How and When Did "Dios" Begin?
 

Hi All,

I am working on a column about dios for PopMatters, and it occurred to me that I have no idea how this strange offshoot of the hobby began; when did people start photographing toys outdoors and building settings and such?

Also, what do dios mean to you? For me, they helped me to rediscover play, to some extent; I collected toys as an adult for fifteen years but never did anything but place new figures on my shelf; taking them outdoors is a lot more like how I played when I was a kid.

If anyone has any facts or insights or soundbites to add, I'd be grateful.

Cheers,

Monte

I used to build settings for my toys when playing as a kid, I just never thought to take photos! As for dio-pictures, my earliest experience of those would have to be the brochures, leaflets and posters that came with the toys showing all the products in the range. They often had scale scenery making the toys look more realistic, and considering all the different environments GI Joes were made for this helped reinforce the character of the figures & vehicles. You also often got to see sets probably built by professional model-makers on the TV commercials, which made me want to go out and landscape my dad's garden in 1:18 scale!

I totally agree on your point about making dios being like playing. I always used to like making dynamic poses with my figures so now that can be considered practice for when I'm going to take some pics. And it gets the imagination churning too -- I don't have the ability to just escape into play at the drop of a hat like I did as a child, it takes a bit of effort now but I can get similarly excited when I start to construct a storyline around what I'm setting up. If this is the closest thing to play I'm capable of as an adult, at least I'm justifying having this toy collection by doing something with it -- I didn't spend all that money on stuff that's just going to sit hidden in a box!

I'm pretty sure you want the impetus for most dio creators has to be a toy catalogs or store displays. If not for these, how would we know what the things were, much less how to take them out of the basement/bedroom floor and do something else with them?

I think the armature sharing their displays was the beginning back when people had to rely on film. Digital photograph and the internet were the big game changers lowering the barrier to entry probably for most of us into this hobby.

I'd had story ideas in my head for a while and after reading Violent Fix's Operation Rapier, dio stories seemed the best (and most fun) way to tell them. Doing dio stories is a fun way to combine writing, toy collecting, photography, and web site design. I've learned a lot about photography since I first started taking pictures of toys 4 years ago.

Probably what introduced me to the art of diorama building were a series of levels.. starting with Lego and their space sets, then Star Wars 3/34" with the various Kenner playsets, then to Joes, model rail roads (HO scale then N scale), then to scale model building, then back to Joes with the skills learned from the scale model building.

During my early years I had to rely on my friend's who seem to collect more toys than I could. One friend in particular collected just about anything he was into. Lego had playsets with a space theme. We made Lego bases that grew pretty large.

Kenner came out with a number of playsets for the Star Wars line. The smaller figures meant it would be more realistically doable to sell larger, more complex playsets. The Death Star set was the first that really jumpstarted the diorama scene for me at the 3/34" scale. Other playsets from Kenner at the time included cardboard backgrond scenes. The earliest I remember was the escape pod where the droids landed. But the first one that was durable to move outdoors was the Death Star.

Outdoors we used bricks, flowerbeds, and everything we could to make a stronghold. Bricks were used to expand the Death Star set. The Empire had a base on some planet rising out of the ruins of some other civilization.

Then came the Joes, and the dios just grew from an outset of the Star Wars thing--bricks were used to build Joe bases. The same idea but now switched to the more advanced figures.. the Joes.

Model Rail Roads came into play after a while. Totally different and more fragile, but it introduced some skills on making a set more realistic.

From there I got into scale model building of Japanese WWII ships in the 1/5000 scale. Had them on an acrylic sheet with epoxy shaped waves. It was a small fleet. Other things were 1/100 scale WWI and WWII aircraft. These got me into more advanced levels of painting, weathering, and building my own parts for a more accurate model. Scale models develop a lot of skill which I then applied to the Joes.

Then comes the modern Joes, which got me back into collecting them. But I get no thrill from just seeing numbers of Joes on a shelf. Especially not with the memories of them being outdoors all muddy, exposed to the elements. But I'm not a kid anymore. Ahhh! But what about combining 1/18 scale Joes to diorama's, just like I did with scale model building and HO/N scale model Rail Roads? Now there's something a grown man won't feel guilty about.

