The Xenomorph, the iconic extraterrestrial creature that first (chest-) bursted onto the silver screen in Ridley Scott’s 1979 Alien is undoubtedly two things: oddly beautiful, and frightening as hell. So it makes a good deal of sense as to why members of the Czech 221 Tiger Squadron would want to paint one of their Mil Mi-24 helicopters with the essence of the double-mouthed, acid-blooded beast. Why a commuter train deserves the same treatment… perhaps it’s a Czech thing?
The “Alien Tiger” helicopter painted to look like H.R. Giger’s timeless creature in the above images first appeared back in 2016. The aircraft, and the people who operate it, are members of the NATO Tiger Association, which is an unofficial NATO group that aims to “promote solidarity between NATO air forces.” It seems that all of the jets that make up the NATO Tiger Association are either painted with tiger stripes, or even with tigers themselves. But for 221 Tiger Squadron—two-two-one fo’ life!—and Jan Rükrovi (who came up with the design and did the painting), it seems that tiger stripes weren’t horror-inducing enough. Incidentally, the “Alien Tiger” did win an award for best graphic design in 2016 in Zaragoza, Spain.
Alien Train in Czech
The train above, with the Xenomorph’d face and a little Xenomorph on its side to boot (that sign translates to “Czech Railways,” by the way) showed up on Reddit recently, and while it could be Photoshopped, we hope it’s not and that it means we can only assume one thing: the Czech Republic houses an endless supply of Xenomorph eggs waiting to infect anyone who comes near them. No, that’s not true. But one thing really is certain: a Xeno-mouthed Mi-24 helicopter armed with four 57mm rocket pods, four AT-2 Swatter anti-tank missiles, free-fall bombs, and a 12.7mm machine-gun in the nose is still not as scary as the prospect of a real-life ‘morph.
What do you think about these Xenomorph’d vehicles? Czech out the images then comment below!
Images: Alan Wilson; Facebook / 221 Tiger Squadron, Milos Morkus
[brightcove video_id=”4844606194001″ brightcove_account_id=”3653334524001″ brightcove_player_id=”2bfa565b-5412-4cfd-9211-6269880b8a5e”]
