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 Warzone Resurrection wrote:

Nope, we have Warzone Resurrection convention at Telford this Sunday so we are all extremely busy here.

More info Monday, I promise ;]

Oh, I have no doubt.

Just to be clear, that was entirely a snipe at Palladium at the Robotech KS, as saying their communication style leaves something to be desired would be the understatement of the year.

You guys have been solid, and 3 days is totally reasonable with a busy weekend looming.

If any of you were wondering what the subtext of the Alien movies were, here's the story -

Dan O'Bannon, Alien Screenwriter wrote:Oh, we're not joking. Our goal isn't to paste a bunch of out-of-context shots or lines of dialogue to make some spurious case. We'll let Alien screenwriter Dan O'Bannon spell it out himself:

"One thing that people are all disturbed about is sex... I said 'That's how I'm going to attack the audience; I'm going to attack them sexually. And I'm not going to go after the women in the audience, I'm going to attack the men. I am going to put in every image I can think of to make the men in the audience cross their legs. Homosexual oral rape, birth. The thing lays its eggs down your throat, the whole number.'"

Hence the sexualised imagery for a lot of their stuff.

For more fun facts, see this page about just how rapey the series was.

Still want to buy this game though.

Anyone else like me find that Aliens is holding up the least well out of the series? And yeah, that even includes #4. Looking back on it now I find a majority of the characters annoying as hell (thankfully they all die), and it a bit weak over all. #4 has a dumb ending, but I can forgive that because I liked the characterisation a lot better, and interactions. #3, the extended version, is excellent. So much better than the theatrical version.

Here is some more on the miniature quality:

Facehugger! And eggs!

I really hope this does not turn out to be a kickstarter, I have a baby on the way!

Those look very cool!

 Fenriswulf wrote:
If any of you were wondering what the subtext of the Alien movies were, here's the story -

Dan O'Bannon, Alien Screenwriter wrote:Oh, we're not joking. Our goal isn't to paste a bunch of out-of-context shots or lines of dialogue to make some spurious case. We'll let Alien screenwriter Dan O'Bannon spell it out himself:

"One thing that people are all disturbed about is sex... I said 'That's how I'm going to attack the audience; I'm going to attack them sexually. And I'm not going to go after the women in the audience, I'm going to attack the men. I am going to put in every image I can think of to make the men in the audience cross their legs. Homosexual oral rape, birth. The thing lays its eggs down your throat, the whole number.'"

Hence the sexualised imagery for a lot of their stuff.

And I think actually in a lot of the original Giger artwork. It's pretty disturbed, perverse looking stuff..

And because of that fact, it really does work. Scared the living hell out of me as a kid.

And yeah, also glad it's not a kickstarter. I am hoping the rules are better than the Sedition Wars ones, and I can just buy this game and swap and change to make different bug hunt scenarios.

 Pacific wrote:
Those look very cool!

 Fenriswulf wrote:
If any of you were wondering what the subtext of the Alien movies were, here's the story -

Dan O'Bannon, Alien Screenwriter wrote:Oh, we're not joking. Our goal isn't to paste a bunch of out-of-context shots or lines of dialogue to make some spurious case. We'll let Alien screenwriter Dan O'Bannon spell it out himself:

"One thing that people are all disturbed about is sex... I said 'That's how I'm going to attack the audience; I'm going to attack them sexually. And I'm not going to go after the women in the audience, I'm going to attack the men. I am going to put in every image I can think of to make the men in the audience cross their legs. Homosexual oral rape, birth. The thing lays its eggs down your throat, the whole number.'"

Hence the sexualised imagery for a lot of their stuff.

And I think actually in a lot of the original Giger artwork. It's pretty disturbed, perverse looking stuff..

Yeah, from a sexual perspective, Giger's work on Alien is his most tame. A basic google image search will show you want I mean. Alot of it's NSFW, so I won't link it here.
By comparison, in Giger's work outside of Alien, it seems that women are by far the ones violated the most often.

