Star Wars: LEGO Unleashed.
This May, MCM Comic Con graciously returned to its home away from home, London ExCeL. With plenty of notable actors, artists and many more in attendance, plenty of fun was to be had, autographs to be purchased and more. One big highlight for us from this year’s event was getting the chance to meet Graham E. Hancock, an author who is set to take us on a wonderful journey detailing 25 years of LEGO Star Wars in his upcoming book, LEGO Star Wars: The Force of Creativity.
With much discussed that it’s not non-sensical to cover it all in a single written interview, we’re breaking the interview into two parts with Part 2 focusing on the book’s creation and inspiration:
Graham E. Hancock | Celebrating 25 Years of LEGO Star Wars:
Miketendo64: As the author behind the upcoming LEGO Star Wars: The Force of Creativity, other than celebrating 25 years of LEGO Star Wars, what other motivations did you have that inspired you to pursue this project?
Graham E. Hancock: As a huge lifelong LEGO fan and a huge lifelong Star Wars fan, this was kind of a dream project for me, because it just combines these two things that I completely love. And I know how much LEGO Star Wars means to other people as well. So, my goal with the project was to do something that really does justice to 25 years of LEGO Star Wars that looks at all of the different things through the years that has made it special.
The sets, the video games, the animated specials, the minifigures, all the big installations and activations that have been done over the years, everything that makes LEGO Star Wars super special to people.
Miketendo64: Consisting of 312 pages, would you be so kind as to provide a brief outline of the type of content readers will be able to find in the contents of the book?
Graham E. Hancock: We split the book up into themed chapters so that we were covering all the different things that I talked about within LEGO Star Wars.
But, we wanted to start off with something that would really get the reader thinking about design, and like Star Wars design, because of course you can’t have LEGO Star Wars without Star Wars. So, we talked to Doug Chiang, the concept artist who has been responsible for Star War’s visual look for the last thirty years.
We open with a prologue that’s a conversation between him and the LEGO Star Wars design director Jens Kronvold Frederiksen, and the two of them really set up the book, explain what their different perspectives are on design, how you come at it from a movie angle, how you come at it from a toy angle.
And then after that we delve into the history of LEGO Star Wars, how it all started off in 1999, and then we go into how the sets are made and designed, how the minifigures are designed, how they think about LEGO design and Star Wars design and bringing those two things together. We talk about the video games and we talk about how those early video games were developed, what set the template for every other LEGO video game that’s come since. We talk about the animated specials, how they’ve evolved, how again they take Star Wars but put a LEGO twist on it with all of the humour and the comedy that comes in with those.
So yeah, we really go through each different part of the LEGO Star Wars experience chapter by chapter.
Miketendo64: When did work on LEGO Star Wars: The Force of Creativity begin?
Graham E. Hancock: It was about a year for me from the start to the finish of the project in terms of writing it. But luckily a lot of the research I’d already been doing over the years just through being a massive LEGO Star Wars fan.
I still remember in 1999, the first time that I saw LEGO Star Wars sets in Toys R Us and it just completely blew my mind. Without knowing it, I’d been prepping to write this book for the last 24 years. No one told me I was going to write a book but I was doing the homework for it anyway.
Miketendo64: What was the hardest part of the creation for the LEGO Star Wars: The Force of Creativity?
Graham E. Hancock: I think one of the biggest challenges with a project like this is knowing how much you can cover. When I work on a project like this I want to get everything into it, I want to fit in everything that we possibly can… but even with a massive 312 pages and more than 50,000 words, there were still limitations. Limitations regarding what can go in, what doesn’t need to and asking the question, “does this need to be in here?”
You have to refine things a little bit and take little things out here and there and just that kind of phase of bringing things down slightly, just to make sure that it fits within the space that you’ve got and everything. That’s probably the biggest challenge because you know I could have written a 700-page version of this book, but, of course, there’s always a limitation in terms of format and time.
It’s where writing and editing skills are important, as you need to make sure you’re doing something that’s actually feasible and meets the scope of the project. Fortunately, working on a monthly magazine had set me up really well for that challenge.
Miketendo64: For you, what has been something new that you learned about regarding LEGO Star Wars that you didn’t know until you started working on LEGO Star Wars: The Force of Creativity?
Graham E. Hancock: I suppose the biggest surprise for me, and this is something that I’d wondered about a few times through the years, is when the LEGO Star Wars designers seriously started finalizing the models and things that would be released because the deal was announced in April 1998, I believe, and then the first sets came out in March 1999.
