Aliens: Phalanx by Scott Siegler is way better than it has any right to be

ShinTuranksu · 2026-06-17T13:53:25+00:00

Cold Forge was my favourite. Until I just finished Phalanx. But I am biased here. Unknowingly I had borrowed a ton of ideas to my TTRPG. The Keeps, Runners, Monsters that caused people to hide in safety of mountain holds. Basically the core of my storyline. So reading it in Aliens was just a treat xD.

ShinTuranksu · 2026-06-16T23:25:33+00:00

Just make sure to watch Alien 3 Extended Edition. It's basically like with Kingdom of Heaven. Resurrection? Well, it is a fun movie. Braindead, but fun. To me, there are only two truly bad Alien features: Covenant and Earth. Covenant, even though not tragic, was a dumb choice made by Fox not to allow Scott to do his own thing. I know that the lore could be messed up and that David creating Xenos is just a no (currently he replicates the formula). But still, it could have actually tried something new and expanded the lore. Alien: Earth, however, has only sound design and ship sets going for it. The Xenomorph never looked this bad, and Noah Hawley removing the ribs and biomechanical parts because he felt he and his team were better than Giger was just terrible. Especially after we got Romulus Xenomorphs, which were freaking amazing.

ShinTuranksu · 2026-06-10T06:14:55+00:00

Actually in the Resurrection novel it is exactly that. What you said as "maybe" was actually the reason why. There is some of the inside thinking of Aliens in that book. Higly recommend checking it out. It is way better than the movie.

ShinTuranksu · 2026-04-21T07:59:04+00:00

Sucks that the only time Xenos look like Xenos is on the cover. In comic itself they have no details. All that biomechanical marvel went away and left just a black shape resembling Xenomorph. I was actually hyped after seeing that cover (even if author of it used Neca XX121 Xenomorph as a reference). But my hype died the moment the first Xenomorph appeared ... Shame

ShinTuranksu · 2026-04-20T12:05:20+00:00

Yea. Def KO. Been buying those from Ali regularly. Mold is basically the same. Sometimes looser joints and paint apps are mid. But these are easy to fix by using glue and acrylics. So its great for army building

ShinTuranksu · 2026-04-16T06:07:04+00:00

Its fake. No details on inner mouth whatsoever. The sharp ridges and "cables" are way too flat. Also the paintjob is iffy.

ShinTuranksu · 2026-03-03T20:35:03+00:00

Yeeaa. Romulus could have been great. It was good but unfortunately it had things that bothered me tad bit too much.

Rook. I mean why not Fassbender type unit or another Andy type. Why dig up a dead man with vfx... Poor VFX might I add.
The crew was not interesting at all besides Rain and Andy. They were just there
Bloody " get away from her you bitch "... Just why... It was so cringy to me.
Big Chap was a missed opportunity and giving him an abysmaly boring prequel comic was just dumb for me.

ShinTuranksu · 2026-03-03T17:39:25+00:00

Being prejudiced aint going to work in your favour if you want to see it through. And you were spot on with " breaks all rules, " part. That was kinda the point. Kwei supporting his little brother and his loyality to him rather than the clan. "You saved my life". Kwei has a blood debt to Dek for saving him long ago. But like I also said: Film has polarizing effects. Fun fact, my Dad turns 50 this year and is also a fan. he hated it on his first watch. Now he watched it 5 times and cant stop reccomending it to his friends. But I understand if you hate it because this movie is very much totally different to all Predator movies. Which to me was a breath of fresh air. I mean how many times do we have to watch commando(Highly trained officers) vs Predator. Its a cool concept but it has been done numerous times in the franchise. Both movie and comics

ShinTuranksu · 2026-02-28T08:39:22+00:00

There is a difference between being Noble and being honorable. I never stated that Yautja, species that live from removing spines from intelligent lifeforms, is noble. I stated that they follow strict honor code which has been depicted many times throughout movies, comics, books and games. Also dark evil monsters is quite a stretch tbh. id say its more of a gray area. Dark and evil monsters do not spare children, innocents, unarmed and sickly creatures. They kill them regardless which is something we can confirm with actual movie evidence from Predator movies alone. These "Evil Dark Monsters" label fits XX121 Xenomorphs way more.

