Duration: 6:19

729 views

20

Chest burster Explained - Alien / Aliens

The Chestburster is the third stage of the Xenomorph life cycle, following the Ovomorph and FaceHugger. And is the infant stage of the Xenomorph.
After the host has been impregnated by the FaceHugger, the so-called “embryo” it deposits down their throat will settle inside their chest cavity, where it will then begin to develop and grow, leeching off the host organism for nutrients and their genetic material.
The use of the word “embryo” is only used for illustrative purposes, as there is no actual physical embryo. Rather, the infant Xenomorph begins its life as a highly mutagenic fluid which is released down the host's throat by the Facehugger.
This fluid then brings about chemogenetic restructuring of the host's cells, essentially "building" the Chestburster from the host's own biological material at a cellular level.
After the host awakes from their comatose state, they will feel drained and nauseated, but will not feel much pain or discomfort, however they will be experiencing memory loss and won’t remember what just happened.
When the gestation period is finished, and the Chestburster developed to the point where it is able to survive and grow independently of the host, usually in 24 hours or less, it’ll coil-up and use its strength to force itself out through the victims sternum, causing severe trauma, organ rupture and massive blood loss; death is almost instantaneous, but excruciatingly painful.
In appearance the Chestburster resembles a snake or worm, will be up to 2 feet in length, and beige in colour, with a mouth of metallic teeth.
Depending on the length of the individual’s gestation and development process before emergence, it may or may not have started to grow arms, which if present, will be seen in a vestigial form, or as small nubs growing out from the sides.

The Chestburster is probably the most vulnerable stage of the Xenomorph's life cycle, they are initially practically defenseless, being so small and yet to develop a protective carapass.
If born in a busy area the Chestburster will immediately seek escape to find shelter in a less open area where it’ll be less exposed, such as inside of air ducts and ventilation shafts, where it’ll then cocoon itself and rapidly grow into an adult Xenomorph.
Depending on the body structure of the host organism, the Chestburster may be unable to escape on its first try, if this happens, then the host will usually die from the effects of the growing Chestburster displacing vital organs and causing internal haemorrhaging. The Chestburster will then emerge when it’s reached a larger size, being stronger and more developed; emerging as what has been coined as a “Bambi-Burster” Due to it’s frail appearance somewhat resembling a baby Deer, at least in the case of a Runner Alien.

Due to the developing Xenomorph assimilating some of its host's genetic traits during their development in a process dubbed as "DNA reflex", Chestbursters will vary in appearance depending on the species of the host lifeform they were born from. For example, Xenomorphs born from a Bipedal host like a Human, will be Bipedal themselves, but one born from a Quadrupedal animal will take on a Quadrupedal stance, and a Xenomorph with a Yautja as a host will feature their mandibles.

#alien #aliens