Although he’s new to the community, John Jr. has managed to leave quite the mark on his surroundings. First joining with Benton, me, and a few other members in the creation of PCTales, John has quickly expanded out and created his own solo work, which now includes skinning. We here at FRP2 have decided to shine our spotlight on John Jr. in the hopes of exposing more of his deep, dark secrets. Let’s see what dirt we can exhume, eh?

FREEDOM FORCE

As far as I know, you’re one of our newer members and you happen to live in a different country as compared to a typical Freedom Reborner. How did you learn about the game Freedom Force and its community?

Yeah, I’m Brazilian and discovered Freedom Force about a year ago. I was looking for an Ultra Boy image to post on a forum to use it as a reference to a customized character I made for a fighting game. I googled it and discovered Greycount’s and Tommyboy’s pages at Alex’s site. I learned all I could about the game (thanks Wikipedia!) and discovered the forums through Alex’s site too.

Many new members typically wait around before finding their footing in the community, but you seemed to have jumped in headfirst. What was your reasoning for participating with the FR group so quickly?

Thanks to creators like Tommyboy, Greycount, Vertex, Renegade and Courtnall 6, I found meshes and skins from all my favorite heroes in my first week as a FF player. The community gave me the game I always dreamed about, so I wanted to give something back to the community. Since I always liked to write, making mods was an easy and logical choice.

Before anyone really got to know you, you were already attempting to help out with community projects such as Patriot City Tales. How was your experience working on that project and are you happy with the outcomes of the stories so far?

Great! I learned a lot from my more experienced partners. I always saw PCTales like those old anthology books with works from different creators; I love how we got different styles in the mod. I believe PCTales is an unique effort because of the team effort aspect.

Beyond PCT, you’ve made your solo EZscript mods. What made you take up learning EZScript, and how do you go about choosing the subjects you put in mods?

Like I said, I love to write and with EZScript, I could write my own comic book stories, so I began to write EZScript stories the same day I discovered it. Making mods was a natural evolution of my desire to write a comic book story/game.

I usually write about the characters I like, so I made the Legion and World’s Finest mods, and I’m working on a mod about the 70′s JLA characters. I write the stories I wanted to read and try to make the gaming experience good for fans or casual players; [I] don’t know if I got it, but I tried!

Besides Benton Grey, you’re probably one of the most prominent EZscripters around. How hard was it for you to learn the system EZscript utilizes, and what are some things you’ve managed to pull off with the program?

It took me some days to get the basics, but I’m still learning about its use. Last week, I was playing my first EZScript stories, and I found them just horrible! I’m re-writing them all and adding music, different camera angles, etc.

EZScript is great! We can write a plot and add music, dialog, placement of characters, and choose the camera angles. I recommend it for anyone who plays FFVTTR.

Jumping off modding and heading into the area of skinning, you’ve recently shown off some of your artistic talent, no? What made you consider learning skinning, and how difficult would you say it was for you to learn?

I began to skin out of necessity. I had two mod projects I really wanted to make, but I needed new skins/skopes for the characters (obscure guys like Aquaboy, The Executioner, Superman Jr. and Batman Jr., etc). Since no one would make this guys, I tried to make them myself. I don’t think I have talent enough to be a real skinner; I’m only a modder who made some reasonable skins.

Usually, I would ask skinners how they think they have improved since they first started skinning, but I really can’t ask you that, now can I? Taking into account the community’s advice, do you think the constructive comments you’ve received have helped you to progress in any way?

I’m very grateful to guys like Laughing Paradox, Daglob, Kenn and Tommyboy, among others, who helped me a lot. I knew close to nothing about skinning and they were kind enough to teach me about alpha channels, adding shadows, changing the light maps, etc. I was able to make some decent skins thanks to them!

Some would say that comics and the people around them inspire them to do better themselves. What are some things or people that motivate you as far as Freedom Force is concerned?

The Freedom Force community is an example of creativity. The way guys like Tommyboy can change all the game experience, adding characters, maps, and stories is fantastic! And I envy guys who can do real Phyton scripting like that “Premon” guy; man, he’s good! :) And I’m always impressed with what Benton Grey can make with EZScript. I believe the community is an example of creativity and team effort, and I love being part of it.

Considering all the mods out there, I’m assuming you’ve played a few. Are there any that you’d recommend to others?

