Aug
12th
2014
Wondering about something in Spider-Colt... · 10:11pm Aug 12th, 2014
In the case of Spider-Colt, I'm wondering if I should just cut to him flopping into bed, feeling horrible, or show the beginnings of the transformation in a more gradual way.
The pro for a more gradual approach is that it avoids it looking rushed and sloppy, but the con is that it makes the chapter really long.
The pro towards cutting to him flopping into bed is that it shortens the chapter and gets the info across, but the con is that it runs the risk of making things too rushed.
Any ideas?
Sam Raimi's way was decent enough.
I'd say a gradual approach, but perhaps writing it like a montage of events after each other, that way all the details are given while still keeping the pacing from stalling.
2365540 But like, how do I show that?
Also, montages are very difficult to write in a book, mostly due to the fact that books don't jump cut like movies do.
I vote for the latter.
Maybe add him talking to Aunt Mayflower before going to bed or something.
The scene doesn't really need a lot.
Maybe a bit of both? Have him have a bit of a transition between states, but make it fairly brief?
Also, I just realized I didn't know if we are going with Organic or Mechanical web shooters.
Organic web shooters are good, because it answers a lot fridge logic (Why doesn't he stick to his own webs? How dose he toggle between web net and web line? how did he retract his web line?) where did he get the funding to build the web shooters? Why hasn't he patented them?)
One the other hand, most people don't ask those kinds of questions, and the mechanical web shooters show his intelligence, one of the things Amazing did right.
I favor organic web shooters, and maybe something like th spider tracers or the spider signal to show Pip's intelligence.
2365646
Perhaps showing Pip's routine throughout a day, and splitting up every small scene where his powers start to come out with a break line.
For example:
Pip's alarm clock startles him and he leaps upright, fully awake, something that never usually happens (spider sense coming out).
-Line break-
After Pip finishes breakfast, the cutlery he was using sticks to his thumb, but when he pulls it off, it doesn't stick anymore (wall crawl ability developing).
-Line break-
In gym class, Pip performs much better than ever before in weightlifting and track running (spider strength and speed showing).
And throughout the day, each spider power develops. By the following morning, they have reached full capacity.
Hopefully that's not too hard, but it seemed like good idea.
It would be nest for Pip to discover that there has been a change in his physiology the morning after, but only come to fully realize the scope of it after a bit of experimenting.
How about this way? Show him experiencing some thing that are odd or don't make sense to him.
For instance: Show him opening his locker, then he gets a feeling (Spider-Sense), then dodges to the right/left/jumps up/whatever to avoid whatever is causing the feeling. Or show him experiencing some arm/leg cramps in gym class that lead to odd accidents like somehow kicking a ball cart through a wall (as in, it leaves a hole). Then have him panic about it, ultimately feigning sickness to get out of school to try to figure out what is happening to him. That can lead to the scene where he learns about his jumping height and/or his wall-crawling after a car accidentally nearly run him over.
Then have the next chapter be about him exploring his limits (Specifically what powers he has and the extent of them).
It's your fic though 2365646 , so it's entirely up to you if you use this or not
2365760 i always liked the organic ones, for very much the same reasons you said.
And yeah, spider tracers and spider signal can work to show how smart he is.
2365797 oh that works.
And yeah, and as for the lead up, just a quick bit of him feeling sick, and asking to be allowed to go home will do. Then a bit with him arriving home, feeling too sick to have a proper birthday party, and then we can have him flop into bed.
Then continue like you said.
2365931 but the shooters show how smart he is
And a spider signal? What?
2366067 spider-signal is similar to the bat symbol, albeit smaller and usually worn on his belt.
And the problem with web-shooters is that it's hard to explain how Pip, who lives in a rather small brownstone and obviously isn't weathly (say, lower middle class), is able to find the materials.
One: The building code would probably prevent him from having a full up chemistry lab in his home, since it's an obvious risk for all sorts of dangerious fumes and fires. Also, space is limited in a brownstone, so it's not like he has tons of space to have a nice expansive lab.
Two: The equipment needed to create something like web-formula from scratch would require thousands upon thousands upon thousands of dollars to acqure unless he stole it, which then puts him on very bad moral ground, and also robs him of the intellecet we want to show, since he's stealing technology anyways.
Three: The actual creation of something like a web-formula would require quite a bit of hard core chemistry and trial and error, and in chemistry, that means toxic fumes, smoke, fire, explosions and quite a bit of a mess. Also, he'd still need some outside help, since he can't just magically come up with a brad new chemical compound from nothing.
Four: $$$$$$$$$$$$ That is all.
2366094 So if he's the one who has the spider signal, then why would he need it?
To know if he needed help?
