continuing my look back at machinations of doom, a story i wrote and drew back in 1999/2000 for palladium books, i present to you o.j. and shakes. the two characters were named by the original writer i collaborated with, coleen britton. o.j. a “juicer” was named for the obvious pun, and shakes as a name for a “crazy” seemed quite tackily appropriate also. to be honest o.j. was my least favourite character and least favourite character class of the rifts rpg off which he was based. however the class was a fan favourite so i thought it best to have a character based on the class included in the story.  i stuck to the basic design of the classic juicer armour and added a few details of my own. funnily enough, though never becoming my favourite, o.j. grew on me. his backstory became one of the richest in my mind and he developed into a character i cared about. in fact he was one of the characters i really wanted to do a solo story on after mod wrapped up.

shakes on the other hand was a vehicle utilized as a vehicle for comedic relief and pure strangeness. he was the character that i could do anything with and it’d be okay… cause his mind wasn’t firing on all synapses. yeah… to much fun. i really miss these characters and would love to revisit and tell more of their tales.