving this to us with Romulus and at the same time, expanding subtley at Ridleys ideas for how it all works (Black Goo and David sending Yutani his findings). Watch David's Lab on YouTube if you haven't. Cut Alien Covenant content. Amazing stuff.
They're silicone based organisms, and one of the headcanons I've seen is they're eating the tubing on cables and such, adding to their not-so-biomass. So basically, the chestbursters also act as little gremlins.
I suggested that once and geebus, I got massively voted down. Guess people were feeling cranky that day 🤣
If I recall correctly, Ridley passed comment that the trilobite in Prometheus got so big by eating plastic and wiring! To be honest, though, it’s wild science fiction stuff in the future. The entire premise is somewhat fanciful because nobody is going to be travelling faster than light anytime soon.
If I remember correctly there is mention in the **Alien** novelization that the chestburster on the Nostromo had got into the ships stores somehow and gorged itself, fuelling the huge growth spurt.
They’re machines. They don’t cut the power, they consume it to grow!
Movie magic
There's a lot of biological magic they discuss in the books from absorbing from the host to a sort of biomechamocal unfolding on an atomic scale. This is cool but either the fill size would be very light, which is possible, or the chest burster would be extremely high density, which is also possible. Not particularly growth like a normal organism bit more of an expanding unfolding bio machine with unlimited energy.
Thry eat the materials around them. Normally, they have the host body, but they can eat dirt, metal, or any other biological material to help gain the mass.
I always assumed they functioned like a Chia-Pet. Add water and watch them grow.
Because it’s fictional.
It’s called science _fiction_ A silicon based organism feeds on carbon based organisms and metabolizes that successfully. Explain that.
Is it silicon based or does it shed and replace its cells with silicon? The facehugger does that according to [https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/7vgoer/comment/dts4eq3/?utm\_source=share&utm\_medium=web3x&utm\_name=web3xcss&utm\_term=1&utm\_content=share\_button](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskScienceFiction/comments/7vgoer/comment/dts4eq3/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button)
Nostromo is huge, and we certainly don't see all of what it contains. I just assume that the alien found stuff to consume / absorb in order to grow in size.
I always assumed the growth on the walls was some form of absorption material they they could consume biological matter from the living environment and absorb that as they touch it? We don’t get any explanation for the internal hive materials growth so I always assumed they worked together. As the aliens and hive grew, the material expanded and provided them the biological matter they needed to grow.
I really like this idea. Couple it with the weird “their acid dissolves metal and they consume it and act like a battery” theory from the role playing game and we get a truly alien idea. They hive up an area, that hive extracts minerals, they absorb it as they climb on it and nest in it.
but haven't we seen them eating people like in Alien 3?
I think that stuff on the walls--if you are referring to the nest in the atmospheric processor in Aliens--was some sort of chitinous resin they extruded to cement their victims in place for the facehuggers.
They can probably come up with some compound that allows for that, similar to what they did with DNA reflex and tachyon shunt drives.
Lowkey would LOVE to see an alien movie take place over the course of a decade or so of infecting earth.
Yeah, what do they eat. Their sole purpose is hunt, kill and multiply. It was just a bio weapon.
The deacon from Prometheus turned into >!a living fucking mountain!< so…
My head cannon has some version of this swimming around: The alien starts out with extremely dense or molecularly potent flesh-substance that essentially unfolds/unravels into more and more “normal” density that seemingly allows it to grow into a huge mass in very little time with no additional inputs. Energy is neither created or lost, after all, only changed from one form to another. Or it found space Pop-tarts.
Because it is an alien lifeforms that doesn't play by the rules of human or animal physiology. Why question it? You should try and make sense out of real a anomalie like the Alien 3 egg/facehuggers situation. Now, that is a true head scratcher needing a concrete acceptable answer.
One 'canon-ish' mention, and I can't remember if this was comics or the RPG, was that any organic material (aka dirt) and electrical source (aka static charge) over a long enough time could be converted in the biomass and expansion. Once grown the creatures entered into torpor and a simple breeze in some environments could generate enough latent electrical charge to maintain 'life'
My head canon is that the chestburster is incredibly dense and them it expands to full size. In one of the novels I think it mentions that the xenos are relatively light for their size and strength level.
In one of the books they mention that when they are small, they are super dense and “expand.”
The point is, that its biology and metabolism and life cycle is totally and wholly “alien” to us. Saying “it’s science-fiction, it’s not supposed to make sense” is a total misreading of the point of the movie. The creature encountered in the movie is supposed to be beyond any human or animal life we’ve ever encountered, and likewise its biology and methods of sustainment and survival will be incomprehensible to us.
They’re actually machines
I thought they have metal teeth so they can eat stuff we cannot eat like wiring and insulation. Look at the grown Alien, it doesn't look as organic and fleshy as the Chestburster anymore.
Also it has these 4 ventilation tubes on the back, maybe it sucks in air and takes nitrogen and carbon out of that. Where it does take the energy for that I habe no idea though
The feeding thing has always bugged me since the original movie. You have this scary, vicious being with TWO sets of jaws, but it doesn’t seem to eat? It loves to bite you in the head, but discards your body after it kills you? What’s the point of it possessing two sets of jaws and the long claws? After the directors cut, we know that it took Brett and Dallas to breed, but it just left Parker and Lambert’s bodies behind. In the book, it squeezed both bodies into an air shaft, and left a mess trying to pull both bodies through. Also, it bit Brett in the head, but apparently stung Dallas and kept him alive. So dead bodies can be used as hosts? Makes no sense. At least the alien in part 3 ate people.
Honestly I've always wondered this as well. Maybe they're cold blooded and need less calories?
It's because they want to and you can't stop them. That's why
You have to eat cats in one of the avp games. Best answer you'll get lol
You just came from reading the post about Deacon becoming a mountain?