I strongly agree. In the 80's I had tried taking photos of the Joe battles my friends and I had. I didn't have a camera, so used my friend's. Unfortunately that also meant he has all the photos, and I just have one.

Digital camera's has changed that. Now I can take hundreds of photos in various light, poses, etc, and not fear I'll be spending a fortune developing them, or having to wait a week for them to get developed. Now it's just so easy to point and shoot and have something to post online within the hour.

Anyway, too bad about the lost photos.. b/c some were really well done.. with burning VAMPs and Duke's dead body on fire....

For me, as for others posting above, it definitely started with the catalogs, showing the toys in realistic, to scale environments (desert, polar, buildings, airfields...). So, as a kid I already took my Joes and Cobras outside and took pictures of them, even including water and fire in those pictures. And I simply never stopped doing it.

I can't say I had a particular source of inspiration for taking dio pics, it just seemed like a natural progression for me. I started taking pictures of my Joes back in the pre-digital age, and it was a lot more difficult to do back then. Obviously you had a limited number of shots per roll of film, each shot was hit-or-miss, it was $10 a pop to have the roll of film developed (for maybe 6 or 8 good pics) plus you had the hassle of getting to and from the one-hour photo place. Taking pics back then was an occasional proposition rather than the whenever you feel like it pastime that we are lucky enough to enjoy today. Thank God for the digital revolution! :)

I got started doing dios because I always wanted to do a comic and I thought using action figures would be easier than drawing. Turns out it's a lot harder and more limiting but it's a lot more fun. I hope to get TOD up and running again soon, I really miss doing it.

First off...

JoeDios has a different definition of what a diorama is to most people. Or even the concept of diostories and just pictures of our figures which could be considered Photos, Pieces, Works or whatever.

So like, if we go with the traditional definition, I think professional dioramas have been around for a long time. It was all used for advertising purposes.

I'm guessing the next step of toy fans doing this came from semi-professionals doing it. ie; those who had money, a place to do this stuff, and that they could use a film camera well. In other words, Wizard and ToyFare with their MegoTheater or whatever it was called. But that in the early 90s? Dioramas were also used for reviewing of toys.

As others have said, the advent of digital photography and the internet has puashed it forward. Some of us remember Luke Ellison busting out his photography back in 2002 when JvC came out. Fred Meyer, Justin "The General Hawk", Todd Weinzrl, and other early adopters of the JD pretty much made up the standard that dioramas were diostories to them. Photos covered both dioramas (in the traditional sense), photoshopped/manipulated works and well, photos.

I pretty much got into cuz of Luke Ellison. I saw his works on the JBL and realized, "Hey, if he can do it, so can I!" Then I got an invite to this place and while there are few of us old farts still here (Mr. Outrider prolly been here the longest, correct me if I'm wrong). And then when Luke did his first story (with a few others doing their thing), I was hooked.

I probably wouldn't be taking dio photos if it weren't for digital cameras!

I can remember my very first photo, probably early '83, where I setup the Joe forces for an incoming attack (of, what, three Cobras?!). It was 110 film (remember those?) and turned out blurry (I was only 8). No doubt I got chewed out for wasting film on toys, and the hobby was squelched. I tried it again, of and on, but we never had a "good" camera in the house, so a macro focus was out of the question. Man, I wish I could find that blurry photo of the '82 Joes, though...

These days, dio photography has kept the hobby alive for me. I'm not a "collectible" guy, in that I don't enjoy filling shelves of ambiguously valuable items. But I love the Joes, and seeing them in various situations from all of you stimulates my imagination. For me, any diostory is a fun read, because someone's putting a lot of effort into a presentation. Things were pretty dull when the site was down.

Wow, this is a lively forum! You guys rule.

I hadn't considered the part those old catalogs played in inspiring us. Worse still, I hadn't factored in the impact of digital cameras!

I'll be sure to drop a link when the column goes live.

Thanks so much!

Cheers,

Monte

Now, maybe I'll add some international and maybe exotic feeling to the topic ;)

As for me, firstly and mainly, the Joes were toys (the best toys ever, ex aequo with Lego, but still toys). I had quite a collection and when my cousin get to my place (or I to his), we always had some major Joe vs Cobra battles.

