VS: Story2: Beach Head vs Zandar

As I was working on it today, man, I wasn't joking that the way the story goes is rather organic. I just do stuff and it goes its own way. At the moment, the Joes have found their target. At the moment, I have to think and decide just what the target really is. Not to give too much away, but the Joes are at a Cobra underground bunker/outpost. It's not meant to be some big, elaborate maze of a thing nor is it a gnarly high-tech place either. I am asking myself, is a concrete bunker or something more like a mine and its got dirt walls and floors? But another question I'm asking, just how deep do I want to go into the ZEDD UNIVERSE on this one. The original plan for VS were quick stories. I hadn't really considered using VS as a way to flesh things out. I guess I was with Story1 when I referenced the VSS. The visual version of it had a bit more explanation and details. The VSS is not my creation, it is someone else's. For me to cross over to Andre Bynoe's 'baby', I'm trying to be very respectful and not go too deep on it. It's his story to tell and his physical model to show.

Eventually, I have to get to the guts of the story. At the moment, it's very much all prequel-ish. Kinda like in Predator where you meet the posse then they go and blow up the camp. Then the story starts after, right? Yeah, same idea here. Want to see if I can get the reader (not that anyone will ever read it) to think it's just a straight forward mission/story. I also want to throw in a little Star Trek VI in there too. Might have some fun with Zandar once he shows up. 

"Can you see me? Oh, now be honest, Beach Head, warrior to warrior. You do prefer it this way, don't you, as it was meant to be? No peace in our time. "Once more unto the breach, dear friends."

Here's a raw teaser image

 Rambling On...

I'm one of those types that is good at starting things, but not finishing them. The creative projects that I do finish, they are often rushed. I fully admit, I start with all this energy and by the time I get near the end, I'm tired and thinking of the next big thing(s). It's been said that for people like me, accomplishing small things can really help mentally. In fact, I had just read advice from a 1990s comic book artist; don't try and do a whole comic book or series of stories, tell a story in 3-5 pages. I won't say my diostories are too long. But they have gotten bogged down due to lack of technology, money, time, whatever. AI, these days, has nothing to do with it, surprisingly. In fact, I found how limiting it can be from a proper 3d diorama set that I built with my own hands.

The VS series I'm working on, it was originally to be a 3-5 pages diocomic. (I use the term diostory too. same thing). I was struggling with getting the figures posed right; those darned GI Joe Classified figures have really stiff joints to the point, I can't get them to bend. Hot water technique, yes, but it doesn't last long). VS is just a fun lil series of pitting GI Joe vs Cobra. Or rather, the bad guy world. Because it's more than just Cobra out there. The original version of this was in 2002 when Hasbro relaunched GI Joe: Joe vs Cobra (aka JvC). I got back into GI Joe at that time and I loved the idea. Now I'm playing with the idea.

I wrote in a post on Facebook that I was moving to the written format for the story. I, for the most part, retired from diocomics. They take too long, too expensive, and I have no space to build stuff (or a decent place to store them). I dabble in shorts and I mean they are short. (compared to 20-some pages; hundreds of photos, etc). The 1st VS story, Storm Shadow vs Helix was a fast write. It took a little bit of thinking on how to make things work. Otherwise, I think I wrote the 1st draft in a day or two. Then entered in WORD, revised it (there wasn't much), and published it. An accomplishment to get the 1st one finished!

I'm working on the 2nd one. I chose to restart it because it wasn't going the way I wanted. Each story is an exercise, it feels like. But almost as interestingly and I never noticed this in the past when I was writing on what I consider my real story (it has nothing to do with toys, started in 1993. Written on different computers, had been on floppy disk, and well, lost on multiple computers too), the stories sometimes write themselves. And with that mindset, the 7 Orochi story project, which is over a year away, I've been struggling with the 7th member should be. This should be for another post but since I'm in the groove... The 7 Orochi stem from an upcoming project called the 4 Horsemen. The full title, I suppose, should read Marauders Task Force: Demon Hunters: Vol 2: 4 Horsemen. Vol 3 is 7 Orochi. Vol 1... uh... errrrr, did I actually call it World Eaters? Or did I call it Devil Dogs. Uhmmmm, anyway, 7 Orochi is the evolution of the 4 Horsemen. I've decided that as I write the story, I might come up with an idea of who #7 should/could be. 

All these ideas to write...

Want to see how Story1 was going to look? Doing the visual version is much different than the written version.

The Lair still exists?!?

 I'm finding myself more and more frustrated with Facebook. Just jumping on here to see if I still had an account. Which apparently I do and it logged me in right away. Now, how do I do this again?

Relaunch the Lair blog?

Has it really been 6 yrs since the last post.

I'll make this quick.

Considering relaunching this old blog so I can use it as a record of what I was doing in life. Probably with a heavy emphasis on the GI Joe stories.

Is there hope for mankind?

http://www.viralnova.com/hilarious-facebook-fails/

So I found this on Facebook today. It is a quick compilation of people posting things that end up being really dumb. It’s not the first time something like his has shown up. I’m sure millions of people have read it and it’s been shared probably by at least half. I’ve been noticing a lot of these types of posts been going up lately. It’s good for a laugh, which is the purpose.

But I can’t help that there’s more to it than just a laugh.

We are laughing at people’s dumbness. We are laughing, rolling our eyes, saying “omg, are they really that stooooopid?”, and etc. This isn’t any different than watching the ‘fail’ videos on youtube or the different tv shows where people do stuff, fail at it and we laugh. There’s an industry for this. Charlie Chaplin comes to mind.

A skateboarder trying a rail trick, fails and racks his nuts on the railing. It’s funny. It’s actually NORMAL (for skateboarding). We wince at how painful the hit is. We laugh. We point. We tell others all about it. Rob Dryek, pro skateboarder, managed to create a tv show from people’s video taped follies. But when it comes to txts and what people post on facebook,  something feels different. It’s more like this…

                                                                         Random Picture

Should I even be laughing at how dumb people are? Should I be shaking my head and wondering about the state of education of normal people??? All because some dude doesn’t know the difference between an eagle and a parrot? Or that kids don’t actually know what the Civil War was for? Or that Africa is a continent not a country (wait till they found out where Egypt actually is!). Those are just 3 examples of the 31 ‘fails’ that was compiled.

Part of me says, “why am I laughing at these people?”
Part of me says, “this is bad karma to laugh at the dumb”.

Random picture





Because I know, I’ve done dumb things with all intents and purposes being truthful and honest. To be called out on it in this way, it’s almost character assassination. Yet, these people texted/wrote it, right? Should these be reproduced on a social website for everyone to see? You don’t see a whole lot of students’ grades being posted, right? I’m not entirely sure I’d want to be called on every other mistake I’ve made in life.

A simple post like that got me thinking in other weird ways too. The world human population keeps rising. The village gets bigger and bigger. When it keeps getting bigger, does that mean there are more village idiots to the point that you have a village of idjits? (I sometimes wonder if the amount of dumb people is a certain percentage of the world population. Therefore, 30 years ago, there were significantly less people so were there actually less dumb people? OR because of the internet (and tv), the dumb become more pronounced?) And I’ve heard that Alaska is really an island and can only be reached by boat.

Corrosion Of Conformity

For those who have known me for awhile, know I that I started skateboarding in 1986. Or at least, I got my 1^st skateboard that Christmas. Debate the timeline all you want, but the real point here is that some of my musical tastes came from Thrasher magazine. Back in 5^th grade, I checked out the magazines a friend had. 6^th grade, I think I ended up with a subscription for a couple years. Thrasher, unlike Transworld, covered the world (ie; culture) of the skateboarding scene. From clothing to contests to skaters all over, but also, music.

At that age, aren’t we all pretty susceptible to the stuff around us? Music, tv shows, how to act around females (and vice versa), clothing style, etc, it all comes into play. Thrasher covered music; good and bad. From what I could remember, they were usually pretty fair in their reviews. I’m not sure how many albums I bought from random bands just because Thrasher had ads for them or a quick blurb about them. Despite being a skateboard magazine, they didn’t cover just punk. Heavy Metal and some hip-hop/rap showed up. I found bands like Metallica (good), Warrior Soul (gah), Prong (good), Boneless Ones (gah), Drunk Injuns (good), and hundreds of others. The focus of today’s blog is CORROSION OF CONFORMITY.

The album they kept on putting up ads for was for Technocracy. I never did end up with the album, but it looked hella cool (see picture). I believe this was also around the time Metallica’s “…And Justice For All” was coming out.

