Thanks to thesharpspoon, and to mastrbiggy for sharing it on the front page.

What the heck are these things?!?

So, obviously they aren't Vex or Cabal. Lack of another set of arms also seems to rule out Fallen. Also, they appear to have boobs (female aliens? Aliens getting too much soy?), but that might just be the armor. That leaves the Hive. It doesn't look like one of the regular Hive, but maybe it's one of the "undead royalty" that Joe and Chris showed at GDC.

I don't know. There are obvious differences. The lack of the red cloak, the heads are very different, the overall art style is very different. Also, the "undead royalty" looks to be grounded, whereas this mysterious character appears to be floating. Could this be the as-yet-to-be-revealed alien race, the one that flies around in giant onyx pyramid ships? And the whole black mist thing?

(The yellow concept art)

Hmmm, what do you guys think? What did I miss?

Well, both this new character and the hive royalty one have hands with three claws. I can see the eyes being a fancier offshoot of the older concept art's. The general flow of the… uh… buginess also seems somewhat similar between the two. Just looking at the render I'd describe her, with her fancy head gear, and (very) vaguely poofy dress looking lower half, as a Hive Queen. Throw on a red cloak to cover up most of her and:

Stylistically it does seem to fit!

Well, crud. Way to burst my bubble :) And nice job on the picture meshing. I saw the similarities in the two, but the differences between them made me really wish it was the fifth race, and I decided to run with it. We'll just have to wait and see. E3? Or they might keep that one under wraps until release.

Well, crud. Way to burst my bubble :) And nice job on the picture meshing. I saw the similarities in the two, but the differences between them made me really wish it was the fifth race, and I decided to run with it.

In my book Rampant Speculation + a sprinkling of facts like you did = Good! :) If nothing else it's an interesting series of changes they seem to have made since the concept art. I suspect and hope that maybe the red cloaks guys are still in and the render we see is more of a Hive combat leader with cloak guy being a political leader.

We'll just have to wait and see. E3? Or they might keep that one under wraps until release.

I'd call that a definite maybe! :p

I sorta get the feeling, with the Vex specifically, and somewhat so with the Cabal and the Fallen, that we've just seen races attacking us under someone else's orders. The Hive feel a bit more outside all that to me… like maybe a wild card race. I want to think Flood, but I can't imagine having something close to the Flood in Destiny. So that leave the mystery race as maybe the real enemy? Or is that too Halo and the Prophets- ish?

Or they might keep that one under wraps until release.

This, personally I hope they keep it hidden until we're playing it. So many games out there seem to reveal everything before we even load it up for the first time. I like being surprised when I first discover something. *cough*The Flood*couch*

Or they might keep that one under wraps until release.

This, personally I hope they keep it hidden until we're playing it. So many games out there seem to reveal everything before we even load it up for the first time. I like being surprised when I first discover something. *cough*The Flood*couch*

Yeah. The Flood was great. Had me running in frightened circles for a while! Though I do think maybe he's onto something with the yellow race and the sinister energy flow…Those swirls in the yellow are too prominent to just be random artistry.

I'm still not convinced that the alien in question can't be hive AND fallen. The red dress pic shows a space zombie with 4 arms, what are zombies but reanimated humans? The Fallen's four 'eyes' look awful similar to the many dots for eyes on the hive, perhaps a little mutated. There is that pic of cabal and fallen walking through the forest, i'm convinced they are all under the 'hivemind'.

But the armor is very hivelike, so perhaps not.

That one of those Hive in that concept art has four arms. Can they assimilate other races in a Flood-like fashion?

Grim

That one of those Hive in that concept art has four arms. Can they assimilate other races in a Flood-like fashion?

Yep :) No idea what implications that brings to the table, other than a comparison to the flood, but I am very intrigued. Can any race be assimilated? Hive Cabal? o_O Does it matter whether the assimilated bodies are dead or alive? The term "space zombies" has been mentioned. In what ways are they like zombies, or how close are they to our idea of zombies? If the hive is composed if other assimilated species, is there an original hive creature or is the whole race the product of a manufactured virus/infection/creature? How do the "undead royalty" come into play? My mind is kinda going crazy with all sorts of questions....

The name "Hive", to me at least, invoke the idea of a near-telepathic chain of command, which is where the "undead royalty" would fit in just fine.

Each time I think of the "undead royalty" I am inclined to call them queens. Hive...queen...makes sense to me. I wonder if the Queen of the Reef character could be a Hive queen, if they are on fact called queens?

It would be odd, since we're supposed to help the Queen of the Reef and the Hive don't seem... hmmm... particularly friendly.

Not when they're just standing around, no. But in game they growl and dump ammo at your feat. They offer you expensive robes to sell so you can buy new guns and armor. And see that four armed one? Epic hugs.

- No text -

That was my assumption based on 'Dark Patrol'.

~M

I think "epic hugs" is now one of my favorite phrases.

Take my wife, please.