The Chestburster

The Chestburster

When the Alien embryo is fully matured to the state where it can't get any further evolved, it "bursts" out of its host through the ribcage, using its teeth and its hard head to punch a hole. This results in a very violent death of the victim, and quite a lot of blood sprayed all over the place. The first thing the chestburster does, is scream, it doesn't do this because it tries to seem dangerous (it's doing a damn fine job already), but more likely because it cleans its lungs, not much different from that of a human infant just born. Screaming cleans the lungs from fluid, thereby making the chestburster (and infant) able to breath.

In all of the films, the chestburster has been surrounded by other people whenever it has appeared, this could most likely be the reason for ir running off from the 'scene of the crime' immediately, not wanting to give anyone a chance at killing or entrapping it. Normal behavior could be that it would simply stay with the dead host, feeding on the body. However the chestburster seems to be able to reach the adult stage without any organic to eat.

[Chestburster] NOTE: This is partially supported by the movies. However in the novelization of ALIEN by Alan Dean Foster, the alien is almost flamed to death while feasting in the crews food storage.

The Aliens Adventure Game (Roleplaying Game) suggests that the chestburster feeds on mostly inorganic material, such as silicone and metal. This could be the case, but it isn't supported by the movies or the books.

The amazing thing in this case, is that without really consuming anything, the chestburster grows to full sized alien in no more than 3-4 hours (take or give a few). It would require an astounding metabolism out of our world to achieve this is so little time. There are a few stages between chestburster and adult, how many is unknown, but in ALIEN and in ALIEN³, we discover that the chestburster sheds its skin. This most likely means that it has some stages to go through before reaching adulthood. This is also supported by the ribbed cranium theory (see the Adult Alien).

[Chestburster] The chestburster already has some of the features that distinguish the adult alien. Among them is f.ex. the long banana shaped head and the even longer tail, but these features vary from chestburster to chestburster. This most likely has something to do with the host the chestburster came from in the first place. In the case of ALIEN, the chestburster didn't have legs, and only a couple of small arms. In ALIEN³ however, the chestburster looked more mature right after birth, having more features, such as a more prominent head with jaw and even a pair of hind legs which it used in a unsure-of-itself-bambi fashion (The new chestburster was, during production, also referred to as the "Bambi Alien").

The chestburster stage is also the first place we get a good look at the mouth filled with the metallic looking teeth that will accompany the alien all the way to adulthood, as will the molecular acid it has for blood. Once the chestburster has found a "lair" of some kind, it keeps out of every ones way until it is fully grown.

Last Updated on:
Counter Out Of Order