It wouldn’t be until college that I picked up a Corrosion of Conformity album. “DELIVERANCE”. MTV was airing the video for “Albatross” and it got me interested. I think one of the Mack Dawg snowboard videos used one of their songs too. Since I remembered these guys from middle school, I figured, “hey, I remember them. They are often in the same sentence as Slayer, Anthrax, Metallica, etc (and other metal bands around at that time)” Got the album probably from Columbia House or one of those mail order music companies (I’m sure they are long gone) where you can get like 12 albums for 1 cent or something like that. 

The album in itself was ok. They weren’t my favorite heavy metal band all of a sudden. But for that one album, it was cool enough. Yet, I never picked up another album for some reason.

Recently, the Corrosion name has been popping up on Facebook. Mainly because it’s through a band I “liked” tagging them or something. Don’t know if it was Anthrax or Metallica, but there were ads popping up for their new album. Besides downloading it thru Amazon.com, I also looked up info about the band. I suppose I was always curious about them since I would see Pepper Keenan’s name pop up now and then. Probably due to the fact that he showed up in the band DOWN with Pantera’s singer, Phil Anselmo. So if Pepper’s hanging with down AND he tried out for bassist for Metallica, I figured CoC had called it quits. But with a new album, then who was in it and how would it sound?

Well, it’s definitely not the sound I remember. I looked ‘em up on Wiki. It’s southern metal! (But isn’t Down and Zack Wylde’s band southern metal too?) It’s a 3-piece. With the creation of the internet and Amazon.com (and youtube.com), one can sample music. Sure, I didn’t sample their new album which is self-titled. But I did try out Technocracy and OMG, it sounded PUNK! Just babbling on here.

Oh right, talking about where some of my heavy metal tastes came from. Thrasher magazine. Targeting Corrosion of Conformity. Their new album which is self-titled, really don’t know what to say about it. Other than I find it hard to listen to. But I do admit this, they definitely did things their own way and not worry about what anyone else was going to think. Good old Thrasher magazine…

Roll Bounce Part 1

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Roll Bounce Part 2

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I'll admit it. It can take me months to finish a set. A diorama set. For my DioStories (you know, I photograph action figures in either handmade sets or outdoor locations that tell a big ass story). I've been working on an engine room for months and it'll only be for a handful of shots for the scene!

I stopped at Ace Value (or Ace Hardware, whichever you want to call it) and picked up some random plumbing pipe pieces. It turned into what is pictured. What'll be fun here is that I can reuse that tubing in different ways; just a quick repaint and it'll be something entirely different. The engine room set, well, it's pretty close to being finished up. I'm actually waiting for the paint to dry on the base. Cuz then I'll use a watered down black paint to make it look slightly dirty and weathered (like what you see here).

My sets are usually pretty simple. I'm not a welder or sculptor so I don't do some of the really cool diorama sets. Plus, I do stories so I need the sets to be able to be broken down easily and quickly. Then used again. Even the walls are reused. Because I almost never show the whole set, the viewer doesn't get to see the whole thing. It's very manipulative in that way. Which is sometimes a mistake on my part cuz I won't convey the possible sense of 'grandeur' of the set. And honestly, sometimes it's not worth showing the whole thing.

Even with the set shown, you really don't need to see anything else cuz there's nothing there! :D

It’s rambling time!!!

Every now and then, Shane Welin, a member of DioWarriors.com, holds a DW HANGOUT on google.com. It’s a chance for toy collectors from, in theory, all over to chat. However, most come from DioWarriors.com. At the last hangout, a topic was brought up about the state of toys in today’s world. In particular, the state of the plastic action figure. How will it survive? Will it survive?

This is how I see it. (there are a lot of thoughts going on here…)

To make a toyline successful:
-Support (the wave needs to be able to build on itself. Also primarily includes tv show and/or movie)
-Advertising
-Quality Product (includes good design>Sculpting>Colors>Paint Applications>Excution/Production)

-Overall Interest

-Character selection (Snake Eyes has 50+ versions, most starting from 2002)

-QUANTITY produced
-Price point

I’m gonna skip over most of those and just get to the point.

There’s one other aspect that isn’t part of the original points. That would be ‘additional series’. This is when a toy company will “kiddy-fy” their original product to try and target a younger audience to buy. Sometimes they come in the form of some sort of game. Other times as little trinkets to look great on an office desk or shelf.

For a business to expand, they have to take so many things into account. When these toy companies start making expansions, all it really does is confuse the consumer. It spreads money thinner in terms of what is bought. At the same time, the energy needed to support all series of a toyline is spread thin.

It’s a gamble. Will it sell or be a total mistake? How many resources do we need to make these? What will the cost of the resources? Resources aren’t just the ingredients used to make the thing. We’re talking about marketing, design, sculpt, the time frame of when they can be mass produced (cuz we all know those Chinese factories gotta change the molds up and they are also making all sorts of toys, right???), packaging and everything else that goes into this addition to a toyline.

Does that mean companies can’t do this? No, but listening to their staff analysts with their expensive degrees are proving to the buyers that they are failing more than they are succeeding. It’s a mixed bag for the consumer. Some companies will ‘leak’ comments like, “we have a lot riding on this. If this fails, the whole line will fail.” When the regular buyer hears this, then they feel compelled to buy ‘the crap’ just to sustain the numbers. When reports pop up about ending whatever expansion occurs, it creates distrust in the company.

We’ve all heard, “well, if they put in more effort in the main line, they would’ve been better off.” Or “well duuuuuuh, it was a stupid idea”. Or “if they supported it, it would have done better”.

What I’m saying here is that anything that detracts from the primary line is a distraction. If something has the potential to be kiddy-fied, it probably shouldn’t. Focus should really be on what needs to succeed.

What am I thinking of when it comes to kiddy-fied/expansions for the GI Joe brand?

GI Joe Micro Force
GI Joe BTR (Built to Rule; Lego wannabe)
GI Joe Combat Heroes (according to yojoe.com, aimed for pre-schoolers!)

GI Joe cosplay gear
GI Joe TCG (anyone remember that cool product by WOTC that lost support way too early???)
GI Joe Retaliation 12” figures (like 5 POA and a total waste of space)
GI Joe KREO (This one is a stretch cuz it hasn’t been figured out if it’s selling well. Collectors are going after the blind bag figures but otherwise, it seems to be gathering dust. IMO)

If you’re in TRU in the next week or so, take a gander at the TMNT and Power Rangers sections. You’ll see the regular figures. And then you’ll see EVERYTHING else that is going with it.

And that’s my 2 cents.

It’s rambling time!!!

Every now and then, Shane Welin, a member of DioWarriors.com, holds a DW HANGOUT on google.com. It’s a chance for toy collectors from, in theory, all over to chat. However, most come from DioWarriors.com. At the last hangout, a topic was brought up about the state of toys in today’s world. In particular, the state of the plastic action figure. How will it survive? Will it survive? What will happen to the GI Joe brand since it’s the 50^th Anniversary and Hasbro is selling it only through Toys R Us? Death of GI Joe?!?!

This is how I see it. (there are a lot of thoughts going on here…)

To make a toyline successful:
-Support (the wave needs to be able to build on itself. Also primarily includes tv show and/or movie)
-Advertising
-Quality Product (includes good design>Sculpting>Colors>Paint Applications>Excution/Production)

-Overall Interest

-Character selection (Snake Eyes has 50+ versions, most starting from 2002)

-QUANTITY produced
-Price point

I’m gonna skip over most of those and just get to the point.

TOO MANY FIGURES ARE MADE!!!

I would love to point fingers and say a brand like He-Man rehashes the same characters too many times. GI Joe uses their Core to death. How many versions do we need of Darth Vader and Anakin Skywalker figures?

I would love to say that wasting resources (like PLASTIC) on 5 Point Of Articulation figures will cause the death of the action figure and GI Joe.

I could say that lack of support is a great way to kill a series. Like what Sigma6 became (cartoon, but lack of new toys AND vice versa!). Or how GI Joe’s Pursuit of Cobra just fizzled out (even tho the movie was coming) with no love on small screen or big screen.

It’s tempting to point out that a single GI Joe figure in 80s was on average, $3 MSRP. It became $7 for the 2 packs from 2002-2005 (Could go back a couple years to RAH rehash packs just before the JvC theme). When Sigma 6 came out, an 8” basic figure was available for $8 MSRP. By 2007, a single 25^th Anniversary figure went for $6 MSRP. 2014, Retaliation figures were, on average, $10 for a single figure.

