My Column About Dios

[Monte Williams]

A while back, many of you helped me out with some questions I had about the history of dios for a column I was working on. Said column has finally been published, though ironically it doesn't go into the history of dios. (Good thing, too, since it was after it was submitted that I received most of the information that was new to me.)

More unfortunate for me is that they didn't use any of the dozen or so dio images I linked them to, which is unusual for them; they only used one of mine, which I can only suppose is a permission issue...?!?

Whatever the case, it makes the piece rather bland, visually, added to which there's no visual context for readers who aren't already familiar with dios.

My only other disclaimer is that PopMatters is a pop culture criticism site, and so am honest in the column about the quality and mainstream viability of the average dio. I hope no one takes offense; I acknowledge in the piece that my own dios boast the same flaws.

Anyhoo, here it is:

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/column/120081-diorama-rama-can-playtime-produce-art/


Previous pieces you might enjoy:

Speculation and study of Rise of Cobra toys:

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/column/110200-g.i.-joes-future-hangs-in-the-balance/


A love letter to Sigma 6:

http://www.popmatters.com/pm/column/how-far-will-a-man-go-for-gi-joe/

Thanks!

-Monte

[Otto the Otter]

It's been a while since I've been able to read an article all the way through.

You're right, dio-makers don't make the dio for anyone but themselves. There is that one book that Hasbro put out, but truthfully, I've seen photos on this site that are better than what was in that book. If dios were anything more than just a hobby, their would be more books out there featuring them.
I feel the dios serve a dual purpose. Photography has always been a hobby of mine, and G.I.*JOE is something new I can take pictures of. There is a certain challenge to it as well.
Usually when I set up the figures, I'll take several pictures from different angles. To me, the challenge is to make it look like I'm taking pictures of something that's happening in front of me, not a bunch of toys. There are some challenges to taking pictures of a Joe figure that aren't there when taking pictures of a landscape or your sister sitting on the lawn with the dog.
There's also a third aspect to dios; the story telling. For those of us that have made a Dio story, although for the most part, you are doing it for yourself, but part of it is for other people's enjoyment (otherwise you'd never post a picture on theis site), and you want to make it interesting for others to see and read.
So, collecting, getting the right photo of what you are trying to convey to others and being able to come up with a good story, can really make a person expand their creativity.
I, like you, have tried to write a novel, but for some reason I find getting out there every other day and sanpping the pictures and coming back in and editing them more satisfying than sitting there typing out the story.

[zedhatch]

Overall a good article, it was a bit unfocused in that there was no central line of thought, but that is reasonable with the subject matter.

I think some direct quotes from dio authors would have made the article seem more alive. Also it would have given more insight into what exactly you were getting at (the why's of what we do).

A couple of direct thoughts:

And while Twisted Toyfare Theater is sporadically entertaining, it is produced for laughs and has never represented a serious effort to advance the craft of dios.

The statement implys 2 things. First that comedy is not a worthy effort, which denotes your whole article. Mel Brooks, Monty Python, Voltaire, ect were all examples of worthy endevors in comedy.

The more professional dio comics get… hell, the more competent they get,

That I think is a very poor choice of wording. While I can understand amaturish ect. Competent implys people who do this (including yourself) are lacking in some fashon which I would argue is false.

Art is completely subjective, its in technique you can begin to make judgements. However competant actually makes implications of the artist him or herself. That is a shame, I do hope it was a bad editing choice. Critisim is ok, vieled insults aren't

Also in the article you sighted I thought you miss a really incredible quote:

We are starting to see new kinds of storytellers, who grew up in the age of action figures, who take seriously what these extractable elements can contribute to our appreciation of the story and I think we will see more. I don’t think this potential has been fully realized, but I do get the sense that people in Hollywood and the toy industry are developing a better understanding of what toys can add to our immersion into the fictional world.

I mean that just speaks volumes towards what you were saying.

[troopsofdoom]

I think it's great you're spreading the word about dios.

Too bad they didn't post the other pictures, I think it would have impressed a lot of outsiders, maybe got them into the scene.

[pbarny1701]

I think you don't know enough about Star Wars dios/displays/collecting to comment. Many Star Wars collectors try to display their loose items in scene specific dios and may spend more on that area of display than the actual figures and vehicles in it. In that regard their are many 1 shot dio-ists.

There probably are just as many people who do SW dio stories as Joe dioists; it's just as a percentage that is so small due to the larger fan base overall of SW.

