Sokoda's The Legend of the BIONICLE: Celebrating 20 years of Lego stories reached 10K votes incredibly quickly! This diorama style model shows off Bionicle is such a great light, which clearly fans loved! Learn more about Sokoda and their project here in this weeks 10K Interview:
About Yourself
- Where are you from?
Germany.
- How old are you?
Almost 22 years old.
- What do you do for a living?
I’m an engineering student.
- What hobbies do you have?
My main hobby really is Lego, I build a lot of digital models and keep up with Lego news. I also really enjoy videogames, movies and comicbooks.
- Do you have a personal LEGO portfolio website that you can share with us?
I upload images of all my builds to my Twitter account @TheSokoda, so that’s probably the best place to keep up to date with my latest builds.
- Have you created any LEGO MOCs (my own creations) that you’re particularly proud of? What is it, why are you proud it and do you have a photo of it?
One of my MOCs I’m very proud of is a model of an organ, which is built with Bionicle pieces in scale for a Matoran. I built it for a Bionicle fan contest, and it has a built in function that makes the keys move by turning a crank.
I also build a lot of digital models and one I really like is my “Vermillion Dragon”. I’m a huge Lego Ninjago fan and built this one for a fan contest as well. I had a lot of fun with building this one and I like the idea of a dragon consisting of thousands of snakes.
- How and when did your interest for LEGO come about?
Basically since I was a baby I already played with Duplo, when I was three years old, I built my first Bionicle set, my brother got Toa Pohatu Mata as a gift, but he didn’t really care about him too much. So I picked him up and built him and I was hooked. Since then I was a Bionicle fan. I also got into Lego system very soon after. To this day I never really stopped being interested in Lego.
- What is LEGO for you? What does it mean for you? How does it fit in your life? E.g. build, display, meetups, play the games.. or 'just' watch the cartoons.
Lego is a really important part of my life. I’m in a lot of online fan communities, especially the Bionicle and Ninjago communities. I build digital models pretty much every week and love collecting sets and interacting with other Lego fans online.
As a Bionicle and Ninjago fan I of cause also love reading books, watching shows and movies and playing games about the storylines of my favorite Lego themes.
- What is your favourite LEGO theme (current or past)? Why? And has any theme inspired your building style or preference in any particular way?
I mean that’s a pretty easy pick here. I’ll have to say Bionicle. Bionicle has always been a very special Lego theme for a lot of Lego fans. It is very unique because it was one of the first Lego themes with its own storyline and the interesting world and characters of the Bionicle universe have always been very intriguing to me. The theme just has such a special feel and atmosphere to it, like no other Lego theme and an incredibly complex and gripping story. This is what inspired me to build this model.
After Bionicle ended I got more into Lego Ninjago and Star Wars. Ninjago is my favorite current Lego theme and I think it heavily influenced my building style.
- What is your favourite official LEGO set? Why?
My favorite set as a kid was Toa Lhikan and Kikanalo (8811) and I still really love it. Lhikan is my favourite Bionicle character and that’s why this set will always have a very special place in my heart.
My favorite Lego set build-wise is the Lego Ninjago Movie Destiny’s Bounty (70618). It is an extremely impressive build and I always love when a Lego set is filled with little details and eater eggs and that one definitely is.
- Is there a LEGO designer (official LEGO designer or fan designer) who you are inspired by and look up to? Who and why?
I’m often inspired by official sets for my MOCs. I like to see all the clever ways parts are used. I especially look up to the set designers Niek van Slagmaat and Nick Vas. I love building mechs and dragons and those designers have such creative ideas with those kinds of models. Sets like Master Wus Dragon (70734) will always be an inspiration for me.
- Is there one or more particular LEGO related websites (not official LEGO websites) that you visit often and/or are inspired by?
I’m a pretty active member on the TTV Message boards (board.ttvchannel.com). It’s a great place to share your Lego creations especially Bionicle related models and have interesting discussions about all things Lego. This is also the place where I started sharing my Lego builds online. I’m also fairly active on different Lego subreddits and discord servers.
About Your Project
- Where did your interest in this particular model come from?