The way I see it, what will kill the action figure genre is not the plethora of competing toylines, but the amount of product created.

Being a fairly frequent TRU and Fred Meyer shopper (with a side of Target on occasion), all I see are masses amounts of plastic made by factories in China and companies trying hard to get the attention of a passer-by. Admittedly, I’ll check out Adventure Time or Regular Show product. But visiting the action figure section (which of course, is divided up by brand), is a sorry state of affairs. To this day, I can still find figures from the Avengers movie (2012), 1^st wave GI Joe Retaliation figures (Mar. 2013), even stuff like Green Lantern (2011), Captain America (2011), Dark Knight Rises (2012) and several others seem to still linger.

Fact is, the toy companies release the 1^st wave of movie toys one month before the movie release. They usually release the toys in very large numbers to saturate the market. A company like Hasbro will even back off on other lines to support whatever movie is being released. What I have found is that those wave1 toys clog the pegs to a choking point and the stores have a very hard time getting rid of them, even on clearance.  Successor waves, if produced, come in far smaller numbers to the point that they can be hard to find.

It is my opinion it’s that these 1^st waves of figures are going to kill the action figure toy genre. I’ll even spare the ‘kiddified’ versions if they were made in smaller number. But the fact is, these companies come up with certain numbers to produce what that they think will sell. Unfortunately, the inflated numbers for movie figures just kills the releases of successor waves.

And that’s my 2 cents.

HA! I'm still around.

For future reference in what I babble about from work, I'll explain it here.

The plane is often divided up into FWD, MID and AFT. And of course, Left Side (LH), Middle (CTR) and Right Hand (RH).

Now, you all know I'm Seat Crew. 

If I'm correct, the order of our events kinda goes like this (I don't have a lil seat card w/ SOIs on it)

-Unload seats from cargo containers

-Install 'Life Vests' (can't believe they call it that, not PFDs)

-Load seats onto plane

-Install seats onto plane

Uh, I think there are like, 2 more steps. Each of those steps above have MULTIPLE steps to them. 

Now, this might seem odd, but the SOIs are further broken down. So there's LH AFT and LH FWD. Which usually means, 5-6 seats in AFT and then 5-6 FWD on left. For those who can spot it, I already said AFT and FWD refer to sections of the plane. 

Well try this. We do a lot of installs based on the doors or stations. Doors are easier to recognize. So we'll do DR 3-4 LH FWD then DR 3-4 LH AFT. We know this as Left side of plane, in the aft section of the plane and well, that area is divided into 2. 

Therefore, last Wed, when looking up SOIs to see how they were doing, I was looking up DR 3-4 LH FWD, LH AFT, CTR AFT, CTR FWD, RH FWD, RH AFT... And keep in mind, RH AFT has 4 steps to it (see above). We'll be getting laptops at some point so we won't have to run up and down as much.

Lastly, I believe it was on Wednesday, I had a chance to speak to a couple of the big wigs when I was finishing all those steps. I can't go into the conversation but hey, at least I wasn't standing around doing nothing. ;)

Isn't it funny how 4 weeks doesn't necessarily mean 1 month? For example, I started in the factory on the 1st or 2nd of this month. I just finished out my 4th week but there's still practically 1 week to go before the month is over, right?

It's had its ups and downs. I'm quite happy that, well, I've been designated as SEAT CREW. Not just Interiors, but seat installation specifically.

This last week has been nutty. We started installed seats in the AFT, MID and FWD. Recap...

Wednesday. The big bosses (ie; the 2nd & 3rd mgrs) wanted the Business Class seats in as well as the rest of the Economy seats in the FWD section. But usually, we have to make sure that everything in AFT (or the other area of the plane we had worked in) was fully finished. So that day, I was up and down stairs getting all the SOIs (work instructions) in order to see what steps we missed or weren't finished. So I went thru each SOI (technically, this is the lead's job, ahem) and kept on finding random places that we hadn't bought off. It was only a few lil things but with a crew of approx. 15, communication gets lost.

In this case, we couldn't find the seat track covers (these lil things that cover the installation bolts). 1st shift had finished doing a bunch of stuff but hid the covers. The original people who were looking for 'em didn't find 'em. Then I looked (after doing some other stuff) and didn't see them. Matt finally found a bunch of 'em. Being new, I didn't actually know where to look (I'm used to economy seats where you put them on the outer installation bolts, not the centers). Once found, I put 'em on, waited for QT to pass it, etc.

So we installed a couple of seats with the help of a couple of terrific guys from the EMC. The business class seats weigh in around 500 lbs. That's significantly heavier than the 2-seat economies that I can actually lift. (economy 4-seat for mid aisle I ran away from) I spent a lot of time on the computer and chilling with QT. At least I'm getting to know them...

Thursday was more of the same. Cuz we were homeless for a time (no work for us, we go help other crews), I learned how to install Sidewalls. Then later that day, we put in the FWD seats. (I'm going off memory from a busy week...). I think on Wed, they were starting to install FWD seats...  I just know by Thursday nite, I stayed till 1.30am to get all those seats in with Sean and Josh. (A few others stayed but left a bit earlier thinking everything was done) Our manager promised us a bbq if we got them all done.

Friday was a slower day. Seats were in so some of us worked on #67. In the end, I stayed busy helping teach a couple guys how to put EDWs (windows) in. So I stayed busy those last 4 hrs. The 1st 4 were hell in that I was tired and my legs weren't happy with going up and down stairs...

I learned a bit more about installation. We took care of a lot of jobs this week. I know I txt'd fuller stories to a friend that went into more detail.

So it's Saturday now. Lost in Space was just on and now it's old skool Star Trek. :D

Kind of a nutty week.

Finally reported to the factory after 10 weeks of training.

I think, to a certain degree, I'm getting the hang of at least 2 things that us interior crew types do. I'm also the first of the group that came in Friday/Monday/Tuesday to have been victim of hazing. I won't go into details here.

Come monday, we'll see if I get in trouble or not. Hopefully not. (I accidentally took a tool bag key home, returned it early saturday morning) The lead/managers on 1st shift seemed to think it was no big deal. But as noob, I don't know what the protocol for such things is. Gee whiz, I had things to babble about, but I'm not remembering much.

I'll find out if the concept of 'atta-boys' are really destroyed by a single 'oops'.

It's finally over.

Training. Boeing Training. 10 weeks.

Let me back up here to clarify a tiny bit. After I graduated from Bellingham Technical College (BTC) with an AS in Civil Engineering, things didn't pan out. I moved back with my parents and picked up two part times jobs with a 3rd doing yardwork. I dinked around on AdSet at Kohls (working truck and in the end, other random places) and was an on-call janitor for the Riverview School District.


Late in 2010, we heard that Boeing was on a hiring spree. Sure, I had tried to get on but didn't know what sort of job I was looking for. They didn't have a 'civil engineering' position. I had no clue where to start and their job site is hell to navigate in the first place. Sometime in Winter, the Seattle Times ran a couple of articles about Governor Gregoire spending millions to get this Washington Aerospace Training & Research Center going. It was to be an aerospace training facility/program to help get people the novice/beginner skills that would help them get a job at Boeing (who was hiring cuz they need bodies for the 787 plane). We got more information about this program and by late July, I started the online portion of the Assembly Mechanic certification program. The AM program lasted till 10.21.11.


Fast forward a bit. I officially started at Boeing 2.17.12. That's after a month or so of getting all the paperwork in order. Now, one doesn't just start at Boeing. There's a training period. For some, it's a 10-week standard program. For other's they get a week or 3-weeks. (I won't get into the WHYS of that).

The 10 weeks of paid training was a mix of computer-based classes, instructor led classes and hands-on work. The last 2 weeks (w/ the exception of 2 days) was in the High Bay (aka Lab). Last Thursday, I had finished up my projects and took the written exam (04.26.12) which was a bit harder than expected. (Mind you, none of us really knew what was on the exam and it's not like we could study for it.)

Last Friday (04.27.12), we started the hands-on final project. It was to be a 10-hr project but I doubt we were really given that proper amount of time. That Friday, things went to hell. I oversized holes. I countersunk holes in the wrong place. I couldn't focus, couldn't move my butt out of 1st gear, etc. The whole weekend, I had it over my head (now, others still had to retake the written so they had 2 things over their head...). I kept making plans in my head of what to do. How much time to allow for each step. Literally, I was thinking, "ok 5 mins to get the holes by the Winslow passed off, IF they are passed off...  Then 5 mins to install the nutplates w/ the cherry puller. Get that signed off. Install fasteners, 15 mins most..." Supposed to have h ad 2.7 hrs to complete. I finished with 20 minutes to spare.

