I know I’ve been mostly using this “blog format” as a say to report news or link to my reviews, and I’ve too rarely simply used it as its intended function…just to write and BS about some of my favorite things.
This is going to get long and elaborate, so click the “Read the Rest of this Entry” link below to dive right in.
This series has been a whole hell of a lot of fun.
While I will admit the stop motion was a bit rough at some earlier parts of VisorHUNgary’s work, he has absolutely hit his stride, and this latest stuff is really great. He has posted the latest installment of his Rise of Cobra era stop motion animation on YouTube. I am amazed at how well he does this. Some great special effects, seamless animation. Pure excellence.
His latest installment in “G.I. Joe: Cobra 3″ is Chapter 3, but I’m embedding parts 1 – 3 just so you don’t miss anything. Impressive. Keep in mind, this is the third part of his Cobra adventure, so you should check out his channel to watch everything you might have missed.
Please check out his full YouTube Channel as well, he’s got a bunch more great stuff there.
A while ago I showcased some pretty neat stop-motion videos from VisorHUNgary’s YouTube page, and I’m happy to report he has updated once again! G.I. Joe: Cobra Part 1 and Part 2 have been posted for a while, and now it’s time for Part 3.
You know, I thought the previous two parts were pretty neat. This one is incredible. His skills have obviously developed and evolved as he’s done more of these, and I am extremely impressed with how G.I. Joe: Cobra 3 (Part 1) is looking so far. The gun fire, the action, the relatively seamless animation. It’s really good stuff.
Check out the embedded video below, and be sure to hit up VisorHUNgary’s YouTube Channel to catch up on past installments of G.I. Joe: Cobra as well as some great Masters of the Universe stuff as well.
I’ve covered the awesome guys from TS118 plenty of times in the past…and they’ve given me good reason to do so. They do some absolutely awesome work. A big thanks to GlenMarc (Flash) once again for putting us in the loop for one of their latest projects…another Dynamic Modular Diorama, entitled “Operation: Snake Rising”. Here are some notes:
- Inspired by oriental movies and ninja-themed displays.
- Displayed last weekend October 2-3, 2010 at the Robinson’s Place Manila Mall (Philippines) in celebration of Collecticon 2010, organized by Hobbiworx and PinoyToyKolektors (PTK).
- Brought to you by the same team that came up with O: Shock and Awe, O: Killzone, O: Forced Entry, O: Gothic Serpent, O: Sidewinder Verde, O: Grayia Seize-r, and O: Ivory Blanket…the Philippines only local 3 3/4 (1:18) Joe online community..TS118
- This diorama changes display every three to four hours. It is the first of its kind in the Philippines for action figures (regardless of scale). We dubbed it as a “dynamic modular diorama” or DMD. In this case, it is called Dynamic Modular DOJO-rama.
- Took 3 weekends of preparation and actual dio-work to complete (figures/structures/vehicles). Mostly done on Saturdays only.
- Collaboration done by at least 8-10 members (builders, pledgers/financiers, consultants, etc.).
- Dojo panels allowed the team to display it as U-shaped to show dojo interior, or in a straight line to simulate the dojo facade.
- Featured GI Joe customs in 25A body (Slice, Dice, Jinx DDP, unmasked SS & SE) plus hidden mickeys (Deadpool Sensei, Kakashi Sensei, Deathstroke, Rha’s Al Ghul, and a tribute to the legend…BRUCE LEE).
They also have a dedicated Photobucket album here, and I’ve mirrored a number of the awesome images below:
Yes, tomorrow is “Labor Day” which means I do not have to go into the office (though I am on call as always… gotta love being in IT), so I should have some extra time to get some content ready for posting.
Last week I received the new Pursuit of Cobra Bravo Vehicles, the VAMP and the Fury, and I am in the process of gathering images for the review. I also managed to snag some Pursuit of Cobra figures at retail (*GASP!*) so I’m hoping to possibly have a review of one of them leading into next week as well.
I know news seems a bit slow these days, but I’ll be doing my best to get content rolling again.
I also got another awesome package in the mail from the generous folks from the Canadian JoeCon, and as always, I’ll work with them to get reviews up in their awesome newsletter as well as on the site as well, so keep your eyes open for those, too.
I will admit, too, that the Pursuit of Cobra and G.I. Joe: Resolute are really fueling my dio-story fire once again as well…and with a break in “continuity” in the wings with G.I. Joe: Renegades, it almost seems like a natural time to work in my own little twist on the G.I. Joe universe and finally finish Darkness Falls. I can’t promise anything, but the sets are pretty much built, the story is written, and all I need is the time. Which of course, is the hardest thing to come by.