That was a quick turnaround for LEGO at that time, as it normally would have taken them two to three years to design their sets and I finally got the answer on that. There had been some sketch models to give them an idea of what the LEGO Star Wars sets would look like, but when it came to the release models, LEGO just started building new ways of working to get the sets done quicker to meet the release date. The LEGO Group introduced new ways of working for LEGO Star Wars that have gone on to be used across the company for different product lines.
Today, new sets only take around a year from start to finish, but back then, they had to invent that timeline to meet the movie release.
Miketendo64: Having worked so extensively on LEGO Star Wars: The Force of Creativity, would you ever do another book of this scale for other LEGO ranges coming up for their 25th anniversary or is Star Wars the only (hope) one for you?
Graham E. Hancock: I think LEGO Star Wars is especially special for me because it was the thing that kept me in LEGO. I would have probably stopped having LEGO as I became a teenager, but because of LEGO Star Wars, I kept buying it, kept into it and it’s supercharged my interest as an adult and got me buying all the other themes and things.
However, while LEGO Star Wars is super special to me, there’s loads of other LEGO themes that I love. There are also loads of other LEGO themes that have a huge fan following that deserve this kind of book, so fingers crossed there’s more to come.
Miketendo64: Lastly, would you be so kind as to plug LEGO Star Wars: The Force of Creativity to your heart’s content?
Graham E. Hancock: LEGO Star Wars: The Force of Creativity is exclusively available at lego.com. It’s available for pre-order now and it releases on July 20th. If you love LEGO or if you love Star Wars then I have written this book for you.
I have written it in a way that will appeal to both audiences, and, for the collectors out there, then this is something you’ll certainly want to add to your collection and it will give you a deeper appreciation for it, all sorts of background and context on your favourite sets.
And for the collectors who have a humble collection, this book is more than ideal as it will allow you to look at beautiful pictures of various sets throughout the years, without having to have the physical models taking up all your space. There’s also a really cool time capsule within it, containing artifacts from the entire history of LEGO Star Wars. So, of you like what you’ve heard so far, go to lego.com, have a look at what it’s all about and hopefully everyone will really enjoy it.
For more MCM London Comic Con May 2024 content, be sure to click on this link here.
About LEGO Star Wars: The Force of Creativity:
Celebrate the 25th anniversary of LEGO® Star Wars™ building sets with The Force of Creativity coffee-table book. The ultimate treat for yourself or a Star Wars gift for a fellow fan, this lavish 312-page illustrated book features interviews with more than 50 insiders at the LEGO Group and Lucasfilm. It tells the inside story of the ever-evolving LEGO Star Wars brand, from the creation of popular building sets to immersive real-world experiences, video games, animated storytelling and the fan community.
View previously unseen development art, character designs and more to gain an unparalleled insight into the creative process. This deluxe collectible book for adults is presented in a slipcase with an exclusive ‘time capsule’ – a treasure trove of must-have LEGO Star Wars memorabilia that includes art prints, facsimiles, new building instructions and a cardstock replica of the impossibly rare 1999 Toy Fair invitation box that marked the start of an epic adventure of 25 years and counting.
Purchase of LEGO® Star Wars™: The Force of Creativity does not qualify for gifts offered during the LEGO Star Wars™ Day promotional period, 01/05/2024-05/05/2024.
- Coffee-table book for LEGO® Star Wars™ fans – Celebrate 25 years of LEGO Star Wars building sets with The Force of Creativity, a 312-page, hardcover illustrated book presented in a slipcase
- Collectible book for adults – Interviews with over 50 insiders at the LEGO Group and Lucasfilm, plus development art, character designs and more to reveal the story of the LEGO® Star Wars™ brand
- LEGO® Star Wars™ memorabilia – The ’time capsule’ in the slipcase features a development sketch for an early print ad (1999) and a postcard of an early version of the first LEGO Star Wars logo
- Other time capsule items – A facsimile of a rare Toy Fair booklet (2010), development art for an unreleased LEGO® Star Wars™ Zam Wesell minifigure (2020), an unproduced animation script and more
- Star Wars™ gift for adult fans – Treat yourself or give this collector’s edition book to another adult fan of LEGO® Star Wars building sets, real-world experiences and video games
- Measurements – The book measures over 11 in. (26 cm) long and 12 in. (31 cm) wide
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