Editing Xenomorph (section)

===Alternative forms===
Aliens take on various forms [[Horizontal gene transfer|depending on the characteristics of their hosts]]. Most of the Aliens seen to date have been human-spawned, but a number of Aliens born from other hosts have also been seen. Some of these are also a different variants or species altogether such as the Neomorph and Deacon.

===="Dragon"====
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Alien 1986 Adult Design.png|thumb|Aliens 1986 Design<br/>{{ffdc|1=Alien 1986 Adult Design.png|log=2020 July 17}}]] -->
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Alien 1992 Adult Design.png|thumb|Alien³ 1992 Design<br/>{{ffdc|1=Alien 1992 Adult Design.png|log=2020 July 17}}]] -->
The "Dog Alien" or "Ox Alien", (also known as "Runner Alien" in the expanded universe stories) and referred to in-film as "Dragon", was introduced in ''[[Alien 3]]''. The creature itself shares the same basic physical configuration and instincts as the other Aliens shown in the previous films, although there are several differences due to the host from which it was spawned (a [[dog]] in the theatrical cut, or as an [[ox]] in the novelized version and the assembly cut). The dog Alien in its chestburster form is a miniature version of the adult, unlike the larval human- and Predator-spawned chestbursters. The adult is primarily [[Quadrupedalism|quadrupedal]], has [[digitigrade]] hind legs, and lacks the dorsal tubes of the human-spawned variety. The only differences behavior-wise was that this Alien behaved more like a dog or another quadrupedal animal that generally is prone to using its mouth instead of its front legs as its primary weapon to attack and maul its victims with its teeth. This Alien, even when actively provoked, would not attack or kill Ripley, due to the queen growing inside her. This, however, changed towards the movie's climax, at which point the monster, after surviving a torrent of molten lead, burst from the liquid and went into a rampage, pursuing Ripley and presumably attempting to kill her until she destroyed it by showering it with freezing water, causing it to explode from [[thermal shock]].

Originally, H. R. Giger was approached on July 28, 1990, by [[David Fincher]] and [[Tim Zinnemann]], and was asked to redesign his own creations for ''Alien 3''. Giger's new designs included an aquatic face-hugger and a four-legged version of the adult Alien. As Giger said in an interview, "I had special ideas to make it more interesting. I designed a new creature, which was much more elegant and beastly, compared to my original. It was a four-legged Alien, more like a lethal [[Felidae|feline]]—a [[Leopard|panther]] or something. It had a kind of skin that was built up from other creatures—much like a [[symbiosis]]." However, when Tom Woodruff and Alec Gillis of [[Amalgamated Dynamics]] told Giger that they had their own design, Giger expressed himself as "very upset" and that the creature he had especially designed was his "baby". Even after the production severed contact, Giger continued to fax suggestions to Fincher and made full-scale drawings and a sculpt of the Alien, all of which were rejected.<ref>Wreckage and Rage: Making Alien 3 (DVD), Alien Quadrilogy (Alien 3) bonus disc, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2003.</ref>

{{Blockquote|text="David Fincher neglected to inform me that Woodruff and Gillis were also contracted to take care of the redesign of the Alien—I found out much later... I thought I had the job and that Woodruff and Gillis would work from my plans. On their side, they were convinced that it was their job and accepted my 'suggestions' with pleasure. They believed that all my effort was based on a huge love for the matter, because I worked hard even after my contract was over."}}

Giger would later be angered by the end credits of the released film presenting him as merely the creator of the original creature, and the fact that [[Amalgamated Dynamics]] personnel gave a series of interviews that minimized Giger's contribution. Fox eventually reimbursed Giger, but only after he refused to be interviewed for their behind-the-scenes documentary of ''Alien 3''.

However, Giger would comment that he thought the resulting film was "okay" and that the Alien was "better than in the second film".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hrgiger.com/frame.htm |title=The Official Website |publisher=HR Giger |access-date=2009-03-02| archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20090228100118/http://www.hrgiger.com/frame.htm| archive-date= February 28, 2009 | url-status= live}}</ref>

====Newborn====
[[File:Alien-Newborn.jpg|thumb|upright|right|The "Newborn", seen here with Ripley in ''[[Alien Resurrection]]'']]
In ''[[Alien Resurrection]]'', due to significant genetic tampering in an attempt to recover DNA from the deceased Ellen Ripley and the Alien queen within her, the resulting cloned Aliens show a number of minor human traits. The cloned queen inherits a perversion of a human womb, and as a result, it ceases to lay eggs and gives birth to a [[humanoid]] [[mutant (fiction)|mutant]] hybrid. Physically, the human/Alien Newborn is very different from other alien young, being larger, with pale, translucent skin, a [[skull]]-shaped face with eyes, a human tongue, and a complete absence of a tail. The Newborn fails to bond with its Alien queen mother, killing it, and imprinting on the Ripley clone instead.

The Newborn creature was originally scripted by [[Joss Whedon]] as being an eyeless, ivory-white quadruped with red veins running along the sides of its head. It had an inner jaw, with the addition of a pair of pincers on the sides of its head. These pincers would have been used to immobilize its prey as it drained it of blood through the inner jaw. The creature was originally going to rival the queen in size, but [[Jean-Pierre Jeunet]] asked ADI to make the human/Alien [[Hybrid (biology)|hybrid]], known as the Newborn, more human than Alien. The Newborn's eyes and nose were added to improve its expressions to make it a character, rather than just a "killing machine", and give it depth as a human-like creature.