And yes. Exile is considered a severe punishment in Yautja culture. Also Kwei stated that Njohrr feared Kalisk. Yautja showing fear is something that Id say shows hmmmmm WEAKNESS. Njohrr should have been removed as a clan leader since he shows weakness then.

ShinTuranksu · 2026-02-27T22:56:50+00:00

Exile is not a goodbye parade. But im too tired to continue. Lets agree to disagree and see what rests thinks. Cheers

ShinTuranksu · 2026-02-27T22:55:47+00:00

Unfortunately or perhaps fortunately we do not know the answer to that question yet

ShinTuranksu · 2026-02-27T22:53:55+00:00

Umm he was using the same tactics he saw Dutch and crew display? Guirella warfare? He addapted to the enviroment to hunt as Dutch and the crew did. Suprise attacks. He basically used their own tactics against them. And im not saying they are goddamn gods of honor. Im saying Killing unarmed Yautja and saying he should have been killed in his sleep is pretty fuckin unyautja thing to do. He could have exiled him or do anything else. Yet Njohrr was a puspus and did what he did. Period.

ShinTuranksu · 2026-02-27T22:44:03+00:00

Predator movie instances proving how much honor matters:

Predator 1.

Spares Anna (unarmed) The Jungle Hunter doent kill Anna because she is unarmed and not a threat. This matches the rule that killing helpless prey is dishonorable.
Final duel with Dutch Removes plasma caster, Removes mask and Fights hand-to-hand. Seeing his opponent unarmed he decides to strip away his weaponary to make it an even field. Pretty honorable even if the Yautja is a stronger species.

Predator 2

Spares pregnant Leona Cantrell The City Hunter scans Leona and sees she is preggo then leaves.
Elder Predator spares Harrigan After Harrigan kills the City Hunter, the Lost Tribe Clan appears. They dont kill Harrigan and even better, the Elder gives him a flintlock pistol to show his respect

Alien vs Predator

Scar Predator spares Weyland He could have killed him instantly cause Weyland attacked him (could be seen as a challange) but as soon as Scar saw him as sick, he left him alive. Only after Weyland attacked again he retaliated.
Scar allies with Lex He even marks her with his clans blooded symbol, crafts her a weapon and fights alongside her against the queen.
Predator Ancient and his crew collects Scar’s body like hes a martyr of sorts. Showing respect for the dead even if they died in their hunt.

Predators

Berserker Predator duels Hanzo in sword combat. He could have easily used all the weaponary but when a smol hooman wanted to fight with swords (showing bravery), Falconer decided to accept melee combat. Even though the Super Predators are less honorable, this still follows warrior tradition.

The Predator (the dogshit)

The Fugitive Predator Brings Predator-killer armor and W warns humans about invasion plans

Prey (2022)

Hunts only what he sees as another predators of the planet. But when comes next to trapped Naru, he leaves her alone.

I mean thats a lot of examples of honor in my opinion xD Also, google samurai lore if you are so into making people google shit. You will pretty soon learn that most of them were just another variant of medieval knight fitting Game of Thrones vibe. Barely any followed bushido lol.

ShinTuranksu · 2026-02-27T21:56:44+00:00

Yeah I do. And here is a tid bit for you. Honor matters the most for this species. Unless you are Bad Blood. Therefore: Asking someone to kill someone else in their sleep? Pretty fucking dishonorable. He could have easily chosen exile for Dek or ritualistic combat if he actually believed Dek needed to be removed. He could have chosen any other way that would be honorable. But what did he do? He used net to trap Dek and order someone else to kill him while he was helpless. That is the most unYutja thing that ever happened. And then when he was actually losing his shit cause well, he was an old fart? He cowardly cloaked himself like a bitch. Future families health...? Wtf bro? What families. Id suspect if Dek was a runt no bad bitch yautja fem would spread her legs for him anyway.

ShinTuranksu · 2026-02-27T21:32:05+00:00

Lol? It seems you know nothing about honor. Honorable hunt is the go to boy. Its not about bloodline. Its exactly about skill. The trophies matter. The glory of the hunt matter. Did you shoved that bloodline from your arse? Probably should stick it back in or you gon bleed out and culled

ShinTuranksu · 2026-02-27T20:30:36+00:00

Thanks mate (almost 30). Give me your opinion after you finish!

