The Diorama section has seen a lot of odd stuff happening in it as of late. I think it’s time to lay down some rules of what constitutes a GI Joe diorama. If most of you haven’t figured it out yet, GI Joe dioramas made by the fans are a lot different than the traditional definition of a diorama.

Simply put, GI Joe dioramas are stories told thru multiple pictures (in our case, photographs) and last several pages long. There are many different styles involved how the creators do their dios, but they usually contain some sort of graphic manipulation, movement, text and word balloons. Often, dios are several chapters, episodes, or parts long. They also have ads/posters as well as a cover. Dioramas tend to have credits involved too.

For proper examples, take a look at Luke Ellison’s, Violent Fix’s, Ion’s or Self-Modifier’s work.

What’s the difference between Photos and Dioramas? Very little other than that Photos could also be called “1-shots” or a short story told with a few pictures. Usually, 1-shots don’t incorporate a lot of photo manipulation or word balloons. Often, 1-shots are done to capture a very specific moment. Take a look at MightyMegs or Outriders work for proper examples.

When Joedios first started up, the standard was that the Dioramas section was a place to advertise the creator’s dio which was HOSTED on their own website. With the exception of Self-Modifier from the aforementioned, all those guys host their own dios. (SelfMod has found a home on GeneralJoes.com, iirc.) The Dioramas section work best when an ad or poster is uploaded and a link to the website where the story is hosted.

Now, it’s understandable that not everyone has their own website to host. (and no, photobucket.com is NOT the best way for presentation.) A new tactic was created by some of the members that could best be considered ‘an underground movement’. These guys created their dios, posted the ad and then for any who were interested, the stories were emailed out. ToneGunsRevisited, Lord Raven, Ender098, and myself have gone that route to get our stories out. It has worked very well.

Starting Monday (11.19), if I catch people putting pictures in the Dioramas section that actually belong in Photos, I’ll be erasing them. I would move the file(s) myself, but I don’t seem to have that option at this time. The Dioramas section needs to remain a place to advertise hosted stories.

Examples of inappropriately placed files.
http://www.joedios.com/dioramas/sho....php?i=9867&c=6
Reason. No proper story involved. Belongs in Photos.

http://www.joedios.com/dioramas/sho....php?i=9906&c=6
Reason. Traditional form of Diorama. Unfortunately, based on such creators as General Hawk, Luke Ellison, and SelfModifier, the definition has changed dramatically. Excellent set-up but belongs in Photos.

http://www.joedios.com/dioramas/sho....php?i=9506&c=6
Reason. Good cinematic look but the jumble of pictures w/o standard word balloons (w/ dialogue) doesn’t tell any sort of story.

Examples of proper Dioramas section use.

http://www.joedios.com/dioramas/sho....php?i=9704&c=6
Reason. Notice that this is an ad/cover for a diostory that is located at another website.

http://www.joedios.com/dioramas/sho....php?i=9344&c=6
Reason. Same as above.

http://www.joedios.com/dioramas/sho....php?i=9265&c=6
Reason. This is cutting it close. ToneGuns shows how a diostory can be told (using comicbookcreator). It’s only 6 pages long, which is why I’m letting it slide. But if it were longer, I’d ask him to send these out the underground way.

There is one other way if you want to show off your work in a dio-like format:
Post your pics in the FORUM and use the REPLY to tell the story. This is a way to work the system if you don’t have many shots or it’s a very short story. Stormer and ToneGuns have both tried this version out. Not as clean as using aforementioned Comic Book Creator or just doing single shots and running them ala slideshow…



Feel free to ask questions and I’ll see what I can do to answer things.

Just so we're clear.......I'm just finding out about this by reading Graham's post.........I had NO prior knowledge....

But, I agree with what he has presented here.

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I agree with that too.
What if we still forbid the 6 panels, as I did, and do all them "underground"? So we just post a page to let people know and coment. Sounds fair for everyone.

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I like this; you make some good points and it should help keep the site tidier so that a click on a post in the Dioramas gallery will either lead to a full story or contact info to get one, not just a larger version of that one thumbnail!

Just for clarification for anyone regarding the pictures-as-replies method Sonn mentioned I'd used, I've put a link below. It works particularly well for short stories with single-panel pictures I think, although if you scale comic pages right they should still be readable. I posted this in the Dioramas section but only the title pic appears in the thumbnail gallery, the rest are hosted at photobucket and I just immediately replied to the title post with embedded pics when I did it:

http://www.joedios.com/dioramas/sho...r&imageuser=398

I plan on using this method again if I ever get around to doing more stories, since I don't have my own website to host them on and it's easy enough to navigate through the panles (simply scroll down)!

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Last updated 2/5/10.

About time someone straightened the rules out on this!

Sorry I didn't get ahold of ya about this, GS. I've been stewing a few months on this and discussed the issue with a few other members to see what their feelings were on this. IF this was just a personal beef, then I wouldn't have written anything up.

TG, I'd prefer 5-pages but 6 is ok. Let's just not push it too far. You guys KNOW how long my stuff can get and it wouldn't be fair to throw down 50 pages, right?

Nononono........you can absolutely tell a story in your photo section....as long as the photos are not more than the already agreed upon 6-8 per member at one time.........

The Dio section is reserved for those members who have produced a longer format and linked it to another host site..........




And to think......if I had been the one who came up with this.......I'd have been labeled a b*tch......go figure

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Non illigitamus carborundum~Vos mos non effrego mihi

Coming soon: 'JoeSpecialOps'