Prodos wrote:
Here is some more on the miniature quality:

They still look pretty crap, the Runners aren't bad but the Drones are just way too organic and lacking in the Giger aspect. It's disappointing to see the quality of the xenomorph sculpts in comparison with the Predator and Marines.

The minis look great! Keep up the good work, Prodos! I anxiously await the news now coming on Monday.

Oh, I just noticed -- are we seeing alternatives parts (heads, arms, tails) or whole new sculpts in that pic?

That's a really good looking batch of figures.

I'd like to see a Space Hulk board with these guys much the same as those marines did going into that reactor building and the settlement.

Are there going to be Predators as well? any look at those yet?

Yep, a few pages back. They look awesome.

I like all Aliens and Predators so far

Shut up and take my money!!!!

I hope that these make it stateside before 2014.

I'm an idiot I guess, because I was under the initial impression these were just lookalikes to Alien and Predator.

This is officially licensed stuff, eh? Can't believe Fox greenlit something like this.

 PrehistoricUFO wrote:
I'm an idiot I guess, because I was under the initial impression these were just lookalikes to Alien and Predator.

This is officially licensed stuff, eh? Can't believe Fox greenlit something like this.

is the license worth a lot nowadays? Without any big movies in the past many many years (AVPR was 2007) and the last big video game being critically panned, it's possible they picked up the license cheap or maybe as a percentage of profits. Who knows. All I konw is I want a company of USCM

I think some of the hairsplitting over the alien designs is a bit much. None of the aliens remain exactly the same across the movies, comics, or video games. While they all retain the major features, each instance has their own take on how the xenomoprh form evolves and changes and has subtile differences. Fine details like the hands, feet, and the ribbing are barely even visable in the films as most times they are concealed by dark lighting and quick movements. It's only when you have a chance to pour over the stills and reference materials you can pick out the changes.

On top of that when you translate designs into miniatures form you are always going to need to flexibility in the design to accomidate the medium of sculpture, proportions need to be changed for look, model durability, and abiliy to be cast. So even when you are doing humans, the finer details often get changed a lot when it's rendered into miniatures form.

I'm a huge fan of the movies having seen them all countless times, as long as they nail the major features of the designs I'm happy. What they have been previewing is far better than any of the previous offering such as the clix which means I'm a happy guy. You can't please the hard core fans 100% of the time as the odds are that they are going to like one specific design from movie X above all others and don't want anything else. It makes it significantly harder to sell a game based off of one movie when there's a whole stack of spport genre material to pick from. Imagine the situation where somebody was actually a fan of the alien hybrid baby and that was the ONLY alien they wanted to see.

If you look at the various forms of the Aliens as being selections of mutations and subspecies it makes far more sense. Sort of like comparing great cats across the world, they have a distinct simularity in overall body shape but they have a lot of minor variations between each subspecies.

Also on a simular note the Predator designs are all differant in every movie/comic/game as well. We tend not to pay as much attention to the variety in the Predators as they are meant to be more clearly distinct individuals.

 paulson games wrote:
I think some of the hairsplitting over the alien designs is a bit much. None of the aliens remain exactly the same across the movies, comics, or video games. While they all retain the major features, each instance has their own take on how the xenomoprh form evolves and changes and has subtile differences. Fine details like the hands, feet, and the ribbing are barely even visable in the films as most times they are concealed by dark lighting and quick movements. It's only when you have a chance to pour over the stills and reference materials you can pick out the changes.

On top of that when you translate designs into miniatures form you are always going to need to flexibility in the design to accomidate the medium of sculpture, proportions need to be changed for look, model durability, and abiliy to be cast. So even when you are doing humans, the finer details often get changed a lot when it's rendered into miniatures form.

I'm a huge fan of the movies having seen them all countless times, as long as they nail the major features of the designs I'm happy. What they have been previewing is far better than any of the previous offering such as the clix which means I'm a happy guy. You can't please the hard core fans 100% of the time as the odds are that they are going to like one specific design from movie X above all others and don't want anything else. It makes it significantly harder to sell a game based off of one movie when there's a whole stack of spport genre material to pick from. Imagine the situation where somebody was actually a fan of the alien hybrid baby and that was the ONLY alien they wanted to see.