The DC mod for FF is an example of a really complete game, with new characters, music, and even custom voices and has a great story too. For FFVTTR, I would say Heroes because of the freedom to choose the main character, Tommyboy’s LSH, and PCTales, of course.

Finally, do you want to give any hints to any upcoming projects you might have up your sleeves? Perhaps you plan to take on FXing next?

I’m beginning to skope. I have about 3 or 4 good skopes, but I hope to learn how to become a decent skoper. I’m working hard in my “Young JLA” mod since I’m skinning and skoping a lot of the characters, but I still want to write a Captain America mini-mod with stories about Steve Rogers and Bucky Barnes as Cap. And there’s PCTales, of course. I really want to finish my “Mighty Girl” story.

MISC.

Characters are a very important aspect in allowing a person to connect with what they’re reading, am I right? What are some of your favorite comic characters?

Superboy and the Legion are my all time favorites, but I have been a Captain America fan since I was a kid. Superman, Batman, Captain Mar-Vell and Spider-Man are some of my favorites too.

Although it seems to split the fan base a little bit, everyone appears to have an “age” of comics he/she really enjoys. What era happens to be a big draw for you and why?

Silver/Bronze age, the 60′s-70′s. It was an era of diversity, creativity, and epic stories. The Lee and Kirby’s Fantastic Four, Shooter and Swan’s Legion, and Jim Starlin’s Captain Mar-Vell redefined the space opera in comics and, at the same time, O’Neil and Adams made the best Batman ever (IMHO) and defined the “relevant” stories with Green Lantern/Green Arrow.

Growing up, one show I refused to miss happened to be a little number known as Ghost Writer. What are some TV shows you enjoy viewing?

I don’t see much TV nowadays, but as kid, I loved the original Star Trek (still love it), Super Friends, and Batman. I used to like House, but it became a little repetitive for my tastes. I like the One Piece anime a lot (and since my wife loves the show, we always see it together).

It’s always good to expand one’s musical awareness. What are some songs or artists you enjoy aurally?

Soundtracks by John Williams, rock from the 80′s (still hearing The Police and Queen) and Brazilian artists like Chico Buarque (a personal favorite).

I’ve asked you about TV and music, so let’s get into some literature. Outside of comics, who are some authors who produce stories you enjoy reading?

Conan Doyle; I love Sherlock Holmes; sci-fi authors like Frank (Dune) Herbert and Douglas Adams. My favorite writer is Machado de Assis, best brazilian writer EVER, but I really like Luiz Fernando Verissimo (brazilian contemporary author).

Considering you’re still a newish member, the community still doesn’t know much about you. What are some hobbies you like to partake in?

I used to play RPG and Heroclix, but I’m retired from both now. I like to read a lot and sculpting/painting miniatures

If you were given the opportunity to create something based on one of your ideas, what do you think it would be and why?

I’m not very good at creating characters and I never completed my only original sci-fi idea. My best script was a story about the sons and grandsons of the golden age heroes and how the world changed with their existence. I never could understand how a world full of super humans could be identical to ours, so I wanted to play with the historical aspect, how the supers would change society, culture and technology. I’m an historian, so it would mix two of my passions, XX Century World History and comics.

If you had to sum up yourself in 3 words, which words would you choose, and what’s the significance of those words as they apply to you?

I’m stubborn, or maybe determined. I had to fight a lot of things in my personal life, including some serious health problems. So I can’t choose three words; let’s just say I believe life is a Never Ending Battle, like that old super-hero used to say, and stick with stubborn/determined.

Let’s say you were struck by lightning and were turned into a real life super hero. What kind of hero would you be, and what type of legacy would you hope to leave behind?

When I was a kid, I wanted to be Superboy and fight injustice. I don’t think about it anymore, but I still believe in the power of example. We’re always hearing people say how they’re influenced by the ideals of fictional characters like Superman, but there’s always people arguing  someone with so much power would never help others, so a guy who didn’t abused the power would set a wonderful example. Obviously, if a lightning struck me I would become Ashes Man, but I would better like to be Superman.

Finally, if you had the ability to complete one of your objectives today, what would you want it to be?

Be a really good father and go back to teaching. Whoops, that’s two.

So what did we learn about the man that is John Jr.? Well, he definitely has no qualms about giving back and picking up new skills at his leisure, he loves Sherlock Holmes, which means I like him just a bit more, and he has several more projects up his Brazilian sleeves. If you haven’t given any of JJ’s mods a try, then you should probably do that now. If you want to keep up with his skinning process, check out his thread.