#for some of the duplicate name aus the colors help me remember which is which but ill change it if it makes it hard to read | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

waywardsalt · 7 months

Text

oh yeah i’ve got a bunch of loz aus that i haven’t really talked about. a few of them are listed and slightly explained in this poll and explanation reblog but i haven’t gone out of my way to actually list the aus i have and really explain them. so that’s what this post is for. here are some... decently simple explanations of my major aus and what they're generally about

i have two kinds of aus: original aus (loz aus that are set in their own kinds of worlds with their own stories and twists on character roles) and then crossover aus (we all know how this works i just mash loz and a thing i like together)

original aus: (many currently dont have actual titles, so the titles will often just be concept shorthand)

in the court of the crimson king/crimson king au: probably the most developed and closest to being written out. it's got one of the longer premises; set in a industrial-esque hyrule city, following linebeck as the main character, as the adoptive older brother of link and aryll, living with them and their grandmother as the only one able to reliably make money to pay for rent and food, leaving every other work to do jobs, but he moonlights as the 'demon of the gray moon', a masked persona he'd created as a child that had long since become a city-wide urban legend, anonymously taking unsavory jobs from whomever can contact him and offer pay, often working directly for bellum, a childhood friend, the one who enabled and trained him to become the demon, and one of five anonymous leaders of the city. linebeck effectively lives a double life, and tries to stay out of too much trouble to avoid drawing attention to himself or making his adoptive family worry, but he gets dragged into more and more danger as bellum becomes curious about the identities of the city's other leaders, and linebeck falls in love with a man named ganondorf, suspected to be one of those other city leaders. ive got a few posts related to it already: this one being another vague concept descriptor, this one being an actual scene i have written out.

'gimmick' au: i cannot explain the gimmick without spoiling the au. put simply, in this au, hyrule as a whole has been at war for ten years, every race and kingdom taking sides in a conflict that seems to be going nowhere. link joined the hylian army young, and has made his way up the ranks to become trusted by queen zelda herself, and things in the war take an interesting turn as he and zelda discover a new faction, unaligned with any particular kingdom and with unknown motives, and zelda decides to set out to the different parts of hyrule, link and a chosen group of trusted allies in tow, intending to try negotiation one more time before things take a turn for the worse.

sci-fi/space au: the fun one that probably would need to be done in a visual medium. it takes place in a solar system of a few planets, link growing up on the planet hyrule and occasionally traveling to the others as a knight specializing in investigating and taking down dangerous bounty hunters, working for zelda as a friend. he and zelda uncover a plot by the yiga clan to accumulate a number of highly dangerous research and weapons held by each species as they aim to resurrect a demon to wreck havoc on the solar system- the b plot being about the top bounty hunters in the solar system screwing around, eventually colliding with link and zelda's a plot as it begins to involve them.

murder mystery(?) au: one of the older ones, maybe one of the oldest that i still stick with. this might actually be one of the first ones i tried writing. the plot begins when zelda returns to hyrule city years after her father- the former mayor- was murdered, finding that he has been replaced by ganondorf and that while things seem fine enough on the surface, random and organized crime run the show, and she begins a private detective agency as 'sheik', a masked young man, and with the help of impa, and old friend and confidant, she moonlights as sheik and uses her daytime identity as zelda to help chip away at some of the city's biggest problems and finds herself drawn into a long string of murders that appear to be anything but random violence.

ruined hyrule 1: i have two au’s with the premise of hyrule being ruined. neither of them have more specific names yet. this one begins with the majority of greater hyrule's population having long since locked themselves in hyrule castle town in order to escape the increasingly dangerous wildlife. zelda, a young girl at the beginning, becomes curious about what lies beyond the city walls, and makes friends with many other children within this sheltered hyrule, and as they grow up together, aim to eventually venture out into the wilderness to see what may have caused the outside world to become so incredibly hostile.

ruined hyrule 2: the other ruined hyrule. set in a devastated hyrule, roughly ten years after the royal family was killed, link failing to save them or hyrule in the time since. he now resolves to set out and indiscriminately destroy every demon that plagues the ruined hyrule, meeting and bringing along various allies, each of which has been uniquely affected by and have different lived in this altered, dangerous shell of hyrule.

modern (school): i also have two modern aus. this one isn’t plot driven, just a concept i have, would work best as little vignettes or something. essentially just the idea of a group of loz characters hanging out together in a modern high school (or college?) setting.

modern: this is the one with an actual plot. follows the general idea of zelda characters living in a modern world only for the typical legends to begin resurfacing and heralding dark events. plot specifics are murky, but that's the general idea.

dark mage: this is the au that where the seas meet the sands takes place in. basically just ganondorf x linebeck shenanigans in this alternate hyrule while actual plot sneaks up on them. named 'dark mage' mostly because the initial idea behind this au was that linebeck would learn magic.

horror au: doesn't have the best name, and it's ended up just being a personal sandbox for me. constantly changing, with the cast and setting often altering if i find that something isn't working or sticking. it's an au i've considered (and even briefly tried) writing in the past, but it's still too fluid, and writing horror effectively is difficult. it's a fun au, though.

mecha au: spawned because i watched neon genesis evangelion. a lot of this au's basic concepts can be found here: x but the short version is that hyrule is being besiged by massive monsters, but each race has created their own mechs to combat them. link is just a farmer who happens to have a strange knack for being a mech user, so is brought in by zelda as a gamble to bolster their chances, and he is tasked with working with a new and less-than-trustworthy crew to help fight those monsters.

'amnesia link' au: an au that sprang up in about a day and hasn't gotten too far since. basic premise being that three years prior to the story, link and a group of allies has faced off against ganondorf and, despite their best efforts, lost, with link being presumed dead by their enemies. now, link has woken up from his coma, his memories gone and hyrule taken over, and, with guidance, must once again travel across hyrule, aiming to rediscover his allies and try to face ganondorf once more.

A quick list of crossovers: I won't explain these in length, since they can range from having their own plot to just being a fun mental concept. So, the things I have made crossover aus with are:

Warrior Cats

Batman

Jojo's Bizarre Adventure

Persona 5

Pokemon

(there are other, smaller ones, these are just the ones i consistently pay attention to)

So! These are the majority of my legend of zelda aus, some of which I may write, some of which just exist in my mind for fun, all of which I wouldn't mind talking more about if anyone is curious!

#i had to find an actual list i made to remember most of these tbh #salty talks #salty's loz aus #lmk if any of the colored text on here is hard to read i can change it #for some of the duplicate name aus the colors help me remember which is which but ill change it if it makes it hard to read #this took absolute ages to finish partially bc i dont have much physical evidence of these aus. they live in my mind and my mind only #my favorite little tidbit is that in the space au linebeck is a bounty hunter known for being a really skilled sniper #and i did not. in fact. be inspired by sniper tf2. this au predates my knowing about tf2. space au linebeck is inspired by fuckin #ttgl yoko littner and sao (gags) sinon. this will always be funny to me. space au linebeck is probably one of my favorite au linebecks #fun fact also. counting the crossover aus linebeck plays an antagonistic role at some point in 10 of these aus #also anyways worth reminding that a lot of this shit isnt actually very developed. the murder mystery au does not have a lot of actual plot #most of the developed plot stuff in these aus tends to be directly connected to linebecks role in the story bc a lot of these aus happen to #exist bc one day i was like hm what if linebeck was in (hyperspecific situation that led to the creation of one of these aus)#gimmick au is a really good example of how a linebeck in xyz situation thought can spawn a huge fucking story #but i cant get too specific abt that without spoiling the fucking gimmick and ive already said too much #'dark mage' au is also called that bc i think it was REALLY inspired by me thinking abt linebeck in the fe awakening male dark mage outfit #this has been sitting in my drafts for. so long. and then in two days i slammed all of those out and bam. here we are #the crossover aus list is also a list of 'media that also gave me brainworms and therefore got the honor of meshing with the Big Interest'#im not even a big time batman fan i just saw the 2022 movie and scrolled through an entire blog dedicated to harvey dent #i know so fucking much about harvey dent. why is dc so fucking bad about him #anyways welcome to the bottom of the tags. hope you enjoyed your stay. these r my weird loz aus #post-ph isnt here cuz i dont consider it an au. its something else between ‘au’ and ‘speculative canon’

6 notes · View notes

ohwereusingourmadeupnames · 4 years

Note

"we can work together. we can help each other." high school starker

do the thing - send in all the prompts.

thanks for this one, nonnie - I love high school AUs!

