White Spikes are a species of extraterrestrial predators that appeared on Earth in North Russia, during 2048 and wiped out a significant portion of humanity.
The White Spikes are (presumably) an alien bioweapon created by an advanced species capable of interstellar travel, whose ship carrying them crashed on Earth into the Russian tundra in 946 AD, and laid buried underneath the ice for over a thousand years, before emerging in 2048 and within 3 short years, reduced the Human population to a mere 500,000, thanks to their unmatched breeding rate, insatiable hunger and unrelenting aggression, spreading like a plague across the Earth, attacking and killing any and all native life they came across.
Biology[]
A true invasive species, White Spikes, as their name suggests, are a pale albino-like white color, and are hexapods with six limbs consisting of four main legs for locomotion and two smaller mantis-like arms for grabbing and holding. They also possess a pair of tentacles sprouting from the flanks just in front of the rear limbs. These each possess a three digit grasper on the tip which allows them to be utilized as a set of highly flexible arms, with a single tentacle being strong enough to easily lift and throwing an adult human several metres. The tentacles also function as the ranged weapons of the creatures, each being capable of firing bony spikes grown within the body several dozen meters. The spikes are forced through a hollow tube running through the appendage until they reach an opening in the center of the grasping digits, where they are propelled with enough force to punch several inches into steel. The exact propulsion method is unknown, but appears to be extremely powerful muscular contraction.
They have two eyes located on top and to the side of their head, giving them a wide field of vision, unusual for a carnivore, and are capable of night vision. Their armor plating covers most of the White Spike's body except the neck, tentacles, legs and underbelly. Said armor is strong enough to completely resist small arms fire while remaining light.
Appearances[]
- The Tomorrow War (2021)
Notes[]
- Director Chris McKay (making his live-action debut on this film) states that he wanted the aliens to "be a character in the movie".
- McKay went on to say "I wanted them to feel old, I wanted them to feel ancient, I wanted a lot of texture. I kept talking about how I wanted history in their [design]". "I wanted to see beyond the edges of the frame as far as what happened to them. I wanted nicks, cuts, scratches, Psoriasis ... I wanted them to feel hungry at all times. That was very informative to the design. I wanted them to feel like they had an insatiable appetite. I wanted them to have teeth that felt like a dental nightmare, and then I wanted them to have a feral intelligence".
- Creature designer Ken Barthelmey states that "the White Spikes had to be a powerful enemy. In our Skype meetings, director Chris McKay described the White Spikes to me as vicious creatures that attack and eat everything they see. He asked for a compelling design that conveyed the hunger and intelligence of these creatures. Additionally, the White Spikes needed to have different abilities such as fast swimming and flying. It was important that they [were] agile and able to move extremely fast. It was my job to translate all this information into one cohesive design".
- Although not confirmed, it is believed that the White Spikes may not be "actual aliens" but genetically engineered monsters created by a much more intelligent alien race with the sole purpose of conquering a planet by killing everything they encounter so an alien race could easily take over.