Scorpion Alien

"What kind of bio-stock did these bugs punch out of? They use their tails like whips, and crack apart under pulse-fire!"

―Hicks regarding the Scorpion Aliens

Scorpion Alien artwork from the Kenner Toys

The Scorpion Alien is a part of the Aliens toy line produced by Kenner Products. In the Human vs. Alien 2-pack the Scorpion Alien is black and silver. The toy could explode when a button on its back is pushed. A Facehugger was included with the toy.

While closely resembling a warrior, its color is red and at the end of its tail it possesses a sting which secretes a poison made to paralyze its victims.

In the second comic, Sergeant Apone is captured by Xenomorphs. Bishop and Corporal Hicks go into the Hive to rescue him and find the Scorpion Aliens. They kill two aliens, rescue Apone and encounter a Queen that may also have been spawned from the scorpion-like lifeforms indigenous to the planet Tanaka 5.

Kenner Description

Origin: Desert planet of Tanaka 5

Colony: 39 workers, one Queen, 23 eggs

Beware: Spiked body armor, poison tipped tail

Destruct point: Missiles, grenades blow creature apart

Trivia

• The Scorpion Alien's stinger tail was likely inspired by the original script for Aliens, in which the Warriors would "sting" people with a barb on the tips of their tails, paralyzing them so that they could be taken to the Hive and cocooned.
• The Scorpion Alien has a very similar function to the Boiler from Aliens: Colonial Marines as when shot or hit by a grenade both the Boiler and Scorpion Alien will explode, spraying anything and anyone in the immediate vicinity with highly corrosive acid destroying most of the surrounding environment in the process.
• Interestingly the Scorpion Alien Queen appears as a normal-looking Queen in the follow-up comic, Aliens: Hive War.
• The Scorpion Alien's original design is the most strikingly different of the Kenner Aliens than the finalized product, possessing a brightly colored mesoskeleton and spikes all over the body as well as most notably possessing three heads. This design would be used in merchandise and the Operation: Aliens Combat Game board game, that was released a year after the toy, as the Three-headed Alien.

Appearances

• Aliens: Desert Storm
• Aliens: Operation: Rescue
• Aliens: Hive War

Gallery

Kenner figure of the Scorpion Alien.

The Scorpion Alien Queen

The indigenous scorpion-like lifeforms from Tanaka 5

Concept art of the Scorpion Alien, the design later used by the Three-headed Alien.

Ditto.

NECA's redesign of the Scorpion Alien.

Eaglemoss Collections figurine of the Scorpion Alien.

See Also

• Three-headed Alien — A Xenomorph variant that possesses the original design of the Scorpion Alien.