Yautja (Predator)

[Skirmisher]

 

 

 

 

Today on Mythbusters we try to figure out the Feats of the Yautja.

 

I've gotten several messages asking to tackle various feats such as their Strength, their Speed, and their Durability. I hope that with a good discussion, and plenty of sources, we can Confirm, Deny or accept as Plausible, some of the claims made about them.

 

As you may have heard from the Vlad vs Celtic Predator fight, the issue of Speed was brought up. I'd like to reexamine that today as well.

 

But not only that we will attempt to cover their other aspects. Such as Strength and Durability. And who knows, we just might blow something up at the end of this.

 

 

 

Oops... detonated that early...

[Indolent]

Cue flamewar.

 

On another note, I just wanted to ask... if a young Yautja can lift at least two tons tons then why do three youngblood Yautjas have a hard time getting past the two ton door of the temple in AvP? Interesting question, no?

[Skirmisher]

Cue flamewar.

 

On another note, I just wanted to ask... if a young Yautja can lift at least two tons tons then why do three youngblood Yautjas have a hard time getting past the two ton door of the temple in AvP? Interesting question, no?

JP makes a Fine point... Even if you were to assume that all three of them could lift those doors then that would mean that such a Young Yautja would only be a 2/3 tonner "brick" by the standards of Strength.

[RakaiThwei]

If a young Yautja can lift at least two tons tons then why do three Youngblood Yautja have a hard time getting past the two ton door of the temple in AvP? Interesting question, no?

 

For one, this is something all Unblooded males look forward to. Young Yautja have base strength of 2.5 tons at the most, and these Predators were in a ritual hunt. Something they have been looking forward to their entire lives. Their goal is to hunt the Aliens, and you're asking why would they want to escape. That's showing to be a coward. That's the thing. Why would they want to? They WANT to hunt the Aliens.

 

 

Not to mention the Pyramid reconfigures every ten minutes to keep the Yautja, as well as the Xenomorph guessing to where they should go next and of course to test how they handle their adaptability skills.

 

In Predator: Concrete Jungle, we see Scarface Predator lifting up eight to ten ton blast doors and pressure doors.

 

However this was also mentioned in AvP: Extinction regarding PredAliens and their relationship to Predators:

 

The PredAlien has an unusual adaptation that enables it to better subdue Predator populations. As the creature engages in combat, it accumulates growth hormones in it's body. When enough hormones have accumulated, the creature can rest to molt. The PredAlien that emerges is tougher than before, sporting extra bony protuberances on it's back as an indication of it's overall power. A PredAlien that has survived numerous combats can become exceedingly tough as a result of his adaptation."

 

This is also reflected in Predator: Concrete Jungle regarding the in-written universe narration and character dialogue:

 

The rigors of the hunt harden the body and strengthen the mind. An experienced clan-brother will be tougher and smarter than one who is Unblooded. This is pretty much an abbreviated version of the same trait, but it was also written in-universe as if a Yautja were saying this.

 

Isabella Borgia also notes: Something about this creature was different, unlike the hunting party of young males we'd captured before this one was older, stronger... a veteran of battles we cannot imagine, unknown battle fields where the most savage of killers can survive.

 

Now, if we take Scarface Predator and Stoneheart Predator as an example, they were shown to actually be stronger than most ordinary Yautja. Stoneheart alone could slam his fists on the ground and create tremors. So can PredAliens.

 

Most of the stuff I know comes from the games, novels, and comics. As for the strength of the Yautja, that also comes from the games such as AvP Extinction, Predator: Concrete Jungle, and AvP3. We see a PredAlien using his bare fists bringing down a temple arena with his fists by slamming them on the ground and this is during a cut scene regarding the storyline in AvP3:

 

 

Watch from 4:50 to see the PredAlien do some insane things. See the PredAlien bring the Temple room down at 5:30 with his bare hands by slamming them on the ground.

 

Now if you're wondering why I am showing a PredAlien, Aliens gather genetic traits from their hosts, and since PredAliens get their strength from a Predator host, it's not unreasonable for a Yautja to have similar strength if you ask me.

 

-Rakai'Thwei

[Marvel Man]

Hehe.

 

Rakai is about to unload his impressive Yautja knowledge on you.

 

All I can say, is...

 

 

"GET TO DA CHOPPAA!!!"

[RakaiThwei]

Also, we need to establish which kinds of Predators we're talking about.

 

Are we talking about the AvP Predators which has Predator, Predator 2, AvP, AvP-R, Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, AvP (PC), AvP2 (PC), AvP3 and Alien Resurrection?

 

Or the new PREDATORS continuity Predators which don't utilize the Yautja concept, or anything from Predator 2 to AvP?

 

Cause officially now, there are two kinds of Predators? Three, if you want to get technical.... Four, if you're counting the Hish Predators.