[zedhatch]

There probably are just as many people who do SW dio stories as Joe dioists; it's just as a percentage that is so small due to the larger fan base overall of SW.

I said before that this is also an issue of somantics, it seems each fan community has a different name for what is essentally the same thing. SW calls it Photo-novels, Joe's refert to as Dio-stories, I forgot the name that TF calls it right now, but I am sure I will remember after I hit the reply button. I have seen a couple of things done in He-man communties as well (Useually you really have to look cause it gets buried in the fan fiction sections). Of course there is also Photo webcomics (Most prominantly useing legos) but that is a class unto itself.

Anyway, All this info didn't get to Monte cause i was in a bit of a rush to take care of real life so I only answered him after he turned it in apparently.

[Scuba Steve]

I think it's great your getting it out there too! I have always been into Joe and Photography/graphic design has always been a hobbie/skill. Being able to combine the two has brought an exciting new dimension to toy collecting that MIB toys displayed on walls and shelves could never do! I have always said that doing these dios (wither it be story or single shot) is how we as adults get to play with our toys! :) Nice job Monte. :)

[Sonneilon]

I feel that there is a slight sarcastic and negative tone in the article. Yes, it's a pretty geeked thing this community does and we might even acknowledge it, but we have FUN doing it. It's a hobby that we do for ourselves and to an extent, for others joy.

For me, it's the story that I love as well as the graphical look at that each person is capable of.

The whole "amateurish affairs" to me, says that we are ALL incompetent. I suppose the pros would be getting paid but some of us DO pro-grade stuff. DaveCW comes to mind. And keep in mind, Luke Ellison's amateurish fotography landed him a short stint with Hasbro for the Marvel division. It sounds like we'll never be more but that's not the point in the end. It's something we are learning and always trying to get better at.

I feel that there are people on the JD who SHOULD be working as a PRO cuz certainly, the studio shots are pretty boring and not very good even in the art of FOCUSING the camera!

Aren't the diostories the stories WE want to tell. It is stuff that was never told in comic or cartoon (or movie). I'm guessing like with any toyline where people are doing fotographs, the creators like to give characters/figures their own spin. Often times, it's when the companies don't push the character/figure.

Also, it would have been nice for there to have been indication that people WHO do this hobby are around the world. In the JD's case, there are representatives from Europe, South America, Phillipines, Canada and Australia.

It was good that you mentioned that different toylines call their 'hobby' different things. I feel it would have been nice to help DEFINE what a 'diorama' is in terms of the JD for the world to see. That Diorama is different than DioStory which is different than the 1-shots people do.

Still, that article took a lot to write about it and it's great you made the effort.

[Death_at_Midnight]

Nice article. I enjoyed reading it. Full of interesting information and perspective. Thought provoking as well. Now I have a lot of thoughts to give feedback on.

The article does touch upon certain perspectives of why people do dios, some of which I do disagree with. In my view, I take dios as an artist. I do the art for not just for myself, but for everyone who will view it.

When I render a 3D scene, which in a way is not very distant from a physical diorama, of course there is a level of self purpose where I render the scene for myself. As long as it's a hobby for me, and not a job, the first motivation is usually for myself (with exception of course). The second motivation for me is to make a scene no one has seen before, ever. That is where I get my kicks from.

Before joining JoeDios, I used to write stories and design virtual worlds for various online games, usually the old MUD games. These games tend to be based on a Dungeons and Dragons style. And so I designed, programmed, and made many virtual worlds. Like 3D, I got my kicks knowing and imagining what the players would experience when they were to go through the rooms I created.

Likewise, when I write programs, since I am a software engineer, it doesn't matter if it's for a job in which I am paid to design a program a specific way with a specific look, or for myself in which I can design it in whatever way I want, I get my kicks thinking how the user will interact with the app.

My diostory I am writing currently, I spend a lot of time on it. There are some 3D renders, there is a 3D printer which is really rather expensive, there's 3D models, lots of photos, and many files describing scenes and even a storyboard. I'm not doing all this for my entertainment, but for the readers who will read the story.

My satisfaction comes from knowing I did a good job depicting my joeverse to all of you.

:-) So, I am happy I am able to share that bit of added perspective with you. Like I said, I enjoyed the article and thought it was pretty darn good. The topic is more involved than I think the article gets into. There are different reasons people do do to express themselves. It's an artform, and art itself is very hard to define definately. Indeed, the topic would make for a good sociology paper of the types I used to do. I enjoyed the article.