Now, this project allowed one to only get docked 12 points before it was a fail. 90% + was passing. Seeing how my friday was wasted on drilling holes and REWORKING holes, I wasn't feeling at all confident I could pass and/or finish. (hence me trying to assign time limits on each step) In the end, I moved with a purpose and zipped around the high bay to get stuff and take care of business!

In the end, I passed. 95%.

Tomorrow (errrrrrr, later today), I head to the factory to see where on the 787 line I will be assigned!

Thanks to Andrea, Shannon and Jessica for giving me support. As well as several others in class who knew I could get it done and pass. :D

TOTALLY crazy day.

In an earlier post, I gave a run down of all our projects from the week. Come today, I get to work and nobody knows what is really going on. We have people who want to just get into the factory and start working. We got people (like me) who still had unfinished assignments. You had others stressing over the written exam and final project. As it turns out, we were sent to the lab to finish stuff and/or practice.

Safety Wire. I had this sitting over my head since  last week! I wanted to get my shamrock bought off so I could concentrate more on the safety wire. But alas, the bosses wanted things the other way so I had to do safety wire first. It was just 1 lil part of the whole project. It was a situation where I had to do it upside down. Now, I already suck at safety wire so...  Let's just say by break, I hadn't done a damn thing except end up with sore arms and was really unhappy. Fortunately, I got some support from others and I busted out the 1st part of the assignment. In the end, it took me over 3 hrs! :(

(John asked if I received my check yet. what check? My retirement check! Cuz i was taking so long... lol)

After I got it signed off, I ran upstairs, got the Shamrock bought off. Did some last minute taking apart of it, took my tools back to the shop and it was pretty much lunch time.

After lunch, it was time for our written test. Because it's Boeing, we don't know what to expect. We were thrown into a rather hard exam and while I passed, I would have preferred to do better. 90 minutes to take it.

With the exam over, I returned to the lab and what do I do? I go do the safety wire portion of a shamrock. After 3 hrs of utter frustration, that'st he first thing I go do??? Well, yeah! I know I can drill holes. I know I can countersink and put in fasteners. But safety wire wasn't something really covered (with emphasis) at WATR. I did the shamrock in about a half hour (that includes renting out the tool kit). When I did it the week before, it took a very long time.

By the time I was done, it was clean up time. While almost half the class didn't pass the exam, I was in a fairly cheery mood. I got the unfinished stuff done. Got home and I had 2 packages for me. Got my Footloose figure from the GI Joe club (part of the subscription) and from Amazon, I got the extended/full version of Red Cliff (which I've been wanting since it came out like 2 years ago?) and the latest Misfits cd DEVILS RAIN.

:D

Been kind of a busy weekend.

Bought some plants for my lil garden area out back. They probably won't last long, but hopefully the grasses will. The freeze from the winter knocked off a few of my plants. Mainly landscaping plants over flowers. I'm never been a big fan of annuals. I prefer stuff that comes back each year.

A few months ago, Andre Bynoe suggested that I rework an old GI Joe diostory. It's been stuck in a pdf format due to the crappy version of Comic Book Creator I had. The version I had didn't change the final product to jpg, only pdf. Other friends had versions that gave them a 'save as jpg' option. So I went thru tonite, made copies of all the original shots and well, spent 3 hrs fixing up the Teaser and Prologue for the story THE ISLAND.

I met a fellow GI Joe fan at the comic book store he works at on Saturday. Kind of nice to meet a fellow Joe fan in person.

Sunday was Earth Day. Took a few pictures, went for a bike ride (albeit short, soooooo out of shape), blah blah blah...

Currently in training at Boeing. It's a 10 week training at the ERC for 5 days. We got to spend some time in the factory shadowing other people. It was 1 day a week for 5 weeks; the day we went on shifted each week.


I am now in the home stretch. Week 10 starts on Monday with the finals at the end (when everyone is finished).


This last week was really hard on me. I felt my confidence level plummeting faster than a relationship! For 3 days, I wasn't getting stuff finished, couldn't focus, was overthinking, getting frustrated, etc. The projects are timed and they have to be bough off by an instructor in which, we have several. Fortunately, I managed to turn things around on Friday. :D


Monday was my last day in the factor for shadowing. I stayed busy. Which is rare. ;)


Tuesday was the beginning of the 4 days of hands-on. It's no secret that I get out of shape really quickly. When I was at WATR, the hands-on was 4 straight weeks so imagine my skill level becoming consistent and accurate. In this training, it was mostly classroom settings so months later, whatever drilling and countersinking skills I had, they went south.


So on this day, we started with Sealing and ended with Safety Wire (which I didn't finish). The class was split in half and the group I was in was split again. Sealing went ok. Pain in the butt to clean. And Safety Wire, I got stuck on project2, then got thru 3 & 4 just fine. Didn't get to start #5 tho I could've done it if I had an extra 20 minutes or so. Confidence level started to drop during those 4 hours of Safety Wire...

Wednesday, I started the Shamrock project. It's a stack up project (aluminum, cfrp, aluminum) with various drilling and safety wire to finish it off. I got frustrated at the beginning cuz I couldn't draw my layout. Needless to say, I was again in last place when the day ended. Confidence level dropped even further.

Thursday, I started the Drilling & Countersinking project. I got thru a bit of it, but couldn't finish in 8 hours. I already had 2 other projects unfinished so you can prolly guess how I was feeling that nite. Yup, confidence was even lower by the time I went home. Of course, I'm thinking, "just put me back in the cargo bay where I don't drill or safety wire or seal..."

Friday rolled around and because the Drilling/Countersinking is alotted for 1.5 days, I got it done. May have been the people I was around too. Different energy, we were all closer to being in the same place, etc. I got the D/C project done and was able to put in some work on the Shamrock before lunch. With the Shamrock, I got a lot done so that last thing to do next week is the safety wire (and of course, to take it apart). That boosted my self-esteem quite a bit right there. (One of the steps to buy off was to correctly torque a bunch of bolts in front of an instructor. When I took the torque class, I was a bit heavy on the torque. When I did it on the project (weeks later), it went really well. May have over-torqued 1 or 2.

After lunch, Mike and I were hoping to finish up the Shamrock (we teamed up so we could get stuff down faster. We'd grab fasteners for each other, set up huck pullers, cherry pullers, etc) but alas, tis not to be. Cuz the other side of the class, when they did it, they had to do 2 other projects after the C/D. We were hoping the instructors would forget and let us finish the other stuff. Nope. HAHAHAHAHA.

The next project Mike and I were put was 90 degree drilling. This is where you use a 90 degree drill motor (as opposed to a classic pistol grip). We set up everything we needed beforehand so we could blow through it. The instructor recorded us at about 1.5 hrs or something, but cuz they round to the quarter hour, we did it in under an hour. Easy project, even with all the stepping up we had to do.

Project 2 for the last half of the shift was gun barrel drilling. There's no stepping up. Just blast right through. And that's what Mike and I did. Blast right through it to get it done. Again, we had everything set up and laid out. Because we had 3 drill kits between us, we set up like this.
-500 rpm pistol : 190 (that's .190" drill bit)
-500 rpm pistol : 250
-90 degree : 190
-xxxxx (had to switch out the last drill bit cuz we didn't have an extra gun.

The drill guides were ready to go and we made sure we were drilling the correct rows and BAM, we were done. :D

Those easier, smaller projects worked wonder for me. I felt a lot better (even good) coming out. I'm not the only one who was starting to get bummed out about stuff. Some say I'm a bit hard on myself but it's like, I know how to do this, I just can't get it thru to my hands to do the work well/right. Anyway...

*wow, an old draft that never got posted*

So, 1 more week of training (in theory). The last 2 weeks of training are split tween hands-on projects and then 1 week of, uh... classroom followed by the 2 finals. I've spent 4 days doing various hands-on projects. From the get-go, I was really out of shape in terms of hands-on skills. Tuesday-Thursday, my confidence level was plummeting faster than a relationship for me. Projects weren't getting finished, I was doing things poorly, couldn't focus, etc.

Come Friday, everything seemed to turn around. While I still have 2 projects that are unfinished, everything that we were to do Friday got finished (we had 1.5 days to Drilling & Countersinking; started Thursday. Friday = 90 degree drilling/gun barrel drilling which Mike and I raced thru).

