New Xenos variants in Aliens: Colonial Marines: Discuss!

They look pretty cool from what I've seen. If we must have all kinds of variants, they might as well have cool designs. The Crusher in particular is different enough to be distinct but still recognizable as a Xeno.

who thinks that crusher looks like a praetorian?

or a queen?

also is a lurker a runner?

and the spitter reminds me of a predalien.dont care if you do not agree...

The Crusher looks too sturdy to be a Queen but it does bear resemblance to the praetorians from the AVP games. It also reminds me of the ape xeno boss from the Aliens Infestation DS game.
The lurker strikes me as a drone more than a runner. It could very well be something in between.
The spitter would look more like the predalien if it didnt have the large neon green acid sacs on the sides of its crested head. It also lacks the facial mandibles and dreds. The predalien didn't have much of a crest on its head if I recall.

well....it reminds me of a predalien anyway.

The Crusher may very well be a praetorian on its way to becoming a queen which would explain why it looks like a large praetorian/small queen. The Lurker may as well be called a runner as it seems no different other then color. The Spitter....I'm happy they finally gave us players the ability to spit our acid at marines somewhat negating the "I shoot as I run backwards" game that marines are no doubt gonna play however it seems to have a very long charge up giving marines that see you plenty of time to kill you/ run away to cover, now if they don't see you that's another story. I just hope that if we miss hitting the marine it "splashes" doing less damage to anything nearby. I hope they put in a toggle for first person aliens it would make me happy but I could live without it if they don't, I never had the problem of being a "hamster in a wheel" in any AVP game that alot of other people did.

It was my understanding that praetorians were essentially royal guards for the queen. In what instance would a praetorian become a queen? Also, I think the lurker looks very much like the drone from the first Alien film as both have smooth cranials and the same greyish coloring. I must say that the spitter is my favorite thus far. It does seem like it would be the variant that was tasked with building the majority of a hive and even moving eggs for the queen. It would also make the deadliest mess if killed with all of that acid in tow. I wonder if their will be any sort of in game explanation for each of these bizarre new variations.

It is to my understanding that should the queen no longer be with the hive( ie.death or got transported off planet) that the praetorians would fight to become the next queen as the winner would molt into said queen, and yes preatortians are the royal guards for the queen. As for the Lurker I'm just saying that the it would appear to be a black runner even its description sounds like a runner.

i think that a lurker is kind of a runner.

a soldier is a warrior.

a crusher is kind of a praetorian.

and the spitter.........who cares?

Well, seeings as I have taken a liking to the new spitter xenos, I care. I suppose I should read up more on the praetorians and runners. The description denotes that the lurker is more of a silent stealthy killer were as the runner (from the film) seemed to be more of an indiscriminate marauder that rushed its foes instead of sliding in out of the shadows.

then it is a drone.

There are actually several ways a Queen can be made that aren't completely ridiculous (to me, anyway):

• 
  
• A lone Drone can force a host to morph into an egg. This can egg can house either a normal facehugger or a Super Facehugger. The latter carries at least two embryos, one of which is a guard (a normal Drone/Warrior or, technically, a Praetorian), the other being a Queen. That's what's been established in the films. (A Queen can also probably lay such an egg if it feels its time is coming to an end.)
  
• After being exposed to an uncertain amount of Queen jelly (whether or not being exposed to Queen jelly is actually vital to the transformation process is debatable), a lone Xenomorph goes through a lengthy process of morphing into a Queen. This usually happens after the previous Queen dies or the current hive is overpopulated. If overpopulation is the issue, then, if the Xenomorph is successful in morphing into a new Queen, a rival hive is born, and the two Queens battle over supremacy, the victor becoming the planet's resident Empress. The Queen that loses may not necessarily die.
  
• The 'alpha' Praetorian or alpha male takes the place of a Queen that has recently died. A Praetorian becoming a Queen would be no different from a Drone/Warrior becoming one, though whether or not Queen jelly is a factor at all is questionable, since they're already a "pure" strain.
  

