Part Of The Fun Of The Original Alien Is The Horror Of The Nostromo Itself Imo. It’s A Cell Of Corporate

i've been itching to share my swap au since i thought it up, but i think i now finally have an actual baseline to introduce it with!!

the idea isn't that it's a personality swap, but a role swap, with wander and sylvia as antagonists and hater and peepers as the protags, and i have a whole lot to say about it so im gonna go ahead and infodump below the cut

so i've renamed these two, at least, since hater's story has become less about getting over himself and more about how he sees the world Now That He's Gotten Over Himself. i'm calling him The Great (and absent) Lord Lackadaisical right now, but i don't think that's what he'd like to be called, since he's an absent ruler who doesn't really care to be in a position of so much power and would rather fuck off to all the planets with really nice hot tubs. he and Sir Peepers (his loyal knight who cannot be convinced to leave his side) travel the galaxy with hater's sweet ride (i'm not too good at designing motorcycles yet. pending).

i haven't thought of new names/titles for wander and sylvia just yet (i cannot just call him Sitter Over Therer) but i do know what their deal is, and it's the main reason i made this au (i feel like if wander were a villain he would not in fact be a villain like lord hater or dominator because i think that kinda disregards wander's whole Shit, he'd be like screwball, and even then he'd have very strong convictions that he's doing the right thing): wander has a cult (a hivemind, kinda) and sylvia is his priest.

i think wander comes along this mushroom during a time in his life when everything seems to have been torn asunder, and instead of continuing his adventures and learning and growing as a person, the mushroom offers a solution that doesn't require much effort on his behalf. the mushroom links people together borg-style, makes them share a brain and a purpose. wander not only thinks it's super neat, but he's in such a poor state of mind when he finds it, he convinces himself it's the only way to make the galaxy a better place.

sylvia is the only person in his Ring of Friends who isn't hooked up to the mushroom, because she's actually wander's friend, and she's his ride or die. she does the things she does out of free will and dedication to her best friend, including preaching and fisticuffs.

^^^ here's some more of my initial concept art. originally the mushroom was gonna be a tree, but i had a vision of an upside down mushroom (or several, to take the place of watchdogs) scuttling around and by god is it easy to make that look like his hat.

the thing that really really pushes wander over the edge is the sheer boredom of it all. when he's connected to the mushroom, he's very little more than the brain they all share. he can't move around, and that KILLS him (see: the hole lotta nuthin). so when hater (name pending) comes along and refuses to join him and annoys him enough, he gets suuuuper stoked about having something to really DO for once.

anyway. this is what i've got for now. do you like it. you can be honest if you dont like it

Thinking about robots exchanging parts as intimacy.

Robot partners who are compatible enough they can swap out parts at will. It starts with just a few smaller spare internals, and theres just something... comfortable about having a piece of their lover inside them.

Then it's an optic, so they can see the world- and each other, through their partner's eyes. They look in the mirror and their new optic notes all of the things their partner finds wonderful about them.

Then they're exchanging plates, patches of false skin and sensors and even limbs, melding together, growing more and more familiar, until eventually they decide to take the final possible step.

Two machines sitting across from each other, outer plating shed around them in small piles, revealing their complex inner machinery, wires patched together in slightly different colors, lit by the gentle orange glow of a power core. Trey stare into their partner's mismatched eyes, mirroring theirs as they inch closer.

A familiar hand reaches into their chest, and they feel cool metal enclose around their power core.

Click.

They shake slightly as their senses begin to go dark, and warning lights flash inside their mind. Counting down the time until their reserve power runs out.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six...

they stare into their partner's dimming eyes as their other hand reaches back until their chest, feeling around to find the right place..

five, four, three, two...

Click.

Two machines sit in each other's arms, overwhelmed by what they've just done, kept alive by each other's humming artificial hearts.

hey spongebob i think your green ghostly friend decided to join the team

watch out squidward

h

The fact that the Nostromo's computer is called Mother. The fact that xenomorphs are born from an unwanted pregnancy. The fact that Ripley is a mother who'll never see her child again. The fact that Newt is a child who'll never see her mother again. The fact that they find solace in each other. The fact that the xenomorph queen is a vengeful mother. The fact that Ripley 8 is nicknamed Mother. The fact that the newborn kills it's mother. The fact that Ripley 8 kills it. The fact that Amanda Ripley stumbles into the same fate as her mother while looking for her.

Hey Squidward, are you still playing the clarinet?

you can't ever get rid of the clarinet

Does Lord Dominator exist in your AU? If so what does she look like/what would be her role?

she's been swapped with westley! she's a former member of wander's hivemind, separated by mr meteor and sir peepers and desperate to return to her life of drifting in her own mind. she was a willing member, but the reason she joined was because she was convinced she'd never find any sort of companion on her own, on account of her abrasiveness and cruelty. she'd work with meteor and peepers (mostly unwillingly) to find her calling in life, something that's not violent or mean or directly ruining other people's lives! i settled on "vigilante hacker" for her, because i headcanon her as a techie who built all her own stuff in the show itself. she'd help meteor and peepers from the sidelines!

(i've posted these before but i figured i'd drop them here too for context)

ofc this means westley takes dominator's place! he's dangerously incompetent and full of so much anger.

some low quality doodles since i didn't post art in a while

forgot to post a christmas special