I even got to work on the Shamrock project (started Wednesday, was in last place (again) when we closed up that nite so I wasn't feeling so hot about it) and got quite a bit done.

The order of projects was kinda goofy, imo. For the group I'm with, the Shamrock project was 'hard', the Drilling/Countersink was so-so and the 90/gun barrel was easy. Kinda going backwards here! (If I had started the other way around, I woulda been able to 'warm up' better so each project was a progression, y'know?)

Anyway, I was feeling pretty good Friday nite as the shift ended. Finishing just a few small projects really helped with my self-esteem. Next week is classroom stuff then gotta finish up the 2 hands-on projects. should take me about a day unless I can talk one of the instructors into letting me pass one of the projects. (I have to safety wire 2 projects so if I do the Shamrock, maybe they'll skip the wing safety wire. ;) )

So I haven't been here for 4 years. Last time I was here was in 2008 and I believe at that time, some things were going bad on an old GI Joe photography website.

In a nutshell, over the last 4 years...
-Started the Surveying Program  in the Fall of 2008; tho i was taking pre-reqs before that thru Bellingham Technical College.
-Earned an AA in Civil Engineering from Bellingham Technical College in 2010.
-Also got into some problems with the law in 2010.
-Moved back home due to crappy economy. Found work for the Riverview School District as a sub-janitor and part-time at Kohls. Also did yardwork for $$$.
-2011, went thru the Washington Aerospace Training & Research Center to get a certificate for Assembly Mechanic.
-2012, got hired on at Boeing and start date was 2.17.12.

Course, a lot of other things happened, but those are the big things, I suppose.

I haven't been here for like, 4 years! Wow.

Let's get
Let's get
Let's get
Rocked!

That's a lil Def Leopard for you fans out there.

I went skating today. I went last Sunday at the Bothell skatepark for a few minutes. But today, I got to ride the Bellingham park for real. I've usually taken a few runs and that was it. I skated the shallow end of the big bowl and the banked area. I started skating in 86 and for me, it's about keeping the old stuff intact. I'm cool doing the old stuff... Well, for the most part. I'd like to go more.

Even met a skater chick named Sarah. Too bad I didn't get her number.

Dream sequence...

This one is crazy arse funky...

It's WWI or WWII or right around there. I'm on a newly designed and created ship called an 'aircraft carrier'. Harvey Keitel is the commander and all us foot soldiers are on the ship. We are on the flight deck, waiting to be deployed to a beach in Korea. The word is given, we take to the a amphibious carriers. As with old style WWII deployments, we hit the beach, guns blazing and running blindly into the enemy.

We are in a canyon, getting taken out. The order is given to retreat. I retreat with everyone else but I can't help but hang back and try to help give cover fire to my brothers. Most of them go down. The Koreans are upon us. I see the lifeboat. It's full. I can't make it cuz I'm trying to help my brothers out. A mortar fires a shell from the Korean side and it lands IN the lifeboat. People are decimated. I turn, drop my weapon and say, "PARLAY".

A Euro commander comes walking up. He says, "Since this guy gave up without a fight, there is no need for shackles." I agree to help the bad guys' alliance for my own life.

We switch to a farm/base. It's sectioned off in different ways but I'm in the equivalent of a large barn with sections to it. I discuss things with the Euro commander who can translate English into Korean. I see their game plan. I'm part of their forces. I'm a turncoat. I tell them that if the alliance attacks with the plan they have, they will be slaughtered. They plan to attack the eastern seaboard of the US. BUT it's not the US we know. There is more land (and in my universe, it becomes island, not unlike Hawaii).

I tell them, IF they send ships up thru the canal and take out the lines SUPPORTING the eastern seaboard, they can sink the land (based on fault lines). WHen the islands are alone, the Alliance can do what they want. ie; take over the most eastern lands of the US. The Euro commander explains what's up. They barely go for it, but make preparations regardless. I tell the Euro commander that I've helped out the best I can, "can I become a Soldier?"

The Euro cmdr recommends me for a proper place in the Alliance. The Korean Emperor (that's right, EMPEROR) takes him outside and shoots him. The Koreans want to do this on their own. The Emperor treats me to a fine dinner of sushi which is made mainly up of prawns and shrimp.
I eat a bit, but what I really want is to be a part of this Alliance. I want to have two mistresses. They are there and they are POWs too.

We go for a walk out in the farmland. I end up killing the Emperor because I don't agree with his tactics or his desires. I become the Emperor. I survey the farmland/base. I make changes right away. Instead of trying to oppose the US, I enact that a wall be built to divide South Korea from North Korea (we are south korea). I happen upon a soldier and ask if he wants to be the commander of the forces. He agrees but at a price. He gets his own chambers, a bathing tub, etc. He is caucasian. Big. Blonde.

He shows me what happened to the last guy that tried to usurp power. His body hangs on the side of the barn. He's still meaty. But he's been picked away at. He's molding. He serves as an example of what is to come for those who rebel against the alliance.

I end the offensive and prepare for a defensive against North Korea.




I have no idea what was going on. These are just dreams.

Enjoi.

Crazy dreams!

I've always been a dreamer. A fantasizer. Always had my head in the clouds, y'know? So last nite, I had this dream...

I was in an apartment complex (or condo). I was trying to play Mortal Kombat on the tv with a keyboard. I was really bugged about the whole thing cuz the controls didn't make sense. How was I supposed to get Sub-Zero to throw his ice ball? The punch and kick commands didn't make sense since I was playing this on a keyboard. My dad tells me the kids want to play. So I turn off the Xbox (not the 360 and I do NOT have either in real life) and let the kids play. For some reason, my parents had a bunch of kids over. 3-13 yr olds and they were trashing the place. One kid was trying to open the case to get to my PSP. I took it away from him and went to my room. Which had been ransacked by the kids. That was the last straw. I left to go visit a female friend down the way.

I get down there and it turns out that she has a ton of friends over and they were all taking pictures. We got to talking in the hallway and I said something along the lines of, "Guys will go down in age to hook up with a grl but women usually don't..."

We go past one of the bedrooms where there are grlz partying and then the living room which was a BIGGER mess than my bedroom. I looked down and I see a red cellphone. It's Markki's cellphone (friend from work) and I said, "What's Markki doing here???" Markki comes out of the bathroom and says something bizarre. Like she came over to shave or some weird thing... Deciding that I should leave to let the grlz do their thing, I end up outside but don't want to go back to my pad cuz it's just crazy.

Next thing I know, I'm in a semi truck with Hilary Duff driving. The cab is a cross between a, well, regular cab and a large SUV. ie; there's a sleeping area in the back but there's always a bench seat behind the driver and passenger seat. It's a pretty ghetto semi and it's hauling a double trailer. I felt that the man should drive the big rig, but she was insistent that she do it. It WAS her parents' rig and we were running some sort of delivery. I don't know if it was equipment for a concert, her music cds or her make up line.

So we're cruising along and then BAM, we're stuck in a snow storm. ALL the cars are stopped and some of them have been there for hours. The vehicles are shut off, snow has accumalated. I get out and check things out. People are outside, bored. It's midnite or later. I looked back and see that we weren't far from Stevens Pass (ski area in washington). People are still riding the lifts, coming down and the bored kids who can't sleep until the pass reopens are out sledding.

I return to the semi and open the door. Hilary's in a black tanktop and how she isn't freezing in a snowstorm, I have no idea. She's on the phone with her dad, trying to explain to him that we're stuck. All of the sudden, a bunch of police raiders are making their way up the line. The cars turn on and move to the side. Hilary starts up the rig and pulls further to the right and slams into a Volvo stationwagon while trying to park.

There's a boy in the back. He's trying to sleep but it's not working. There's a certain excitement being stuck in a snowstorm for who knows how long. Hilary puts on a jacket and we go for a walk up to the ski resort. Up there, I see a bunch of kids I knew from high school. EVERYONE who was stuck on the highway is wandering around the resort. Food. Warmth. Shelter. At some point, Hilary and I start wrestling in the snow and after she pins me, we find that there's a dance club next to us. From where we were, we could see a woman dressed up as a black & white X-Mas tree ballroom dancing. There were a few other couples in there all dressed up in formals. We get up and decide to head back to the highway to see if things are moving yet.

