Trilinear Posted October 17, 2015 Whilst perusing Gregor Punchatz's Twitter feed, I noticed this wonderful gem of history posted mid 2014 that - to the best of my knowledge - has gone largely unnoticed. Additionally, the Mancubus is also featured. The original tweet: https://twitter.com/gpunchatz/status/491053603650420737 "#QuakeCon #doom #retrodoom doom reveal VHS style ;) http://youtu.be/p8eJDA6sXQI spider mastermind about to be shown to ID for the 1st time." Caption from video (for posterity): "I just uncovered this rare jem- two boss models from DOOM and Doom 2 made by me and my talented team of Anna Meyer and Alan Elson." Close-up photo of the original latex (courtesy of Soundblock): https://www.doomworld.com/vb/post/1430246 Interesting facts about the video: * Notice Greg mentions "about to be shown to ID[sic] for the 1st time". This is probably the earliest footage available of the model(s). * The models were not made exclusively by Greg himself, but involved two others in the process (see his caption). * I'm quite sure this is the first time we've seen the rear and side profiles of the model in reasonable detail. I'm not too proud to say that I got quite a thrill seeing the back of the model for the first time, and getting that immediate sense of recognition from the game sprite (something I never quite got from the recast latex version Greg did for id later on). * Notice the grey paint used on the Spider Mastermind's face and non-brain area. To me, this is the key difference from the newer latex version, and makes the monster seem more frightening. Enjoy, and a huge thanks to Greg for posting this video! 0 Share this post Link to post
Maes Posted October 17, 2015 The additional detail makes the SM look like it has a leonine face, with the brain being it's "mane". In-game, due to the missing detail, it looks more amphibian-like. In addition, it looks somewhat squashed, while here the brain is towering like a giant lightbulb. 0 Share this post Link to post
pritch Posted October 17, 2015 Thanks for posting - this is very cool. I would pay really good money for this! It is really close to the sprite. As an aside, I've always found the mancubus to be one of the monsters that varies most from model to sprite. It always seems to be much fatter in game... 0 Share this post Link to post
Maes Posted October 17, 2015 May our resident aspect-ratio expert could offer us an insight? 0 Share this post Link to post
Walter confetti Posted October 17, 2015 Looks awesome, who knows if it's still around... Thanks for sharing! 0 Share this post Link to post
Job Posted October 17, 2015 The tone and conduct of the video reminds me, somehow, of those phony alien autopsy videos that used to sell on infomercials. 0 Share this post Link to post
raymoohawk Posted October 17, 2015 they used to do that? anyways really cool vid, maybe we'll get ones like this of the other monsters? :) 0 Share this post Link to post
Clonehunter Posted October 17, 2015 Looks like the side of its chassis was used for some wall textures. 0 Share this post Link to post
Chezza Posted October 18, 2015 Man... they are so cool. Great video, good find. I would kill for a full collection of the original Doom's bestiary. 0 Share this post Link to post
Doomkid Posted October 18, 2015 If this thing is still around, it must be worth a fortune. I too was reminded of the aforementioned phony alien autopsy videos.. 0 Share this post Link to post
Trilinear Posted October 18, 2015 The latex part (brain/head) was recast by Greg at id's request, and resides at the id offices, joined onto the original mechanical chassis: Here's a shot of how it looks today: https://www.flickr.com/photos/47857688@N08/5946779094/sizes/o/in/photostream/ Greg still has the original latex cast at his home, see my original post for a photo of how it's held up over the years. Pretty unlikely we'll see the originals up for sale in their complete form, but the molds might still be intact somewhere (this would be a question for Greg). 0 Share this post Link to post