After figuring out the extent of his powers, Peter knew two things – one, he’d never be able to go out for football, and two, he needed to use his powers for good. The first fact felt like the ultimate bummer – what good was super strength if he couldn’t use it to boost his social status? Because, if we’re being honest, Peter didn’t have the greatest time amongst his peers in the halls of Midtown Science and Tech. Despite being surrounded by a school of people with higher levels of intelligence, Peter still fell pretty far down the loser ladder.

The second realization, well – he wasn’t too upset about that. After the first couple of times interacting with the criminals around Queens, it felt good to be a presence that kept mischief away. In his makeshift suit, he felt cool – and if the people who taunted and made fun of him could only see him in action, he knew their opinion would change.

Even low-level heroes didn’t get themselves into potentially dangerous situations for the notoriety, though – Peter wore a mask specifically so people didn’t know who he was. There’d been enough drama in his life up until this point, it didn’t make sense to invite more of it onto his doorstep. So – he tolerated being an outcast in the halls at school because Peter knew his own potential, he understood that even the little things he did to protect the people saved lives – and he supposed that’s really all that mattered.

At least, it felt that way until a new kid started to walk the halls halfway through junior year. Midtown didn’t get a lot of new students, so the guy was the talk of the halls for a while – his ‘I don’t give a shit’ attitude was hard to ignore. On top of the superior intelligence, the new kid had all of the ingredients to be one of the chosen ones. Instead, he kept to himself – which if he were being honest with himself, Peter found a little odd.

Not that he had any room to talk – he’d been watching the boy in the hall for the last couple of months, trying to decide what his deal was, but never actually speaking to him. Their lockers were only five down from each other (Peter would be remiss to admit that yes, yes indeed, he did count) and there’s been more than a few opportunities to turn his head and simply say hello. Yet, he’s never taken any of them. For the most part, Peter enjoyed watching from afar, doing his best to understand with only half the facts.

Arriving late to Italian one Monday, Peter was shocked to see that the only place that did not have an ass in the seat was located right next to the new kid. Peter did his best to not be noticed when he stumbled in, his brow still a little sweaty from the chase he’d been in not even thirty minutes previously. He managed to get the guy webbed to the side of a building and an anonymous call in to the police before school started – but he missed the train, which seemed like the ultimate irony.

They were already halfway through the class period, so he spent time looking around the room, instead – and by looking around the room, that meant turning his head away from Tony whenever the boy caught him staring. When they were given time for conversation partners, Peter turned toward the other cautiously, his head tilted. “I’m Peter,” he started, his mouth working faster than the filter his brain was still trying to put into place.

A solid laugh from the other relieved a little bit of the tension in his chest – the tiniest hint of a smile slipping across his cheeks. “I know. I’m Tony – Tony Stark,” the other answered, the new kid finally attached to a name – a suave and debonair name to go with the mystery the guy was shrouded in. “You can’t speak Italian for shit, but you’re really good at Chemistry.”

Peter probably looked like a fish out of water, his lips gapping. It wasn’t often that Peter was the one being observed and from the fresh set of details Tony just dropped, it seemed like the tables were slowly being turned on him. He didn’t get to say anything else, though, their brief time to communicate cut short when the bell rang.

He didn’t see Tony again until he needed to work on his newest version of the web fluid – his old stuff just not doing the trick the way he needed it to. He needed to change the viscosity of it and knew the exact place in the formula to do it. Without thought, he wandered into the open Chemistry lab, his Spidey senses tingling a second before he noticed another human’s presence – the inky dark hair of none other than Tony Stark drawing his attention almost immediately.

No one said anything, in fact – Tony didn’t even look up. His hand flew across the piece of paper on the table below him, his brain obviously working a mile a minute. He could do the ignoring thing, too – and went about grabbing all of the things he needed to start working on the web fluid and got to it.

His head only turned every couple of minutes to look in the other’s direction.

Finally at the point where the reaction was starting to come together, Peter let out a shriek of embarrassment when the beaker started to bubble – his hand almost immediately stuck to the desk. “Oh, shit,” Peter mumbled, his free hand moving out of the way of the rogue solution, the idea of having both hands stuck to the desk more obscene than the current situation.

The rustle of papers and then feet brought Tony’s proximity to his attention – the boy standing in front of him, a huge smirk on his face. “Are you stuck to the table? What the hell is that stuff?” Tony immediately dove in, the questions coming out at an aggressive pace. His sepia eyes were wide, the boy tilting his head to get a better look at the piece of paper on the desk.

“Web fluid?” Tony asked, his tone curious. They caught glances and for the first time since meeting him, Peter understood how truly smart Tony Stark was. There was a mischievous glint in his eyes and then his hands were pulling his phone out and typing furiously on the screen.

“This is you, isn’t it?” Peter grimaced when he saw the video Tony pulled up on YouTube, his latest swing through the middle of the city playing in front of him. His stomach swam a bit, cheeks coloring.

“Uh – no. That’s just bull shit computer generation, right?” Peter replied, the words coming out of his mouth sounding a little weak, a sort of resignation already there.

Tony was too smart for his own good and soon, another video was being played for him, this one showing the very chemical reaction he’d been trying to duplicate on the desk in front of him - his patented webbing the bad guy to a building coming back to bite him in the ass.

“That’s totally you. That stuff is genius, Pete. I had Jarvis get his hands on some of the stuff from my dad’s lab – you created something that could serve a lot of purposes.” Tony kept talking, but Peter tuned him out after the uttered ‘from my dad’s lab’.

Choking, Peter suddenly realized why Tony’s last name sounded so familiar. Stark Industries was just on the tv for their newest energy saving development – he remembered saving the link to the article he looked up later to read through the next time he was bored.

Oh shit.

“Your dad’s lab – shit, Tony. You can’t tell anyone about this. Not that there’s anything to tell – but especially not your dad,” Peter babbled his brain forgetting for a second that he was still stuck to the table as he tried to pull away. “Please,” Peter mumbled, the flush in his cheeks getting worse by the second.

Tony didn’t reply for a second, his attention having moved to the piece of paper in front of him. He pulled a pen from behind his ear and worked out a few things, the scribbles from earlier back once again with a vengeance. He fucked around with a few of the chemicals on the table and measured everything out until he was looking at the beaker triumphantly.

“I’m not going to tell anyone. I want to help you,” Tony finally remarked, the boy pouring the liquid in the beaker onto the mess holding Peter to the table. Within a few seconds, the web fluid was loosening, allowing Peter to pull his hand free.

Looking at him speculatively, Peter raised a brow – apprehension tangible in the air between them. “Help me? How could you help me?”