 

-Rakai'Thwei

[Skirmisher]

For one, this is something all Unblooded males look forward to. Young Yautja have base strength of 2.5 tons at the most, and these Predators were in a ritual hunt. Something they have been looking forward to their entire lives. Their goal is to hunt the Aliens, and you're asking why would they want to escape. That's showing to be a coward. That's the thing. Why would they want to? They WANT to hunt the Aliens.

Except that this Ritual Hunt is supposed to be some sort of Test. The Doors seen in the Temple weren't to keep them in, they were to aggravate the Hunters. The Temple shifted about, cutting off passages, and opening up new ones so that the Maze was constantly shifting around them.

 

However one would think that If a Door was 2 tons and a Yautja a 2.5 tonner, then the simple thing to do when confronted with a passage rapidly closing between you and your prey would be to simply keep the door open so that you can continue to hunt and kill your prey...

 

Now normally I would think that the reasonable explanation for them not doing this would be Honour of the hunt... except in the case of the Movie. The Humans took the weapons that the Predators needed, and ran off with them. You would think that in such a situation they Would go to almost any lengths to retrieve their weapons from Humans in the Middle of a Hunt gone bad... Yet they didn't.

 

So That can only mean that they are not even Close to 2.5 tons in strength. And seeing as how there were Three of them, then it can be reasonably assumed that it would take MORE than three of these Predators to Lift open a 2 ton Door...

 

Meaning that These Predators are No More than 2/3 tonners.

 

 

In Predator: Concrete Jungle, we see Scarface Predator lifting up eight to ten ton blast doors and pressure doors.

Please show this then.

 

 

However this was also mentioned in AvP: Extinction regarding PredAliens and their relationship to Predators:

 

The PredAlien has an unusual adaptation that enables it to better subdue Predator populations. As the creature engages in combat, it accumulates growth hormones in it's body. When enough hormones have accumulated, the creature can rest to molt. The PredAlien that emerges is tougher than before, sporting extra bony protuberances on it's back as an indication of it's overall power. A PredAlien that has survived numerous combats can become exceedingly tough as a result of his adaptation."

Highlighted Text is an Essential Point.

 

Conferring Powers on a separate Species based on the characteristics of another, no matter how closely "Related" is Very Bad debating.

 

Predalien =/= Predator

 

These Characteristics that it is talking about are termed "Unusual" meaning that they are not a Usual occurring feature in nature, and as such would be "Unusual" if not completely Absent in a Predators Genome...

 

And I doubt that Predators Molt...

 

 

This is also reflected in Predator: Concrete Jungle regarding the in-written universe narration and character dialogue:

 

The rigors of the hunt harden the body and strengthen the mind. An experienced clan-brother will be tougher and smarter than one who is Unblooded. This is pretty much an abbreviated version of the same trait, but it was also written in-universe as if a Yautja were saying this.

Except this is nothing like the previous "Feat"

 

Let's break it down.

 

The rigors of the hunt... N/A

 

harden the body... Much like any kind of Strenuous activity. The Body adapts to increased demands, and grows Stronger and Harder.

 

strengthen the mind... Yet another thing that Naturally happens in Every Species. The More accustomed to something the better able to anticipate how to react. As well, due to the Gruesome nature of what they are Strengthening their minds against, it could be in honing reaction time and mental adaptability.

 

 

Isabella Borgia also notes: Something about this creature was different, unlike the hunting party of young males we'd captured before this one was older, stronger... a veteran of battles we cannot imagine, unknown battle fields where the most savage of killers can survive.

Yes, Veterans are usually the Hardened types, with much different than young Green types.

[Skirmisher]

Now, if we take Scarface Predator and Stoneheart Predator as an example, they were shown to actually be stronger than most ordinary Yautja. Stoneheart alone could slam his fists on the ground and create tremors. So can PredAliens.

 

Most of the stuff I know comes from the games, novels, and comics. As for the strength of the Yautja, that also comes from the games such as AvP Extinction, Predator: Concrete Jungle, and AvP3. We see a PredAlien using his bare fists bringing down a temple arena with his fists by slamming them on the ground and this is during a cut scene regarding the storyline in AvP3:

 

 

Watch from 4:50 to see the PredAlien do some insane things. See the PredAlien bring the Temple room down at 5:30 with his bare hands by slamming them on the ground.

Actually, that's not as Impressive as you make it out to be.

 

First, Realistically "Bringing the temple down" by simply hitting it like that where it hit it, shouldn't have been possible. Not unless the Yautja are Horrible Architects that can't build worth shit. Simply Banging on a ledge, no matter How strong a creature is shouldn't be enough to "Bring the Temple down" like it did.

