Lance Quazar
Well-known member
AC_in_SD said:Wow! This is really phenomenal work. The detailing in the scenery, especially in that first setting, the Nazi storehouse, is absolutely terrific.
Hey now!!! Thank you VERY much for this lengthy, thoughtful commentary! VERY appreciated.
Yeah, the storehouse was an opportunity to showcase, even if only briefly, a bunch of the random do-dads and objects I've been collecting for six years, every since the Indy figures came out, that I thought would make great props or display pieces. I tried to cram in as much stuff as I could.
AC_in_SD said:I really like the fact that Indy has sort of a hybrid of his standard attire and a military uniform, and the way you had that idea of losing helmets woven into the story really works well to create an implied history with Lizzie. What head was the base for Lizzie, anyway?
Thanks very much. As much as we all love the "classic" Indy look, I thought coming up with a variation would be a fun way to mix things up, as well as be more accurate for the wartime setting.
Glad the Lizzie/Indy stuff was working. Given the way this story unfolds, there was no time to introduce new characters gradually or give them much of a spotlight, so I kind of had to shorthand the relationship. We'll hopefully learn a little more about Lizzie as the story unfolds.
Lizzie's head is from a GI Joe Scarlett figure, often nicknamed "pilot Scarlett."
http://www.yojoe.com/action/08/scarlett10.shtml
But her hair is from two different Joe figures. The ponytail is from a previous version of Scarlett and the "wind-tossed" hair is from a comic pack "Agent Courtney Krieger".
AC_in_SD said:Your ninja assassin made me slap my forehead. I just sold my Hogun, but of course he would have been perfect for some ninja custom!
Yeah, I originally had a different head for that figure (another GI Joe), but I agree, Hogun is just fantastic. I actually wound up selling the rest of the body on a different custom forum, all I wanted was the head!
AC_in_SD said:I'm a bit of a writer myself. Since photonovels are closer to comic book storytelling than they are to cinema, you might be interested to browse through some of Scott McCloud's books to get ideas on how to make the most of the medium. Alan Moore also had a good (but very short) book on comic writing. I do recall him saying that a comic has some advantages over film. You can play with time and focus in a way that would be awkward in a movie, stretching out a second over several panels or focusing on a relevant image while characters speak via word bubbles while remaining out of scene. While I think your story is rolling very well, these could be some fun concepts to play with.
I actually HAVE read "Understanding Comics" by McCloud a few years back and it really is a great resource. It's true, there are some amazing things you can do with the medium. Although I'm not exactly sure how much I'll be able to do those things going forward (due as much to time as to my limited imagination and lack of experience with the format.)
I did give a lot of thought to making this in a more "comic book" style (with different sized panels and so forth). It definitely is much more comic than movie, of course, but I ended up not doing it at least partly out of laziness.
AC_in_SD said:One last thing: Mayan gods and spears of destiny sound like perfectly plausible plot elements in the world of Indiana Jones. They sound cool, mysterious, and we know just enough about them to know we would rather Indy have them than the Nazis. See? How hard is that? I would trade your MacGuffins for all the crystal skulls in creation!
Well, I never had a problem with the idea of a crystal skull, per se, but there were so many other issues with that one that it's best to leave those to a different discussion, but thanks for the compliments.
The long, boring version of the genesis of this story is that I had mapped out a plan for an Indy photonovel that was going to be about the Spear of Destiny (even though I think that's kind of played out as a macguffin) if only because Hasbro made a damn spiffy version of the spear already (and because finding new, exciting macguffins is often damn hard!)
But when the contest rolled around, the rules were you had to use the "Mayan Secret" as the title. So I scrapped all my original plans and dove into Mayan mythology. And because I happened to already have those Mayan statue/monuments, I tried to bend the mythology to incorporate them.
But I still wanted to cram in the Spear there just for fun.
AC_in_SD said:One last, last thing: Maybe it's just because Stormshadow is the one figure I find at every yard sale or swap meet, but when I look at Short Round, I see Stormshadow instead. The Power of the Jedi Bespin Guard head would probably be my choice for a grown-up Shorty.
Hey, I totally get that. Often times when I see customs, it bothers me if the head they're using is already SO identifiable as a different character. I think it's a bad idea if you're making a Star Wars custom, for instance, to use a Han Solo head to represent a different character.
As such, it's often very advisable to use the "generic soldier" figures for your customs. All those random pilots and troopers and whatnot that are just supposed to be "Guard #1" or whatever and use those for your new characters.
By that metric, the Bespin Guard would have been a great choice for Short Round and would have avoided the issues you have.
Now, in my case, since I have done my darndest to forget those "Joe" movies, I don't really have the Storm Shadow association you do, but I don't blame you.
Unfortunately, those soldier figures I used in the beginning are just a bit bigger than your standard Star Wars/Indy figures. And the Bespin Guard head would have looked comically minuscule on that soldier body. So that was really the only reason why I did that. Oh, and because it's an older figure without a removable ball-jointed head, it wouldn't have been possible to attach it to the body for the second Short Round custom that appears in this chapter (without a LOT of extra work.)
Hence the Storm Shadow head, but I'm not unsympathetic to your concern.
AC_in_SD said:One last, last, last thing (for real this time): Thanks for bringing back Short Round and for making him such an integral part of your story. He was always one of my favorites.
Yeah, I always wanted to see him show up in SOME capacity. Bummer he wasn't given a cameo in KOTCS in the wedding! Alas. I was always a big fan of the character, too!
AC_in_SD said:One last, last, last, last thing: Yank magazine. LOL!!!!!
Heh. Glad you liked it!
AC_in_SD said:Can't wait for part 3!
Thanks again VERY much for your incredibly thoughtful comments. I'll be working diligently on Part 3 in the coming days, so stay tuned!