Wrap-Up

The Story

This story came about when I picked up my first "Black Spider Rendezvous" set from Hasbro a couple of months ago. This was one of a new line of Timeless Classic Adventure Team reproduction toy sets and included the flocked-headed GI Joe, Turbo Copter, black pants, boots, coat, knife and scabbard, shoulder holster with pistol, sten gun, map case with map, helmet and communicator. This is one of the finest GI Joe sets Hasbro has produced in many years.

And once Target started selling them for around $6.00 after Christmas, I snapped up a bunch of them. They were originally $24.00 each.

The back of the box refers to the Black Spider, a female enemy agent. The rest is up to the kid (or adult in my case) playing with it.

The set was so good I had to create a story based around it. But I had no idea what the story would be.

Until I found Aragog.

Aragog was at KB Toys and I grabbed him up so fast I heard a small sonic boom. He is the spider in this story. Originally a Harry Potter toy, Aragog was the final thing I needed to create a story based around the mysterious Black Spider agent.

My original storyboard didn't end like the final product. I decided the story needed a twist, and I think I succeeded in providing one. But you can decide that for yourself.

I intend to do more stories based on Hasbro AT toy sets, as long as they continue producing fine quality reproduction Adventure Team sets. They make it worth my while.

Background

I do basically two types of story. I call these "quickies" and "epics".

Quickies happen suddenly. I get the story idea and I shoot it as quickly as I can, edit it and put it up on the web quickly.

Epics take longer. I put much more effort into the storyboard, props, sets and preproduction. Production of these can take months. Sometimes longer.

Some of my quickies are Top Cop Arrives, The Package, The Recruit and A Day of Recovery were quickies. Each was shot when circumstances came together. The stories were quickly written and shot.

However, GI Joe vs. Aliens, GI Joe and the Search for the Albino Bigfoot Sasquatch, Doctor Who - Redemption and Polar Rover were epics.

These took a very long time to create, and the result is worth it. I like them, and that's the main thing. The fact that others like them as well is just icing on the cake.

The Shoot

The day of the shoot was cold. February 15, 2003.

Not even the A Day of Recovery or the epic I'm currently working on (also shot in snow) were shot on days as cold as this one. By the time I finished, I could barely move my fingers, and GI Joe's Kung Fu Grip was about to snap off. I could bend his fingers (if I could feel my own) and he would hold the pose because the fingers were so cold and stiff.

The exterior of this one took about an hour and I was hurrying to catch the waning light of a winter day. I started well after 3:00 pm, and I knew that very little light was left.

My daughter was playing in the area, and it was hard to keep her off the rock this was shot on.

But I got the shots and I'm happy with them.

The spider webbing was left over from Halloween. Not by accident either. I bought an extra bag for just such an occasion. Imagine if I'd needed it now and tried finding it. The seasonal stuff just is not available off-season. A little foresight can save a lot of headaches.

This stuff gets everywhere. The ultra-fine strands can just stretch and stretch until you end up with individual strands. Try getting that out of flocked hair sometime! Or off a black coat.

The Aragog spider was a dream. He looks menacing, he is articulated, he hangs on a rock-face like nobody's business! And he only cost $9.99.

The second shoot took place on Sunday, February 16 in my apartment on the floor in front of a wide french window to let in the natural light. The day was overcast and the light was flat.

Look Closely

This shoot actually displays most of the artifacts recovered in the story A Day of Recovery shot exactly one week earlier. The Buddha face plaque is visible in this shot, just to the right of the LIFE magazine. Note also the Bat'leth mounted on the wall, the Klingon Sword of Honor. Magnetic poetry on the filing cabinet reads:

and soon
we dance about
like a moist
salt air
breeze

The sword on the table here is a similar model to the ones recovered in Recovery Note also my Doctor Who Sonic Screwdriver at the left, and a small canopic jar:

And most importantly, the Commander's daughter's Teddy Bear shows up here. Notice also Thunderbird 1, and a blue Chevy SSR.

During the second shoot, the interiors, my daughter watched. Here's a picture of her peering over the set walls.

And hey, I'm not the only one who enjoys these things. A friend of mine created the following parody from one of the images in my story, just over an hour after I put the page up:

I hope you enjoyed Black Spider Rendezvous.

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