I’m a Bionicle fan since its beginning and I was always especially interested in the story aspect of it. With the themes 20th anniversary getting closer I wanted to make something to celebrate this amazing story. I thought Lego ideas might be the best way to make this happen and show how many people still love this amazing theme.
I also thought it’s a fun idea to show these iconic scenes from Bionicle in a different style by using Lego system and different scales for the scenes.
- How long was the process of making the project did, and what did you have to research as well. What kind of prep, research and design phases did you go through to produce your creation?
I started with preparation and research in the beginning of 2019. I knew I wanted to build something to represent Bionicles story, so I really did a deep-dive into the story again. I read the books and comics, watched the movies, played the old web games and read threw biosector01 articles. I took a lot of time to decide which moments in the story are the most important ones for me. In April I did my first sketches of how I wanted the model to look and after that I started building.
I finished the model in late September, but I still had to design all the prints and make renders of the model.
- What special challenges did you face creating the model? What was the most difficult part to recreate?
One of the most challenging aspects of this model was the different scales of the scenes included. It took me quite a while to figure out how I can build all these scenes in a way they have a similar size overall, although the scale is quite different. I did a lot of experimenting with the size of the single scenes, but I like how it turned out and I think having microfigures, minifigures and brick-built figures in one model is something pretty unique.
Another challenge was emulating the look of the original Bionicle figures in a minifigure and microfigure design. I had to work a lot with printing, so these characters are still recognizable in this style.
- How did it feel when you reached the magic 10,000 votes and how long did it take?
The project reached 10,000 supporters in 25 days, which is way faster than I would have ever imagined. I spent a lot more time on planning and building the actual model, which took me around six months, not counting the time I took to go through the Bionicle story as a preparation.
- Approximately how many LEGO bricks did you use to create your model?
The original version I uploaded before all the Updates had 1444 pieces.
- What is your favourite building technique or part/section that you’ve incorporated into your Product Idea?
I really like how my models for the Great Spirit Robot and Prototype Robot turned out. I like how they are pretty posable for their size and have a clear height difference. I used the Plate 1X1 Round W/ Horizontal 3.2 Shaft (32828) to give them the iconic piston-look.
- If you built your model digitally, what software did you use to build and render your model?
I used Lego Digital Designer to build the model, and then I imported it into Stud.io to make some changes and add my printed pieces with the Stud.io PartDesigner. I also rendered it in Stud.io.
- If you used custom stickers or prints for your design, how did you create them or where did you get them?
I used a lot of custom decals for my model most of them I just drew on my computer myself. Some of them are symbols from Bionicle, so I looked them up online as a reference and adjusted them to fit the pieces I wanted them to be on.
About LEGO Ideas
- Do you have any useful advice about creating a successful LEGO Ideas project?
I think it helps if you know where you can reach people who are interested in your project. To get the needed 10.000 supporters the people who might like your project have to hear about it. I had a lot of help with that by Bionicle fangroups and YouTube channels.
- What (if any) methods did you use to advertise and attract support to your Product Idea?
I spread my model in Bionicle fan hubs on reddit, Twitter and different forums. What also helped me a lot, is that YouTubers like the TTV Channel and oboeshoesgames helped me promote my project in their videos.
- What is your favourite LEGO Ideas Product Idea (besides your own of course)? Are there any Product Ideas you think have been overlooked?
Of the ones that were approved, I really like the TRON Legacy ideas set (21314). I love the style of that movie and I think the set does a great job of representing it. There are also quite some other cool Bionicle ideas projects on the site. I especially like “Mata Nui Rising” by Student_Scissors.
- What is it about the platform that attracts you? What tips would you give to anyone who is thinking about uploading an idea?
The chance to create an official Lego set is what makes this website so special for Lego fans. Who wouldn’t love to create his or her own set? I think Lego ideas is a really cool opportunity for Lego fans to show their interest in a specific idea or set. A good tip for anyone who wants to upload a model to ideas is that you should take your time to make your renders or photos. Presentation is very important if your goal is to convince people that your idea can work.
- Do you have plans to submit any other Product Ideas in the future? If yes, can you give us a hint what that might be?
I don’t think I will submit another one anytime soon. There is one other project, I might create one day, related to an old Lego video game…
By
JacobM366