Tony grinned, nimble fingers replacing the pen behind his ear. “Hear me out. We can work together. We can help each other. I have access to materials that could put this stuff to shame. I’ll help you with your gadgets and you teach me how to fight back, how to be brave." Though the words weren’t said with anything but confidence, Peter noticed the small falter, Tony’s weakness peeking through the cracks ever so slightly.

Peter pulled in a big sigh, his brain already saying yes, the idea of having help, of having someone who knew – it was too much of a siren call to resist.

“Fine – but you tell no one. Got it?” Peter demanded, his tone as forceful and assertive as he could make it.

“You’ve got yourself a deal, Peter – I mean, Spider-Man,” Tony got out, the correction making his cheeks crinkle with a full faced smile.

#starker #tony stark/peter parker #peter parker/tony stark #peter parker x tony stark #tony stark x peter parker #ironspider #bobbie writes #prompts #ask prompts #high school au #au prompts #I LOVE AUs!!!

12 notes · View notes

lavender-hemlock · 5 years

Note

the be honest meme. - ALL OF THEM! -From ya know who.

Breathes. I am going to kill you. Everything of the honesty meme is under the cut you absolute fruitcake @kazexvoss .

1. What would prevent you from following someone?

Possibly if that person isnotoriously opinionated and hateful towards any opinion that opposes theirs.That’s about the only preventive thing. Just unbearable and toxic people.

2. Are aesthetics important to you? If they are, why?

Sure, I think aesthetics aregreat outlets to demonstrating outside of screenshots and prompts what yourcharacter is about in an array of colors, art, or examples. It’s beautiful.

3. What current rp trend do you hate? Taken.

4. How do you explain rp to someone in the real world?

Hahah- I don’t, but I would probably compare it to my lovefor literature and writing if I had to. I’m writing stories and adventures.

5. Do you prefer interacting with male muses or female more? Why?

I don’t have a preference!

6. Do you prefer writing male muses or female more? Why?

I write female muses because it is simply easier for me to put myshoes in the shoes of a female muse. For obvious reasons I should hope. However,I have written with a male oc in the past. I want to, just haven’t found theright dynamic yet for ffxiv. I had a male Au Ra by the name of Xathun- but nowhe is simply my retainer that brings me stuff he deems is shiny.

I love himeven if he brings me level 5 rocks.

7. What’s your opinion on call-out posts?

I think they are both useful topoint out harmful individuals who have harmful or greedy intentions – andharmful because some call-out posts I believe are just posts to continue a potstir off the platform itself or off the drama seeping from another dms. Thereis a time and place for all things.

8. Name any three things about the rpc that bother you. Taken.

9. What is your opinion on exclusivity? Do you practice it? Why / why not?

I think exclusivity iscompletely up to those who choose to practice it. I only practice it on whetherI am comfortable. Very few people can make me feel uncomfortable- but my guthas yet to fail me in this. I will not RP with anyone who makes meuncomfortable or if they are just looking for ERP. I’m not about it.

10. Have you everhad a bad experience with commissions? As either someone who makes them or assomeone who buys them?

I have not had a bad experiencewith commissions. I really need to seek out one.

11. What do youknow now about rp that you wish you knew when you first started? Taken.

12. Have you beeninvolved in drama? Do you regret it?

In this community, I have onlybeen involved in one instance. It was during my first few months joining FFXIV,super early on. A RPer tried to guilt trip me for not responding to them forone day. One day caused a lot of drama from someone else’s greed and possessivenature.

I don’t regret it. It just demonstrated another example for me to be wary of everyone’s intentions. Unfortunately. It isthat split-second decision that you want to think the best in everyone that brings the failure. Oops.

13. Have you everthought about leaving rp? What caused it? What changed your mind?

I probably considered leavingRP when I was leaving a forum base that I had invested eleven or so years of mylife into. I had grown so much through it and watched as it died out bit by bitonly for trolls to really remain. None of the inspiration was there and noone truly seemed passionate about anything but bars. Taverns.

I changed my mind when I joinedFFXIV. At first I played the game because it was something to do. I wasbored and things were dying down for me. I have loved the FF series for such along time, so I thought, why not? Screw the pay wall. I just played through AtRealm Reborn and focused that down in a binge. Over time I got the itch Iwanted to write, and that had propelled me right into the RP crew in Siren.Then that branched onto the Tumblr. Creating my blog has led me to meet such wonderful people along the way.

14. Do you think rphas had a positive or negative affect on your life or you as a person?

Positive for sure. RP helped meduring the years I was unsure who I wanted to be, what I wanted to express, andhelped me communicate more when I said so little. I was so much moreintroverted, and the writing RP brought was so uplifting.

The character, Haine, I madeyears ago is a force in my life that influenced my traits as a role model. She’llalways have a special place in my heart.

15. How has rpchanged you personally?

I suppose this builds on thelast question, huh?

Without finding RP as anoutlet, I don’t think I would have been ready to embrace what I could be.Things could have been far worse in my life, and I like to think some of thetraits I had crafted Haine to be throughout the years helped me remain true towho I should be rather than what everyone wanted me to be- or knock me down tobe.

16. If you couldchange one thing about rp on tumblr, what would it be? Why?

I don’t think I want to changeanything- I would just want to encourage others to write and express themselvesmore in their outlets. Which can be writing, drawing, aesthetics. You do you.The passion is my favorite thing to see in others.

17. Have you eversent a message to yourself on anon? Why?

No. Why would anyone do that?

18. Have you eversent hate to yourself on anon? Why?

Why… would anyone do that? Arethey okay?

19. Do you deleteanon hate or post and address it? Why?

I am content to say I havenever received anon hate. Yet.

20. Have you everfelt pressured to write something you weren’t comfortable with?

No. I refuse to put myself inthat position.

21. Have you everfollowed someone because you felt like you had to, not because you wanted to? Taken.

22. What would makeyou block someone?

I try to avoid blocking becauseI believe most things can be recovered- because if I put you on that block list,I am never looking at it. You’re gone. You must be very toxic to get put there-or annoying. There was that one guy…

23. Have you everstolen something from someone else?

Does luck count? Because Iswear I stole someone’s luck once and it was the funniest thing I had everwitnessed.

24. Have you everhad something stolen from you? If so, how did you handle it?

Yes. I’ve had the alias Hainefor over ten years. I carried that name from my old RP community and thisperson that I used to call a good friend disappeared. She came back under a newname, and then I went on a hiatus. I come back, she’s going as the name “Haine.”She pretended she was just an anonymous person and not the friend I always knewbut playing stupid never was her skill.

I was… indifferent at first.Yet, it felt like a part of me was being violated. I knew her. It hurt. I hadmade Haine as this love child of my creativity. I tried to be reasonable butthen this person began to start discourse so it would go. “Did Haine do this?” “Whydid Haine do that?” It was confusing to always say “It was the other one.” Whenoften duplicate alias’ were not typical.

It was upsetting to say theleast, and after a while, as above it as I like to be- I started getting prettyangry. It was never pretty. I can regret a bit of it.

25. Are you open toduplicates? Why / why not?

As in duplicates acrossservers? I do that! I had stared on Siren originally before I made a characteron Balmung before world visit opened up. I think duplicates are helpful in caseyou want to keep your strong attachments in both data centers.

26. How do you feelabout vague posting?

Vague… posting?

27. Do you followpeople even if they don’t follow you back?

Of course! Someone I followdoes not have to follow me back. I love their content and I want to stay tuned!That is the entire point! If they follow back, it is just equally delighting.