Traffic is moving. We run across the highway, she starts up the rig and we're on our way again. I tell her, "Oh, we're going to Wenatchee! This is the highway you take and it's kind of just on the other side!" She's glad to know where we're going cuz she's never been there. (Wenatchee is several hours east of SEattle)

We start cruising and I realize her lights aren't on. It's 0130 and the sun is coming up. She drives like a wildman. She doesn't stay in her lane and she likes to take the curves of the highway wide. Which really means she drifting the backside. I tell her the lights aren't on. She tries to turn them on; there's only 20 switches to turn them on. They blink on then fade out. I just hope that the cops don't get us for that little aspect.

We start down the other side of the mountain and enter a desert region (like going out to Yakima on I-90). I say, "Hey, I've been here... This is like the road out to Yakima. So that means, Wenatchee is just around the corner..."

She's still doing wide drifts, driving in the fast lane and we're going around 100mph. WHich means, cars are STILL passing us!

We hit snow again. ANd this snow is dangerous. It's nothing like a compact snow & ice highway. It's more like a ski resort with deep tracks, frozen and hard. We try to drive thru it like the other cars. THe lanes go from 4 wide to 1 wide in a blink of an eye. The snowblowers that came thru can't pile the snow up right cuz the retaining walls are upwards of 50 ft tall. All the snow can do is pile up.

We come around a corner. As we're coming around, there's (another) Volvo heading our way. I tell Hilary to hit the breaks but BAM, we head on the poor mofos. Their Volvo gets blasted BACK into it's proper lane. She pulls over, the cops come and I run to see if things are ok. Hilary doesn't want to deal with the cops or fill out an accident report (no damage to the rig). Instead, she gets an empty bucket and microwave popcorn for me to give to them. I straighten shit out, we can fill out the reports in Wenatchee and we suddenly see tollbooths. MANNED tollbooths. I tell her we need to give 'em $3 to use the road. SHe forks over a bunch of quarters and we get back on the road.

A few miles down the road, the cops are after us. Hilary questions if it's because our lights don't work. Or that we're going around 100mph. Or because we are drifting in the lanes. She pulls over and gets out. Then she jumps back in and says, "Oh yeah, I'm not supposed to get out..."

The State Patrol comes up to the window (who is somehow as tall as the rig) and says, "You dropped this a few miles back." It's some Hilary Duff movie. Hilary says THANK YOU and then the patrol wants her autograph and starts telling her about his daughter's favorite movie. Eventually, he lets us go. No ticket. No nothing! SHe relaxes. I tell her to move over and that I'll drive from now on.

We drive on......





At some point in this story, around the time of the volvo accident, we ran into Kim Cardassian (or whatever her name is from that tv show). I remember flipping her crap that she's not that hott and then she and Hilary started getting into it.

I'll stop there since this is long enough. Enjoi. :

I've been playing guitar for some time now. I probably should be better than I am but I'm a rhythm player. I don't play fancy solos and stuff. So i bought this guitar from GuitarCenter awhile back and well, I've had problems with it off and on. I finally had it with the Floyd Rose bridge that sat too low so I couldn't change out strings w/o scratching up the body.

Last week, it just kinda fell apart. Screws came out. Screws were stripped to lock the strings in, etc. I had always been worried about taking it in because I thought maybe the repair would cost MORE than the guitar itself. I paid a decent amount for it and I love the thing. It's so comfy in my hands to play. I took it into Mojo Music up here in B'ham and they fixed it all for under $50! The repair guy blocked the bridge up so it wouldn't sit low and I could change strings easier.

I had to break the new strings in and I taped myself (via the digital camera) and man... I'm surprised you can actually hear what I'm playing. I'm a heavy metal guy so I sometimes wonder if things sound like mud. But lo and behold, it was all good! :D And playing on new strings... You can hear me hitting 'em pretty hard. I play hard and remotely fast so... Anyway, watching myself, I see where I need to change things in my tunes. Mainly, I need to speed stuff up but my stuff actually sounds pretty tight.

:D

I admit it, I don't come by very often. I tend to post GI Joe related stuff here and then 'normal' stuff on MySpace, which I don't frequent very often. So here's an update.

I started going to Bellingham Technical College (BTC) Winter quarter. I took Math100, Psyche111 and a Computer course. All are mandatory for ALL degrees. Well, the quarter just finished up today for me.

I got a 95% in Math100. That'd be an A. Right down the middle! The test I took last Wednesday, I got an 88% because I made some dumb errors. But on the final, I got 100%. That is very unusual for me because I don't "ACE" tests. Sure, the test seemed easier than I thought and you know when that happens, 'you' usually end up with a crap score! Well, the test was easy for me and it all worked out. I'm quite pleased.

The way this math was taught was soooooo incredibly different than what I grew up. I remember memorizing geometric formulas and alegrba stuff. But here, it was taught so differently, that it was easy for me. I had to unlearn a lot and it's bizarre that so much can be done on the calculator. Good thing I was married for a time and had Kody around to help bring back some of the math stuff.

Psyche111 - Interpersonal Relations. I rather enjoyed this class. The group project we got an A on. The final score was 183 out of 200 points. I would've liked it to be in the 190s but oh well. I got a 98% on the final (1% better than the midterm) which set me up for around a 93% grade score. That'd be an A too. Wait, 95%? Either way, I did good.

As for the Computer course, I don't know. I should probably take a 1-day Excel class to get things under control cuz that program was rather hard for me to grasp.

Technically, it's Spring Break now but that doesn't mean anything. I still go to work. I still hang with the kids on the weekend.

That's about it for now.

Ramblings...

Has it really been since May?

Most people already know that Emi and I are getting divorced. By the 23rd of this month, we have a court date and that will be that. While I was excited to move on originally (this would have been a couple of months ago), I am finding that the grass isn't necessarily greener on the other side. Emi says this will be a new beginning for us.

I've moved across town. Found a nice lil apt for cheap and usually chill w/ the neighbors across the way. Thomas and Kody stay on the weekends.

I am a Daiso (of Japan). It is a Japanese households store in the mall. I rather enjoy working there.

I've recently gotten back into Warhammer40k. I've bought the starter kid so Kody and I can play. He will be playing Space Marine and I'll be slowly building a Tau army. I was originally gonna do my own Space Marine army and Kody's would be separate, but I decided to make them all one. NOT that I had a huge army anyway. I'll be doing a pre-Thousand Sons army. As in, BEFORE the 1000 Sons went all Chaos! The colors will be Midnite Blue and Boltgun Silver. The story I made up is that when they join Chaos, the Chaos Supreme Lord will change their boltgun metal trim to gold trim. My Tau, on the other hand, will be Scorpion Green and Black.

As for GI Joe, I quit the 8" a while back. I am slowly building my VvV VIpers and NeoVipers just for the fun of it. The 25th figures are upon us and I am buying those up when cash allows AND when I actually see 'em. They haven't flooded the stores yet so I guess there's still time. OR I've missed the boat. Again.

Anyway, that's about it for now.

Delays Delays Delays

Due to life problems, the 3rd episode has been delayed indefinitely.

On the other hand, I've got a ton of ideas popping up in my head and am considering how to play them out. I'm considering a Firefly dio that has the potential to be VERY fun.

Until next time...

On the Dio Front for Ep3 of THE ISLAND

I'll admit it, I've been procrastinating about Ep3. I guess now that I'm working, my interests are elsewhere. Almost to the point where I'm not that into GI Joe at the moment. But alas, once I get the ball rolling, I'll be back on it. As it stands now, I keep on coming up with ideas and I think I want to do things very differently for Ep3 and Ep4 and maybe Ep5. Part of my dilemna is the fact that there are 2 storylines going on.

I've got the main action w/ Graydon and the crew on the actual island.

Then there's the Serpent's Tail storyline which deals w/ Cobra's new, uhmmmm, ship.

In Ep3, there'll be a situation where the Joes aren't fast enough to take Cobra down. This leads to some catastrophic events. HOWEVER, the Joes don't know what else is up Cobra Commander's sleeve so they really couldn't have been THAT preventative. Either way, things won't quite go right in Ep3 IF I can fit it all in. Part of the problem, again, is that I'm thinking more cinematically. I want to make the story bigger and deeper and more interesting. Like it's a graphic novel.

I've also been working on Samurai Wars (working title) during my lunch break at work. I've been doing a lot of sketches and doodles, trying to get my drawing under control again. I still have the same pencil style and for the most part, inking style. But since I'm doing it all, I'm experimenting with some different coloring styles. Originally, it was gonna be a regular comic book; full color, etc. I'm considering doing it in all gray tones w/ splashes of color here and there. It's not quite like the Metal Gear Solid comic but it's not manga either. I would love to think that it'd be like Lone Wolf And Cub but my art is soooooo different, that's a bad analogy too.

