The Untold Struggle Behind BIONICLE

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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/pr...
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.c...
Christian Faber wrote an article on his blog about Cybots: faberfiles.blo...
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

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2 окт 2024

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Комментарии : 86

@air-headedaviator1805 Год назад

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

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

That's the plan!

@nathanael659 Год назад

🦾🗿

@KevinRoboticsEDU Год назад

Knowing the Bionicle fandom today, *someone* is going to turn these unused concept drawings into Technic-compatible 3D prints.

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

Yeah if anyone does, I'd love to seem 'em! :D - Waj

@purplehaze2358 Год назад

The real life lore behind Bionicle coming into being might just be almost as dense as Bionicle lore itself.

@gtcWoona Год назад

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.

@sptony2718 Год назад

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.

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

Couldn't agree more! :D

@CrummTheDumm Год назад

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

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

Yep! We hope to shine a light on new/lesser heard perspectives about BIONICLE's development history.

@AnonymousONIagent Год назад

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.

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

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

@zapdragon23 Год назад

I'm glad someone else saw that, it blew my mind.

@Cosmalano 9 месяцев назад

@@BehindBIONICLEomg, did you figure out the ABC warrior thing? I’ve never heard that before but it makes so much sense

@BasementDweller_ Год назад

I love hearing behind the scenes on things like this.

@rorymannmusic Год назад

Big up the north of England; we’re everywhere!

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

I gotta get better at map makin' - Waj

@masahige2344 Год назад

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!

@LeoxandarMagnus Год назад

That’s fascinating! How have I never heard of this man or his company before in the story?

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

Your guess is as good as ours, Leo.

@DISTurbedwaffle918 Год назад

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..."

@SupersuMC Год назад

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!

@wither5673 Год назад

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???

@masterjunk9227 Год назад

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.

@marcusmontes125 Год назад

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.

@PaladinHD Год назад

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

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

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.

@Ozkabot Год назад

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!

@MeekCrayon Год назад

Very well presented good sir! Looking forward to the next one! Or 100 lol

@sforlord604 Год назад

Really nice video. I haven't seen this perspective before and it's really interesting.

@Magushko Год назад

Bought two slizers week ago. Awesome sets :D

@lester44444 Год назад

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

@DM_GLAUCON Год назад

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

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

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

@wolfstyle69 Год назад

oh interesting, some of those designs kind of remind me of "Robotix"

@t-heff 10 месяцев назад

So much new information and so well produced - I hope more is on the way!

@BehindBIONICLE 10 месяцев назад

Thank you so much, that means a lot! Yep, we're hard at work on episode 2.

@Nailfut Год назад

Instant sub. This was a fundamental discovery, great job!

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

Thanks so much! :D - Waj

@Dahajda Год назад

What’s the Bohrok poster behind him and why does he have it? 😮

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

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.

@mugeca 7 месяцев назад

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

@BehindBIONICLE 7 месяцев назад

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! :)

@OonieandCacola Год назад

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!

@BadAssXerx3 Год назад

fascinating

@Xaxerix Год назад

Very well put together!!

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

Thanks, I really appreciate it! - Waj

@rothgang Год назад

Lego: Help us find what's missing in our technic line. Andrew: It's missing action figures. Lego: No.

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

This is my favorite comment - Waj

@calebmar12 Год назад

Finally got around to watching this. Absolutely fantastic video! I'm very excited to see more!

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

Thanks Cleb!

@IrrAe Год назад

I can't wait to see more. ^^

@danielkong6767 5 месяцев назад

Such a nice wholesome litte documentary style video, graphics were wonderful as well! Subsribing for the followip, keep up the good work!

@BehindBIONICLE 5 месяцев назад

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 :)

@hypocritehaterofficial3283 6 месяцев назад

They see the similarity to the younger photo of the person in the beginning of the video to Ewan McGregor

@TenebraeInvictus Год назад

Great video, finally got around to watching it. Really cool getting to see new parts of the backstory I had no idea about.

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

Thanks Invi! :D - Waj

@LibraDeer Год назад

13:20 Wow Battletech took a strange turn in this era 🤣

@Ricardo-kv5tk Год назад

Please bring back Bionicles

@THEKHAYYYAM Год назад

amazing

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

Glad you think so!

@Middlefingestudios1 Год назад

this was dope

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

Glad you enjoyed it, MFS!

@sussybaka5322 Год назад

This was great!

@untapped8776 Год назад

It's here! Let's goo!!

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

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

@schonkigplavuis8850 Месяц назад

Absolutely mind baffling how easy it was to get a job back then. AAA studios will go to PEOPLE. ask THEM what they wanna do.

@tomvhresvelg9286 8 месяцев назад

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.

@gagmesharkoff8993 8 месяцев назад

Wanted to say thanks for using my music at the end.

@BehindBIONICLE 8 месяцев назад

Oh hey, thank you so much for making it! Thought it would fit well with the ending :)

@AsparagusEduardo Год назад

man, I want to show this to friends, but it's a bit difficult without subtitles :(

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

I'll try to add closed captions.

@BehindBIONICLE Год назад

Sorry for the delay. There are now English subtitles.

@ilikegogoscrazybones3221 10 месяцев назад

Interesting

@consensuslphisk 6 месяцев назад

Are you planning any other videos for the channel? This one was, of course, phenomenal

@BehindBIONICLE 6 месяцев назад

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

@consensuslphisk 6 месяцев назад

@@BehindBIONICLE it does! I'll be looking forward to the coming episodes

@FanOfToaTahu 11 месяцев назад

I love these vids!

@BehindBIONICLE 11 месяцев назад

Glad you liked it!

@GalGaleno-q5j 9 месяцев назад

I want moreee

@BehindBIONICLE 9 месяцев назад

More is on the way :)

@Cosmalano 9 месяцев назад

That was amazing

@BehindBIONICLE 9 месяцев назад

Glad you enjoyed it! :D - Waj

@noodles2459 7 месяцев назад

WHY DO THE ROBOTS HAVE BATTLETECH DESIGNS

@BehindBIONICLE 7 месяцев назад

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.