28. Do you readpeople’s rules before following or interacting?

If they have rules, yes. Ithink it is very important to have OOC communication to express what you willallow or what you find inappropriate.

29. What is youropinion on “reblog karma” and do you practice it?

I don’t.. understand.

30. How have youresponded to popular slang used on tumblr? Do you use it in every day life? Doyou use it at all?

I don’t follow tumblr trends enough toknow?

31. Is theresomething you don’t know the meaning of but you haven’t asked anyone becauseyou think it’s supposed to be general knowledge? Was there ever something youhad to ask someone to explain?

OH! I think I did this once. Beingnew on Tumblr awhile back, I did not understand a lot of things. So some of theterms was lost on me. I think I remember asking what on earth a “mun” was. Itwas lost on me.

32. Have you everexperienced discrimination?

Yeah.

33. How do you feelabout personal blogs following your rp blog?

The more the merrier! I thinkthat makes it more flattering to see. It makes me think that something on myblog had to be nice for someone to want to keep up on their personal blog.

34. Have you evercried while writing a reply?

Oh go- Yes. Recently. The plot lines that make me feel things are the best kind. Happy, excited, nervous, bittersweet, thrilled. I love it.

35. Do you readother people’s threads or do you only read your own?

I read other people’s threads,and my own. I read mine several times because I figure it can be better. I love reading thewriting of others.

36. What’s onething that other people seem to hate that doesn’t bother you? Taken.

37. How do you feelabout tagging triggers? Do you tag them? How do you determine what istriggering content and what isn’t?

I don’t feel anything for themor tag them.

38. What advicewould you give to someone new to rp?

Embrace what you want to be and do not divert from what youare comfortable with. Feel free to go to public places and watch others work.If I know the person who is new to RP I would usually offer to be their partnerto get them into the cadence.

This exhausted me. I felt things throughout this journey of asks, and through it all I give to you-

#honesty meme #TAPROMPTS #hell

6 notes · View notes

drabblemeister · 6 years

Text

Viking AU | the Red Hunter

Pairing: JayTim Notes: HAPPY BIRTHDAY @tanekore!!! I know you’ve been pining for more Viking AU and so I fell into an idea for a continuation to that first part that...I think only you and I have ever seen, LOL. I hope that you like this and that you have an absolutely wonderful day and that this helps feed your creative fire! <3 More Notes: For everyone else reading, all that needs to really be known is that Tim is on the run, under the impression that Bruce (and Dick and Damian respectively) think he is responsible for a death that seems to have Clan Drake written all over it. Since they’ve all taken a vow to not kill...well, this spells betrayal. ___

The stream frothed at the edges, the runoff catching against twigs and leaves and mulch. Songbirds exchanged staccato beats of warning, and Tim, swallowing against a lump in his throat, kept moving.

The water was freezing. It had flooded his boots hours ago, icy and searing, turning his feet and calves numb – but there could be hounds behind him and this was the only way to throw their scent. He wondered how far they’d chase him. How far he’d have to run.

How many hours has it been? It was past midday and the netted canopy of tree branches held him hostage from the sun. His skin felt cold, damp with sweat. He’d nicked himself on thorn-brush somewhere along the way, and the skin on his forearm itched.

How much longer can I keep going?

He knew the answer.

His lungs burned. His muscles ached. The blood-rush had long left him, and now, as he staggered about in the wild, legs sloshing against a freshwater flow, he found his thoughts fraying.

Where am I going to go?

It was a cold, dark thought.

He didn’t have anywhere to go. Ahead, there was forest. Trees, streams, and the Red Lake – which was dangerous. He wouldn’t be protected there; he wouldn’t be known. They’d take away his name – make him fight, like the bloodthirsty animals they were. Tim’s stomach curled.

And then he froze, his world-sense driving him to a halt as soon as he heard it – a long whistle, high-pitched and singing, just before contacting with a tree with a studded thud.

“Arrow…” Tim whispered, heart jackhammering. His head whirled as he searched for the source. For an archer. For anything. At the same time, his thoughts shifted a mile a minute. There shouldn’t be anyone here; it was the Midland, unless he’d followed the wrong stream, unless he was lost.

He felt hot. Above him, the birds had quieted. Tim felt the smallest threads of panic unwind because it was a saturating silence, one that weighed heavy, made his throat feel dry – and he was itching at his arm again, it was so red—

“Oi!” A voice, loud.

Tim snapped towards it. It sent the forest into chaos – a wild goose burst from the hedges, squawking and desperate. Another arrow sang loud enough that Tim squinted his eyes closed, a deafening ring in his ear. It had missed him by inches.

Another thud, as the arrow pegged a tree behind him, and then Tim’s eyes were open – then wide when he and the marksman met eyes.

Red paint, Tim thought. It was smeared across the other’s eyes, like a mask, and contrasted the deep black of the leather sheathing his chest, though the center bore the blood red crest of Red Lake – a scarlet bird taking flight.

Tim took a step backwards. He wasn’t sure how he looked, young and alone, dressed in western furs. The only ink he had was on his back, hidden from sight – not that it would mean anything to a Red, anyway.

They were Drake markings, and since that particular clan, save Tim, had perished – well, few people knew what the art actually meant.

Raising his hands, enough to show he had no weapon, Tim said, “I just wish to pass through.” His throat felt raw and his words came out scraped.

The stranger, not twenty paces away, shifted on his feet, half shrouded by shadow. He was tall, thick-shouldered, drawn with angles that spelled warrior. His hair had been shaved above his ears and the top, long grown, had been swept back into braids, woven with cherry-red string.

When he didn’t reply, Tim tried again, in Norseman tongue. It had been a while since he’d practiced these words, and his lips stumbled through – only, to be interrupted.

“Stop talking.”

Tim did. He tried to think, but his thoughts slipped from sharp to muddled, so much that he had to force himself to focus. He blinked. Licked his lips. Tried not to waver on his feet, though the stream water felt faster now – colder.

He’d seen the stranger come forward, and even though it had been slowly, and with intent, the approach happened quickly. It would have been silly to move, to try and leave. There was no place to go, and aside from that – the man had a bow. A longbow, Tim noted, absently, and at least ten daggers of varying sizes on his belt.

Tim had nothing.

When the Red used the corner of his bow to prod Tim’s furs out of the way, he learned as much. It was fear that pooled in Tim’s gut, paired with a numb feeling as he suddenly felt sluggish instead of alert.

Why did he ache this badly?

His arm felt like fire. Had he touched poison…?

Out of patience with being assessed, Tim lifted his eyes to meet the other’s. “Let me pass,” he said, urging cooler notes into his words. They worked on Dick, most times, when Tim wanted something.

This stranger, however, simply thought it was funny. Up close, Tim guessed they were of an age, which reminded him how much Drake he had in him; it felt like standing next to Bruce, overwhelmed by both stature and presence. His family had never been known as warriors, but they had the sight, and had been graced with cutting, blue eyes that sought to duplicate the colors of the sky.

The man dropped a hand and drew a blade, slow and with meaning. It made Tim remember all the things he’d heard about the Red Lake in one big sweeping rush – Bruce’s warnings that they never hesitated to kill, that they played games, that it made the hunt more fun.

So Tim stood stock-still as the blade twirled expertly between calloused fingers, surprised but unwilling to show it when the dagger was eventually handed to him.

“If you want something from me,” the Red stated, standing languidly at the edge of the stream, “earn it.”

Tim understood now. He was going to have to fight his way out. He was being given an opportunity – but also was at a handicap, legs aching and fevered as the rash on his arm had finally gotten into his bloodstream, and tch, because that meant he didn’t have time for this.