In any case, I'm doing a pin-up for my man Chuck. I promised I'd have a comic for him, but well, I'm months overdue. Whilce Portacio, look out! (Wetworks was years late) I'm hoping a pin-up will be good enough for him and we'll see what he thinks of the style.

Until Next Time

I'm back.

It's been awhile. Things have been up and down but this blog is catering to GI Joe and dios and toys, while my pathetic myspace.com blog is for other things; like real life. In any case, I'll do it all here this round.

I'm working at Daiso (Of Japan). It is a 100Y store or "coin" store. A few people have called it "the Ikea of Japan". We've had a lot of people come thru who have lived in Japan and are already familiar w/ Daiso. Looking at their website, their stores are bigger than Ikea and apparently, they have the weight of Walmart! Not the worst company to work for, y'know? In any case, Daiso here is a households good store where everything starts at $1.50. ($2 in Canada, heh heh) I'm enjoying working there. There's a dress code and for the 1st time in my life, I enjoy wearing a tie and well, a nice outfit. I feel professional and worthy. Don't mind that I sweat like a pig in there when stocking.

The managers have put me in charge of the "Japanese section". Now, most people are like, "uh, it's a Japanese store w/ Japanese products, what's that mean???" It means that I take care of the tableware and specialty Japanese (funky) products. From hand-carved drinking glasses to chopsticks to wooden toys, calligraphy, mats, baskets and funky dio stuff (clay samurai statues, dollhouse furniture, etc). I was just put in charge of it Thursday so... I'm really enjoying working there. It's a different pace than Trader Joes which is incredibly nice. The management is entirely different (which is nice) and I'll admit it, I was scarred by my experiences at Trader Joes. Over 4 years there!

Yes, I learned a lot from the Channel9Store, PCC and Trader Joes. Each were a stepping stone. I learned how to stock and display items from Ch9 and TJs. I learned the art of hustle and harder work ethic from TJs as well as proper cashier training. It's great to have the retail experience of Ch9 and the hard work ethic of TJs. I believe it sets me apart from the 'kids' who work there who don't have either. I think I understand what is meant by "retail experience". It's not just throwing things on a shelf. It's learning how to display the items, where to display them properly, what looks good, etc. THAT is more important to average retail. TJ's, it's more like, stock it so it looks shoppable. Romaine Salad is Romaine Salad. Slam it in, bam, you're done. Daiso has that slightly, but I try to make sure things are faced so they look attractive. Sure, it takes longer, but when I am in control of my section, I want it to be as pretty as possible.

On the dio front... I've worked a few shots so far. Aerial scenes. I have yet to actually set figures up to shoot. I know I shold but I haven't had much time this last month. I had to work fast to get Episode2 out. But I know what Episode 3 is about (well, most of it). I have plans for the next dio (or Ep4, whichever wraps things up). And I have plans for a Snake Eyes/Storm Shadow dio. :D

That's it for now. I'm glad to be working and am enjoying it since I've had 1.5 yrs off. I didn't think I would, but I love working at Daiso.

Until Next Time...

Ups & Downs

Things aren't going so well for me at the time. I'm having to make some changes and sacrifices.

But I'm still moving forward on the current dio set. The plan is to shoot the sequence when it's done, get Episode 2 of the Island wrapped up and then hopefully take care of Episode 3 very quickly (since the set will have been built). It's a pretty wild set and far better than the "generator room" from the last dio (which didn't quite go the way I wanted). I'm having to recycle my foamboard. And since S6 is no longer on the charts, I can use THOSE walls for fodder.

I hope things go right when it comes time to shoot.

Until Next Time

Watching the paint dry...

Yup, that's pretty much the case these toys with the dio. Episode2, for the most part, has all been shot. There are 2 scenes that take place outside the story and they both need sets. Now, while the scene where Duke is prepping the troops, I can just throw some walls up and make it work. But the scene w/ Cobra Commander (that's right, CC shows up w/ Commander Vlasko, Interrogator and eventually, Major Bludd as well as Destro and maybe Baroness) is taking forever. I'm building a set right now. It's gonna be several stories tall and well, each level of the set takes paint. In which case, I'm trying to add more detail to it so I'm adding all sorts of little tidbits that's taking up time.

Like... The Death STar isn't entirely smooth, y'know? There are gun towers, and ports and rectangular boxes and just 'stuff'. Now, my set isn't that anal nor am I building a Death Star, per say. But I'm building a tower/bridge for a helicarrier. Ok, secret's out of the bag. ;) But how it's done, you guys will just have to wait. I'm building a 1/18th scale helicarrier. Well, not the whole thing, but in parts that are pertinent to the stories. Kinda like Marvel Ultimate Alliance, the video game. You don't see the whole thing when running around, just parts of it.

I'm working on the 2nd level and prepping the 3rd level. I'm out of foamboard so I'm recycling the old. I'd love to get Ep2 out A WEEK AGO but it just ain't happening. It should be good in the end...

Until next time!

The Island Ep2.

There's more to the storyline that what is happening to Graydon and his crew on the island. I'm working on overlapping stories where the 2nd story is underlying. There's absolutely no hint of it in the Prologue. In Ep1, Ace and Slipstream are checking out the area because intel says that Cobra has 'something' out there. Also, Interrogator leaves the island, telling Major Bludd that "he'll see him on the Serpent's Tail".

The Island storyline should wrap up in Ep3 while the 2ndary story really starts to get moving. I am currently building the set that Ep3 will take place on. The Joes take it to Cobra who end up taking it to the United States. I don't want to give much away yet but Ep2 is taking awhile simply cuz I'm building a set. Well, it's not even a set. It's a tower or ops complex like you'd see on an aircraft carrier. I have a lot of ideas for design and I'm trying to step it up a notch on the actual set.

What this 2ndary story does is open up the, uh, story, for other characters. Namely Cobra Commander and Duke. Details of Ep3 and the 2ndary story aren't quite written but it's close. Give it time. When the set is done for Ep2, the episode should be ready soon after.

Until Next Time.

Let's talk about the good guys!

So in "The Island" story, we have good guys and bad guys. I've already discussed the Cobras used in Ep1 and for the most part, Ep2. Sure there are a few others that show up but because I haven't shot the sequences yet, I won't add them in yet. I can only assume Destro and Cobra Commander show up but that can always change at the last minute. Also, in Ep3, I'm really gonna switch things up. "The Island" will wrap and the 2ndary storyline will take over w/ a 3rd storyline coming in strong (I hope). Expect to see lots of Firefly doing his thing. And no, not the NINJA thang!

Onto the good guys...

Lt. Graydon. Like I mentioned w/ Bludd, Hellfire and Interogator, I wanted to make a link between my dios. I think it's easier to give the reader something to recognize by using a familiar character. Again, Graydon is leading the group but he's leading a squad of Greenshirts this round. While he is in charge of the rescue force, he also has Scarlet and 3 Steel Brigade members to be concerned with. Why doesn't the RRTS1 go in? I wanted to pare down the characters and use other figures. Plus, I thought it'd be more interesting to use underdogs.

Scarlet. I've never worked with her before. I create just about everything in my Joe verse. Sets, stories, characters and situations. Scarlet is the 'handler' for the 3 Steel Brigade members. She is grading them to see if they have what it takes to be full-time GI Joe members.

Redzone, Checkpoint, & Rook : The Steel Brigade. These three members are part of an elite Greenshirt squad. The Steel Brigade are the Joe members between stage of Greenshirt and full-time GI Joe. Some are content to be an elitist back-up force. Others want to move up. These 3 members are testing to become full-time GI Joes.

Gray Wolf. Gray Wolf gives a link to the last story. He's a chopper pilot. He is Native American and was trained by Dart and Spirit in survival and scouting skills & techniques. He is a competent full-time Joe although he doesn't have much experience. He's a survivor.

Gen. Colton. His role in this story is simply a vehicle to use him. I'm not quite willing to part with the figure so I figured I'd find a way to use him. I wanted to set up a dynamic between Hawk and Colton. They have their views on how to deal with Cobra. Thing is, Colton is new to the team and Hawk has been leading the Joes the way he's been doing for a long time. Sometimes, a change is needed. Thing is, did Colton bite off more than he can chew???