[Dreadnok Dread]

Pretty good article, Of course it could not cover the whole aspect of dioramas! From the sci fi effects of the 80's to the museum displays still viewed today. Gi joe has alot of dios stories but one cannot leave Starwars,transformer, and heman out of the loop and those are just a taste of the dio stuff that there is. Alot of DnD and mech warrior stuff has always incorporated Dio scenery of castles and battles but that also depends on the players.

I did find a slight tone when it came to the amateurism of the hobby. I in no way find alot of the stuff I see on flickr and joe dios amateurish, some of the people on the site actually sell there dioramas in a professional and well established way.

For me I am already a professional artist and designer this "hobby" is a stress reliever for me so why would I wanna make it extra work for myself by competition or trying to make it into another profession. I like telling stories and having fun, and if in the process I have been approached by comic shops and hobby shops to make or use my dio displays or pictures then good but it doesn't have to be another job or more work or something more i need to be stressed out about! Its funny and creative but doesn't mean it can't be serious, I always try to go for the real world view of my joe-verse and my shots!

I will admit guys some of yah are kinda harsh that is only one view and take on the subject and monte did post asking for answers and thoughts! but everyone has there opinion! cheers DD ;)

P.s. bad grammar can mean the person doesnt care for grammar on the net or maybe just maybe that english is there second or third language. Not that there illiterate in anyway!




[color=indigo]*added some spacing - S*[/color]

[Roland da Thompson Gunner]

While I can appreciate articles that are critical of this hobby (it helps re-enforce that I'm not the only one seeing some of these things) this article reads as though you found one decent talking point and then stretched it into an entire article.

The main point of contention I have with the article is the way it comes off as you don't quite "get" fandom. The main site you use is Joedios, however the vast majority of people on this website don't make Dio Stories, which you constantly refer to solely as "dios" this and the paragraph dealing with Joe fans and the Marvel comic. There's been a comic vs. cartoon debate for 13 years. The things I listed plus other people acknowledging that all sorts of other hobbies have there own version of the thing sort of makes the article hard to take credibly.


Please don't mistake me as some butthurt G.I. Joe fan, I haven't read a Dio Story since 2006 and I haven't enjoyed one since Zartan's Domain's GI J was still online. I'm more of a butthurt fan of critical G.I. Joe articles



Also would you mind explaining this“This is the most punk-rock thing I’ve ever done.”? In my experience that's something said by people without a lot of punk rock exposure

[cyko]

[QUOTE=Monte Williams]“This is the most punk-rock thing I’ve ever done.”[/QUOTE]
Insomuch that photographing toys in public is counter-culture, I'll agree. I'm very self-aware if I'm highly visible when I shoot outside. But it's not a bloody-knuckle, shoot-up-heroin kind of hobby. For me, anyway.

I'm surprised to hear that Star Wars fans don't dio. Too much criticism?

So how does toy diorama making compare with more traditional subjects? Nobody would call a Civil War diorama "geeky" or a tribute to Iwo Jima fanboy-driven. I think there's something else there. An artistic desire to create? I mean, photographing fruit bowls and landscapes isn't nearly as fun. Or frustrating.

[pbarny1701]

[QUOTE=cyko]I'm surprised to hear that Star Wars fans don't dio. Too much criticism?[/QUOTE]

They do. As I stated earlier, the pure total is probably the same but because of the overall size of the fan base, finding them is much harder because they can be drowned out. I also said more SW fans build dios than Joe fans as well, its just for display in recreating scenes.

[Sonneilon]

ToneGuns and I discussed the SW Dio thing and all we could come up with is that George Lucas shuts down sites that do SW dios. The few that we have have had either legal disclaimers or approval by Lucas's company. I'm sure there ARE SW dio people, it's just we don't see them cuz the lawyers go after them or something.

[pbarny1701]

[QUOTE=Sonneilon]ToneGuns and I discussed the SW Dio thing and all we could come up with is that George Lucas shuts down sites that do SW dios. The few that we have have had either legal disclaimers or approval by Lucas's company. I'm sure there ARE SW dio people, it's just we don't see them cuz the lawyers go after them or something.[/QUOTE]

So I'm just imagining niennunbsuniverse.com (which many people have upload Frank's files here), yakface.com, customalliance.com, etc as hosting and having dio stories/photo novels?

