The Untold Struggle Behind BIONICLE
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 9 ส.ค. 2023
- In this first episode of our BIONICLE documentary series we reveal the untold struggle of pitching the concept of LEGO Action Figures (constraction) to the LEGO Group.
This is a story we uncovered back in September 2021, when we had our exclusive interview with Andrew Nagel. Previously it had been thought that Christian Faber's Cybots concept was the origin point for constraction, but we now know that Collector & Evolver were what internally led to the development of LEGO TECHNIC SLIZER / Throwbots and later BIONICLE.
Andrew was granted permission by the LEGO Group to be able to share his story and never before seen concept sketches for our documentary series. LEGO, BIONICLE, and TECHNIC are trademarks of the LEGO Group, which does not sponsor or endorse this project.
Huge thanks to Andrew Nagel and Christian Faber for their help and support of this project! The sketch in the thumbnail was drawn by Andrew Nagel. Thanks to Pakari for drawing the scenes depicting the story, and thanks to Mid Blue for advising on this video.
For further reading on this story check out DEVELOPA's website:
developa.dk/projects/lego-suc...
Ole Vestergaard Poulsen, the former creative director of LEGO TECHNIC mentioned at the end also wrote an article on Linkedin about his involvement with DEVELOPA and the development of SLIZER: www.linkedin.com/posts/ole-ve...
Christian Faber wrote an article on his blog about Cybots: faberfiles.blogspot.com/2012/...
TRACK LIST:
The Theat Of Kapital by Halted Instant
Pulsing Drone Ambience - patricklieberkind
Silky - Alex Figueira
Waiting On The Nite by Derek Stephens, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk.
Strange Bop - contreloup
Vibin Sneaky by Jonas Hipper, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk.
Pulse - Sioum
Les Portes Du Futur - Bill Vortex
Hallon - Christian Bjoerklund
Snatching at Statues by Sleeping Boats, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk.
The escape - Marc Ferry
Fast Action by Jonas Hipper, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk.
Jams - HolzinaCC0
Dream by Nul Tiel Records, licensed with permission from the Independent Music Licensing Collective - imlcollective.uk.
Getting Paid Right Now - Gagmesharkoff
All tracks sourced from freemusicarchive.org
You can listen to them here, • chill beats to invent ...
Behind BIONICLE is a series produced by Modularity, / modularity
Thanks so much for watching!
This has been a project that's been in the works for a very long time, with me coming up with the idea in late 2016 and trying to get it off the ground since early 2017. Though Slime and I really got solidly working on it starting in May 2020.
Honestly I never thought it would see the light of day. It was a lot of failure, with a few slivers of progress. Even now I look at it and think I could've done much better since its kind of blurry in places, I should've probably not zoomed in so much... maybe once the whole series is out I'll combine all the episodes and re-edit it with feedback.
I thought the conclusion of the video shouldn't be that success is all up to chance. I really believe that it was the result of all the attempts prior; trying out new designs and ideas. I think it can be easy to chalk it all up to luck. So I hope that for whatever you're working on right now, that no matter the struggles you face, you'll be able to perservere through them! :D - Waj
You know the lore of BIONICLE, now get ready for the lore *Behind* BIONICLE! The big story behind the making of a decade+ long toy series
That's the plan!
🦾🗿
Knowing the Bionicle fandom today, *someone* is going to turn these unused concept drawings into Technic-compatible 3D prints.
Yeah if anyone does, I'd love to seem 'em! :D - Waj
The real life lore behind Bionicle coming into being might just be almost as dense as Bionicle lore itself.
Bionicle was not just a line of Lego. City, Kingdoms and Pirates were lines. Bionicle was an event. I wish Lego could go back to that.
I can remember holding the 2001 catalog in my hands and seeing the Bionicle section. I was instantly hooked and on an internal countdown. If there has ever been anything I wanted from Lego, THIS was it.
Couldn't agree more! :D
I'm actually overjoyed to have this story told to me. I hadn't considered the story behind the story that I loved so much as a kid.
Once I grew out of Power Rangers and Tonka trucks it was Bionicle until the end of that phase of life. But this series is particularly special for having aspects that appeal to the adult me. I feel like you can still see the value in the lore that they weaved, the unique 2000's era appeal of the forms they gave this world and its inhabitants, and in the creative functionality of the toys. It's still a charming and captivating fantasy well-told by our narrator.
This is the kind of history we need to know.
"Gathered friends, listen again to our tale of the Bionicle. In the time, before time..."
