Ben Palacios is one of The Gang's original members, having attended Central Junior High with Terry Mulrenin, Mike Paprocki, and Bill Pappas. He has been an active member of the group since the very beginning, and is most often recognized as The Gang's resident "stunt man."

Contents 1 History With The Gang 2 As A Character 2.1 In The Gangverse 3 Filmography 3.1 Doin' Stuff: The Story of The Gang 3.2 Doin' Stuff 2: Ulta Foovin' 3.3 Shenmue: The Gang Edition 3.4 The Search for Pappas 3.5 Shenmue II: The Gang Edition 3.6 The Gang Wars 3.7 Shenmue III: The Gang Edition 3.8 Doin' Stuff 6: The Final Countdown 3.9 The Final Jerkoff 3.10 Oh, Video! Vol. 1 4 Links

History With The GangEdit

Ben was a part of The Gang from the get-go, as he sat with Mike, Pap, and Eric Pietkiewicz at lunch throughout 8th grade. He also shared a fondness for professional wrestling with Terry, who he remained close friends with during their years at Evergreen Park High School. When The Gang began filming Doin' Stuff in 2000, Ben was excited to be included in the production - his only stipulation being that he get an entire scene dedicated to a wrestling match with Terry. After the scene was finished, Ben was pretty much left out of the rest of the movie (earning him only a "guest star" status in the ending credits). However, Ben made it pretty clear that if he wasn't doing something physical, he didn't have much of an interest in acting.

Ben appeared briefly in DS2's "The Blair Pappas Project," and there were plans to give him an entire Jackass-style segment which would allow him to do all sorts of unbelievably stupid stunts, but production came to an abrupt end and the idea was abandoned. When filming began on Shenmue: TGE, Ben was originally planned to play the part of Tom with Adam Oster playing the part of Iwao Hazuki, but Terry and Mike quickly realized that it should be the opposite way around and Ben was given the part of Ryo's father. Due to Ben's lack of acting skills, a joke was conceived where Iwao would have all his dialog dubbed over with Mike's voice so as to appear like a crappy of Japanese movie. While Ben still had problems keeping a straight face in the movie's opening scene (in which he is killed), he kept it together in the series of flashbacks featuring him and younger Ryo (played by Jakes Mulrenin).

Ben was brought back in the first episode of The Search for Pappas, where he was given the chance to do some more physical stunts in his solo quest to find Pappas. This included the now infamous ending of episode 1, featuring Ben running down the street wearing only a speedo and Santa hat. Though not included in episode 2, Ben appeared one more time in 2003 at the end of episode 3 alongside Eric, Oster, and Morales.

As The Gang began college in the fall of 2003, Ben enrolled at Souther Illinois University, where he lived on-campus during the school year. This made him unavailable for the many projects that would make up DS4, but he happily returned in the summer of 2004 to play one of the Heavens thugs that beat up Ryo in Shenmue II's Watermelon Fiasco scene. Ben appeared, along with his trusty kendo stick, in a slightly longer choreographed fight with Terry.

Ben was again absent during production of DS5, but his return in the summer of 2005 marked the opening of his fully-equipped garage gym, where he began holding weekly workout sessions with Terry and Kevin Quinn. This lead to the idea for the fight scene in The Gang Wars that featured Ben alongside Kevin and Erik Morales against Terry. The scene was shot on location in Ben's backyard, where got to attempt his biggest stunt yet - throwing himself off the top of his garage into a pile of boxes. He also got to wail on Terry once more with his kendo stick before Awesome Bomb-ing him into a piece of drywall.

When production on Shenmue III: TGE began in the summer of 2006, Ben was called on to reprise his role as Iwao Hazuki for a flashback scene where he got to fight Erik Morales (playing the part of Zhao Sun Ming). Ben's acting had improved much since the first Shenmue, and though his lines were still dubbed over by Mike, his part in the movie was certainly a memorable one (especially when he appears as a ghost in the final scene). Ben was also on-hand for the big downtown shooting day, where he doubled as a thug in several scenes.

While back in Chicago on student-teaching assignments, Ben was able to appear in DS6's "Boneless Olympics" and make a cameo at the end of "The Final Jerkoff" with Eric Pietkiewicz. In 2007, Ben landed a full-time stunt diving job, allowing him to travel the world and do all sorts of crazy stuff. When he's not lighting himself on fire, he still fills in for The Gang when needed, most recently appearing in "The Fall of The King" as one of the friends. In 2009, Ben also married his girlfriend, Priscilla Carnelos, to become the first married member of The Gang. Ben and Priscilla currently live in Florida.

As A CharacterEdit

Ben has, like most of The Gang, appeared as himself throughout the group's original movies.

In The GangverseEdit

Ben is introduced in DS1 as one of The Gang's original members, having gone to junior high with Terry, Mike, Pap and Eric. He is equipped with a kendo stick as his main weapon, which he uses to beat the crap out of Terry in a fantasy wrestling match. He also can't stand being laughed at by Old Lady Russell while being forced to square dance in gym class, and attacks the old bag alongside a rageful Terry.

Ben was seen briefly in DS2 when he followed Mike and Terry into a cabin and found their camera before being captured by the Blair Pappas. He wasn't seen again until Mike and Jay Slykas recruited him and Adam Oster to help find a missing Pappas. Ben was unsuccessful in his quest, as he kept getting pushed off ladders and falling over fences. After Jay and Mike found Pappas (or so they thought), they failed to find Ben to tell him the search was over, leaving Ben to wander the streets wearing only a speedo and Santa hat. It is unknown where he ended up after that, but he did answer the call to help defeat the Dark Mike a few weeks later.

Ben was away at college for 2 years before he would re-unite with Terry, Erik Morales and Kevin Quinn for a workout session in his garage. Unfortunately, he was brainwashed along with Kevin and Erik by the Council of Elders and forced to fight and capture an off-guard Terry. When the brainwashing wore off, Ben and the others found themselves under assault from the Elder's troops, but Terry arrived in the knick of time to help fight off the attackers.

Ben was not seen again until DS6, in which he competed in the Boneless Olympics. He was taken out of the race by one of Jake Dastardly's traps. Following the Stalker Boy incident, Ben was invited to The Gang's premiere of Shenmue IV as a VIP guest, where he reminisced with Eric Pietkiewicz about the days when he was a main character. He was last seen with Erik Morales and Eileen Mulrenin as they attempted to pick up Jay for a party.

FilmographyEdit

The following is a complete list of characters Ben has played in The Gang's movies.

Doin' Stuff: The Story of The GangEdit

• Himself
• La Chaqueta Villain #3

Doin' Stuff 2: Ulta Foovin'Edit

• Himself

Shenmue: The Gang EditionEdit

• Iwao Hazuki

The Search for PappasEdit

• Himself
• Thug

Shenmue II: The Gang EditionEdit

• Heavens Thug

The Gang WarsEdit

• Himself

Shenmue III: The Gang EditionEdit

• Iwao Hazuki
• Thug

Doin' Stuff 6: The Final CountdownEdit

• Runner #3

The Final JerkoffEdit

• Himself

Oh, Video! Vol. 1Edit

• Himself

LinksEdit

• The Official Website of The Gang
• Ben on Facebook