Then I grew up from them, and then when I got broadband internet (hell... when was it... 2003? 2002? around that date somewhere) I started digging up the net and found - Joes are still alive and I was hooked again.

I never did action or story photos before, but we had a digi-cam in family back in the 2003 or something and I thought - "why not take a chance". First photos were... 4/10 if I were to give them points :D Layout sometimes sucked, with bad light and so on - however still have them, and they feature some nice not photoshopped effects.
And then a storyline came to my mind and it all started... (and still I"m probably the only one in my country making Joe-dioramas...)

And besides - noteworthy is a fact, that here in Poland, we have very limited amount of Joes. Mostly figures from something like 88-89 wave up to Star Brigade (which were last Joes on our shop shelves). Not all figures from particular waves, not all vechicles and no real way to get them from other countries (not counting those lucky kids, who had a family in the US back then).

Joes are still hard to obtain here, as getting them through e-bay costs quite a lot and collections grow much much longer ;)

And I do agree with other, saying that making dios is closest thing to playing with Joes in childhood :)

I forget who's tagline is,"paying hasbro's bills since 1982", but that, I believe is many of us even if it's been intermittently. i was introduced to Joedios by discovering Violentfix's website. his website was instructive, inspirational, innovative and his narratives are genius. Violentfix has many links, but Joedios was the most consistent and dedicated regarding the dio content. Joedios is the most organized site of its kind and seems to attract a more serious artist...yes artist. i chose the term artist because these pics are definitely a mode of expression, and it takes a certain level of fearlessness to do this...ask Otto. he questioned how you tell a woman you're interested in that you take pictures of your"army guys". not everyone has the self assurance to pursue a medium that is perceived as a bit dorky or immature. i hope no one here ever stops and i hope that this site continues to perpetuate an iconic pastime like Joe collecting.
Thanks Monte... THE END :D

At the end of the day, who cares what others think of our hobby? We harm no-one and it keeps us off the streets! :D

Unless you take pictures of your figures on the street

Hopefully when not to busy to avoid them getting smashed.

Funny you guys should mention taking pics on the street. At the front entrance to our housing Complex is an area of exposed ground (dirt and Rock) the looks like the caves in Tora Bora Afghanistan. I've been wanting to do a Cobra attacks the Taliban photo shoot there.....just a matter of not getting hit while doing it! LOL!

When we talk about Dios, are we talking about the textbook definition? Dio's have been around for centuries. Look in ANY museum! Stuffed animals in glass with painted backgrounds. I Remember making Dioramas for dinosaurs and book reports in elementary school.

I like what someone said earlier in that the legends who created this site gave it it's new meaning. Yet, I show friends at work my stuff and give them the Website and they say "Joe Deeos?" (Think Ronnie James Dio when you say it!) I started "Re-collecting" in 2002, and while searching for places to get replacement parts, I ran into THIS site and thought "Well, I'm too old to get down in the floor and play with them, why not set em up and take digital pictures of them?"

To me, "Dios" means works of Art. It is more than just crude tisspue paper and pipe cleaner palm trees with plastic dinosaurs in a box set up as a static display. It's Combining Model making, photography, lighting, Set Design, Story telling and Special Effects And enjoying taking the time, effort and imagination to combine these crafts to make people suspend their disbelief, quit thinking they are looking at toys and enjoy a story...hopefully a well told one! It's taking the childish art of the Diorama and professionally bringing it to life.

It's not about being the best at any of these disciplines, yet learning and improving in each of them so they compliment one another and bring alive an art that started as making a model of a single moment in time!

Now that you mention it, that's probably true and where the catalog/stores borrowed the idea from initially.

Oh thank you.

I should point out, the invention of digital cameras have made just about everyone a fotographer. I use FOTOGRAPHER as the 90% of who can't shoot a single thing clearly the 1st time around. Let's face it, real photographers, the best of the best of the best can get what they want on one try (2 if it's still life). Real photographers can take hours getting the right set, setting up the exposure, etc. Some of us are real good at taking pics of our toys, but for the more advanced folks, HOW MANY SHOTS DID IT TAKE YOU???

