EXTREMELY PIC HEAVY!!!

This week's very special episode (Chapter 6) of Joe's Cantina will be aired in 2 parts. New customs to be revealed include the long awaited debut of J.G. Pluvinski, as well as "Night Force" versions of Mr. and Mrs. Ajax

Viewer Discretion is advised.

Episode 6: Who Shot J.R.? aka The time I customized pluv

Meet J.G. Pluvinski, owner of Joe's Cantina. The idea of a former local sports hero taking over a dive bar and making it his own might seem cliche...because it is. But that's precisely what appealed so much to "P-luv" about the chance to purchase Joe's Cantina, shortly after his Grav-Ball career had ended.

Though the Farhaven Fighters never so much as advanced to the playoffs during his tenure as starting HF (Heavy Forward), Pluvinksi was a perennial Galactic Grav-Ball Association all-star and fan favorite. It didn't take long for that fame to translate to success as a bar owner, that is, at least until the orbital space station which was home to Joe's Cantina had become something of a wasteland.

"You know, the thing about 'p-luv' is that he seems like the most normal and well adjusted guy here. Makes you wonder what he's doing here at all, let alone running the joint. I don't know how he puts up with most of you." Dr. Bex Ajax, Artifex Clinic and Sick Bay

{That's a great point} Percy thought to himself, upon remembering those words once spoken by his wife. {It's the quiet ones you have to watch out for.} And with that thought registered in the appropriate mental databank, Ajax went back to work...

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Previously on Joe's Cantina: Joe's Cantina Chapter 5

A busy night is drawing to a close and a quiet has settled throughout the station. In the wee hours of the night/very early morning, J.G. "P-luv" Pluvinksi arrives at the Cantina, to find it completely empty...



"Ami? Anybody here? Hello? Sputters?"




"Nobody's here? That's strange."


Pluvinksi decided to check the register: "Let's see how we did tonight, I guess."


"Wait a minute. What. Have. We. Here?" P-Luv's excitement is hardly contained as he sees canned hamburgers waiting for him on the bar.


After taking a quick peek around the bar...


... and feeling comfortable nobody is in sight...


... P-luv snatcheded teh burgerz.




"I'd better see if Ami is coming back soon before I go...

Dammit...voicemail for a frakking robot?!?"


"Ami, this is pluv. I'm going to be gone for a bit, you'll have to run the place. Tell them... tell them I'm heading planetside for a bit for a Grav-Ball event, but should be back on the next shuttle."


Just as P-Luv walked out the back way, Marshal Spinner, Percy Ajax and Josephus Michaelangelo LXX (aka JM70, aka The Space Cowboy) enter JC's after a long night's patrol.



Ajax: "I'm calling it a night fellas. Let's see what turns up tomorrow and try again."

JM70: "yeah, me too. I gotta say though, I've never gone trolling for beaver this often and had so little luck finding any..."

Ajax and Spinner shake their heads in unison, before shaking hands to call it a night.

Ajax: "Marshal, you got a place to crash? P-luv probably wouldn't care if you took a bench over there."

Spinner: "Yeah, Officer Jonn said he'd have a cot set up for me at the Customs office down at the hub."



JM70 (aloud, to himself): "Where the hell is Sputnik?"

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Marshal Spinner caught a skimmer towards the Spaceport hub, then walked the rest of the way in the quiet and dark nightime corridors of The Artifex.



As he entered the Customs hub, he commanded the lights to dim, as no new traffic was scheduled.



Just as he did so, he heard a loud clang...{Wait, what's that? I thought nobody was down here} Spinner's hand reactively fell to the grip of his holstered Needler

Then he recognized the sound in the distance as a small cargo transport. The sound was coming closer, and was clearly coming from a ship already docked below.




The sound of the motor ceased, as G.I. Joey pulled up and shut down to say hello.


Joe: "How ya been Marshal? Any luck on the investigation?"

Spinner: "No luck at all. Getting too old for this I think. Going to catch some shut-eye."

Joe: "Wish I could say the same, but I have to bust ass and get this freight unloaded now if I want to be free for the big day Saturday. I heard there's a party at JCs, a Sputnik Holo show, and a bunch of fresh meat coming."

Joe responded to Spinner's inquisitive look by adding, "Gotta be some tourists on that starliner looking to buy some prospective resort properties out here on the Fringe, and I'm just the man to help them out."

Spinner chuckled: "Good luck with that. I'm just hoping to keep the place safe. We'll see ya."

With that, Marshal Spinner headed on towards the office.








He had just begun to settle in, before hearing another strange sound, this one much more frantic - scuffling feet and heavy breathing included...












