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Old 02-22-2007, 10:45 AM #2
ender098
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I personally like the way ViolentFx does his, but unfortunately, as of this time, I don't have a website to lay my dio out picture by picture. I tried that once with my very First Dio "Fallout" ( www.geocities.com/ender098/FALLOUT1.HTM ) but Geocities doesn't provide you with the bandwidth to show a dio in all it's glory, so I switched to Comic Book Creator to make my dios in a "portable" .PDF format, at least until I can afford some webspace out there!!

What do I think makes a good dio? hmmmmmm.....

First off, attention to detail. No one is perfect, but standing up a bunch of figures in your back yard and just having them shoot at each other is weak. If you're gonna make buildings and don't have doll houses, paint cardboard boxes and take a torch or something to them to make them look ruined. A perfect example is my sewer pic. I could have just stuck my Riddick figure in a cardboard tube and shined a flashlight in on him and took the pic. But I painted the tube, installed lights and made fake water to make it more realistic. I know a lot of people don't have the resources or money to invest to make hollywood quality models but how much is a can of gray primer paint? $.97 at WalMart. Just try a little harder to get some realism. (And if you're out of ideas, ask someone! I've helped a lot of people on this site make better dios and I have accepted a lot of advice and input to make my dios look better!) I think realism is the first thing I'm looking for! And don't get your wheelbarrow or SUV in the pics, please! Nothing irks me like reading a REALLY GREAT dio and right when all hell breaks loose, seeing your SUV or neighbor's house in the background. (take a lot of shots from different angles and use the BEST shots.)

Secondly, you need a PLOT! You need a FOME as we say in the Marines. (Focus of Main Effort) What are they doing and why? For example, my first dio (Fallout) started out with a bunch of Iron Grenadiers stealing a nuke from a former Soviet Republic. Later you find out they are NOT IRON GRENADIERS but Vipers lead by Zartan framing Destro for the theft. Why? Well, if I ever get around to finishing the story...you'll see! Why was Chris trying to become a BlueShirt? To impress his dad because he was a selfish, theiving jerk. Why is Cobra after Riddick? You get the Idea! A plot is more than GI Joe and Cobra meeting in the Jungle, yelling "YO Joe!" and "Cobra!!!" respectively and shooting!

Thirdly, Character development. If all your characters can say or do is yell "Yo Joe" and give SitReps and Frag Orders during your dio, hell, take out the Joes and use generic PTE action figures. PTE figures look like they have ZERO personality, so they will fit right in! Don't get me wrong, you need action to keep from boring the audience, but balance it with character interaction and inner conflict. I see so many dios that are one sided this way. Either 100% action with no focus, or a drama that need to be in "The Young and the Restless" and not in a GI Joe dio Story!

Now, some dios are in chapters, so it's ok to keep one Chapter all action and one drama. But if you're ENTIRE story is unbalanced, no one will read it. I'm not the greatest at following my own rules, either...it's hard, but that's what I look for in a Dio! And that's what I TRY to make with my Dios!

Just my $.02...


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