In a way, we are more like movie makers. We need to take several shots from different angles so we can see what we like best. In the real world that isn't easy. You only got 1 shot of someone hitting a homerun and getting it right.

Yes, real photographers have most likley moved to digital so they can, uh, well, do what they do. But I believe that a lot of the old skool guys (craig in other words) can shoot with either type of camera and do well. And EVEN if real photographers had to go thru rolls of film, well, the cost to them was a lot more to get their game right (unless of course it was all paid for).

So I say FOTOS all the time because the amount of time, effort and etc isn't as hardcore for most of us. Call them pieces, works, art, whatever... It's just that most of the stuff in the PHOTOS sections are 1-shot fotos/pieces. It's hard to explain.

I am loving this thread! I've been posting photos here for years, but I've hardly ever perused the forums, and now I'm wondering why.

I have no idea how much this thread will inform the piece (I got an extension of my deadline 'cause it's been surprisingly difficult to get a good grasp on the topic), but it's made for fascinating reading.

Thank you, everyone, for your thoughtful replies.

Here's a follow-up question that needs asking:

What is it about G.I. Joe that is so uniquely suited to the craft of dios? You see other properties on occasion, but I doubt it's an exaggeration to suggest that G.I. Joe accounts for 99% of the dios one comes across. Why is that?

Thanks again!

Cheers,

Monte

Poseability and accessories. Right from the get-go Joes had much better articulation than other 3.75" figures (like Star Wars...) and that's only improved, for the most part. Plus the quality and range of accessories & playsets allows for a huge variety of scenes.

Also I think there's the real-world aspect; because GI Joe takes place in "our" world, not outer space or some fantasy realm, it's easy to find or create settings that look appropriate for them. They're essentially regular humans too, in general, so special effects can be helpful but aren't essential for an effective dio. I collect Marvel figures too (Legends and Universe) and while I've got a few shots of them in my Flickr account I'm much less inclined to take dio-shots of them than I am Joes, because to portray the Marvel characters in an exciting/worthwhile way would usually mean replicating some kind of superhuman ability (flight, energy blasts, etc).

Yeah, poseability is a factor. Also the availability of vehicles and weapons without needing to first glue them together and paint them, as in "ordinary" model and diorama making, which means there's less of a threshold to get into it. This combined with the aspect of realistic militarism make GIJoe dioramas the "light" version of model and diorama making, as opposed to, you know, the guys that recreate scenes from the Battle of the Bulge or the battle of Waterloo.

It also helps that gi Joe is open ended. There's no defining end point that you can point out and say "and that's how it ended". With the multiple continuities, it is acceptable to define your own version of the story. For example, everyone has their own "Joe-verse" which is not a great term, but sums it up quite well. There are also tons of characters to choose from that all have shades of gray. You know that Luke Skywalker is always goi g to be the good guy and that Vader is always going to be his dad. But a real army guy has to make choices that aren't always so morally defined. And then there are the guys with masks. Who are they really? Cobra commander or Snake eyes could be anyone, which makes his character an open book or even a reflection of the author.

Like others have said, it's also a matter of poseability and availabilty of accessories and set pieces.

For me it was a "long process"

When I originally got into it, I was writing a "plot and dialogue" to show off at a Wizard World, but a few days before I was to go, I realised, the company "dosen't allow unsolicitated" material, and my story contained a "fan made" character.

500 pages, down the drain.

My hope and dream is to be a comic book writer. But I WANT to do it my way. My take on the characters.

So, I gave it up til I happened upon the 25th Figures.

I can't draw. I tried back in high school, but when your best friends are already the "art gods" you have big shoes to fill.

But I do have an amazing eye for scenery and shots. It came about after high school. Positioning.

So darn near 15 years later, with digital cameras, props, and a storyline with actual "things" to use in the forefront...I do dios.

I do what I want to do, and it dosen't interfere with real life (to a point) til I get recognised.

As for possability and such...

That's what customisers are for!

Granted, a lot of FANTASTIC storyline artists don't make their own characters. Hell, those on GeneralJoes.com are the FIRST to get me to think of the idea of doing this, and theres not a single custom in any of those dios.

But when your actually IN it, and something dosen't work right...you fix it. 90% of the characters that *I* work with are customs. I try my best to retain the identification of the characters. The other 10, are already perfect right off the card (CS SE anyone???)

