The Biology of Terminids Explained (Part 1) | The Science of Helldivers 2

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Welcome aboard, dear traveler! Today, we'll descend upon the Terminid super colony at Meridia, where we'll explore the biology of this dimension's most intriguing organism: the terminids themselves.

Super Earth claims that the Terminids pose a dire threat to democracy. We've been told that we should agree with that, but fortunately, we're not bound by the rules of their dimension! Enjoy!

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This video was edited by @CyanRameron, who does excellent work!

Chapters:
0:00 - Introduction
01:12 - Lore
06:14 - Scavenger
12:17 - Warrior
16:16 - Charger
17:37 - Conclusion

[Conceptuala]

for the spores, I believe that spores are actually a crucial component to Terminid spreading, as during the destruction of Meridia, it was said that the blackhole sucked in Terminid spores, so it is possible that the spores enter a planet's atmosphere and are the building blocks of a hive that then later generates eggs, also one Terminid species you have forgot is Terminid Flies, a small, (unfightable) species that can be seen coming out of Terminid hives in large swarms.

[Conceptuala]

meridia? its a blackhole now. but dissidents say its a portal, don't give them mind.

[Commander_Appo]

14:37 if I remember the game’s lore correct, spores are how the bugs spread. So that might not be a symbiotic fungus, but a means of large scale reproduction. The eggs might be either a secondary means of reproduction or those might be for spawning the larger terminids while the spores spawn the smaller types.

[Jawmax]

I saw a video that theorized that the Terminids display sexual dimorphism. That some of the castes are divided by male and female form mostly denoted by either orange coloring for males while females display green coloration. it pointed out that often the eggs are in high positions in easy reach of bile titans.

[Scarpheon]

I swear. Some channels that deserve subs don’t ever have many.

[theasacoco]

Jokes aside, the video's informational and I love it! But remember, as a certified Helldiver I can't believe the science JUST YET.

[MegaSubzerro]

Hey, I’m secretly watching this when my democracy officer not around.

thanks for broadcasting this 🙏❤️

[vin]

Unknown ship detected on contested airspace

[devinshilightsdale]

I personally believe scavengers under certain conditions grow into hive guardians, and given time they grow in size and carapace thickness and become chargers

[crazygamecrafter]

I'd like to point out the mentions of "FTL Spores" that "cause outbreaks" across star systems that are mentioned in many of the meridia-related high command dispatches

[crazygamecrafter]

clawing and gnashing at my screen waiting for p2 rn

[cringejoestar]

This is gonna be long, but, as someone who started a in-universe thesis, I would also like to point out the small detail of them having a closed circulatory/respiratory system, which is in game confirmed by them visibly breathing from their mouths. Looking forward to part 2 since I'm pretty sure the bile spewers not only produce a kind of formic acid mixture (akin to multiple little guys native to earth) but potentially also something akin to biliverdin which can be found in several species of skinks on earth and is a compound that results in green insides and a bad taste. I find this as supportive information regarding the difference of nursing and bile spewers (the yellow and green variants, respectively) being something that may be a case of in-cast sexual dimorphism as if the females are laying eggs and also generally more important and the standard (like with ants) then it would make sense to evolve not only more armor and a more potent defensive acid but also a compound that makes you even more unappealing to any would he predators. But seeing someone elses take would be nice because other perspectives are important, especially as I tend to get a little tunnel visoned on rabbit holes when doing research.

[chitin]

Its pretty clear that something fishy was going on with termicide. I remember diving onto the mission to disable the termicide system and finding one of those terminid cages found on the mars training facility. What possible reason was there for that to be there? Its almost like someone released genetically modified terminids after the termicide eliminated older strains of terminids so the new model could take the galactic stage.

[SpinoSunday]

I took a break of helldivers 2 for 2 weeks and yall decided to screw up meridia to the point it turned to a BLACK HOLE, like what did yall do?!?!, went to visit the teenage mutant ninja turtles and steal the artificial black hole?!

[scrubguy]

I would kill for a tyranid biology video

[_pan-tastic_]

Dear Doctor, may I suggest covering the biology of Calvin from the universe of Life 2017? Also, I believe there is a poor woman stranded in orbit around that universe's Earth, which may need some assistance...

[joylynbateman]

Could you do a video on Jean Jacket from the movie NOPE?

[allenkennedy]

My democracy officer is gonna have a field day with this.

[TheaSvendsen]

I hope that you’ll one day go through the biological process of the creature from the Alien movie history - there’s so much on this now that they expanded the universe with prequels, sequels, origin stories etc. what’s missing is an overview of its whole biology laid out :)

[TheOnlyCrow.]

We’ll see how the Ministry of Truth thinks about this.