thanks man, i'll get on that. i see what you mean now. i was going for and offset in breaking the joints, but went a little overboard.
the next shot will be this

if all goes according my storyboard, i should have a 1-2 minute animation done in a few weeks. i just need a better method of shooting.
by the way, xion, i know you like to animate and your stuff comes out great. i'm just telling you now, rather than paying thousands for an art school, you should look into buying a light tracer, a peg bar (i use the acme peg bar), and some animation bond. it all comes out to a really decent price if you think about it. don't have to get them from the links, i just looked them up real quick. there's cheaper, i'm sure.