We’ll see.
Hopefully the pay off will be worth it. I’m usually my own harshest critic, but I must admit, I am very happy with the way my dio-story universe wraps up in Darkness Falls. It feels like some great closure to my own story, and could potentially provide a bridge to future events as well. Maybe once the kids are in college. ;)
The throne room doesn’t see a whole lot of use in Darkness Falls, but what it’s used for plays a critical part in the story, so I wanted to capture the spirit of Cobra Commander’s “home” so to speak. Huge thanks to dino-viper on JoeSightings.com for the idea about the terrariums (which I ended up finding on eBay here), and I was really psyched when I found that crystal globe…one cheap rubber snake later and there’s a neat statue for the room as well.
Overall, I’m pretty happy how it came out. I wanted to add a different color scheme with the steps under the throne, but I’m not real happy with the results there. Beyond that, though, I think it looks decent. It’ll work.
So the construction on my diorama sets for Darkness Falls have been continuing on, even if I haven’t said much about it recently. I had three fairly elaborate sets to build, and I think they’re pretty much squared away. I need to add some trimming to the throne room, but the foundations are all set. The three sets are as follows:
COBRA Foyer
Basically a large cavernous room the focus of a pretty major shoot out. The last element I really needed were sandbags, and as I should have expected, Marauder, Inc. came through! They carry some great PTE sand bags that I used for the set, though I did clean them out of all their stock. I need to pick up a few more once they get more in.
COBRA Tech Center
This was pretty straight forward, thanks to Joe Amaro’s fantastic G.I. Joe Base templates. Some foamcore, some print cartridges, glue sticks, and I was able to cobble together a pretty effective COBRA tech center. Tried to make it appear as if it was an underground room, though it didn’t come out quite as good as I’d hoped. Still, I think it’ll be workable.
COBRA Throne Room
Anyone notice a theme here? The throne room is fairly obvious in purpose, I’d think. I know it doesn’t look like much now, but I plan on adding some neat accessories to hopefully spice it up a bit. Once that’s done, I think I feel good enough about these to lock ‘em up until I’m ready to shoot in them next year. Check out the pics below!
So I’m continuing my work on my various sets for the upcoming Darkness Falls dio-story, and in the COBRA Foyer, I want 1 or 2 gun emplacements by the far door. Well, in order to make up some emplacements, I want to get some sandbags. Now, Build-A-Rama has some terrific looking sandbags in stock, but I really can’t bring myself to drop $30-40 on sandbags for a couple of emplacements that’ll be used in only a couple of scenes.
Anyone have any ideas? I know Power Team Elite’s got some, but I can’t find any online anywhere. Not sure I want to buy the Wal-Mart Outpost Defender just for the sandbags either (since neither Roadblock nor Tripwire does much for me).
Throughout the week I’ve been burning the midnight oil working on the COBRA Foyer for the Darkness Falls dio-story, and am happy to report that I’m pretty much done. Pretty much all I have left is to glue some stones on the third arch, and maybe clean up some of the white foamcore showing through. Besides that, I think I’m happy where I’m at.
Now, I’ve started work on the COBRA Comm Center, which is a computer console room. My initial plans kind of went out the window unfortunately as Michael’s apparently no longer carries the “Texture Copper” scrap book paper by ProvoCraft. :(
So, I had to adjust those plans a bit, but construction is still going forward on that one. Check out the gallery below for the most recent progress pics on the COBRA Foyer.
It’s been a bit of a challenge getting time aside to continue construction on the COBRA Foyer, but slowly but surely it’s coming together. Sure, some of the seams are visible in the rock wall, but that will be easily resolved with Photoshop during post-production.
Base is all foamcore, with scrapbook paper walls and floor, plus a catwalk constructed out of balsa wood, bass wood, and some black paint. The latest treasure trove I found was at a hobby store…AM Models produces an HO Scale “stone wall” that comes in pieces to be assembled, and I used those small stones as the stones surrounding the arches, which came out pretty nicely, I think. I also included some figure pictures for scale. Some serious hot glue clean up is required before I wrap this all up.
Left to complete is the two doors, stone trim around the base of the walls, and a pair of stone columns in the middle of the floor. I need some COBRA wall decorations and some other little trimming. It’s not stellar, but it’ll work.
The throne room is fairly obvious in purpose, I’d think. I know it doesn’t look like much now, but I plan on adding some neat accessories to hopefully spice it up a bit. Once that’s done, I think I feel good enough about these to lock ‘em up until I’m ready to shoot in them next year. Check out the pics below!