 

Second, If banging on those ledges Was enough to bring the Temple down in such a matter then it can reasonably be assumed that said temple had pre-existing structural faults. Perhaps from whatever the WY co. were doing, or the Aliens, or even the years of neglect and age.

 

 

Now if you're wondering why I am showing a PredAlien, Aliens gather genetic traits from their hosts, and since PredAliens get their strength from a Predator host, it's not unreasonable for a Yautja to have similar strength if you ask me.

The PredAlien has an unusual adaptation that enables it to better subdue Predator populations.

I talked about this before...

 

Predalien =/= Predator, no matter how much Genetic Material is spread around...

 

 

Also, we need to establish which kinds of Predators we're talking about.

 

Are we talking about the AvP Predators which has Predator, Predator 2, AvP, AvP-R, Alien, Aliens, Alien 3, AvP (PC), AvP2 (PC), AvP3 and Alien Resurrection?

 

Or the new PREDATORS continuity Predators which don't utilize the Yautja concept, or anything from Predator 2 to AvP?

 

Cause officially now, there are two kinds of Predators? Three, if you want to get technical.... Four, if you're counting the Hish Predators.

 

-Rakai'Thwei

No, we're talking about Predators. Canon Predators.

 

Also, since Fox apparently doesn't Care about any sort of Structure then this Canon Hierarchy is Chaos.

 

Establish a Canon Hierarchy now, or I will be forced to use an established and well ordered Hierarchy.

 

 

As such In the current absence of any sort of Hierarchy and until you can Explain in Full what Predator Canon is Canon Actual, then it will fall to this:

 

Movies = Top Canon

Novels = parts are Canon as long as they do not contradict Movies

Comics = parts are Canon as long as they do not contradict Movies

Games = parts are Canon as long as they do not contradict Movies, except for Game Mechanics.

Fan works = Non Canon

[RakaiThwei]

Okay, as for establishing canon that Twentieth Century Fox doesn't really seem to so much as care about, we will be looking at the AvP continuity as it happens to really have the most appearances of Predators and of course, utilizes the Yautja concept which Steve Perry has written in the AvP novels and has been carried into to an extent within the AvP films and the games. So we'll be looking at Predator, Predator 2, AvP, AvP-R, AvP: Prey, AvP: War, AvP: Hunter's Planet, AvP (PC), AvP2 (PC) and AvP3 and a majority of Dark Horse comics and novels (the ones I have are Big Game, Cold War, Prey, War and Hunter's planet-- I don't own Concrete Jungle (not to be confused with the game), Turnabout, or South China Sea) published from the 90s.

 

We should disregard the Hish Mythos from Forever Midnight and Flesh and Blood. PREDATORS is questionable as it doesn't have connections with Predator 2 or AvP.

 

Now, regarding the issue of strength, durability and speed... We need to look at the Yautja quite in depth. So, we need to look at their biological origins.

 

We do not know what the Yautja have evolved from, but we know where they have evolved from and what kind of environment they were forced to evolve in. So I will be looking at this from what I have learned in biology back in high school and try to explain this as best as I can. We need to remember that the Yautja are a fictional alien species, and what we know about them is quite little.

 

I will do my best to explain the issue of strength, speed and what the Yautja have evolved into.

 

So let's take a look at the homeworld.

 

Predator Homeworld

 

 

This is the Predator homeworld. It's location is currently unknown. However what we do know is that it is surrounded by an asteroid belt around the planet suggesting that it does have a higher gravity than Earth's. Also the planet has two suns. So we are looking at a species that has evolved on a planet where the gravity pull is higher than Earth's. This may suggest the reason why Yautja are stronger than humans and notably faster.

 

Environment has a heavy impact to how a creature can evolve. So we need to look at the planet's biospheres.

 

 

Now we are looking at a few of the biospheres of the planet. We do know that the Yautja evolved on a planet where the gravity pull is higher, but we are now looking at a few of the environments. The planet has an atmosphere which suggest that it's very hot, probably in the hundreds and given the two suns which are surrounding the planet, this means that the solar radiation might be higher and the weather hotter than it is here on Earth's. It has a tropical look to it, as there are plenty of trees. There also appears to be volcanic activity which may suggest that the environment could be even hotter.

 

This probably explains why the Yautja are flame and heat tolerant.

 

We know that they like to hunt in hot terrains, but they also seem to function quite fine in cold environments as seen in Aliens vs Predator. This would suggest that the Yautja are highly adaptable.

 

Anatomy

 

We do know that the Yautja have a very hominid shape. A head, two eyes, two legs, two hands but that's where the similarity ends. Considering how strong Yautja are, this would suggest something of an advanced musculature system. It has been noted that Yautja breathe in 1% more oxygen and 4% more nitrogen than humans.

 

The Yautja skeleton is stronger than our own, although it is made mostly of calcium, which our bones are constructed of as well. The Yautja skeleton is stronger due to its firm build. The bones are much denser than our own, and are heavier.

