GeneralsJoes was born many years ago with a very specific purpose and foundation.  The original Angelfire site (yes it’s still up, amazingly enough, and the profiles page and customs page can still be accessed) was originally a showcase for my customs that evolved into a figure profile and review site after I was the first person to find the new Joes at a local Toys “R” Us in late 2000.  From there, it spawned into my dio-story hub, while reviews continued along.

As the years have gone on, it seems the site has still been evolving, but at a slower and more roundabout pace, and here in 2009 suddenly it’s much more of a blog and news site and much less of a showcase for my reviews and dio-stories…  and that, to me, is a shame.  Long time readers and followers are no doubt familiar with what I’ve done in the past, and I’m certain (and I wouldn’t blame them if they were) some folks are ticked about the change in focus, but unfortunately it’s much more a sign of my “real world” life and less a particular indication of what I want to do.  Life is much different these days than it was five years ago, during my dio-story production heyday, and it will remain different for a considerable time to come.  A family, a full fledged career that keeps me in the office for 50-60 hours per week all adds up to doing site updates that can be done in several short bursts, rather than a dio production that takes several long, drawn out hours from start to finish of a single chapter.

I’m sure there are folks reading this who are aware that I have continued my dio production in more limited capacities with my work in the JoeCanuck newsletter as well as my monthly updates in the G.I. Joe Collectors Club newsletter.  I know that doesn’t serve everyone that reads this site, and neither of them necessarily mesh with my timeline.  But they were both some fun, different angle and avenues to take, so I went with it.

But of course that still leaves my own personal dio-story universe up in the air.  Well, at least on the surface.  Trust me when I say that I am hard at work on the latest chapter of the dio-story, it’s just all “behind the scenes” stuff.  I have a rough draft of the script, I have most of the storyboarding done, I’ve got a number of sets already allocated (with one more commisioned and “in progress”).  I look back through a lot of my past work, and to be honest, I’m not real proud of a lot of it.  I think we can all agree that an overgrown backyard makes for a pretty low-budget Amazon jungle, and any time a 6′ tall man is walking through blades of grass up to his armpits, it looks pretty ridiculous.  Well, my next chapter takes a pretty serious and dramatic turn, I think, and I don’t want folks taken “out” of the moment.  I want them to feel as immersed in the universe as humanly possible, which means a lot more prep work is necessary.  Will it all come together?  Honestly, I can’t give you a 100% commitment, but please realize that I am working on this.  Hard.

I also don’t want anyone to think that somehow the dio-stories are getting pushed aside for the news or blog portions of this site, because that’s not the case either.  News updates, blog posts, opinion, etc…  is all stuff I can toss up here sitting behind my desk at work.  It takes 10-15 minutes a pop, and is relatively effortless.  The dio stuff, for obvious reasons, all has to be done from home, and getting long stretches of uninterrupted time at home with a wife, a 3-year old, and a second child on the way is, as I’m sure people will understand, quite difficult.  In fact, writing this article has been a work in progress for the entire day on Sunday.  I started it at around 9:00am this morning, and it’s now nearly 3:00pm Eastern, and it’s not quite done.  😉

I’ve just seen comments around the ‘net about the lack of dio-story updates, and believe me, I wish I could be quicker.  Shooting, producing, and displaying dio-stories is one of my favorite Joe-related activities, and it kills me that I just don’t have time to do more.  Any time I have for it is spent on the Collectors’ Club series right now.  But please believe me when I say that I have a MONSTER planned in the next episode.  It’s a huge “event” type of story that will take significant production time and money.  The wait will be worth it.  I will NOT forget it, or leave my story open-ended.  It just won’t happen, trust me.  There will be more chapters, there will be resolutions.  Darkness Falls will come.  It just may take some more time.

For folks who have been reading for all of these years, I thank you, and appreciate your continued support.  For those new people who don’t even know what a dio-story is, check out my Dio-Stories dropdown menu above.  Also do yourselves a favor and check out the Inner Sanctum, Spin-Doctor’s stuff, and Tim’s Dio-Stories as well.