This is not the case. All the Houdini comments are still visible, and new threads can be started. The purpose of the thread lock is mainly to seek a productive restart to discussions that are moving in a negative direction.
Regarding Heighway, I’ve enjoyed playing Full Throttle quite a bit, and am hopeful that Alien will be a big success. From what I heard, people who played it at Expo found it quite fun to flip, and it looked like there was enough to do even in its pre-final form. @FunWithBonus posted multiple videos of live play.
I’ve noticed that licensed themes from new companies are thorny, and I’m not at all surprised by the lack of Sigourney Weaver, which would be a separate license from the property. In the Stern/Data East past this is similar to the removal of Michael J Fox from Back to the Future, or that one guy from Maverick, and many others. Licensed themes also require much back-and-forth with approved artwork, sounds, everything really. In some cases, even ones in the last few years, some audio or artwork may be denied by the licensor when the game is deep into its design and production cycle.
I don’t know anything about the other things you described, so hopefully people who do can chime in. The impression I have from the outside is that the licensing issues are dealt with, but I do not know enough to say this for sure.
Thanks for your posts!