But, if anything, he was decent at compartmentalizing. To an extent, at least. He accepted the dagger and took a few steps forward, meeting the other along the shoreline, keeping his composure somehow, hiding his weaknesses, like he’d been taught, behind a straightened stance and narrowed eyes.

“If I defeat you, you’ll let me pass?” he asked, seeking and agreement.

The Red, with his dark hair and dark eyes, and darker, sun-drenched skin, offered a smirk. “Sure.”

In terms of small victories, Tim appreciated that the man didn’t think he could fight. Too little was said for the element of surprise, and Tim had won a fair share of sparring matches by pretending to be less than he was. This wasn’t quite the same, he knew – because no one picked fights against this particular tribe; they cheated, and didn’t have rules.

The dagger was well balanced, the handle of the leather worn. Tim considered another disadvantage: he couldn’t kill.

Focus, Tim thought, and he breathed in, centered himself, struggled to think of strategy and strategy alone. His vision spotted when he felt a flash of heat burn at the back of his neck, up through his temples and forehead. His legs felt heavy, so he’d rely on his core. More than any time he’d fought before – he needed to end this, quick.

The bow got tossed aside; Tim noted how far without really looking. It was useless in hand-to-hand, and Tim hated bloodsports, which is exactly what this was. The man tugged out a blade of his own – shorter and duller. His lips were quirked and his eyes glittered – this had his interest piqued, and on a better day, Tim would have been anxious to bring the stranger to his knees.

Tim cleared his throat, ignoring the damp of sweat on his back, in his hair. For what it was worth, the stranger hadn’t seemed to realize Tim’s state, which was either a blessing or a curse.

And then…

…the Red leapt. It was fast, even though he was so built, and when he came forward, Tim went on autopilot. So many hours grappling with Dick; so many times he’d successfully fought off Damian, who’d thought to take Tim by surprise.

And this – this wasn’t easy, but it wasn’t unfamiliar, either. So Tim discarded the blade, a quick flick towards the earth below him, imbedding it there – and shifted easily enough, catching the other’s outstretched arm while twisting his own body, using his centered weight to toss the other up and over his shoulder, and down, hard enough that the Red was forced to roll.

Then Tim was ducking, grabbing for the blade, ready for the Red to scramble up and double back, preparing to shuffle backwards – only the other man leapt at him low, tackling him flat, and Tim’s knife when sputtering sideways into long grass.

Tim rolled, just before the other’s full weight settled, pinning the man beneath him with just enough effort to reach for the longbow, which was only a hairsbreadth away. The Red was onto him though, and Tim noticed, with some degree of confusion, that his opponent had lost his weapon somewhere along the line as well.

“Nope,” the Red said, wrapping an arm around Tim’s waist and flinging him sideways, sending him a decent distance from the wooden arch of the bow. His side scraped against the gravel; his arm scalded, laced with a teeth-gritting pain that threw Tim��s concentration off and forced a stuttered sound from between his lips. He clawed at his arm violently and it burned beneath his touch.

“Well aren’t you a bundle of surprises,” the Red said, and he crept over Tim with the intent to pin him down, to rub it in Tim’s face, most likely, how easy that had been—

—but Tim was shaking, unable to help it, the heat finally having gotten to him, and the Red, confused, looked him up and down before he finally realized that Tim was gripping his arm tight enough to cause the skin to go white.

It was hard to tell if the look on the warrior’s face was curiosity or concern; as he dragged a leg over Tim’s torso, holding Tim down by the his weight and thighs alone, he made quick work of peeling Tim’s arms apart – which had Tim raking in air like his lungs had forgotten how to breathe.

“You managed to throw me,” the Red yanked Tim’s arm higher, so that it was nearly straight, to get a better look at the wound, “half dead from this?”

Tim could barely process pain in a way that it was growing more and more difficult to stay conscious. It wasn’t made easier by the weight of another man weighing down his abdomen, and Tim could barely make out the world around him through tear-blurred eyes and double vision.

And then, “How long?”

Tim had no idea what that meant.

A finger stabbed against the rash, bringing a sudden burst of pain-driven clarity as Tim gasped and threw his head back.

“How long has it been like this?” the stranger tried again.

Tim felt chills rack him; language was suddenly hard, he couldn’t grasp what he needed.

“Mor-ning?” he tried. His voice sounded miles away.

The Red cursed, and it was a dark word. In less than a moment he was shuffling, yanking Tim up to sit, running a finger along Tim’s jaw in order to tip his chin upwards. There eyes met, and Tim realized the other’s weren’t black, like he’d thought. Just some shadowed, dark-water color; an ocean tide during a storm, lost to light.

“Who do you belong to?” the Red questioned, tone urgent even if Tim couldn’t put together just what as being asked..

No one owned him. He was a Drake.

“I am…not…”

The Red seemed to know where he was going, and disagreed. “This will be a life-debt,” he pointed out, as if it was matter of fact. “If you wake, you’ll belong to me.”

Tim wanted to argue; felt it in his bones.

But then the man asked, “Do you want to live?”

The darkness was a consuming thing, chewing at the edges of his thoughts, devouring his sanity whole. The pain felt distant, the world felt like a faraway thing. It was a wonder, then, that Tim said, “Yes.” ______________

#jaytim #viking au #TK BDAY #ahhhh #thinking about Tim waking makes me giddy #and honestly i have no time to edit so let's just form a prayer circle

219 notes · View notes

themastercylinder · 6 years

Text

While Swamp Thing’s “look,” thanks to the incredible Bill Munn’s costume, is an exact recreation of the image envisioned by Wrightson in the DC Comic, the producers were still looking for a “new” monster for their film. The opportunity came with the film version incarnation of Arcane. While human in appearance in the early stages of the movie, Arcane’s evil wizardry leads to his transformation into a creature who is as equally startling as Swamp Thing himself. The original second appearance of Arcane in the 10th issue of Swamp Thing’s comic book adventure, has the evil madman looking like one of Dr. Frankenstein’s rejects. While horrifying in its own right, it wasn’t what Uslan, Melniker and Craven were looking for. They found their image in Munn’s Arcane monster costume which is ” a combination of Lion, Lizard and Warthog,” says Uslan. Uslan is fond now of remembering the trials he experienced with Swamp Thing now that the film is going through its final post-production work.

SPECIAL EFFECTS

The highlight of the film, even more so than Barbeau’s au natural swim is expected to be the three monsters spawned by Holland’s growth formula: Swamp Thing; the Arcane monster; and one of Arcane’s henchmen, Bruno, who is transformed into a four-foot beast resembling a drowned rat.

The complex makeup requirements are being handled by 32-year old Bill Munns, who previously worked on SAVAGE HARVEST, where he created several “bodies” to be chewed up by lions, and THE BOOGANS, a forthcoming Taft International release. Munns was one of several makeup artists contacted by the producers, and his $80,000 bid landed him the job.

“Immediately when I saw the comic book I became fascinated by the character of Swamp Thing,” said Munns, who began work in January with a crew of nine. “I thought that the original artists’ design was quite exceptional. Some artists like to change things just to prove that they’re being creative. But in this case, I felt the character had to be created as faithfully as was technically possible.”

Originally Munns and Craven considered the use of a complex, full scale cable-activated head, which was soon abandoned because it wasn’t expressive enough. Instead, extensive facial appliances and a full-body foam latex suit were relied on, designed around the frame of 6’5″ stuntman Dick Durock. Not only was Durock big enough to be a monster, but his face was the right shape: they needed an actor with a small nose to match the flat physiognomy of the Swamp Thing.

