Don't forget that by taking pictures of our toys, it means we have to play with them. I mean, pose them and stuff. At least we have an EXCUSE to collect and play with them, right? UNLIKE other toy collectors! :p

Heh heh, good point G! I always tease my wife when she buys Beanie Babies sealed in plastic boxes that she'll never open. I don't see the point. I want to get my Joes dirty, if you know what I mean. I want to enjoy them, not just look at them. That's why I've never understood MIB and MOC collectors. Are they Joe fans, or are they in it for the money? :confused:

Hammerfel,
I think your post was the most complete and was most what I was looking for. I think we ALL feed off our audiences's praise. It's great we can share this hobby and give each other feedback, help and assistance. That's why I spend more time at this site than any other. I too listen to criticism and take it to heart. If theres a suggestion that will work, I try it. It doesn't always come out for the better, but if it is a SOUND idea and doesn't take away from the way I portray certain characters or elements of the story, I try it. I think the question I am getting, maybe, is where do you draw the line? Where do you say "That might work in a dio, but that's NOT What I do!

For example someone mentioned before that my sets are typically dark. Well, that's part of my story....my "JoeVerse" as you will, and that's where I draw the line. To take Bright, outdoor pictures would be a dead giveaway that it's not something I made. Sort of like ViolentFX. If he started shooting outside using natural lighting, I wouldn't know his work by looking at it.....he makes awesome indoor sets and his lighting is what I like to call "Faux Natural" . It's awesome. He is one of my inspirations and I hope to be as good as he is someday! I can see one shot in his dios and tell it's his work. I personally can't do that with mine yet....can anyone else look at my pics and tell them by a certain "tag" trait?


Another Example is General Scarlett, in her JoeVerse, Duke and Scarlett are an Item. A lot of people don't like that, but it's "what she does"..if she gives in, the work no longer becomes an expression of her but a cheap imatative attempt to please the fans.....

Do you have a line? Where is it? What is it? I think that was what I was driving at....how close are you willing to go to giving up your "artistic license" to please the audience?

Thanks all for the awesome input, not only to this thread, but to my work, be it pictures, reviews, how-to's or dios! Your input, although not always agreed with by me, is appreciated and listened to! And here's to many more wonderful years of "JoeDios"......

This is me in a nutshell!

I do my dio stories mostly for myself, I'm doing the stories that I would like to read, and I love the way the story comes out almost like it is in my head. Of course feedback is important, because if nobody liked what I was doing, I would probably spend my time doing something else, but I enjoy having a creative outlet. If you tell a story you like, there is a good chance most people will like it too, so I pretty much will tell the story the way I want to, and hope the audience likes it, which it seems to so far. I've pretty much only gotten constructive criticism, and it's usually things I didn't think to incorporate before. While feedback is important I can't worry too much about it, because if it isn't fun for me to do it, there's no point in doing it.

Finally time to write something :)

In my case it's a bit of everything from things mentioned above.
I do love to play and pose my Joes (and yes - I DO like to get them dirty. After all - I got all my childhood collection and they look well even though I played with them a lot and quite rough sometimes :) ), I also like to tell stories and more or less my dios are something I always wanted to see on the TV series and so on.
The line? I got it the golden way for me - I more or less know what the audience would like to see and include it, but it's mostly in case of fighting and blowing up stuff. Then - characters, plot, figure selection - it's all my invention and I don't care much for what was in comic or TV. As you can see anyay :)

Well, I'm still working on my first ever diostory, and I am doing it for myself; but of course I expect some feedback from others, so I can get a different POV of my work, which I think is always positive, not only that, but necessary. I could do it for my sole pleasure, but then I wouldn't be able to know if my story is really interesting, or which are its weak points. I expect some reaction from it, be it positive or negative (mainly positive, I hope!).

That says it all.... :)