Episode 2 is wrapped up!
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I'm having a lot of fun with the Sigma6 dio. It's episodic so the story will be longer and more involved than the other dios I've done. The 3.75" dios come off more like a movie to me. The S6 stuff would be like a cable-only tv show or movie. Certainly, there's more swearing with the S6 characters. It's hard to explain why, I think it's just the mix of characters. I don't exactly equate a character like Firefly being quiet and reserved liked the Transformer, Prowl, y'know?

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The 1st 3 episodes flow quickly and are probably a tad hard to follow. It's just the way I'm visioning it. Everything is in small vignettes that somehow flow together. The 1st episode was very large; the folder was 11mb! Episode2 is 8mb but it's not like there are that many LESS pictures.

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Anyway, the 3 episodes were pretty much shot all together. I'd get the idea, shoot and figure out where it should fit. I had to fix the ending to Episode 2 because it moved too far into the future. Errrrr, timeline. So by adding a section and making the dates different, it works out. It's hard not to give everything away, I have to admit that. I have constant ideas. Episode 3 will be coming, hopefully, in less than a month.

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Then it's on to Episode4 which is still being mapped out.

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Until Next Time

Dio Sets

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I gotta admit, doing that 3.75" dio (Transformations and War For Territory) took a lot of time, thinking, effort and probably some blood. It took a lot of money too. Maybe not as much as some people or the pros who do sets for a living, but I do what I can with what I have. But after doing set after set, I'm finally in a position where I can reuse the stuff. That's what I really wanted in the end. I'm not George Lucas. I don't create a set from scratch every time I need it. I'm more like the guys from Star Trek who reuse the same set over and over w/ small changes. Like Star Trek II and Star Trek III. At the same time, Luke Ellison may be the George Lucas of GI Joe dios, but I am the self-proclaimed Paul Anderson (Mortal Kombat, Soldier, Alien vs Predator)!!! It's ok, laugh and roll your eyes.

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So for the Sigma6 dio, it wasn't going to be wild, gnarly, eye popping sets. It's about story. And this time 'round, I'm doing it in episodes as opposed to chapters. It's hard to say why. It seems like things are better told in episodes. The way I do things, you have an overal story. Then it's broken down into episodes which is again broken down into chapters (then parts/sequences). With the S6 story, I'm thinking bigger in terms of the story so it is easier to write it as an episode and shoot in specific sequences. Of course, Ep2 and Ep3 are being shot at the same time because honestly, I don't know what I'm doing. I'm just doing.

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In fact, Episode 2 is incredibly close to being done. I need to finish a set for a sequence, shoot it, do all the work, shoot a cover and it's ready to be emailed out to friends and fans. Ep3 won't be too far behind, hopefully.

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So the point of today's rambling is that I am chopping up and reusing what I have. Sure, the scale is slightly larger (ok, a LOT larger) but I'm using the walls from the last set (the power room set from the 3.75" dio) which is saving me time and $$$. Does it all look the same? Probably but I do make slight changes and hopefully the S6 base and the Cobra base look different enough for people to remember where they are.

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Until Next Time

WOW
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As most people know, the garage was scheduled to be turned into a master bedroom. It would be complete w/ bath, a small office and a sitting area. Terpsma Construction began 10/12 and while a few days, things seemed to be slow, we are seeing real movement. After the walls of the garage had come down (they were unfinished) and the new studs were put in for walls, it looked like we were getting somewhere. The last few days, Phil and Brent have been building the frame of the floor! Next Monday, an inspector should come out to check the plumbing to make sure things look kosher.

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Tomorrow, I'm 32. I didn't think much about turning 30, it was no big deal. 31, never even thought about it. But turning 32, I've been more reflective. I'm appreciating what I have; from my loving relationship with my wife to Kody to Thomas the toddler. I consider myself extremely lucky in all ways possible. Well, give or take the goofy head scratching tick I seem to have.

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Until Next Time.