You want a new look for a character. you make it. And you make it work for the dio your doing. Whether it's a bicep trim, or a completely new figure. A splash of paint and there ya' go.

Especially when it comes to the 25th/M.E/ROC figures cause theres only a limited number of pre-fab characters to choose from in a roster of HUNDREDS.

Plus it's just fun to make a brand new figure

Way overloading this, but it is something I feel strongly about.

I agree that this IS a continuing storyline, without an ending.

A few companies have tried, and have gotten RAZED about it.

You can't finish this. Each character has a background. which makes them REAL to the reader. and whether major or minor roles, it's all about the reader's reaction to them. Blame Hama.

He did such an outstanding job with not only the comics, but the backgrounds on the filecards, that ANY fan, ANYWHERE in the world, can identify with one Character or another.

Me? I should identify with Grand Slam...Chippewa Falls WI, while I was born in Waukesha WI, not all to far away, and one of the VERY FEW Joes in WI. I identify more with Flash. Lodi CA. Simply cause that's the fig my dad bought me first. He was Air Force and a HUGE Sci-Fi buff, Flash is a laser Rifle Trooper. Granted, Army...but the correlation is there.

28 years later. Flash is still my fave (RIP Popa)

All I'm saying is this. JOE has been around for a LOT of us for all our lives. It's an ungoing saga. Timeless, while bringing us into the now. All at the same time the rememberance of what was and what is now collides. I cherish it.

Ease of customising is also a definite plus-point in using Joes for dioramas, I agree. It allows for more versatility and creativity, both for single scenes and for telling a story; you don't need any special craft skills to do a headswap with 25th figures, and an appropriately-sized screwdriver allows for easily-reversible interchangeable parts on proper Joe figures too.

I definitely agree that the open-ended nature of the world of GI Joe, and the multiple "official" continuities basically encouraging personal interpretation, can be great sources of creative inspiration but I wouldn't say those are things that make GI Joe particularly suited to dioramas (in the traditional sense certainly, but even in the dio-story sense). There can just as easily (more easily, even) be a load of fanfic written about GI Joe based on those reasons but I definitely feel it's the nature of the toys that make this form of creative expression a natural progression.

That AND the less evolved nature of most characters.

Everyone and their grandma can make a dio around Snake Eyes and Storm Shadow's evolved affair. They are the Wolverine and Sabretooth of Marvel, or the Batman and Superman of DC

... With others of repute filling in the voids of said main characters of either side.

Hate to hit this again, but over on GeneralJoes, there was a HUGE ongoing dio concerning Hit n' Run! Absolutely FANTASTIC, without centering on any main character, in fact, the MAIN character only had ONE SINGLE RELEASE! And that was towards the end of what I consider the "hard" run. (Before neon, and multiple repaints of old Joes)

The author took a VERY background character and centered a fabulous story around him. Making that character HUMAN, the way Marvel, DC, and any others have done with their top SELLS.

And THAT ALONE is what I love about the Joe-Verse. Any and every character involved has a creditable backstory...and better yet, there's HUNDREDS of them. Countless numbers of stories!

HEY! Cobra Commander and Snake Eyes can't be JUST anyone!

Cobra Commander has to be the leader of Cobra even if a guy in a snake suit put him in a lesser position! And he has to be masked! And at times, kinda crazy and for some, HE has to be a guy who got turned into a snake! lol



ANd SNake Eyes, he has to be the Wolverine of GI Joe! Tho, I bet some see SE as a break dancing fool who likes to spend time alone in a cabin in the boondocks!

Depends on how you word things. Calling what we do a diostory (and only that) yes you are correct. However many others call this stuff something else.

Star Wars calls it Photo-Novels, and they have as rich a history as Dios do for Joes. Oddly (for some unknown reason) most of the creators put thier photos on Photo sharing sites and post new chapters in threads (thus not having thier own websites, however there are exceptions like Yak's Pub).

Also if you were to search for Photo-web comics then you would find a very rich world of toy related comics.