 

Partially due to the oxygen rich blood, the Yautja don't seem to have the problem of calcification, a process that makes bones more fragile over time. This also allows the bones to reinforce their structure naturally and also because their body uses more carbon in making the bone, which makes it just as flexible as, and stronger than, human bone tissue.

 

The reason Yautja are much stronger is due partially to the fact that the muscles have a much more efficient nutrient and waste product transport, as well as the much higher gravity on their home planet.

 

This suggests that the Yautja process oxygen more efficiently into their muscles.

 

 

Durability

 

The Yautja are a hardy species, meaning they can take as much punishment as they can depending on their conditioning. Yautja skin is thick enough to stop small calibur bullets from a .45 and a 9mm, however blasts from shotguns can actually penetrate through a Yautja's skin and cause flesh wounds. This was perfectly demonstrated in Predator 2 when Harrigan blasted five rounds into Ghost Predator, a Young Blood initiate according to Jim and John Thomas, the writers of Predator and Predator 2. Ghost eventually got back up like nothing really happened after playing possum to get Harrigan caught off guard.

 

The Yautja in AvP were young blooded warriors and were going hand to hand with Xenomorphs as well. Celtic was shown holding his own against Grid Alien, a notably smarter and stronger Alien, rumbling and tumbling with the Xenomorph. However, Scar Predator was shown to go toe to toe with a Queen and took a blow from the Empress' tail, sending him back a good ten to fifteen feet in distance and he crashes through a wooden palette, and is briefly dazed and gets back up, only to be smacked in the back with the tail and briefly dazed once more.

 

Wolf Predator is shown more to hold his own against Aliens, being a veteran and of course-- a cleaner. Wolf was shown to actually be smacked in the back by a PredAlien Praetorian (PredAlien Young Queen) and smashed through steel pipe and a concrete wall in AvP-R. He is briefly shown to get back up and not really even so much as phased by that too much. Later on, we see Wolf in the hospital, again being tossed around by the PredAlien Queen and is shown to be thrown through walls and tables, briefly dazed but ends up shaking it off and returns to the fighting.

 

Also, there is a feat of a Yautja who was dubbed The Prince by General Vassili Rykov of the Iron Bears in AvP2 for the PC, which actually does reference several movies such as ALIENS and Alien 3. In one part of the game, the Prince was shown to actually jump onto the rooftop of a Cheyenne UDL4 Dropship in mid-flight and causes it to crash into a canyon wall. The Prince pretty much survives this crash and in universe journal entries from Rykov notes that nothing could've survived such a crash, but that the Predator isn't human.

 

To see this feat, skip to 5:04 at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j19jPhwGLQA

 

As for flame tolerance, no one really knows how high this heat tolerance can go but it has been noted that Yautja are flame retardant and heat resistant.

 

In Alien vs Predator, Charles Bishop Weyland takes a red flare fusee and uses his inhaler device to make a make-shift flame thrower against Scar Predator. Now a fuse ignites at 375 °F (191 °C) and burn as hot as 3,000 °F (1,600 °C). Scar wasn't even so much as phased by the flames or even the heat that much, the only thing which Weyland did was screw himself over as Scar initially decided to spare Weyland but then was forced to kill him for his interference in retrieval of the plasma casters.

 

However in AvP-R we do see that the flames from a nuclear bomb can and will incinerate a Yautja.

 

In Predator 2, we are also shown that a Yautja is highly tolerant to electrical shocks. Note that the Yautja is wearing Dlex armoring, and is holding his combi-staff in the air. In Predator, Dlex is shown to be a highly conductive metal, as when Diablo was using his target laser to heat up his wristblades, they immediately glowed red hot. Ghost raised up his combi-staff and was immediately jolted twice, not even really so much as phased by the shock or power of the lightning bolts.

 

 

How high a Yautja's tolerance to electricity is, we don't know.

 

 

Pain Threshold

 

Either attributed to their natural durability or possibly a state of mind, Yautja have been shown to have an impressive pain tolerance. Predator 2 is a primary example of this as a Yautja has taken five shotgun blasts at point blank range, and he got back up like nothing really even so much as happened. Also note that when Ghost has had his arm severed by his own Smart Disc when Harrigan cut it off, he still continues onto fight without slowing down too much. His healing process with the medical kit was also shown to be quite painful and even though it was painful, he eventually continued to fight on without slowing down.

 

In Aliens vs Predator, Scar Predator was impaled through his right shoulder by an Alien tail prior to his escape, and the injury really didn't so much as seem to bother him all that much in his fight with the Alien Queen.

 

Now... I will do my best to answer the counter points in my next posts...

[RakaiThwei]

Meaning that These Predators are No More than 2/3 tonners.