The light, flexible latex suit was reinforced to handle the weight of immersion in water. But disaster nearly occurred when the suits were brought out to the swamps. The groves of cypress trees secreted a tannic acid, raising the acidity of the water: the rubber began to corrode after a short time. The solution? Spray an antacid onto the costumes before the plunge into the swamp, thereby reducing the corrosive effects.

Although Munns decided to stay close to the original strip when he designed the Swamp Thing, there was no guide for the design of the Arcane monster in the comic books. That’s because Arcane is an amalgam of three or four characters from the original comic book. Craven’s script called for a werewolf type creature that had been featured in an early episode, but Munns objected.

“Because so much werewolf stuff was being done,” Munns explained, “anything we did would be considered a follow-up to that, so we decided to go into a new area. I was given the freedom to submit a preliminary design, and once they saw the head and body sculpture in miniature, they accepted it without change.”

With the support of Craven and his producers, Munns designed a beast with the mane of a lion, the face of a bizarre boar with a reptilian body. Early stages of the transformation were simulated with body appliances, which took several hours to affix to stuntman Ben Bates. But for nearly all of the Arcane monster’s appearances, Bates wore a five-piece costume that slipped on, literally, like a suit: the lower half was worn like a pair of pants, and the upper half was slipped on like a jacket. The one piece head of the monster is partly mechanized, with tubes connecting to air bladders that enable Munns to make the elongated snout move and the facial issues contract, a most disquieting effect when one is holding the mask for a demonstration.

Arcane’s metamorphosis occurs in two stages. He drinks the solution and begins to alter. “Arcane’s hand begins to change and blister, “Munns explained. “He looks in a mirror and realizes he is changing. He begins to smoke and appears to be burning up from inside. A crust forms over his entire body, but later we find it was only a strange metamorphosis, and the crust breaks away and the Arcane monster emerges.”

A test design for the final stage of the transformation.

Bruno’s Transformation Begins

Bruno, the unwitting mercenary who drinks the growth serum at Arcane’s command, is another monster that does not have any roots in the original comic strip. Played by Nicholas Worth, the crazed killer in DON’T ANSWER THE PHONE, the character is sympathetic, almost mouse-like, which makes his transformation into a giant rat somewhat appropriate. Diminutive Tommy Madden plays Bruno in costume.

Bill Munns rigs Nicholas Worth for his transformation

The final makeup as it appears in the film

Although the original comic book lasted only a few years, DC Comics plans to bring Swamp Thing back, taking advantage of the publicity and interest they anticipate the film will generate. Original author Len Wein will serve as the comic’s editor, supervising a new writer-artist team.

Makeup artist William Munns and his small crew watched helplessly as the acidic swamp water corroded the rubber and bleached the colors of the head-to-toe foam latex costumes. Munns had been given only six weeks to prepare the complex makeups required by the script, and was barely able to complete the suits before they were needed on the set; no time had been available for testing them on location.

When shooting had begun in the South Carolina swamps last spring, Munns was horrified to discover that even simple movements would stretch and tear the fragile costumes. Keeping the suits in one piece had become a daily nightmare. When the suits were in the water, Munns’ three-person crew would stand on guard, ready to undo whatever damage the swamp had done.

But neither Munns, nor the actors inside his latex costumes, were fully prepared for the strenuous fight sequence. Dick Durock (Swamp Thing) and Ben Bates (Arcane) had to battle the swamp and their own soggy costumes as much as each other, and the combination was taking its toll.

Suddenly Bates rumpled to his knees and signaled for help, overcome by the heat that had built up inside his costume. Struggling for air, his cable-activated mask and foam-latex suit were literally torn from his body in the rescue effort.

Munns in the Arcane suit

Bates was out of action, but Craven still wanted to complete the fight sequence that day. “There was no one on the set who had any experience working in a suit,” said Munns, a burly, bearded 32-year-old working on his first major production. “It’s dangerous, especially in water where an actor can drown inside his mask before anyone realizes it.

“There was one young man,” Munns continued, “a local person, who was hanging around the stunt people, and they were talking about using him. I had nightmares about having another guy just drop in the Swamp. When you put someone in a suit that has never worn one before, he usually wants to show off and overexerts himself, paying no attention to his rising body temperature or that his breathing is a little more difficult in a mask like that. An inexperienced person can come pretty close to killing himself. I felt the only way we would get done that day was if I got in the suit myself and finished the scene.”

Reluctantly, Munns donned a duplicate Arcane suit and slipped into the swamp. His big moment in front of the cameras? Arcane’s death at the hands of Swamp Thing, complete with liquid urethane “guts” bubbling out from the middle of his foam latex chest. Somehow, it seemed appropriate.

Something of a neophyte in the field of makeup effects when he was first hired, Munns was called on to provide top-quality makeup effects at a bargain-basement price. He was hindered by a painfully short pre production period, poor planning on the part of his producers and inhospitable location conditions. And that’s not to mention the trauma of his impromptu death Scene. To say William Munns paid his dues on SWAMP THING may be something of an understatement.

“The mere fact that we finished the film was a major accomplishment,” he said. “It was a complex task, often confusing or frustrating, with frequent unexpected twists.”

One of the more unexpected aspects of the project was that Munns was contacted in the first place. Unlike most of his previous jobs, he doesn’t know who to thank or blame for recommending him to producers Mike Uslan and Ben Melnicker.

“They had contacted Dick Smith first, but he was committed to GHOST STORY and was, of course, unavailable,” Munns explained. “Mike Uslan then told me that they got the book, Making a Monster (which features profiles of 25 noted makeup artists), and went down the list contacting everyone who wasn’t dead. It’s possible that some of them might have passed along my name. By the time I got around to asking about it, they had forgotten.”

Working from an early draft of the screenplay, Munns began to prepare his bid. Presumably, other makeup artists around the country were doing the same, competing for the prize assignment. Shortly before submitting his proposal, Munns went to a shop that deal in used comic books and purchased a copy of the first issue of “Swamp Thing.” Munns was captivated by the powerful drawings of Berni Wrightson.

“As soon as I saw the pictures of Swamp Thing, I knew exactly what they were looking for,” Munns said. “I had a feeling that it was potentially a classic character, and it had to be created as faithfully as possible. The pictures in the original comic books were abundant enough and detailed enough—especially a full-page shot of the head that ran in the first issue that I felt I could work perfectly from that.”

On the day after Christmas, Munns met with Wes Craven to discuss the project. Munns explained that he wanted to duplicate in rubber and plastic what Wrightson had drawn with a pen, even though the comic character was never designed to fit on a normal human frame. “The profiles of Swamp Thing when he’s walking, and when he’s relaxed, show his head in front of his body, not on top of it,” Munns explained. “But it’s a physical impossibility to do that with a real actor.”

To remain faithful to the artwork, Munns wanted to take a muscular actor and build up his shoulders with foam padding an additional four to six inches. He then proposed building an oversized mechanical head, to be positioned in front and on top of the actor’s own head, to create the proper profile. “The real actor wearing the suit would look out through little mossy areas around the throat, and his nose would actually be the Adam’s apple,” Munns said. “That’s where we started off.”

Munns sculpted a life-size head based on his idea. Since the entire face would be a mask operated by a complex servo-motor system. Munns didn’t have to worry about fitting a human face inside the flat physiognomy. He also sculpted a foot-tall version of the creature, showing body details.

