Regarding the future, will Pinball Brothers Ltd manufacture Alien? To do so would (I hope) obligate them to 'make people whole' who pre-ordered, but if there is genuinely no money left, how could they afford to? I don't think the community would tolerate them NOT doing so before making and selling more Aliens. Together with likely loss of the Alien licence, my speculation is that the Alien pin is dead now. There is also the likely issue of lawsuits against them, and the legality of asset transfer between the companies. TBH I think this kills the new company too, whether they accept that yet or not. The UK is still part of the EU when this happened, so leaving the UK won't 'save' them from legal action.
The easiest way for pre-order folks to sue would be online using the UK small claims court. It costs a few hundred pounds (depending how much you are claiming), which you can add to your claim plus interest. This would be the easiest and quickest way to ruffle some feathers and get some action. I'm not suggesting to do this, just laying the information out there Threatening companies with said legal action is also a good way to get a response.
https://www.gov.uk/make-court-claim-for-money
If they ditch Alien and go ahead with a Queen pin (and possibly Playboy, but what a terrible theme post-Weinstein, not to mention in the 21st century), would the community tolerate that (i.e. buy from them)? More possible IMO, but again, if they don't compensate Alien pre-order victims it seems unlikely. Also, as stated above they are unlikely to have got away scot-free from HP.
Just my 0.02c.
On a personal note, I lost money to Zidware and Skit-B, and am in on the legal action against both. Thank goodness I didn't order from HP! However, I really feel for you guys who ordered Alien, and wish you the very best of wishes, and also luck in getting some of your money back. As a community, I hope this is now the end of the pre-order model. I certainly would never pre-order EVER again (unless it's just a few hundred down).