VHS of the original Spider Mastermind latex model

[Trilinear]

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!

[Maes]

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.

[pritch]

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...

[Maes]

May our resident aspect-ratio expert could offer us an insight?

[Walter confetti]

Looks awesome, who knows if it's still around...

Thanks for sharing!

[Job]

The tone and conduct of the video reminds me, somehow, of those phony alien autopsy videos that used to sell on infomercials.

[raymoohawk]

they used to do that?

anyways really cool vid, maybe we'll get ones like this of the other monsters?
:)

[Clonehunter]

Looks like the side of its chassis was used for some wall textures.

[Chezza]

Man... they are so cool. Great video, good find.

I would kill for a full collection of the original Doom's bestiary.

[Doomkid]

If this thing is still around, it must be worth a fortune. I too was reminded of the aforementioned phony alien autopsy videos..

[Trilinear]

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).

[Soundblock]

spooge