 

Yes because the Predators in the Ritual Hunt are Unblooded Youngsters-- teenagers.

 

Please show this then.

 

It's not in the cut scenes of Predator: Concrete Jungle, so there really is no point to showing you as you'd argue it's game mechanics.

 

Let's break it down.

 

The rigors of the hunt... N/A

 

harden the body... Much like any kind of Strenuous activity. The Body adapts to increased demands, and grows Stronger and Harder.

 

strengthen the mind... Yet another thing that Naturally happens in Every Species. The More accustomed to something the better able to anticipate how to react. As well, due to the Gruesome nature of what they are Strengthening their minds against, it could be in honing reaction time and mental adaptability.

 

Yes, Veterans are usually the Hardened types, with much different than young Green types.

 

I can agree with you there that with exercise anything can become stronger. Hell, I've done martial arts for seven years and right now I'm doing P90X and I've noticed that I've become quite a bit stronger. So yes, with exercise and strenuous activity anything can become stronger but you need to remember that we are talking about an alien species that really so much hasn't been explored in universe either by Weyland-Yutani scientist or in-universe articles.

 

However keep in mind that Predators have a very high death rate concerning their life style. So far most we have seen in the movies are Bloodeds to Young Bloods.

 

Wolf being an exception as he was a Veteran.

 

These Characteristics that it is talking about are termed "Unusual" meaning that they are not a Usual occurring feature in nature, and as such would be "Unusual" if not completely Absent in a Predators Genome...

 

And I doubt that Predators Molt...

 

It's unusual because Weyland Yutani scientist happen to know very little about Yautja biology, very few specimens have been caught alive, and those that are caught, usually are dead. There has been one specimen caught alive, and he escaped-- that was the Predator in AvP2.

 

Predators don't molt. PredAliens are the ones that molt but that's because of their Xenomorph biology. Aliens molt when they are metamorphosing.

 

Still the ability is implied that Predators have the ability to become stronger when enough hormones in their body has accumulated when engaged in combat, the reason I brought up the PredAlien was because Aliens tend to assimilate the DNA material of their hosts... But you don't want to hear that argument. So I'm not going to bring it up anymore.

 

 

-Rakai'Thwei

[Guest Red Blue Blur]

I discount the theory that the preds didnt lift the "door" in the temple in AVP. The "door" you refer too was actually the entire passage way that shifted. So if you say the "door" weighted approx. 2 tons, then these entire passage ways would way close to 10 to 15 tons. Also the passage ways were being forced to move so the preds would have to fight the entire passage plus against the force pushing the passage itself.

 

Then we will account the durability. In Predator 2 the pred was shot point blank with a shotgun about 4 to 5 times, then he was hit with liquid nitro, after that he had his hand cut off, then he fell off a roof and through a cinder block wall, and finally he jumped down a four story elevator shaft landed on the floor and busted through the concrete.

 

In AvP the pred had the strength to drive an Alien through a stone pillar and another one pulled a queen alien on a chain to the area it wanted after being knocked around by it.

 

In the first pred movie in the final fight the pred survived to basically grenades at point blank range. All this did was slightly injure him. Then while the tree falling on him did essentially kill him he was still able to throw it off near death.

 

In AvP-R the pred survived being knocked around by a predalien countless times and before that he had fallen two stories and impaled on piece of metal. (then finished the fights since this happened before actually entering the town.)

 

In Predator: Turnabout (novel) a pred survived a shot to the chest by a chey-tac rifle and got back up firing his plasma caster.

 

Predator: Concrete Jungle (novel) a pred survived a 5 story building dropping on top of him in an explosion. (while hurt he was still able to get away.)

 

Predator: South China Sea (novel) a pred evaded what was said to be one hundred soldiers using automatic weapons, anit aircraft guns aimed down, and mortars trying to hit him unsuccessful. Also just before this he fought 2 russian special forces agents in a field using MP5's UNCLOAKED and dodged until close enough to dispatch them with his wrist blades. Also he showed a new weapon that he used by sneaking up on someone slipped a collar around there neck and the person turned to bones from flash heat. Also once he infiltrated the walls he and bent the anit aircraft gun barrels.

[Guest Bloody Freak]

I'm a huge predator fan and I love reading and writing matches on him but I honestly do find the strength issue hard to believe... it seems a bit overpowered to me and I never saw legitimate evidence supporting the claims. =/

[RakaiThwei]

I'm a huge predator fan and I love reading and writing matches on him but I honestly do find the strength issue hard to believe... it seems a bit overpowered to me and I never saw legitimate evidence supporting the claims. =/

 

 

Well like I said, it's something rather implied in the AvP universe and while there isn't anything concrete, we can't entirely rule it out.

 

I actually recall a former CBUB member named Rei-Kai back in 2007 who actually supported this.