Twisted Kaiju Theater http://neomonsterisland.com/ is one of the most popular web comics ever which just celebrated its 10th annaversy (which would date it slightly before the posting of GI Joe Warfare, which is considered by many to be the first GI Joe Diostory)

Alien Loves Predetor http://alienlovespredator.com/ is a mega popular one about the love affair between an alien and Predator (mostly with the toys extracted into real world sceanes).

Legostar Galactica http://www.legostargalactica.net/ is another popular one that uses Legos

Incecticomics http://www.insecticons.com/ is transformers based.

Stickfas actually have a huge level of comics devoted to it, some of my favs:

http://sigma.alt-world.com/ Stigmartyr

http://www.jesusismygrandpappy.com/?q=latest Stuck (But not had updates for some time)

http://www.actionfigurecomics.com/ Home of Perils of the bold, Ark Omen Rising, also a SW and Sigma 6 (GI joe) comic there)

Sub Standard comics http://www.drunkduck.com/SubStandard_Comics/index.php another funny and popular comic.


Fanwank http://fanwank.net/wordpress/ which is primarly Marvel Legends/DCU figures. Slow on the updates.

Men of Action http://moacomic.com/ Been a long time since last update, shame cause it was Marv (sin city) meeting up with MU characters.

Kiminos Townhoue http://www.kimonostownhouse.com/ Yes even my little pony is in on it.

Nukeland Cinema http://www.nukelandcinema.com/ a comic that refuses to be catagorized.

Irregular webcommic http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/ another lego based comic

I will wrap up with GI Joe, http://blowtorch1984.webs.com/ This site hasn't updated since dec 2008 but also has some of the first MU and Joe Crossovers I have dated at this point and even has SW bounty hunters tale too.

That is just the tip of the iceberg of what is out there that is often ignored.

where is it?

As far as I know, the original GIJoe Warfare has long vanished off the web. Too bad, I wouldn't mind taking another look at it. That and Iconoclasts were the first diostories I ever read, back in the day when they were being published. The sequel to Warfarce still seems to be up, here : http://www.angelfire.com/film/warfare2/

Wow, zedhatch.

If you'd noted all that earlier, then I wouldn't have to look like such an ignorant SOB when my column is published. :)

It's already been submitted, so there's nothing for it, but man, I had no idea.

Stranger still, I think many people have no idea; I've asked around several times to determine whether there are dios of other properties than Joe, and I never heard about hardly any of the things you listed!

I'll post a link when the column goes live; some people might not like the piece 'cause I felt compelled to be honest about how amateurish some of our work would appear to a mainstream audience. Still, I like to think it's an interesting look at a unique medium.

Sorry been busy with real life, I know I had mentioned much of these before but its seems many had no interest in them so I just enjoyed them for myself.

Still Like I said real life has been getting in the way of me even doing my own stuff let alone posting on message boards.

As someone already pointed out it disappeared long ago, I am suprized teh sequel is still up though. But I know they were posted in different places but I assumed Warfare 2 went down with the original.

Warfare has been gone since 2005 at the latest probably even 2004. It was on a free webhost that was sub-Geocities (which died taking the Cobra Cabana with it :( )

It wasn't just the first G.I. Joe dio story. It was the best... well it and Zartan's Domain's dio story.

It was 2004, I only remember cause there was talk about me hosting it after it went down and then I ran into some web problems myself in Jan 2005.

I know after that Gen Hawk and Camper (checkpoint alpha) both spoke of the possiblity of hosting it and not sure what became of that.

Yeah, Iconoclast - that's what ignited the dio-flame for me too. Classic stuff there!

Wow. Someone dug up some good old stuff here. Very good discussion. When I began to start collecting again a few years ago, I never intended to just buy toys, stand them up on a shelf and leave them either. I planned on posing them and taking photographs with them like I used to back when I was a kid. My motivation was those Harryhausen movies, with King Kong, and the Skeletons fighting Jason, etc. I had an 8mm camera back then that my friends and I used to do animation with them. Then I discovered this site which absolutely flabbergasted me! I am not alone! There are people out there who share the same interest! And that added another dimension of enjoyment for me.

Good to read/see The Elders again, btw. The beloved Outrider.
But also the good guys from way back when...Death, Sonneilon, Ender...
All gone now... :(

About 40,000 years ago when Cobra La dominated most of the planet.