[zedhatch]

[QUOTE=Sonneilon]ToneGuns and I discussed the SW Dio thing and all we could come up with is that George Lucas shuts down sites that do SW dios. The few that we have have had either legal disclaimers or approval by Lucas's company. I'm sure there ARE SW dio people, it's just we don't see them cuz the lawyers go after them or something.[/QUOTE]

Need to do your research plenty of threads in the links below (besides mine that is LOL):

http://www.yakfaceforums.com/phpBB3/viewforum.php?f=71&sid=e3e83df2cb18ebc83b98e3768863ef36

http://threads.rebelscum.com/postlist.php?Cat=&Board=Fanart

http://www.imperialshipyards.net/SMF/index.php?board=88.0

And just for point of fact Lucas has always been very supportive of fan related endevors. He even gives awards each year to the best fan films (None of which have any sort of approval or endorcement prior to winning, really even after beside the award). In an interveiw last year (I think) he said that it keeps the property alive and going.

[Cap]

Diorama, Dio-stories, even the "one-shot" are fingers on the same hand. Each has the ability and the beauty of telling a story, be it comical or dramatic.

I think a touch more research was needed, and surely a better cross-section of those that are and have been dio story artisans to show the diversity. Zed is a family man who once was a business owner. General Hawk Justin is an IT professional in a family of such. Some of the dios that I have done for others include military personnel, entertainment business owners, students of all academia, and even a few business housewives.

In the reply I sent to the article shown, the diorama with figures and sets is as old as Egypt. I have seen diorama that were not "war table" pieces at the Met in NYC, as well as a few that were created by the Norse themselves depicting certain memorable voyages and incidents. Like our ancient fellow creative people, we tell stories as well.

The medium of this craft is no different than that of the production miniature and set designer of a large budget movie. When I was looking at sets that inspired me, I was surprised (and a touch envious) that the sets/miniature domiciles made for the Lord of the Ring movies were made from the exact same materials I have used to flesh out many peoples ideas. As I noted in my reply to the article (if approved), an account of that size for creating something we all enjoy is 'life-changing' money.

Pity that those that have shattered the ceiling with their works, such as Jedsoon's Large Army which won accolades were not mentioned. Though it was animated, one cannot negate that it was still created with Joes and sets.

[Monte Williams]

Thanks for the feedback, folks.

I hadn't read the piece since I submitted it several weeks ago, and I'm pretty unhappy with it now that I look back on it.

It's one of those cases where you think it'll be easier to write about something you enjoy, but for whatever reason it is more difficult.

I'm still really disappointed that they didn't use any images (not least 'cause it took me FOREVER to compile a collection of them with our slow internet), but most of the flaws are my fault.

[Sonneilon]

Actually, TG and I were looking for SW Dio-specific sites like what most JOe guys use for their dio stories. THis is as opposed to guys hosting images and then putting them into a forum. Therefore, while the 3 sites that have been listed don't count in our eyes because they aren't fotograph-specific. But thanks for listing those.

The only site we ARE aware of is this one :

http://www.shadowsfanfilm.com.br/cenariesusa.html

And notice the copyright notice at the bottom.

[zedhatch]

The copywrite thing is a CYA move, I have seen Joe and transformer sites do the same and as far as I know they are not required either.

On the picutre specific site, well part of that is the nature in which the SW bring the medium, usually in the threads themselves and copy and paste to other forums. Why is SW fandom this way, well from what I have gathered (by actually speaking to them) most haven't got HTML knowledge and apparently the ones who started were even worse. The [aste from photobucket method seems to be the norm, odd to me granted but no less or more than making your own pages on a website. Point is the way they developed is vastly different than Joe dios.

Photocomics, by the same token, developed differently as well. Most have the daily or multi daily format of thier drawn cousins. It makes one or the other no less viable, useable, or even valid. But the nature of how these things developed in different communities plays heavily into how they are presented, presearved and who exactly hosts them and where.

[Sonneilon]

Ah right. Thx Zed. Myself, I'd rather a gallery be available like here to check stuff out. For SW, I don't want to scroll thru different topics, y'know? TG feels the same way and if you find any REALLY cool dio stories, we'd love the links.

[zedhatch]

Well since you asked, one of my faves is this one called rycrof enlone:

the latest:

http://www.yakfaceforums.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=71&t=5268

He has an archive thread, but I can't find it right now. Anyway its a cool story with great effects.

On the funny side is Yak's pub, totally hilarious SW dio/comic. Is on hiatus for a bit while Nitcom deals with real life, but I am sure he will be back soon. But plenty of funny stuff in the archives to enjoy.

http://yakspub.com/

[Sonneilon]

Thx Zed. Hopefully TG sees this too so he can get jiggy with things.