 

-Rakai'Thwei

[Guest Bloody Freak]

Well like I said, it's something rather implied in the AvP universe and while there isn't anything concrete, we can't entirely rule it out.

 

I actually recall a former CBUB member named Rei-Kai back in 2007 who actually supported this.

 

-Rakai'Thwei

 

Oh, I'm certainly not ruling it out. It would be pretty cool to find out it to be true... I'm just skeptical. I've never read a book or played a game on the predators so you would know about this stuff for more than I.

[RakaiThwei]

Oh, I'm certainly not ruling it out. It would be pretty cool to find out it to be true... I'm just skeptical. I've never read a book or played a game on the predators so you would know about this stuff for more than I.

 

I have read some of the books, not at all of them. Red Blur Blue presented that he has red South China Sea, Concrete Jungle and Turnabout-- and those novels I haven't even read or yet even so much as own.

 

Another thing is we need to take into account of a feat from a notably famous Predator, one who is perhaps considered the ideal Yautja, or dubbed within the AvP fandom-- the Chuck Norris of Predators.

 

I'm talking about Broken Tusk, Dachande, or rather his true name-- Yeyinde. You know him better as Broken Tusk.

 

Dachande was an Elder of a clan, and according to author Steve Perry, the writer of Aliens vs Predator: Prey, he had written Dachande to be a very old school Yautja, one who was through and through with the old ways and tradition. He believed that battles should've been one in melee combat with a combination of strength, skill and wit. However Dachande was a Yautja who has beaten an Alien Empress in bare fist combat. No spear. No sword. No wristblades. No plasma caster. Just his bare hands.

 

The book doesn't go into detail how he defeated such an Alien of immense and intelligence (Alien Empresses are much older, bigger, stronger and smarter than most average Queens-- provided they live long enough to become an Empress), but it does explicitly state that he bested an Alien Empress with his bare hands.

 

Now if we look at ALIENS, Ellen Ripley needed a Power Loader to handle a presumably young Queen (I say young because Alien Queens require 72 hours of gestation within a host, and most likely days to evolve into a mature Queen). Ripley was having a hard time with said Queen.

 

Dachande bested an Empress with his bare hands.

 

-Rakai'Thwei

[Guest Bloody Freak]

I have read some of the books, not at all of them. Red Blur Blue presented that he has red South China Sea, Concrete Jungle and Turnabout-- and those novels I haven't even read or yet even so much as own.

 

Another thing is we need to take into account of a feat from a notably famous Predator, one who is perhaps considered the ideal Yautja, or dubbed within the AvP fandom-- the Chuck Norris of Predators.

 

I'm talking about Broken Tusk, Dachande, or rather his true name-- Yeyinde. You know him better as Broken Tusk.

 

Dachande was an Elder of a clan, and according to author Steve Perry, the writer of Aliens vs Predator: Prey, he had written Dachande to be a very old school Yautja, one who was through and through with the old ways and tradition. He believed that battles should've been one in melee combat with a combination of strength, skill and wit. However Dachande was a Yautja who has beaten an Alien Empress in bare fist combat. No spear. No sword. No wristblades. No plasma caster. Just his bare hands.

 

The book doesn't go into detail how he defeated such an Alien of immense and intelligence (Alien Empresses are much older, bigger, stronger and smarter than most average Queens-- provided they live long enough to become an Empress), but it does explicitly state that he bested an Alien Empress with his bare hands.

 

Now if we look at ALIENS, Ellen Ripley needed a Power Loader to handle a presumably young Queen (I say young because Alien Queens require 72 hours of gestation within a host, and most likely days to evolve into a mature Queen). Ripley was having a hard time with said Queen.

 

Dachande bested an Empress with his bare hands.

 

-Rakai'Thwei

 

Interesting. However, seeing as we do not know how the predator won that battle, it is conceivable that the predator won purely on skill and intelligence and not on matching said Alien in strength. I don't see this as an example of the predator's 2.5 ton strength.

[Guest Red Blue Blur]

Interesting. However, seeing as we do not know how the predator won that battle, it is conceivable that the predator won purely on skill and intelligence and not on matching said Alien in strength. I don't see this as an example of the predator's 2.5 ton strength.

This isnt a great examplet take into account in the first movie the pred was crushed by what looked like about a 300-500olb log and tossed it off with ease when he was near death and spitting blood out of his mouth. He was almost dead and jist tossed 300 to 500lbs to the side.

[RakaiThwei]

See, here is the thing about the first Predator movie... There are some issues with it and after it in the first place.