If you look at the various forms of the Aliens as being selections of mutations and subspecies it makes far more sense. Sort of like comparing great cats across the world, they have a distinct simularity in overall body shape but they have a lot of minor variations between each subspecies.

Also on a simular note the Predator designs are all differant in every movie/comic/game as well. We tend not to pay as much attention to the variety in the Predators as they are meant to be more clearly distinct individuals.

This. This, this and this again. Considering that the Xenomorphs are supposed to be a highly adaptable and variable race as it is, why make a big deal about the feet and hands?

 Barzam wrote:
This. This, this and this again. Considering that the Xenomorphs are supposed to be a highly adaptable and variable race as it is, why make a big deal about the feet and hands?

There's a difference between hand and feet structure and the entire theme and feel of the creature, i.e;

Overly organic, generic monster;



And Giger's creation;



Also, the Predators where are individuals and were never a caste based hive creature. It's a poor comparison to make and clouds the argument.

Don't cry, he just wants a hug!

... but seriously, the only way that picture could be funnier would be if the actor was holding a cup of coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

 Fenriswulf wrote:
If any of you were wondering what the subtext of the Alien movies were, here's the story -

Dan O'Bannon, Alien Screenwriter wrote:Oh, we're not joking. Our goal isn't to paste a bunch of out-of-context shots or lines of dialogue to make some spurious case. We'll let Alien screenwriter Dan O'Bannon spell it out himself:

"One thing that people are all disturbed about is sex... I said 'That's how I'm going to attack the audience; I'm going to attack them sexually. And I'm not going to go after the women in the audience, I'm going to attack the men. I am going to put in every image I can think of to make the men in the audience cross their legs. Homosexual oral rape, birth. The thing lays its eggs down your throat, the whole number.'"

Hence the sexualised imagery for a lot of their stuff.

For more fun facts, see this page about just how rapey the series was.

Still want to buy this game though.

Anyone else like me find that Aliens is holding up the least well out of the series? And yeah, that even includes #4. Looking back on it now I find a majority of the characters annoying as hell (thankfully they all die), and it a bit weak over all. #4 has a dumb ending, but I can forgive that because I liked the characterisation a lot better, and interactions. #3, the extended version, is excellent. So much better than the theatrical version.

I'm not sure I agree with #2 holding up the worst, are you taking the special edition into account? Also, Aliens holds up even better for me because the special effects are phenomenal and the fact that it was filmed on such a small budget is nothing short of jaw-dropping.

 judgedoug wrote:

 PrehistoricUFO wrote:
I'm an idiot I guess, because I was under the initial impression these were just lookalikes to Alien and Predator.

This is officially licensed stuff, eh? Can't believe Fox greenlit something like this.

is the license worth a lot nowadays? Without any big movies in the past many many years (AVPR was 2007) and the last big video game being critically panned, it's possible they picked up the license cheap or maybe as a percentage of profits. Who knows. All I konw is I want a company of USCM

The game may have been critically panned, but sold very well.. in fact, we already discussed this earlier, so I will quote myself with the figures I looked up!

Prometheus (which is the Alien IP with nobs on) made getting on half a billion $ worldwide, with a sequel on the way, Colonial Marines sold more than a million copies despite being critically panned. So as far as franchises go I'd say not too shabby (certainly the 'Alien' part)

I think the license is probably pretty healthy, although with all of the other Aliens/Predator stuff about maybe Fox are quite liberal with it (or just take royalties on sales or something?)

I don't get the whole rape thing, were midget face rapers a problem in some countries?

Joyboozer wrote:
I don't get the whole rape thing, were midget face rapers a problem in some countries?

Enjoy.