This is genuinely interesting. I was expecting Christian Faber from the get-go and clapped when he came up, but when you led in with Andrew Nagel I was thinking, "Who's this guy?"
Glad to see and hear about a previously unknown part of BIONICLE's development!
This is the type of deep dive I've always wanted: a first-hand account from the people responsible for this beloved theme. From the initial concepts to the struggles along the way. I know I'm staying glued to this series until the finale.
Bionicle is such a fundamental part of my childhood and most of my warm fuzzy nostalgic memories are of my Bionicle's, opening up new sets, putting them together, pulling them apart and making custom stuff. and don't even get me started on those commercials man, any other set of ads iv ever seen make me want to never touch a product ever, its always so hollow and ''corporate''
but Bionicle had that genuine energy to it that i just cant help but love.
also...those early technic prototypes had a particular design philosophy. early BattleTech/MechWarrior designs, was this guy involved with making artwork for BattleTech???
It's interesting that he pretty much connected with the customer base (boys) found out where a demand was not being supplied then tried to make that thing even when the higher ups just wanted him to make boring cars.
So glad we had this guy and the rest of Lego to make our childhoods epic
Absolutely! Andrew was so persistent in wanting LEGO TECHNIC to make action figures because he really believed the idea would work with the target demographic, and we love him for that.
This combined with the beautiful Lego Bionicles game that's coming out... Man... It's like it's 2006 again. I just picked up my very first canister of a Bionicle and was in love with the idea of this incredible story.
It's like I'm witnessing a long lost yell from history being echoed back into today with a fervent cry for victory finally being answered after a long time of this beautiful story slumbering.
It really is a good time to be a Lego fan.
As someone who thought he knew everything there was publicly to know about behind-the-scenes Bionicle development, the Nagel side of things with Collector & Evolver took me completely by surprise. Amazing primary research and fantastic presentation!
Somebody on this development team was clearly a BattleTech fan. Those illustrations are clearly traced from illustrations found in BattleTech's Technical Readout 3050: the design at 13:21 is traced from the CRD-5M Crusader (it even retains the tubes for the SRMs on the hips), the design at 13:22 is based on the Cyclops, "Heli-man" at 13:23 is traced directly from the Marauder II, and the skull head of the Atlas seems to make a couple appearances.
To be clear, I'm not criticizing this at all; I think it's neat! I presume this was just done to speed up the process of making these "proof of concept" sketches.
A lot of people have been mentioning BattleTech, but thanks for bringing up specific designs! I think you're likely correct. Its sort of like how the Boneheads of Voodoo Island head was very likely taken from the ABC Warrior in Judge Dredd. Indeed, it makes sense that they'd work off existing designs to accelerate concept development. - Waj
I'm glad someone else saw that, it blew my mind.
@@BehindBIONICLEomg, did you figure out the ABC warrior thing? I’ve never heard that before but it makes so much sense
Big up the north of England; we’re everywhere!
I gotta get better at map makin' - Waj
This video (and probably the rest of the channel) sheds a light on Bionicles history, which is one of the most interesting toy histories ever
Yep! We hope to shine a light on new/lesser heard perspectives about BIONICLE's development history.
13:20 Wow Battletech took a strange turn in this era 🤣
That’s fascinating! How have I never heard of this man or his company before in the story?
Your guess is as good as ours, Leo.
oh interesting, some of those designs kind of remind me of "Robotix"
Brilliant! This new side to the story truly feels like the final piece of the puzzle, bridging that gap between a traditionally vehicle-centric subtheme changing the game with buildable characters. Top notch work on the visuals also; so many creative animations and transitions. Presentation is just excellent across the board.
The years of hard work and research definitely shows through in the final product. Can’t wait for the next one!
Great video! Real interesting deep dive on that forgotten Technic lore. Bionicle was somehow this perfect storm of art and business. Crazy to think how seemingly small details can have such a butterfly effect on the rest of the line
Thanks! I should probably say, it wasn't forgotten, it was straight up unknown, and we were the ones to uncover this side of the story. Yeah, it really is wild how a happy accident was what communicated the scale. While I think lucky moments like that happen all the time, the message that I hope to communicate is that it was also made as a result of Andrew's perserverance in pitching the concept multiple times - Waj
I love hearing behind the scenes on things like this.
Phenomenal! I love this type of historical documentation/video essay so much. What strikes me as most interesting is how Bionicle nowadays is just as well known as the handful of popular 90s toys used to inspire the constructible action figure. Huge props to Mr. Nagel for being able to share his story. Can not wait to see what else is in store for this series! Happy 810nicle day!
