Lego's Design Process

[fishers64]

https://instagram.com/p/9etDvVQFrF/

 

Looks like Lego hasn't been thinking of story writing that much - as old Greg said, the sets come first. 

 

However, most writing methods start with defining the characters and the setting anyway, but it appears that they focus more on the appearance of the characters than their actual personalities, which makes sense for a toy company. But that may leave those looking for a deeper story disappointed.

 

What do you think? Go! 

[believe victims]

I mean, this seems fairly par for the course for toy companies. You gotta make an attractive toy.

 

That said, personality does come into appearance of a toy sometimes. I'm sure there are others who could give better examples, but the 2015 Toa's designs all seem to definitely have been designed with that character in mind.

[Lyichir]

Did you miss the part where story development is the very first step of the design process? It's at the very top of the slide.

 

I mean, the presentation didn't go into much detail about that step, but that was because the presentation was by a set designer, about the process for designing the sets. He has almost no role in story development, so I don't see why he'd be expected to talk about it.

Edited October 31, 2015 by Lyichir

[fishers64]

Did you miss the part where story development is the very first step of the design process? It's at the very top of the slide.

And that is why I post topics on BZPower.

 

I stand corrected. 

 

Wait, does that mean that the order of precedence has been reversed for G2 with story coming first and sets coming off the story?! 

[Lyichir]

 

 

 

 

Did you miss the part where story development is the very first step of the design process? It's at the very top of the slide.

And that is why I post topics on BZPower.

 

I stand corrected.

 

Wait, does that mean that the order of precedence has been reversed for G2 with story coming first and sets coming off the story?!

No, I think it's always been a bit back and forth. The "big-picture" aspects of the story—characters, mood, setting, and main story beats—come first. Beyond that, the story doesn't get fully fleshed out until much later. This was the case even in G1 as far as I'm aware.

[Ta-metru_defender]

Way I see it, if the new set looks like a giant killer duck, does action features like a giant killer duck, then the story's probably gonna feature a giant killer duck.

[fishers64]

No, I think it's always been a bit back and forth. The "big-picture" aspects of the story—characters, mood, setting, and main story beats—come first. Beyond that, the story doesn't get fully fleshed out until much later. This was the case even in G1 as far as I'm aware.

 

Basically, I would see it this way: 

 

Sets come first. That means things like the Rahaga flying on helicopter blades are not canon, because there is nothing like that on the set.  

 

Movies, books and comics are all about equal -- the books reside in the movie universe, where the Toa have hands, the comics do not, but they are all canon. 

 

Animations have, in the past, ranked behind these because they generally have not been approved by the story team. In future, though, there is going to be a lot more story on the web site and it will be considered canon.

 

In the addition, there have been several answers that say that some story elements are included in G1 because the sets release required it. The Rahkshi of Heat Vision in 2010, for example. 

[believe victims]

 

No, I think it's always been a bit back and forth. The "big-picture" aspects of the story—characters, mood, setting, and main story beats—come first. Beyond that, the story doesn't get fully fleshed out until much later. This was the case even in G1 as far as I'm aware.

 

Basically, I would see it this way: 

 

Sets come first. That means things like the Rahaga flying on helicopter blades are not canon, because there is nothing like that on the set.  

 

Movies, books and comics are all about equal -- the books reside in the movie universe, where the Toa have hands, the comics do not, but they are all canon. 

 

Animations have, in the past, ranked behind these because they generally have not been approved by the story team. In future, though, there is going to be a lot more story on the web site and it will be considered canon.

 

In the addition, there have been several answers that say that some story elements are included in G1 because the sets release required it. The Rahkshi of Heat Vision in 2010, for example. 

 

 

The two statements are not contradictory. "Do the Rahaga have helicopter blades?" "What powers do these Rahkshi have?" These are detail things that usually come after the set. But, "What is the setting?" "Who are the heroes?" "What are the villains?" "What is the quest/conflict?", these general ideas have to come before the sets.

 

It's not as solid as "we make the story first, then sets to fit the story." There's a lot of back-and-forth, and both are probably continually changing throughout the process.

 

What Greg meant by "sets come first" in that quote is, if something in the story contradicts a set, the set prevails. It's a different meaning of "comes first".

[Ta-metru_defender]

I think the way Fisher understands it (and honestly this is the way I always have too), is that the design team does the sets based on a concept (07 was underwater, say) and then story adds context to it (uh, the red one's Jaller; that Maxilos thing's a robot, that mask controls gravity, sure). And if story wanted to have a Giant Killer Turtle but market research said that this year Giant Killer Ducks were in vogue, then they'd have to have a Giant Killer Duck.

[fishers64]

I think the way Fisher understands it (and honestly this is the way I always have too), is that the design team does the sets based on a concept (07 was underwater, say) and then story adds context to it (uh, the red one's Jaller; that Maxilos thing's a robot, that mask controls gravity, sure). And if story wanted to have a Giant Killer Turtle but market research said that this year Giant Killer Ducks were in vogue, then they'd have to have a Giant Killer Duck.

I want a Giant Killer Duck now.

 

But seriously, this. Also, my running theory is that the concepts (like desert, city, underwater, flying toa, etc) supersede the actual story neatness. For example, they could have gone straight to 2008 story after 2005, but they didn't, because they wanted to have desert/gangster and underwater stuff going on in the middle. Karda Nui could have been somewhat straightforward, but they introduced the flying element because it was a set concept idea. Greg has said "They wanted to do a ________theme." as an answer to some fan questions as well. 

 

While the resulting story might have been richer for these additions, at the time 2006-07 struck me as filler, and I still haven't quite gotten over that, even though I understand that Mata Nui "death" is a logical consequence of what Makuta did. That always struck me as a "set needs supersede story" case. Or the Nuva being beaten by the Piraka because of the Inika sets. Things like that. 

Edited November 2, 2015 by fishers64

[Ta-metru_defender]

...Or the Nuva being beaten by the Piraka because of the Inika sets. Things like that.

I think this here is a great example of sets first.'cuz there wasn't an iteration of Tahu, et al coming up; they had to find a way to get rid of the Toa Nuva somehow.