There was simply no conclusion to be made other than how strange...and suspicious...this looked. Spinner knew he had to check it out, as Pluvinksi went past the customs booth and proceeded towards the gate.


But as soon as had he started to peek out to follow, he heard the frantic fall of footsteps returning his way, and ducked back into the office. P-luv went running past, this time without his Grav-Ball coat.








Spinner watched which exit P-luv took: {The old Monorail escalators? Why is he heading there? That's just a freight corridor now...}


...before cautiously following...
















At the upper level of the abandoned (nearly so anyway, if you ignore the vagrants) Monorail lobby, near the boarding gate, Pluvinksi pauses to do something





He turned frantically - {what's there?}


Was it just the sound of the rats rustling through the trash? Or the vagrant on the bench turning in his sleep? Or was it...




SOMETHING ELSE?!? He knew now he had been followed, so he bolted towards the Monorail gate...








Marshal Spinner emerged onto the platform...


Two steps forward and BLAM! The distinctive muffled thud of a needler shot...
















...

At the other end of The Artifex, Percy Ajax had just returned to his loft. A quick glance at some typography maps for a claim stake he was about to go on with G.I. Joey while The Talon was in for repairs, then off to bed. Gazing out the viewport, he reflected that while Farhaven was a flawed planet, he had really grown to appreciate the view.








It was shortly after he settled in for bed, when both his communicator, and that of his wife, Dr. Bex Ajax, rang out simultaneously...








Percy (on communicator): "No "LASER BLAST"? Where? Is he going to make it? I'll check, but I heard hers go off also. Yeah. No, I think the central computer is still down. Ok. Yeah, we're coming down now."


Percy: "Lights On."


Percy and Bex both hang up - simultaneously they say to each other: "Spinner's been shot."





Bex: "I hope he's ok, I need to get down there."

Percy: "I agree. But I have to admit, the biggest question on my mind right now, is who shot him. Who shot Marshal Spinner?"


TO BE CONTINUED

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First of all, that head is amazing. I don't know where you got it/what you did to it, but it's a great likeness.

Secondly, your sets continue to impress as does your story telling.

Lasty, you can't kill me. Nothing can.

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HOLY CRAP THAT LOOKS JUST LIKE HIM

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I never get enough of your customs, or your stories.

Is Pluv two different figures, you does he have swappable bits?

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Thanks man. I feel the same about your stuff.

Yeah I'm using swappable torsos here for what you've seen so far




Ok good. I felt like I was close but sometimes when you're in it it's hard to keep perspective

Also I'm glad the sets are playing well enough to tell the story. And Billy I'm glad yo read it close enough to catch that Easter egg

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These just keep getting better and better! Simply amazing!

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I'm not sure which was more disturbing, the "blast effect" shot to the face (anyone else get a 'back and to the left' vibe from it), or seeing a likeness of bindy in his undies.

I notice something else that made chuckle, but the more I thought about it, I realized it may have something to do with the story, so I'll keep it to myself.

Great stuff Dennis!
The story, the sets, the customs, each one just keeps topping the last.

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That is the most rendered headshot scene ever in a dio. And the blast effect really drew me in. Wow.

And the Pluv likeness is uncanny. Disturbingly uncanny. When this is done, that needs to get cast.

- R

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The pluv likeness is uncanny. If it's not already an available cast it needs to be.

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I think the head looks great. In fact the hair is actually better then what I actually pull off. I showed it to my wife and she said the smile is different but the rest is dead on. But the poop eating grin is definitely my favorite kind of smile. I don't think we need any extras of that head floating around. We're good.

I love the story. I agree the 8 pic scene of Spinny getting shot was very dramatic. Killing kilcarr is also perfect. But I was framed I tell ya, framed!

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lol. glad you like. if it helps, your figure hasn't been fully shown off yet...

also:


And again thanks for the comments. Helps to hear that this is working, given how much time it takes to put it together.

The pictures are perhaps a bit too many, but that one scene in particular was much more visual and didn't really allow for much narrative. I almost felt like I was filming in stop motion. Really glad the impact effect worked. I decided early on I wanted this dio story to work without photoshop effects and without comic dialogue bubbles. Partly because those aren't my strengths, but partly because of the challenge of making the scene effective without help.

I do have one PS project I'm getting help with, but it's for a pre-production piece that will end up being photographed by me without alteration...

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One thing I just noticed, in the face shot scenes...
In the second frame he dropped his pistol on the floor, but in the next two frames he's holding it again.

Of course it took me like five read throughs to catch it, so it's not really a big deal.

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Lol. Yeah I caught that too. We'll fix it when we release the special edition. Of course he'll be holding it because he will have shot first

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