What I've listed certainly may not be all there is, but of everything that I've ever read, I feel those can coexist very comfortably in the life-cycle canon. Technically, yes, a Praetorian is a royal guard, but it's always been my belief that a Praetorian is simply an immature Queen, like a 20-year-old college student compared to her 46-year-old mom. One pair consists of a salivating, rough-skinned bitch producing a convoy of eggs through her fat sack while her child can do nothing but wait to become her, and the other pair is from space.

I have never really seen anything to support the possibility of a host being turned into an egg outside of the deleted scene in Alien. People still dispute whether or not that scene could be considered valid as Ridley Scott ultimately cut it from the film.

I don't see any reason why the other options wouldn't be possible except that they suggest that one type of xeno could freely molt into another completely different caste. It was always my understanding that if the queen is lost then that hive would cease to flourish. Do you have references to support this claim? I would be happy to see them.

I would like to see the runner make an appearance in A:CM as well. I don't see any reason why there couldn't be a K9 unit with the crew or just pets on board (unless of course you prefer the directors cut of Alien 3 that depicted the OX as the runner host in which case would probably rule out runners in the game). It would be interesting to see them depicted interacting with the hive instead of the lone xeno we saw in the film.

Honestly, I think anything's possible with these guys, considering black space goo creates life and things called the Newborn exist.

If I'm not mistaken, the idea of a lesser strain morphing into a Queen/pure strain, after having been exposed to Queen jelly, has shown up a number of times, but was more prominently shown in AVP3, as is the case with Six. I can't recall 100%, but I'm pretty sure there was also a book (or a few books) detailing a situation where a new hive was born out of an already existing one and the two Queens fought for dominance. I want to say Female War or Genocide, but I really don't remember.

The Spitter and Crusher both sound like Xenomorphs who have "evolved" to suit the situation at hand. I know evolved is the wrong word here, but I say it in the context of the creatures changing or adapting to the situation that is at hand for them. Again, I forget if AvP: Extinction is cannon or not, but several times in that game, the Queen had need to call upon stronger strains of Xenomorphs to carry out her wishes. The Crusher and Spitter, though not practical when in terms of hunting prey, maybe be used more like weapons for the Hive. The Spitter, from what I gather is more like an artillery unit than anything. The Crusher seems more like the muscle of the group, especially when you consider the environment the Xeno's are on, so many locked doors and the prey itself is getting savy with the Xeno's knack for finding other ways around.

As for the Crusher looking like a Queen, I don't know....way to stocky to be one at all, and possibly the wrong build for a Pretorian guard too.

^Besides any canon questions, i pretty much like the idea of xenos morphing into other "strains" on "purpose". Makes them more of a real threat than simple giant space bugs.

@WA: An explanation like that is great. It almost makes the Ravager (and specialized variants in general) look a little less ridiculous - I mean, I love the Praetorian, and that's all it pretty much is, right? It rarely ever goes out to hunt and is just there for protection, much like the Crusher and Spitter. Would those two happen to be "pure" like Praetorians?

I've honestly got a little more respect/enthusiasm for the new types. Now if only they had better names...

"I've honestly got a little more respect/enthusiasm for the new types. Now if only they had better names..."

Well, the Crusher and the Spitter seem to be at least not as absurd as some other "forms" of aliens who appeared over time. Less freaky, more functional.
As for the names, they're just nicknames, just like "Warrior" or whatever, so i don't see any problems about it.

Their true names would be probably something cool like "Internecivus Raptus Saxifragus" and "Internecivus Raptus Adspueris" or so. Don't get me wrong, thats absolutely nothing canonical, just created both terms thanks to good old online translators and the xenos name Internecivus Raptus, and i've got no freaking idea about latin or biological nomenclatures at all.

Has anyone got pics of these guys? All I've seen thus far is the Crusher.

Spitter 1
Spitter 2
Spitter 3
Spitter 4

Dont like the glowing sacks...

Looks quite massive, i wonder why. I've imagined distance-focused xenos more fragile and slight in physical appearance.

I'm not gonna lie, these things look pretty cool. I would love it if they turned out to be a part of that whole 'royal guard' deal. Sure, that means a shit ton more of giant bugs, but Empresses and Queen Mothers already exist, so I don't mind.