How Your Favourite Aliens Look Like Inked

By JUICE Malaysia • 05 May 2017 in Features

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“Are they real?” We hear you and the host of History Channel’s Ancient Aliens asking.

Metrodorus, a pupil of Epicurus, a 4th century B.C. Greek philosopher first questioned our planet’s place in the universe but he wasn’t convinced that Earth was the only one of its kind. Today, the theory is reaffirmed by NASA as recent findings reveal seven Earth-like planets orbiting a nearby solar system, blasting the imagination we’ve already got going out of this world.

Aliens have undoubtedly rose to become one of the ruling elements in the sci-fi genre for a long time now. So much so that super fans have taken their love for their favourite alien characters to the next level by inking them onto their bodies. Here, we present you some of our favourites.

Designed by H. R. Giger in the original 1979 film Alien, xenomorphs are intelligent and bloodthirsty. The Alien franchise has shone a darker light on science fiction’s aliens and has survived on the big screen in various sequels including the upcoming Alien: Covenant.

ALF anyone? It’s fascinating to see how a cat-eating Alien Life Form with a wrinkly snout and facial moles like ALF could be turned into an American sitcom. Well, it was the ’80s.

This is Invader Zim‘s happy and hyperactive sidekick GIR, who together with Zim forms a disorderly team called SIR (Standard-issue Information Retrieval Unit). The tattoo is cute and the watercolour effect really makes it pop.

Invader Zim_by_Whitney Ann Wilkinson-da2qjx7 — Whitney Ann Wilkinson

Probably the most common imagery of an alien (no thanks to endless reruns of documentaries on Roswell and Area 51) is of a grey alien with a small, slimy figure and an over-sized head and big googly eyes. If the past had more variations like squid-Martians in The War of The Worlds and humanoid aliens with differing colours and a number of limbs in A Princess of Mars, or even technologically enhanced aliens wearing robo-suits; these new coy-looking, bug-eyed aliens have come to be the acceptable version of what alien abductors should look like.

Here’s a cool fusion of the aforementioned species in an optical illusion tattoo that’s also reminiscent of the Chestbursters, the infant form of Xenomorphs whose eggs are spawned from Facehuggers. Looks like it’s really going to pop out anytime now!

More tattoos of Greys. These designs are minimalist with the aliens seeming adorably inquisitive.

With the world spiraling into chaos, alien abductions don’t seem like such a bad idea.

We fall back to Xenomorphs once again, but only because we can’t get over the brilliant placing of this tattoo. The added shadow effect makes the creature appear eerily mobile and real.

On a lighter representation of aliens is the French fable Le Petite Prince, or The Little Prince, who left his asteroid via a migrating flock of wild birds. Since then he’s became the foundation of many childhoods across the world.

Debaucherous and lovable, the chain smoking and down-to-earth Paul might as well be everyone’s best alien friend.

paul the alien - miami tattoo co — Miami Tattoo Co.

To top it all off, here’s the trailer for the latest addition to the Alien franchise. Alien: Covenant is named after the colony ship travelling to an unfamiliar planet where the protagonists meet David (Michael Fassbender), the survivor of the doomed Prometheus expedition. As the crew seeks to traverse the planet’s serene landscape, things start to take a horrific turn. Alien: Covenant is scheduled for local release on Wednesday 10 May.