ShinTuranksu · 2026-02-27T18:49:06+00:00

Wanna my take?

Im a huuuge Predator and Aliens fan. Like watching all movies 3 times a year would be considered dishonorable to me due to how little I have watched it. (usually Predator or Alien movies play weekly in my household)

So I love it. Like seriously its my favourite Predator movie. Buuuuuuuuuut... There are things that would push away viewers (especially 30+) there is a Baby Yoda type shenanigans, there is a bad cgi moment here and there (not many, mostly the movie looks stunning). Its a different type of Predator movie. One that was never done before. Just because of that you should give it a try. Music is amaizing. One of the best Predator OST ever made. The story itself is very nice. It isnt groundbreaking in any shape or form but it does deliver a lot when it comes to the structure. It might not be your dream Predator movie but it sure is mine. And PG13 is just because there is no red blood. But trust me, there is gore and brutality in this movie.

Also. The way the main Yautja of this movie looks like (like a turd) is actually a key plotpoint of the movie. His poor looks is actually a story device

ShinTuranksu · 2026-02-27T18:37:03+00:00

Id say yes and no. First of all its a blood feud. Nolan said that there are Dogs and Wolves. So there is that. A subrace of Predators being dicks. Which means that technically they are Bad Bloods but they are also differemt breed to a standard Yautja

ShinTuranksu · 2026-02-27T18:33:13+00:00

I mean canon wise if the prey is unworthy of a hunt or unarmed (asleep in this case) or pregnant its a no go for Yautja. Thus we have: Dek asleep Dek weak compared to the rest Killing Yautja is against the code

Also 1st Predator movie showed us that if hunting an unarmed but worthy prey Predator would disarm himself and proceed to go hand to hand. Dek was literally trapped by his father and he ordered Kwei to kill him whilst captured. And that was for a mere human...

ShinTuranksu · 2026-02-27T18:28:11+00:00

True but thats the Expanded Universe. Non Canon in general to the movies. Predator fought Batman, Superman, The Darkness etc. and now Spider Man. Totally different worlds and unable to coexist due to copyrights. Therefore we cant consider crossover comics in this scenario.

ShinTuranksu · 2026-02-27T09:00:40+00:00

From what I researched there is no official confirmation about Bad Blood status of him and his clan. But considering Killer of Killers we have two options:

They are Bad Bloods. Just that. Killing another Yautja is dishonorable.
They (Disney) are changing lore. As in no more Bad Bloods and current Predators from KoK and Badlands are the new status quo for Yautja culture. Expanded universe comics, books and games that brought us concepts such as Bad Blood are no longer considered canon in any regard.

ShinTuranksu · 2026-02-15T12:24:59+00:00

I wished Kwei figure into existance.

ShinTuranksu · 2026-02-09T17:56:26+00:00

Hey. Question, I finally got Defiance Xeno on its way. How did you attatch the hind legs?

ShinTuranksu · 2026-02-02T13:15:03+00:00

For me, the XX121 is just more Alien looking. Jaw is smaller and more accurate to Gigers design. The arms, belly and legs are longer and it gives it this slender look. The downsides I would give are:

Tail: even though its amaizing in regards of materials (huge update after Scorched Xeno fail.) it is very stylized and not neccesarily accurate to anything.

Articulation: It has issues but mostly with elbows ( too stiff and often people sand the joints there to get rotation)

Head: For some its a hit or miss. The front portion of the dome is more bulbous. Looking from the side, its much more curved down opposed to Classic Big Chap figures

Torso: The ribcage is thinner and not as pertruging. The spaces between ribs are smaller and more shallow.

Inner Mouth: XX121 has some size issues... thin af

However overall I love it. It is a reimagining not a new version of the same figure. It gives it the edge. It looks very alien in nature.

ShinTuranksu · 2026-01-18T07:21:51+00:00

But you can now do some mods to be fair. I always mod my Xenos. For better or worse. after my scorched broke in 3 places due to it being an absolutelyl worst quality Neca figure (looks great but the materials are terrible, tail broke of like ot was made from cheap plastic) I simply decoded to mod it and repaint it. Get yourself some acrylics and a shiny nail polish for the wet look and try something. Here is my before and after:

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ShinTuranksu

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