Please bring back Bionicles
It's here! Let's goo!!
Thanks again for all your help creating the artwork depicting the various scenes. I knew I wanted to work with you on this project since like 2020, for your awesome style and design sense, and I think they turned out great! :D
Lego: Help us find what's missing in our technic line.
Andrew: It's missing action figures.
Lego: No.
This is my favorite comment - Waj
Instant sub.
This was a fundamental discovery, great job!
Thanks so much! :D - Waj
Really nice video. I haven't seen this perspective before and it's really interesting.
this was dope
Glad you enjoyed it, MFS!
Bought two slizers week ago. Awesome sets :D
Very well presented good sir! Looking forward to the next one! Or 100 lol
What’s the Bohrok poster behind him and why does he have it? 😮
Great question! We actually have a high-res version of it that we requested from him and the info on it will tie into episode 2.
They see the similarity to the younger photo of the person in the beginning of the video to Ewan McGregor
Pretty cool, some of those early designs in 1996 look like they could've been revisited later on as prototype Hero Factory designs. Thanks for the vid
Designers can definitely use these sorts of concept pitches for inspiration on future projects, so its possible that it might've been used for HF designs. Thanks for the comment! :)
Wanted to say thanks for using my music at the end.
Oh hey, thank you so much for making it! Thought it would fit well with the ending :)
Finally got around to watching this. Absolutely fantastic video! I'm very excited to see more!
Thanks Cleb!
So much new information and so well produced - I hope more is on the way!
Thank you so much, that means a lot! Yep, we're hard at work on episode 2.
I can't wait to see more. ^^
Very well put together!!
Thanks, I really appreciate it! - Waj
Such a nice wholesome litte documentary style video, graphics were wonderful as well! Subsribing for the followip, keep up the good work!
That's very kind of you to say, thank you so much! We've been working on the follow up and hope to get it out soon :)
fascinating
This was great!
Are you planning any other videos for the channel? This one was, of course, phenomenal
Thank you, really appreciate it! Yes we're currently working on episode 2, which'll be about the development of Slizer and Roboriders. Then episode 3 will center around Boneheads of Voodoo Island and the final episode we have planned for this concept design season is episode 4. We recorded two new interviews at the end of November 2023, so the long release gap has been because we're incorporating them into those episodes. Aiming to release 2, 3, and 4 this year, but plans may change depending on how long it all takes to put together. Hope that answers your question! :) - Waj
@@BehindBIONICLE it does! I'll be looking forward to the coming episodes
amazing
Glad you think so!
I want moreee
More is on the way :)
That was amazing
Glad you enjoyed it! :D - Waj
I love these vids!
Glad you liked it!
kinda crazy how lacking in imagination the board at lego seemed to be, at least in regards to what potential technic could have lol. So stuck in it having to fit within the narrow, narrow box of real world vehicles and nothing else 😂 meccano must have really gotten into their heads
So much nostalgia oozing through, not just from bionicles and old system/technic sets, but also the mention of crazybones hahahaa
Interesting
man, I want to show this to friends, but it's a bit difficult without subtitles :(
I'll try to add closed captions.
Sorry for the delay. There are now English subtitles.
WHY DO THE ROBOTS HAVE BATTLETECH DESIGNS
We speculate that someone on the DEVELOPA team was a fan of BattleTech. We could ask Andrew to confirm if it was an inspiration for the Collector / Evolver designs.
How can this masterpiece last only 1/4 of Gunpla? Bandai is garbage for p-bandai, QC and more. While lego cares about consumer so they have no premium lego shit. Sad that Bionicle's death snuffed the soul from bandai.
A friendly advice, while your illustrations are very nice the editing is so fervent that it's borderline nauseating to watch. The video is well put together, just let the scenes breathe a bit more🙏
Sorry about that. Yeah, I thought I might've gone too fast in editing some of the scenes. I hardly recieve feedback on this sort of stuff though, so I appreciate it and will try to improve for episode 2. - Waj
@@BehindBIONICLE I'm sure if your next episode will be a bit more "chill", it'll be perfect!😄👍there was great information in this one, too. Especially those early concept drawings of vehicular builds. Never seen those before!
I'll be sure to do so, thanks! Yeah, this is the first time these drawings have been shown publicly as this is a story that we uncovered. Andrew was kind enough to send us scans of his sketches.
Great video, finally got around to watching it. Really cool getting to see new parts of the backstory I had no idea about.
Thanks Invi! :D - Waj