I Started out here about two years ago, and I've seen a LOT of dios. I was reading dio stories about a year before I found this site, and I just wanted to cover some of the things I Like/Hate about some dios I've read. First...what I HATE;


1.) Poor stories.
Hi...meet the Joes....meet the cobra's.....BANG!!! FIREFIGHT!!!
That stinks. What about the purpose? What are their objectives?

2.) Poor Character Development.
Meet Duke.....poster child for America. He Always wins! BLAH! I like what DD did with duke and made him a shady character. Developed him a little. Make me FEEL something for your Characters!

3.) Pi$$ poor photography. I'm not a pro, and I don't intend to criticize anyone out there for their photography. My shots come out fuzzy and dark A LOT. Sometimes these things can play in your favor and make a scene more moody and sinister. What I can't stand (and I'm guilty of it, too...it's hard to control) is when you shoot an outdoor dio and the sun overlights your scenes. Or you take the shot and can see you neighbors house (out of scale) in the background.


4. ) Too much action. This is Caveat to #1. No development makes the action meaningless.

5.) Too Little Action. Understood that you need conversation and interaction to develop the story and characters, but 12 pages of dialog puts me to sleep. THIS IS GI JOE! NOT PAYTON PLACE OR DESPERATE HOUSEWIVES!!

6.) Unbelievability! Don't start a story out like it's gonna be "Black Hawk Down" and suddenly there are ninja's, Star Wars aliens and Transformers in it outta nowhere. I'm not knocking the sci-fi twists. I love some of the Star Wars/Transformers/ other figure crossovers. I'm talking about (and it doesn't happen here a lot, but I have seen it) is in the middle of the Story, the Joes are losing and "POOF" here's a Dragon or something incredible with no hint as to why or where and it saves the day. If you're familiar with "Deus Ex Machina" Plot device, this is what I'm talking about. This jumps out with some fantastic B.S. that doesn't meld with the rest of the story line.


Things I Like;

1.) Character developments. Sometimes I don't nessessarily like who or why...for example General Scarlett has Duke and Scarlett and item. I don't agree with it, but she develops the characters and makes them believable. When you put in the time to make things work....you're doing a GREAT job of developing characters. That makes a great storyline. And when you take a character and make him or her unique, give them a twist no one else has, that shows creativity.

2.) Great Stories. Give me a teaser. Let me know there's a method to the madness. You don't have to give away all your cards. Slowly develop your story and realize when your "objective" in your story is achieved...your story is over. If you wanna keep it going, you need sub-plots. And keep them unfinished from dio to dio. When one finishes, another should have been developed.

3.) The right mix of action and story. THIS IS THE HARDEST ELEMENT TO ACHIEVE IMHO!!! Too much action and you're guilty of having a crappy story. Too little and you have a BORING story. And it's hard to put a measure of what is the right amount. Sometimes you can lead up to a fight and end it there. Then the next story is the continuation of the battle. ViolentFx did this great with his last two episodes. I was chomping at the bit to see that big battle...and he didn't dissappoint!


4.) Good photography. Again, I'm no pro, but if all your shots are cruddy and out of focus, go back and work on it more. Look at the how-to's and try a few test shot in the "photo's" section and get some feedback. I like it when people say "Hey, more light" or "Less Light" or "different angle" more than when people are like "Great shot". Don't get me wrong....I love when people like my work, but I wonder who is just stroking my ego and what can I do better. Sometimes a good story can make up for bad photography!

Again, I'm not purposely knocking anyones stuff here, just posting what, to me, makes good dios.

What do you think? What have I missed?