2366122 Well it doesn't HAVE to a spider-symbol, the spider-trackers work just as well.
That's something that's relatively easy to make, since all it needs to do is send out a radio/ultra high frequency signal that he can either track with his spider-sense, or via a small receiver put in his ear (say, a modified blu-tooth headset or something long those lines)
That's much easier to make at home then a new organic compound.
2365935
Nice.
2366966 I thought of this at work.
Pip could make the equipment to shoot it at home and use different materials to test it out there, like a small rope or something using known designs for grappling hooks and silly string cans as the basic principle and then going from there.
Then he can go use the school after hours and play looped footage while he works out the formula by modifying existing tech for his own purposes. Chances are, in the real world, there's something similar enough, so if he does the research he could probably find materials that closely mimic the properties of what he's looking for that can quickly dissolve, which would make some sense if he needs to make it cheaper.
As for the costume, he can come up with an oil or something and wash it in whenever he has to clean it that would allow him not to get stuck, just like real spiders do. As for needing to wash it, presumably his Aunt and Uncle raised him to be responsible, so when she goes out to play bingo or something with her friends, that would be a great time to clean his uniform.
This would help to show him as a combination of a science and guile hero.
Aside from that, I never really liked the organic web shooters. It's the thing about it taking away from him solving a problem and another about when he spams the web, it's coming out of his body, which I don't think is gross, but he'd have to run out at some point, given that spiders have a body part that's, in part, dedicated to web spinning while Pip would just have his... arms.
2366136
Forwarded from The Red Scarecrow, as I'm sure it was meant to go to you:
I have always been a fan of Detailed Transformation sequences in Fic's, but the visual change in spiderman would not be significant enough to spend a substantial time on, i don't think.
That being said, i support extra scenes for the sake of making it clear that the internal transformation sucks and hurts.
Also, i am very looking forward to Colt-Spider!
2367842 Thank you, addressing it now.
2367807
The issue there is that the webbing fluid solidifes upon contact with air, but is a fluid in a vacum. In order to create a completely air tight seal at home with what's basically scrap material is incredibly difficult.
The only thing similar to it is maybe Krazy Glue, which doesn't degrade fast enough. Also, that's still stealing tech to make it, which is subverting how smart he is.
If he comes up with anti-stick oil, it would negate his own wall crawling and also mean that he'd leave oil everywhere. And in the case of washing it, if he washes it with like colors, it wouldn't cause much issue. It's spandex anyways.
He'd still run out if he had the artificial ones. At least with the organic ones, his body is naturally producing more of it. And the glan is in his arm. Done.
2368032
But he can't reload his arms, man, and that's what I'm getting at.
See, we gotta keep his powers within the realm of science-ish stuff because that's what gave him his powers: science. That means we have to try and stick close to the law of conservation of mass, which would not be a problem if we did the magic spider thing (although I really hope we didn't (can't remember)). If they're organic, then he'll eventually run out and who knows how long it would take for his glands to reload (?) themselves. But if we make them mechanical, then he can just pop another one in and be done.
So he re-purposes something else. You don't have to invent something to be smart. Innovation works just as well.
And as for the subverting, not really. He still needs to find a way to make it degrade faster and be as strong while being cheap, which is when his skills in chemistry come in handy.
That's... not how it works, like at all. He has these really awesome and tiny little hairs, like Velcro, which grip onto almost anything. And I said the oil would be washed into the fabric, like say, a fabric softener.
On a similar note, it may be wise to consult the Invincible Iron Brony on this one, sense Spiderman is his favorite Marvel hero, or at least in his very top five, while our knowledge of the character and his context is kind of lost on the both of us (you only read the wiki articles and I'm just trying to make sure the science and stuff makes sense behind it).
I'm gonna be honest. There is only one reason to use web shooters. That is to give a tip of the hat to Spidey's original origin. That's it. Organic webs may not be original, but they clear up a lot of the messy issues web shooters bring up. I imagine Pip, being sciency, would eventually test the limits of his webs so he'd know before a fight about how much he's got. With web shooters you have to constantly be mindful of a very specific ammo limit. Where as with organic webs you can be more vague, like the more he eats of a certain vitamin the more he's got to work with.
2368117
It's not just the ammo count, though. Spiders have a series of organs dedicated to spinning and making and weaving webs. And, unlike the tiny hairs that are simple to grow, or the chemical reaction that happens in the brain due to the spider bite, he would have to grow an entirely new set of organs over night to make the organic webs.
It just kind of...
Shut up, Trixie
2368117 But them, this is your area more than mine, so you do know this thing more than me
2368139 It's not really about knowing the characters more. For the web shooters, Pup would gave to Macgyver together some contraption in his basement without anyone knowing, plus internal webs are easier to hide than something that looks like a wrist watch, but clearly isn't. It's more about functionality than anything else.
2368117 Exactly.
So I'm just gonna stick with that.
2368446 Hey, it's what I'd do. I actually might do something with that vitamin thing.