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3. INT. MEGAMALL BUILDING B – SECURITY OFFICE – A SHORT TIME LATER

LUIS CONRADO, young, handsome, ridiculously muscled up-and-coming actor, is busy stripping off the now sweat-sodden costume of Habagat, superpowered defender of the Filipino people, and heroic protagonist of Channel 8's latest fantaserye (and highest-rated show), Habagat.

The red boots, cape [1], bracers, chest icon [2], and yellow long-sleeved tunic [3] are already off (the cape and tunic soon to be rushed off to the dry cleaners), and Luis is peeling off the black tights to reveal a shiny silver codpiece strapped to his pelvic area.[4]

It is at this precise moment of undress, Luis clad only in white Hanes briefs and a codpiece the size of the Mayon volcano, when the door-- the door to this room temporarily annexed by the Habagat production crew-- opens, and JOANNA DELGADO, Luis' manager and best showbiz friend, enters.

Luis smiles his winning pang-Close-Up smile, then proceeds to unstrap the codpiece.

Luis doesn't mind. Neither does Joanna. She's gay.

“So how was the take?” Luis asks, unbuckling the first of a series of mind-boggling Gordian knot-like contrivances that hold the codpiece immobile (and keep not-so-little Luis in safe and padded comfort), a maniacal design that would have left Houdini dead and drowned, and Hannibal Lecter sadly unable to feed himself liver pate. [5]

“Sabi ko sa ‘yo, you're just too big for the TV screen.”

“Thanks,” Luis grins slyly, slipping off the codpiece.

Joanna looks pointedly at his white Hanes, then shakes her head. “You were made for the multiplexes, L. Pang-sine ka. Which, by the way…” and she trails off, flashing her own sly grin.

Luis' eyes go wide. “Someone called. Sino?”

Joanna smiles warmly, almost maternally. “Kuya Sis wants you in his new movie.”

Luis jumps into the air, looking for all the world like a brief-clad Habagat taking to the air, before the illusion is shattered by gravity, and he lands, barefoot, on the cold floor, and rushes up to Joanna, lifting her up in a fierce, celebratory bear hug.

And neither one of them is embarrassed in the slightest.

----- * 0 * -----

1 A superhero's cape (for those who wear one) is the most vital accessory in the bold fashion statement that is their costume; the cape should look both regal and heroic, no matter the circumstance.

Habagat's cape would prove to be one of the biggest pains in the collective posterior of the show's costume design crew.

As per the design, with the cape draped over a single shoulder, that little thing called gravity would dictate that in a windless environment (such as most indoor shooting locations), the cape would hang limp like a bunched-up curtain.

In the end, the cape's heroic “look” was achieved through a combination of two factors: 1) the use of a high-tech synthetic material which was extremely light-weight*, yet afforded the proper texture; and 2) the judicious use of CGI, to give it that extra billow and flutter during key scenes.

* The material is so light, it is affected by the fart of a mosquito as if by a Category 5 hurricane. [back]

2 More so than the cape, however, the metallic icon Habagat sports across his chest proved to be the most problematic costume element and was nearly nixed from the design, as the initial prop was little more than crudely carved Styrofoam with a sloppy paint job slapped over it.

Taking a design cue from the bracers though, the icon was ultimately made from hand-worked leather sheathed in a thin coating of aluminum spray-painted red, to simulate a metallic sheen. [back]

3 As with the cape, another high-tech synthetic fiber was used for the long-sleeved yellow tunic of the costume. PicoBalat(TM) is a cloth so thin it almost looks as if the costume has been spray-painted onto Luis' body, thus showing off the bulk and definition the young actor works so hard to maintain, with regular gym workouts and a special diet. (Contrary to some tabloid reports, Luis has never taken steroids of any kind.) [back]

4 The codpiece was a rather large bone-- pun acknowledged-- of contention during the process of the Habagat costume design, its exact size and dimensions a matter of grave mathematics, resulting in a piece of precision engineering to make Swiss watchmakers blanch and consider entry-level jobs in the American fast food industry.

If it were only pneumatic and actually did what its brute size suggested it could do, Habagat's producers would have become rich from that particular piece of merchandising. [back]

5 Several straitjacket manufacturers (some from as far away as Germany and Russia) have expressed interest in being allowed to study the design of the codpiece's support structure; the Habagat producers are currently considering the idea. [back]

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