Greenshirts. At one time, I had 20+ Sand Vipers. What was I supposed to do w/ pea soup green Beach Heads??? I didn't like the old style GSs and sure as hell didn't like the DD GSs so I figured I'd use the peasoups as GSs. I wanted non-descript, masked, average looking figures and these were, for the most part, perfect. The original plan was to paint their torsos all black (like Navy SEALS, the movie) but I got lazy.

I think that's it! Until next time.

I was thinking to myself that when I'm working on my dios, different movies give me different inspirations. For the Sigma6 universe, I tend to rely more on Star Wars than anything else. Certainly with the amount of hand-to-hand fighting and weapon fighting, Star Wars is pretty good. There's also good battle scenes too. But when it comes to 3.75" GI Joe, I tend to take it more seriously. Or rather, the Joes are more serious. I rely on movies like Doom, Aliens, Alien Vs Predator, Predator 1 & 2, Stargate... Certainly more ideas come from a broader range of movies. My dio, "The Island" also pulls from the tv series Lost. I guess I just like horror in my 3.75" verse as compared to the 8" verse.

Today, I think I'll babble about the characters involved.

Interrogator. Not everyone has a huge role. There are cameos, appearances, background chars and then main characters. Some chars are just a vehicle for the story. In terms of Interrogator, he's a great figure. Everyone has built him up to be a badass as well. In War For Territory (or was it Transformations?), Interrogator shows up for a bit part and then leaves. He actually makes a comment that he's needed elswhere and going to the island. In this story, you actually see him again but what he's doing, it's still a mystery. He's a shady character.

Major Bludd. I wanted some sort of continuity from the last dio. I figure, if I'm doing a Joeverse, there needs to be some reptition of chars so it's not a WHOLE new Joe story w/o point of reference. By using Major Bludd (and Interrogator), you get a feel that I didn't suddenly make up another Joeverse. I love the figure too which is why he shows up. In my verse, Major Bludd is a more hands-on leader than Cobra Commander, Destro or Commander Vlasko (custom). I'm also working out his character. What's also fun is the reaction when Lt. Graydon meets him again.

Cobra Troopers. One thing I really wanted to showcase were the Blueshirts running around. I have yet to get them into a real action scene but I decided during these dios that the average foot troop should have the largest population. Not Vipers. And definitely not NeoVipers which are cream of the crop. I, unfortunately, haven't given them much action time, but I figure having them around is good enough.

Cobra Vipers. The step up from Blueshirts is probably how everyone feels about them. I wanted to showcase a lot of these bad boys too. What the reader is getting is that Cobra is full of foot troops, not specialty troops. It's also fun to plug in friend's names as characters too. I have yet to acknowledge Luis (Tone Guns), unfortunately.

Cobra NeoVipers. Let's get to the point here. Hasbro didn't follow thru on the Cobra Officer and I need someone to lead the Blueshirts. I decided on the NeoVipers since their filecard (as horribly written as it is) says they are officers of some sort. Well, who better to lead the Blueshirts? NeoViper Drew Swenson shows up again! Poor guy still hasn't been promoted.

Overkill Karl. There are several Overkill models. The original Overkill is doing his own thing and was used in Transformations. Overkill Karl is a cyborg whose program is faulty. He's a little nutty and not nearly as smart as the others. But he serves his purpose. He's just fun to have in to showcase a bit of odd humor and vanity.

Hellfire. This guy is the evil version of the GI Joe, Rollbar. Rollbar never had a place in the Joeverse. He was captured and turned into a gnarly SawViper. He and his buddies show up, only to go hunting for the creatures on the island. I thought it'd be fun to link the dios together by these characters. It helps the reader feel that they are in the same universe, that the world is the same as the other stories.

Everything should be answered in Ep2...

I think that's it for Cobra chars of Ep1. I'll discuss the good guys of Ep1 tomorrow if I get a chance.

Until Next Time.

ToyFair in the haus!

General Hawk (Justin) of GeneralJoes.com and the boss of Sigma 6 Central (.com) has found a way into Toyfair. Toyfair is basically a big ad for toy companies to show off what's up for the future. It's a chance for businesses to make or break a toyline. New stuff is revealed there and if it gets cool response, it's back to the drawing board. Some toys can be great, but if someone like Walmart shakes their collective heads, the idea is scrapped. Pics are flooding in from figures.com, toynewsi.com and s6c.joebattlelines.com.

2007 is also the 25th Anniversary of GI Joe. Hasbro is bringing back the 3.75" figures (after a bit of a hiatus from B&M (brick & mortar) stores. They are taking 25 characters from 1982-1985 and giving them new articulation and an updated sculpted look. While the initial pics looked great to me, seeing the stuff at ToyFair has me wanting more. Or rather, I'll just stick to what I have. No need to see my stuff!

On the flipside, there is the 8" figures. Sigma 6 was just a theme name and it's time is up. The 8" franchise of GI Joe is splitting 3 directions. Commando. Combat Team. Adventure Team. The latter 2 are nods to the old 70s toys. Adventure Team will be dealing with the Joes (and Cobra) fighting monsters and animals. MONSTERS? Yup. Mummies should show up, y'know? Maybe dinosaurs. We've seen alligators, tigers and snakes! My interest is in the Combat Team. But the best? Snake Eyes and his mech. Oh wow. Talk about neato!!!

Let's get to the gritty!

It took me a long time to get the next 3.75" dio rolling. When doing Transformations and War For Territory, I had grand ideas and the execution was decent at best. It was good in some places, not so hot in others. But the story carried it all thru. That was, I believe, almost a year ago. As I was doing the last chapter of War For Territory, I was already starting the Sigma6 dios. The S6 dios are their own entity and totally fun. The 1/18th Joes have a different feel and is more serious in terms of story and characterization.

Originally, I had wanted to do a sequel to the other 2 episodes. (Don't get me started on the categorizations, it's very confusing). It's pretty vague, but I never actually 'said' the two aliens from another world die. If you read into it enough, one knows that the green duder (forgot his name!) can open portals. So the reality is, they weren't thrown into the energy beam. I had seriously considered making the story so that Cobra goes back in and ends up in the aliens homeworld. Kinda like Mortal Kombat 2. It never got further than that.

Hooking up w/ Netflix, we began to understand just what we could really rent. I got sucked into Lost and watched a few more movies and thought it'd be great to do a GI Joe/Lost story. (then I watched the 1st season of 24 and damn!!!) It took months of thinking. Summer was turning into Fall. Fall was turning into Winter and in the NW, that means it's usually wet and cold. How was I supposed to do tropical landscapes in the winter when everything's dead. I was telling people that it wouldn't be shown until Spring or Summer.

Such would not be the case. I decided to create a whole new set that would act as the underground bunker like in Lost. It's not quite as anal as the other big set I did, but at the same time, it's better designed. ie; there's no map to follow and I won't bother showing off the possiblity of corridors in the Cobra research facility. Sure, I'd love to go all out w/ the sets but money and time (and THomas), it's not possible. What I've done, it works pretty darn well.

I did take some outdoor shots when the weather was nice. They came out well and Episode 1 was released about a week ago. On top of that, I had released a 5-page prologue (w/ bios!) as a teaser of what was to come. I just didn't expect Ep1 to show up as quickly!

I'm working on Ep2 when I can. It's one thing to shoot sequences. It's another to create pics. I've had to create a lot of pics for my dios as of late. Ep2 starts w/ a 4 panel fotoshopp'd sequence. I have more sequences to shoot. What's rather nice is that a lot of stuff that didn't find it's way into Ep1 (it was getting long), was immediately put into Ep2. Ep1, I wanted the team to find the installation and also enter it. I kept the finding and put entering into the next episode. I have to watch the MBs involved. I can't go past 10 mb and Ep1 is just under 9mb. The email systems don't like anything over 10mb being transferred, y'know?

Anyway, I'm working on Ep2 when I can.

Until Next Time.

OOPS!

Has it really been over a month since the last blog? I suppose not a lot has happened.

Emi and I recently went to the new Olympic Sculpture Park in Seattle. I've been dying to go ever since I first heard about it a year ago. We spent the day in Seattle and had lovely weather. Thomas enjoyed himself too. The sculptures are really neat and it's great to see a park in downtown Seattle. It's not quite finished but I'm sure it will be soon.

I've been working hard on my 3.75" dio. It was originally slated for a Spring or Summer release but I pushed ahead. The S6 dios are done for now and put on the backburner. I did a 5-page prologue just to get things rolling and well, things DID keep rolling and Ep1 was created about a week later!