====Predalien====
This variation is the result of a facehugger impregnating a [[Predator (alien)|Predator]]. The "Predalien" was first depicted in a painting by [[Dave Dorman]], and subsequently featured in the ''Aliens versus Predator'' comics and games. A Predalien chestburster debuted in the final scene of ''[[Alien vs. Predator (film)|Alien vs. Predator]]'' (2004), but did not make a full on film appearance as an adult until ''[[Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem]]'' (2007).

The Predalien shares many characteristics with its hosts, such as long hair-like appendages, [[mandible]]s, skin color, blood that glows in the dark (though still acidic), and similar vocalizations. It is a large, bulky creature, and possesses physical strength greater than that of human-spawned Aliens. Like human-born Aliens, it is also shown to be stronger than its host species, as evidenced by its ability to pin, push, and knock a Predator away with ease.<ref>AVP-R: Crossbreed: Creating The PredAlien (DVD), Aliens Vs. Predator: Requiem 2-disc ultimate combat edition, Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2008.</ref>

====Deacon====
The dark-blue Deacon is a different species that makes an appearance in ''[[Prometheus (2012 film)|Prometheus]]'', though it clearly shares traits similar to the xenomorph, including a similar life-cycle. The Deacon is the result of a "Trilobite" (which takes its name from [[trilobites|a group of extinct marine arthropods]]), a large facehugger-like creature, attacking and impregnating an Engineer. After some time spent gestating, it will burst out of its host, with the notable difference that it is "born" almost fully developed. The Deacon's emergence drew inspiration from the birth of [[foal]]s, with the iridescent appearance for its skin being based on the equine placenta,<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Hart |first=Hugh |title=Origin of the Creepy Species, Prometheus-Style |url=https://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/06/prometheus-the-art-of-the-film/ |magazine=Wired |date=June 15, 2012 |access-date=June 16, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120618022839/http://www.wired.com/underwire/2012/06/prometheus-the-art-of-the-film |archive-date=June 18, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref> and the protruding jaw inspired by the [[goblin shark]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://io9.com/5917639/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-design-of-prometheus |title=10 Things You Didn't Know About the Making of Prometheus |author=Anders, Charlie Jane |work=[[io9]] |date=June 12, 2012 |access-date=June 13, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120616020809/http://io9.com/5917639/10-things-you-didnt-know-about-the-design-of-prometheus |archive-date=June 16, 2012 |url-status=live}}</ref>

Its fate is unknown, though the tie-in comic book ''Prometheus: Fire and Stone'', also set on LV-223, features a mutated mountain with acidic veins which are implied to be the heavily mutated Deacon's deadly back spines.

====Neomorph====
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:Alien Franchise Neomorph.png|thumb|The Neomorph<br/>{{ffdc|1=Alien Franchise Neomorph.png|log=2020 July 17}}]] -->

The pale-white Neomorph is featured in ''[[Alien: Covenant]]''.<ref name=neo/> It was created through exposure to spores found growing on the Engineer homeworld. The embryonic Neomorph gestates inside the host until it bursts out from whatever location in said host they've metastasized (one is seen gaining entry through the ear and emerging from the spine, while a second one, nasally inhaled, later erupts from the host's throat; other means of entry and egress are not made clear), using mostly its head, which is sharp and pointed, not unlike the Deacon. Similarly, the Deacon and Neomorph share the same type of Pharyngeal Jaw (similar to that of a Moray Eel) among other distinctly less biomechanical traits than the traditional xenomorph, though the latter does share with the Neomorph a tail strong enough to cause grievous injury; at one point, a violently thrashing Neomorph tail is seen to instantly remove a human jaw. This behavior is just one of several demonstrating the Neomorph's far more feral nature; they are voracious predators, often eating the corpses of their victims, and they appear to lack their xenomorph cousins' hive structure, possibly since they propagate through mutated animal life.<ref name=covenant/>

====Offspring====
The Offspring, featured in ''[[Alien: Romulus]]'', is the result of pregnant character Kay injecting a serum derived from the Xenomorph's genome into her neck, leading to a rapid mutation of her unborn fetus. The creature is violently birthed in an egg, hatches, and rapidly grows to over 8 feet tall. It possesses fleshy skin, black eyes, a tail, a Xenomorph-like tongue with teeth, dorsal tubes, and overall facial similarities to the Engineers. It terrorizes the remaining crew of the Corbelan, damaging the android Andy and fatally feeding off of its mother Kay before pursuing Rain, but is finally defeated by her jettisoning it into the planetary rings below. Although there is no evidence that the Offspring possesses higher thinking, it smiles when in an advantageous position.

The Offspring was portrayed by basketball player [[Robert Bobroczkyi]] wearing full body [[prosthetic makeup]] created by Legacy Effects, with the exception of the creature's tail which was CGI. Along with adding  Xenomorph elements to a human, the design tried to invoke the Engineers that created the race.<ref name="offspring2">{{Cite web|title=Alien: Romulus Director Shares Bizarre BTS Video of the Offspring on Set|url=https://www.cbr.com/alien-romulus-bts-offspring/|first=Jeremy|last=Dick|date=August 31, 2024|access-date=October 23, 2024|website=[[Comic Book Resources]]|archive-date=September 18, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240918203425/https://www.cbr.com/alien-romulus-bts-offspring/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="offspring3">{{Cite web|date=August 24, 2024|title=What is the 'Offspring' creature in the 'Alien: Romulus' finale?|url=https://www.space.com/alien-romulus-offspring-creature|first=Jeff|last=Spry|access-date=September 10, 2024|website=[[Space.com]]|archive-date=September 10, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240910125847/https://www.space.com/alien-romulus-offspring-creature|url-status=live}}</ref>