At the same time Munns was working to remain faithful to Wrightson’s Swamp Thing concept, he looked to his own inspiration to create the film’s second costumed character, the Arcane Monster. Arcane is the story’s villain, played without special makeup for most of the film by French actor Louis Jourdan. But towards the end of the film, Jourdan drinks the same experimental plant growth formula that has turned scientist Alec Holland into Swamp Thing, precipitating a dramatic transformation of his own. Craven’s original script described the Arcane Monster as similar to a werewolf that had been featured in an episode of the Swamp Thing comic.

With THE HOWLING and AN AMERICAN WEREWOLF IN LONDON both in production at the time, Munns convinced Craven that it might be a better idea to think up something a little more original. Munns sculpted a full-size head and a foot-tall figurine, combining a reptilian body with a head of a bizarre boar, and sent them along to New York with his the sculptures of Swamp Thing and his bid of $80,000 to handle the film’s makeup effects.

A month later, Munns was selected to do the film. That’s when his problems started.

“They were still very leery of the mechanical head, largely because I couldn’t show them one that I, or anyone else, had done that was fully operable,” Munns said. “Wes wanted something that could walk from a long shot to a close-up, which would have prohibited the use of cables. I felt that servo-motor control would be better. But it seemed the more they thought about it, the more they built up a resistance to it. It was vetoed by the producers as untried, and by the director as not potentially expressive enough. They kept on asking, ‘Can’t you do it on an actor’s face?”

Munns could, of course, but only by sacrificing Swamp Thing’s unique profile, which no one wanted to do. It was agreed to keep the oversized head and shoulders for medium and long shots, using a muscular stuntman wearing a simple pull-over mask. To allow the creature to display a full range of emotions in close ups, another actor-Munns wanted one with large eyes and a flat nose to keep as close as possible to the look of the comic book-would have his shoulders padded and wear conventional appliance makeup on his face.

By mid-February, the dual-Swamp Thing approach had been agreed upon. The major problem remaining was the calendar: the film was locked into a late April starting date in anticipation of the threatened director’s strike, set for June. Even if Munns had been able to start work immediately, he still wouldn’t have had the full twelve weeks of pre production time he had originally requested. But the producers had not yet secured the film’s financing, and Munns had to sit idly for more than a month until the money started flowing. He was left with only six weeks to create the suits and other special makeup effects required by the script, including the transformation of Louis Jordan into the Arcane Monster, and of Nicholas Worth into a three-foot creature dubbed the “drowned rat.”

“Whenever prep time is so drastically reduced, the end result is no time to test and refine the suits or test rig the effects,” Munns explained. “Some of the latex pieces were literally taken out of the oven and put into the suitcases headed for the location while still warm.”

Working frantically to make up for lost time, Munns and his 10-member crew went to work. He took a full body mold of Bob Minor, a muscular, six-foot-two-inch stunt man and began sculpting the full-scale figure of Swamp Thing in clay, using as a starting point the original head design he had submitted to the producers months before. With the sculpture nearly done—and only three weeks remaining before the finished costume would be needed on the set Munns was stunned to discover that Minor had been replaced on the film by six-foot-five-inch Dick Durock, whose relatively slender physique was hardly suited for the muscular Swamp Thing.

With no time to start over.” Munns sighed, “and no way to pad Durock to resemble Bob Minor’s form, we had only one possible recourse, aside from quitting altogether. We broke down the body sculpture into twelve sections, as the negative molds, threw out the dupe positives and merely slush cast the foam latex ” thick in the negatives. This thin skin of latex foam was then form-fitted around Durock to produce the slender suit seen in the film.”

In other words, Munns was forced to wing it.

The late change put Munns in an unusual position for a makeup artist: if he had balked, the film might not have been able to proceed on schedule. “They asked me, realistically, if it could be done,” Munns recalled. “I told them, ‘Yes, it can be done. It won’t be easy, but it’s possible.’ They went right ahead and figured, ‘Okay, fine.’ At that point, I was hesitant to put my foot down and say, ‘You can’t do this,’ or ‘You can’t do that,’ because I knew that if they didn’t start up in three weeks the film just wouldn’t go.”

Switching the men inside the suit was more than just an inconvenience for Munns-it altered the very look and nature of the creature. “When they sent over Durock everything began changing,” Munns explained. “Because he was tall enough, they wanted to eliminate the oversized head. And then Wes Craven cast Ray Wise to play Alec Holland, and Ray had stipulated that if he got the part, he wanted to play Swamp Thing in the close-ups. They sent him over to me to take a mold of his face. As soon as he left, I got on the phone and called the production offices in New York and told them that he had the worst possible nose in the world to try to hide under a Swamp Thing mask.”

Munns warned Craven that using Wise in appliance makeup would require a major redesign of the face, moving it far from the comic book look originally planned for. But Wise was committed to the role, and Munns reluctantly reworked the head, fitting the actor’s nose inside. “I did a sculpture of a Swamp Thing type face on Ray Wise’s face mask,” Munns said. “They seemed to feel that it was satisfactory.”

Other changes from Munns’ original design were more, shall we say, sensitive in nature. “There was the curious matter of Swamp Thing’s genitalia,” said Munns. “From the start, Wes Craven wanted to avoid the sexless, neutered style of body suit so commonly done. We agreed that Swamp Thing had to have as much ‘reality’ as possible. Wes felt that since the creature was originally a man, there should be some remnants of his manhood remaining. So in my original sculpture of Swamp Thing, included a short, thick root amid all the other flowing roots of the torso. But when all concerned met to view the sculpture, the consensus was that it was simply too conspicuous. “The offending root was removed,” Munns continued, “and it was reluctantly agreed that if there was ever to be a Son of Swamp Thing, he’d have to be adopted.”

Creating the Arcane Monster was not going much better for Munns than his frustrating work on the title character. To meet his schedule, Munns had begun sculpting the body for the creature before any actor was even considered for the part. Since Bob Minor was six-feet-two (Dick Durock had yet to arrive on the scene). Munns sculpted the Arcane Monster on a 6’2″ body form left over from his work on an earlier job.

“Weeks later,” Munns recalled, “Ben Bates, a six-foot-five-inch giant of a stunt man, was sent to me for fitting. Naturally, nothing was even close to proper size. We found we needed eight more inches around the chest, and he needed his body piece to be four inches longer from shoulder to groin. Things like that. It took four full sets of pieces to make two full suits, and my material and labor budget took a horrible beating.”

Munns had begged the producers not to send him anyone who hadn’t already been signed for the film. So he was somewhat shocked when Bates casually mentioned he hadn’t signed a contract and was considering taking on another assignment. “His physique was so unusual with a very high waist and legs that looked like sequoia trees that if we fitted the suit to him in one piece, it would be impossible to find anyone to fit into the suit.” In anticipation of such a disaster, the suit was broken down into several pieces which could be easily, individually altered if the need arose. Naturally, Bates stayed with the production until his fateful day in the swamp.

Munns, of course, wasn’t alone in his struggle to meet the shooting deadline. His 10 person crew, including three graduates of the Los Angeles makeup school where Munns taught during the ’70s worked nearly nonstop for days at a time. Doug White was responsible for the more than 25 gallons of foam latex needed for the hundred or so molds used to create the suits. Dave Miller and Steve La Porte helped with the sculpting, including the creatures’ hands. Bob Bliss, Marcia Semones, Michelle Triscari and Gloria Carter were involved in various lab chores, including punching the hair tufts for the Arcane Monster’s face and chest and sewing the costumes together.