 Imposter101 wrote:

There's a difference between hand and feet structure and the entire theme and feel of the creature, i.e;

Overly organic, generic monster;

And Giger's creation;

Also, the Predators where are individuals and were never a caste based hive creature. It's a poor comparison to make and clouds the argument.

Personally I find the organic verison to be an improvement, in the fact that it has a much more lifelike and dynamic pose. The pic from the original aliens looks like a stiff sculpture that is sorta hung on a coat hanger. There's no idication of body weight or movement and it's just sorta stuck there. There's also no feet visable....

(The revamped piece is also digital concept art work, not a shot of the model used in the movie).

There's a portion of fans that considered the design changes between Alien and Aliens to be pretty drastic. Cameron put a lot of personal touches into his revised Aliens design yet most people will put them into the same catergory as the first Alien, yet they rail against later versions of Alien 3& 4 for applying yet more changes. While fans might want to disassociate some of the later films or the AVP designs they are all still part of the same collective work. It's hairsplitting based largely on personal bias of liking or disliking the sequels.

Also the arguement of "they are supposed to be a hive creature" doesn't apply well to the design presented in Alien vs the later Aliens. You only ever see one version in the original alien and there's no concept of the "hive creature" introduced until the second movie. Also in the established alien lore they are simular to insects in the sense that they go through several stages of developement and molting. That would allow their features to change dramtaically between each stage starting from the almost snake like chest burster to drone, warrior, queen etc. Even if you disregard the lore from comics and games, the movies firmly establish that there isn't one "pure strain" verison of the xenomorphs they vary from host to host and even reflect changes based on what the local enviroment is as part of their adaptive range.

Agreed. In the expanded universe, their adaptability was always part of what made them so scary. If something else lived there, and the facehuggers could survive long enough to implant a host, you could have a resilient strain on the go in no time.

Nitpicking hand and foot details on a species that, world to world and hive to hive may have different hands and feet seems a little far, but I can understand that for some it's the little details that are most important. I'm not saying it's unreasonable to take issue with those changes/inaccuracies, but I don't have a problem with 'em.

I see it like a big bang theory episode.

Smoking hot girl buys a cheap off the shelf Star Trek costume and wears it to convention.

Enter the Sheldon type guy who sees it and is offended that the communications badge isn't regulation X made by so and so company, the stitching pattern isn't authentic and the shoes don't feature the same tread pattern depicted in episode 43. He gets all in a huff about the most minute details which are only known to the most extreme fanboy and his triade makes the girl cry.

The Sheldon type is so consumed with the uber fan aspects that he's completely oblivios to the bigger picture, which is the exsistence of a girl who's actually interested in Star Trek, much less the fact it's a hot girl. The Sheldon type says I don't understand what she's so upset about, by putting on that uniform she was assuming the mantle of responsibility and authenticity that a starfleet uniform demands. Meanwhile his friends who are more grounded are all facepalming.

 paulson games wrote:
I see it like a big bang theory episode.

Smoking hot girl buys a cheap off the shelf Star Trek costume and wears it to convention.

Enter the Sheldon type guy who sees it and is offended that the communications badge isn't regulation X made by so and so company, the stitching pattern isn't authentic and the shoes don't feature the same tread pattern depicted in episode 43. He gets all in a huff about the most minute details which are only known to the most extreme fanboy and his triade makes the girl cry.

The Sheldon type is so consumed with the uber fan aspects that he's completely oblivios to the bigger picture, which is the exsistence of a girl who's actually interested in Star Trek, much less the fact it's a hot girl. The Sheldon type says I don't understand what she's so upset about, by putting on that uniform she was assuming the mantle of responsibility and authenticity that a starfleet uniform demands. Meanwhile his friends who are more grounded are all facepalming.

I think you have hit on the head there...

I'm just absolutely thrilled to see a what looks like a potentially very high quality product being released to tie in with a fantastic series of movies.

Probably a lot of the emotion and opinions here reflect how highly thought of and loved the movies and licence are, but let's not lose sight of the forest for the trees!

Good on you Prodos, and best of luck.