 

1) The Thermal vision-- Already I've stated numerous times that the mud trick shouldn't have worked. But in the movie, the mud trick prevents the heat from being registered on the infrared sensors within the mask. Not to mention the very fact that when Diablo removes his masks, his vision turns to a dark red thermal vision where as in Predator 2, Ghost's vision remains unaffected. This is often debated amongst fans that either Diablo had something of a sight problem or it was the heat and the humidity of the jungle interfering with his natural visual senses. In PREDATORS, Royce wears mud on his body but through Berserker's thermal vision, the mud DOESN'T block out Royce's heat signature.

 

2) Continuity-- Everything after the first Predator film has officially been split with the release of PREDATORS. Robert Rodriguez has openly stated before and after PREDATORS that when he had written the movie, it was to even ignore Predator 2 and the AvP films, and he drew nothing from looking at the comics or novels, let alone games. Also, before the release of PREDATORS, Paul W.S. Anderson states that while Alien vs. Predator was a sequel to the first two Predator movies, AvP is it's own stand alone franchise. This suggests that there are two different universes or timelines, PREDATORS and AVP.

 

And both are canon, depending on which continuity you follow. You can follow either PREDATORS or AvP.

 

Different universes, different Predators.

 

-Rakai'Thwei

[Guest He who fights monsters]

I only follow the Yautja concept, not the Hish concept. I also read about Dachande (Yeyinde) a while ago. I was thrilled to read in the book there is a SEASONED Yautja. For strength, I surmised that it all depends on age and gender, as ADULT FEMALE Yautjas are way stronger than what RakaiThwei is talking about. The female Yauta is bigger, stronger, and physically superior to the male Yautja, giving reason to a matriarchal rule. It is a shame huntresses are rare.

[RakaiThwei]

That is another thing we need to talk about, are the females.

 

Some sources, namely Perry's AvP novels state that the females are much bigger than the males, and of course much stronger and far more aggressive. It was even explicitly stated that for a young male it would take said male in full armor with all the trinkets just to handle a female in close quarters combat, and Dachande often stated that he would put his wager on the female.

 

And that when Dachande was in the throws of passion with a female-- he was thrown out of the room and that was an accident.

 

We have never seen the females in the films, but in PREDATORS, we almost had a female Predator appear as there was even official concept art for her but she ultimately never made it on film.

 

-Rakai'Thwei

[Guest Ruinus]

I dunno much about the Predator franchise (I've only seen the first two movies and AvP) so RakaiThwei can probably explain this to me.

 

1: Your comments on the thermal vision. It doesn't seem like a huge problem to me, and can easily be rationalized. In Predators, (since I haven't seen it) Royce's mud thing might have failed because the pred in that one still had a mask on? (Again, didn't see the movie, so was the pred wearing a mask or no?) In Predator the pred just came out of a small pond area, and his equipment was obviously malfunctioning, Dutch had also just swam out of some water and nearly died, so his body temperature/malfunctioning equipment might have led to him being "invisible" to the pred's thermal vision. The preds vision afterwards can easily be explained by having the grenade explode in his face damaging his eyes.

 

2. Could you give a link showing this? AFAIK all the Predator, Alien and Predator vs Alien movies take place in the same setting.

[RakaiThwei]

I dunno much about the Predator franchise (I've only seen the first two movies and AvP) so RakaiThwei can probably explain this to me.

 

1: Your comments on the thermal vision. It doesn't seem like a huge problem to me, and can easily be rationalized. In Predators, (since I haven't seen it) Royce's mud thing might have failed because the pred in that one still had a mask on? (Again, didn't see the movie, so was the pred wearing a mask or no?) In Predator the pred just came out of a small pond area, and his equipment was obviously malfunctioning, Dutch had also just swam out of some water and nearly died, so his body temperature/malfunctioning equipment might have led to him being "invisible" to the pred's thermal vision. The preds vision afterwards can easily be explained by having the grenade explode in his face damaging his eyes.

 

2. Could you give a link showing this? AFAIK all the Predator, Alien and Predator vs Alien movies take place in the same setting.

 

 

1) Well from I recall from watching PREDATORS (worst 108 minutes of my life I will never get back), and I definitely know this, Berserker Predator had his mask on his head and was using thermal infrared vision. We see a POV shot of Berserker through his thermal infrared vision and we see Royce, covered in mud, and his body heat shows up even though he's covered in mud. Prior to this, Royce sets a trail of gasoline or gunpowder, I think gasoline and he lights a ring of fire around him and the fire distorts Berserker's vision to where Royce is now hidden by the intense heat of the fire.

 

2) Link provided: http://www.fearnet.com/news/interviews/b19..._on_sequel.html

 

Here is the quote which if you ask me, definitely shows Rodriguez's intent with PREDATOR and PREDATORS, and a potential PREDATORS sequel:

 

As for the title of the potential sequel, Rodriguez remarked, "I didn't reference any of the later pictures because when I originally wrote this those didn't exist. I was writing this always as a sequel. In fact, Predator 2 had come out, but they didn't want to go that direction. They wanted to bring Arnold back. So when I wrote Predators it was to forget that even Predator 2 was made. I thought, ‘What Aliens is to Alien, that's what Predators is to Predator. So I'll just tie these two together, so all you'll have to do is watch Predator and Predators, and you'll have a little complete thing.' So yeah, what would the third one be if there was a third one? It'd be Predator 3 I guess… Predators 2… No, I don't know. Predators with a subtitle."