Before the Swamp Thing costume was shipped to the location, Munns spent a day testing it, suiting up Dick Durock to see how he and the costume would stand up to water. The tests went fine. But when it came time to perform on camera, things never went quite so well. For example, Munns’ top priority was figuring out why the suits were falling apart.

“Whenever Dick moved a certain way and stretched part of the suit, the rubber would literally break apart,” said Munns, who found that the problem was the swamp’s acidic water. “When Durock would bend his legs, the knee would start to open up. If he would bring his arms forward, the back of the shoulders would crack. Ken Horn, Esther Mercado and Deborah Schankle (Munns location assistants) were always standing around with a needle and monofilament thread and between every take they’d bring him over and sew up whatever had split open.”

Munns said that other problems with the suit were caused by poor planning, which forced Bates and Durock to suit up and sit around all day without working. “The wear and tear caused by these wasted hours and days was tremendous,” he said.

“Swamp Thing would sometimes spend hours thrashing around in the swamps doing master shots and then we would be told to get him ready for a close-up. By this time, the face appliance was so soggy and filthy that no glue would stick to it and no makeup would clean it up.”

Durock, of course, was never meant to do the close-ups. But that was all changed when Craven first saw Ray Wise in his Swamp Thing makeup.

“They decided the resemblance wasn’t close enough,” said Munns, who was commuting between the location and his California shop where he was still working on the Arcane Monster. “I tried to explain that any differences they might see were because they had the two of them side by side, outside of the dramatic context. I thought they were close enough so you would not know the difference. But all the arguments seemed to be in vain.” Weeks later, Craven decided to try the appliance makeup again to reshoot a lengthy dialogue sequence between Swamp Thing and Adrienne Barbeau, but Munns didn’t know which version would be used for the final film.

Suddenly, with that one possible exception Dick Durock became the one and only Swamp Thing, and his makeup, originally designed only for long shots, became the focus of intense scrutiny. Instead of using just two or three face masks for the five and a half weeks of scheduled shooting as had been planned, Durock was given a new face every three days. Unlike Wise’s makeup, which was glued directly to his face, Durock’s mask was attached to the back of the suit. While not as subtle as a facial appliance, Munns felt the mask was suitable. “Any time it was relatively snug to his own face, it transmitted facial movements very well,” he explained.

Durock was even called upon to play most of the creature’s dialogue scenes presumably Ray Wise will dub in his own voice later which were being constantly augmented as shooting continued. “In the first draft I read, there were no more than four lines of dialogue, with maybe two or three words each,” Munns recalled. “A lot of the writing was actually done when Wes was on the location. There were constant changes going on—changes in concept as well as dialogue.”

Munns worked with Craven on perhaps the most basic problem of all: making the suits look lifelike, instead of like soggy, foam latex costumes. Human and animal skin is elastic, able to stretch and contract to fit an infinite variety of positions. Foam latex is fairly rigid, and tends to buckle and fold in odd places, more like clothing than anything organic.

“Any suit that isn’t totally affixed to the body like real skin has a totally different sense of stretch and flex,” Munns explained. “I think that’s a problem that every person who has ever done suits has had to deal with. If you want something with almost no buckling, you have to have something which can be stretched in every direction so it has the potential for contracting instead of folding. You’d have to make the suit smaller than the person, and you’d have to make the material so light and so elastic that it would have to be like pantyhose. But you’d have a suit so fragile all a person need to do is breathe on it the wrong way to damage it.

“The suit sometimes looks like it’s loose,” Munns added, “but you’d be surprised how difficult it was to get Durock in and out of it. It took two or three people pushing, pulling and shoving just to get it on and off. If we had made it any tighter, I doubt we could have gotten him into it.”

Audiences who have seen early previews of SWAMP THING are somewhat mixed in their opinions of the makeup work. Munns admits that there are a number of things that could have benefitted from more time and more money, but he is satisfied and feels his producers were satisfied, with his performance. “I know there were some points where they were worried things weren’t working out right,” said Munns. “There was also some disappointment in how long it took to suit up the characters. Other than that, I think they were very pleased. I haven’t heard anything to the contrary.

Swamp Thing Suit

In his original proposal to director Wes Craven and producers Mike Uslan and Ben Melniker, Munns sculpted this full-size head (made of slip rubber and filled with polyfoam) based on the drawings in the “Swamp Thing” comic book. Munns wanted to build a fully mechanical head-including remote-controlled eyes—to be operated by sophisticated servo controls. The idea was vetoed by the producers as untried, and by Craven because he didn’t think it would be expressive enough, forcing Munns into a more conventional route.

Michele Triscari, Marcia Semones G. and Esther Mercado (1-r) take a full-body plaster cast of 6’2″ Bob Minor, originally selected to play Swamp Thing. Molds of his head and hands were taken separately. When the dried plaster is removed, it forms a “negative” impression of Minor’s body, from which “positives” can be made. Munns sculpted the body of Swamp Thing in clay over a fiberglass positive.

Doug White prepares several of the more than 100 molds needed to make the suits for Swamp Thing and the Arcane Monster. Normally, latex pieces are created in a two-part mold: the inside is a “positive” of the actor’s body, and the outside is a “negative” of a clay makeup design. But since the stunt men for the film were signed so late, a process called “slushing” was employed. White merely poured liquid foam latex into open “negative” molds of the clay sculpture. Munns had to mend, chop and glue, literally forming a new suit around Durock’s body.

Munns actually made suits for two Swamp Things: Dick Durock (shown having his face mask painted by Ken Horn) and Ray Wise, who plays Dr. Alec Holland, Swamp Thing’s alter ego (inset). Wise, who was to play the creature only in close-ups, hugs his suit, which extended to his waist. The face was a separate appliance, glued to Wise’s face. But Wes Craven didn’t think the two Swamp Thing’s looked alike, and used Durock almost exclusively.

Deborah Schankle (kneeling), Ken Horn and Esther Mercado fit Dick Durock into his full body costume, a daily three-hour ritual. Horn concentrates on the creature’s face, while the others secure and blend the edges on the other six pieces of the suit. Note the two extra masks at lower right, one already used and one still unpainted. Durock needed a new “face” roughly every three days.

Esther Mercado uses a commercial, urethane based carpet adhesive to glue down the edges of the Swamp Thing suit. Munns figured correctly that if it was strong enough to keep carpets glued even after they’re washed, it would be strong enough to survive the South Carolina swamps. To test it, Munns suited up Durock and had him float around in a California reservoir. The “moss” that covers Swamp Thing’s body is actually the same material used for bushes and similar details in model railroad set-ups. Besides its decorative quality, it helped hide the seams in the suit.

Cast

Ray Wise as Alec Holland

Adrienne Barbeau as Alice Cable

Louis Jourdan as Anton Arcane

Dick Durock as Swamp Thing

David Hess as Ferret

Nicholas Worth as Bruno

Don Knight as Harry Ritter

Al Ruban as Charlie

Ben Bates as Arcane Monster

Nannette Brown as Dr. Linda Holland

Reggie Batts as Jude

Mimi Craven as Arcane’s Secretary (as Mimi Meyer)

Karen Price as Karen

Bill Erickson as Young Agent

Dov Gottesfeld as Commando

Tommy Madden as Little Bruno

REFERENCES and SOURCES

Cinefantastique v11n04

Cinefantastique v12n02

Fantastic Films #27

FANGOR1A #15

FANGORIA #17

Swamp Thing (1982) Retrospective Part Two While Swamp Thing's "look," thanks to the incredible Bill Munn’s costume, is an exact recreation of the image envisioned by Wrightson in the DC Comic, the producers were still looking for a "new" monster for their film.

0 notes