What if... The Xenomorph could morph?

Xbox One gamers have this month been treated to Evolve: Ultimate Edition (pictured below) for free as part of their Xbox Live Subscription promotion "Games With Gold". For those of you unfamiliar with the game it is a team based shooting game in which a team of hunters must pursue and eliminate the player assigned as the monster. During matches players controlling the monsters are able to evolve new traits and abilities to help them evade the hunters and win the match. Watching some gameplay footage of Evolve I was reminded f the multiplayer aspect of Aliens: Colonial Marines, in which players controlling the Aliens could collect a "power up", transforming them into another breed of Alien. It was then that my overactive imagination kicked in - what if an Alien can morph.

The idea isn't actually as far-fetched as it initially sounds with director James Cameron having suggested that his warrior Aliens were originally Drones, like the Alien from the first movie, but that they shed their carapace before the Colonial Marines arrived. The video games and Dark Horse comics have also postulated the possibility of a Drone/Warrior being capable of morphing into a Praetorian, of which could then go on to morph into a Queen. Even in terms of the "canon", we know that the Alien morphs from a Chestburster, adopting traits from both its host and environment, but it seems as though this ability is a "single use" only deal. But what if it wasn't...

What if the Xenomorph could truly live up to its name, adapting and evolving constantly to further adapt to and dominate its environment. Imagine a Chestburster being born from a human host and growing into the classic smooth carapace Drone which is then outsmarted by its human preys reliance on motion detectors. Upon learning that the aforementioned motion sensors help the humans prepare against slow moving targets the Drone hunts down and ingests a dog. After consuming enough genetic material from the dog the Drone morphs, losing it's dorsal appendages and acquiring a quadrupedal stance, essentially becoming a Runner (Alien 3, pictured below). Able to move freely among its prey the Alien then encounters the human's defensive hardware, likely being injured in the process. After healing its wounds the Alien tracks and devours an insect such as a Cockroach before morphing again, keeping its Runner-like appearance but vastly increasing the thickness and coverage of its exoskeleton.

I think most of you will agree that such an ability would improve on the perfection of the Perfect Organism, allowing them to adapt and evolve to a greater degree than already imagined and the possibilities are almost endless with so many characteristics available and the possible combinations of those traits. Imagine the traits a Xenomorph Drone/Warrior could acquire from a Chameleon such as being able to blend into its surroundings and grab distant prey with a long inner jaw, imagine a Xenomorph acquiring traits from an Electric Eel such as being able to breathe underwater and generate electric impulses.

This idea would make individual Xenomorphs much deadlier but wouldn't be beneficial to a teeming hive, unless the Queen was able to somehow adopt these traits, or more correctly the genetic code for these traits by cannibalizing those of her young that have acquired these traits. The Queen could then accumulate many traits and pass them onto her newly laid young, though this would mean that previously laid eggs would be deemed inferior and likely free to be cannibalized, supplying food for her hive.

What's even more interesting about this idea is that it could be easily introduced in a new Alien movie with little exposition, as in truth we know very little about the Xenomorphs biology and abilities. Would you like to see an Alien movie whereby the Xenomorph showcases this ability to morph? What interesting ways could you imagine such a Xenomorph evolving throughout the course of a movie, possibly becoming an undefeatable Giger-esque behemoth or super-streamlined hunting and killing machine?