 

And with the Alien prequel coming out, which is apparently being directed by Ridley Scott and rumored to star Natalie Portman and be PG-13, the only reference to AvP is that the movie is set in 2080 and Weyland Industries is still Weyland Industries, which was introduced in AvP.

 

-Rakai'Thwei

[Guest Ruinus]

1- Ah ok. So again, the first preds mask could have been failing (like his cloak did), making Dutch's body heat disappear.

 

2- That doesn't sound like he's saying its a different continuity. It sounds like he's just saying "When I wrote Predators alot of the background novels weren't out yet, and I chose to ignore them." I mean, either way, he doesn't own the license, 20th Century Fox does doesn't it?

[RakaiThwei]

1- Ah ok. So again, the first preds mask could have been failing (like his cloak did), making Dutch's body heat disappear.

 

2- That doesn't sound like he's saying its a different continuity. It sounds like he's just saying "When I wrote Predators alot of the background novels weren't out yet, and I chose to ignore them." I mean, either way, he doesn't own the license, 20th Century Fox does doesn't it?

 

1) Well in response to that it should be noted that in PREDATORS, we were seeing two different species of Predators-- we see the original species that we saw from the first four movies, the Predators we know, and then we see a new species designated as the Black Super Predators, who are as stated by Rodriguez and Antal in a German magazine, to be considered as the Hells Angels in the Predator society and are psychotic. In the leaked script, it was revealed that these BSPs were genetically altering themselves and using the preserve planet to hunt other species, and they assimilate their genes into their own genetic structure. This was ultimately left out of the final film and instead was mentioned by Nolan that these Predators constantly upgraded their armor and their weapons, meaning they had better technology and were in a blood feud with the original Predator species-- even hunting the normal Predators.

 

2) Robert Rodriguez has openly expressed his hatred for Predator 2 and the later films, in SXSW Austin, someone asked if his movie was at all taking place after Predator 2 and the AvP films, and he avoided the question by saying and I quote: "Next question." and in several interviews especially in a webchat, he's also said that PREDATORS has nothing to do with Predator 2 or AvP and that his movie takes place after the first, and the rest are supposed to be forgotten and are not relevant to this new universe..(Keep in mind, Rodriguez didn't write Predator 2, AvP or AvP-R out). Twentieth Century Fox owns the license to Predator, Alien, and AvP BUT Twentieth Century Fox says very little on continuity and really doesn't care. Dark Horse comics, which has the rights to the comics and novels, is also aware of this, Chris Warner of Dark Horse even states that Twentieth Century Fox keeps an eye on what's been published as far as comics, novels and even games go but they don't keep a close eye like Lucasfilms does. Also a developer from Rebellion (makers of Atari Jaguar AvP, AvP PC, and AvP3) even mentions that Fox considers Predator, Alien, and AvP to be separate franchises and stories.

 

This is why we have the Hish mythos too.

 

Simply put, Fox doesn't care about continuity. As far as I know, Predator 2, AvP and AvP-R are not even retconned, just not a part of PREDATORS, nor is PREDATORS a part of AvP.

 

But as for the statement that Paul W.S. Anderson made that Alien vs Predator, Predator, and Alien are stand alone franchises, this can be found on the Unrated 2-Disc Special Edition of Alien vs Predator on Disc 2, and in one of the features.

 

So it's pretty much left up to the fan which continuity they want to follow be it PREDATOR (Predator > PREDATORS), AvP (AvP (10,000 BC) > AvP (1904) > Predator: Concrete Jungle (1930) > Predator > Predator 2 > AvP > AvP-R > Predator: Concrete Jungle (2030) Alien > Aliens > Alien 3 > AvP Prey > AvP War > AvP Hunter's Planet > AvP Three World War > AvP Atari Jaguar > AvP PC > AvP 2 PC > AvP3 > Alien Resurrection) or ALIEN (Untitled Alien Prequel > Untitled Alien Prequel > Alien > Aliens > Alien 3 > Alien Resurrection).

 

The best way I can think of explaining this to you Ruinus, is that these can be looked at as alternate timelines. Infact, that's how the Alien-Predator fandom views the different continuities as different timelines according to the stories and references presented in all three.

 

-Rakai'Thwei

[Guest Red Blue Blur]

I just noticed in the Novel Predators: South China Sea a pred flipped a truck with five full grown adults inside completely off a road.