FUTUREAL

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For anyone keeping score, it has to be noticed that the end of my 3.75" dio and the emergence of the Sigma6 dio were ultra close to each other. How is that possible when the 3.75" dio was taking months and the S6 popped up in a week?
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Easy. I was shooting the S6 dio last summer when I had no cash to build the sets for the 3.75". Originally, I was going to wait but decided to go ahead with shooting. In fact, ALL the flashback scenes (the grayscale missions where Firefly is the man), were done MONTHS before Ch 3 of the 3.75"! Interesting too is the fact that many of the sequences were already shot. The last things I had to do was chop 'em up, add dialogue and well, the VERY last thing was shoot a cover. Principal fotography was actually finished the same time as the 3.75" shooting.

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What else... I have a few pages of notes and this Sigma6 universe is one I'm building myself. There might be some things mirrored from the cartoon, but as I have not WATCHED the cartoon, I don't really know what's going on over there. I AM making some very pointed differences between my S6 and Hasbro's. The main point in question would be the fact that MY Firefly is a Joe operative. Period. He is NOT a Cobra agent infiltrating. I like the idea of a man falling from grace far more than an infiltration story. Well, at least for the beginning. Yeah, go ahead. Think Star Wars. Think Anakin Skywalker.

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But copying SW is not my plan. I'm pulling from other movies too. I think it has a good story and it will only get gnarlier as it goes on. By Episode 2, some HUGE things happen and Episode 3, well...
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Until next time...

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The Beginning!
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The remodel on our garage started on 10/12! We've been waiting many months for this. Art came over w/ his 2-man crew and started hacking away at the concrete. He needs to cut a hole to set up the water pipes for the bathroom and then create a ditch to pour a new footing. It was loud, messy and way loud.

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As well, the parking regulations are rather nutty and we will be redoing just about the whole backyard to accomodate the city's 18'x18' parking area. Emi is down with my parents today helping with yardwork while I'm sick at home with the sick baby. She will discuss ideas of how to make things better int he backyard. The parking also has to be 10' off the sidewalk which shoves it, technically, in the middle of our backyard. I started moving my plants into the bed out front as well as a few into Emi's part of the yard.

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This also means that I can't build any dio sets. Good thing I did a lot of shots for the S6 dio before this all started.

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I have to admit, the end fight sequence of my dio feels pretty half-assed. The limited articulation of 3.75" Joes drives me batty and I can't achieve what I really want. Yes, I can try and manipulate the shots as much as I can, but there is a point where it won't work. A Star Wars like fight scene, I was NOT going to get. But that's ok cuz the S6 dio should work out better in that regards.

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Until Next Time

QUIET ON THE SET!!!

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This is what the set ended up looking like. I had to stand on a ladder for most of the shots. During the last part of the fight sequence, I was taking the set apart and sitting IN it to get what I needed. I know, the pic is fuzzy.

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Until Next Time...

These Colors Don't Run

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Looks like it has been a while since I've been here! I'll make this fast or at least, try to.

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As most people know, Emi and I will be having our garage remodeled into a master bedroom w/ bath. The house will become a 3 bed/2 bath which will help it a ton. There will also be a small sitting area and an office space for me as well. What that also means is I'll lose space to build my dios.

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By the by, I got promoted to Administrator on JoeDios.com and I've been putting my foot down lately. Not sure what the malfunction is, but people seem to think that it's a free place to post pics of whatever they want. No... This is a GI Joe fansite; a hub for those who love to take pictures of their stuff.

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Principal fotography has been finished for both the 3rd chapter of War For Territory and the 1st Chapter of the S6 dio, When Darkness Falls. Actually, the S6 dio doesn't have a name yet but When Darkness Falls will probably be the story title while the chapter title will be something else. Hard to say which band's tunes I'll use. Slayer? Fear Factory?

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I am neck deep in post-production for the 3rd chapter. It's a very fx heavy chapter, more than I've ever done. The last 2 chapters, I didn't have to crop all that much but I've been slimming the fotos down hella. On top of that, I had my man Chuck make an energy beam which I've been using religiously. Also, the amount of layers and erasing is nutty. I'm using the eraser tool 3-4x per shot cuz there's THAT much added on top! Totally crazy and hopefully, it'll look decent when it's all said and done.

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Got the new Maiden album. It's been something like, 4 years since Dance of Death. Hard to believe it's been that long. The album is taking me longer to get into; A Matter of Life and Death. It's like a culimination of all their work BUT it also sounds like an extension of the albums done with Blaze Bailey. Not sure if that's a good thing yet.

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That should be about it. Until next time.