Lego Galidor: The Toy that Almost Bankrupted Lego
Summary
TLDRThe script details the rise and fall of Lego's Galador franchise, a sci-fi themed toy line and TV show that aimed to innovate but ultimately failed due to misaligned marketing, lack of clear direction, and internal communication issues. Despite its unique 'glinch' feature, the toys and show were met with poor reception, leading to Lego's decision to revert to its core values and focus on improving communication and research within the company.
Takeaways
- ð Lego's financial struggles in 1998 led to a search for fresh ideas, resulting in the hiring of 30 young designers.
- ðš The new designers faced the challenge of creating with Lego bricks, which was different from traditional toy development.
- 𧩠Lego's belief that their bricks were out of fashion led to the development of a new product line, Galador.
- ðŸ Galador was a sci-fi themed toy line featuring buildable action figures with interchangeable parts, called 'glinch'.
- ðº A TV show was planned alongside the toys, with high hopes for success and a multimedia franchise in mind.
- ð® The Galador franchise also included a unique electronic toy, the Keck Powerizer, which interacted with the TV show and video games.
- ð» An Alternate Reality Game (ARG) was used to promote Galador, creating an online experience that expanded the franchise's story.
- ð¬ High production costs and creative risks led to the Galador TV show being moved around in the programming schedule and ultimately, its failure.
- 𧩠The Galador toys did not sell well, partly due to poor marketing and packaging that failed to showcase the toys' unique features.
- ð¹ïž The video games associated with Galador were delayed and eventually cancelled, further contributing to the franchise's failure.
- ð Lego's experience with Galador served as a learning opportunity, leading to a renewed focus on their core products and improved internal processes.
Q & A
What was the main reason for Lego's financial loss in 1998?
-Lego experienced their worst financial loss in history in 1998 due to a series of bad business decisions, leading to a struggle to pinpoint the root of the problem and effectively manage the situation.
What significant change did Lego make in their approach to product development during this period?
-Lego laid off their top designers, who were experienced old Danish guys, and hired 30 new designers with fresh and inventive ideas in an attempt to bring new blood and innovative thinking to the company.
What was the initial concept behind the Galador project?
-The initial concept behind the Galador project was to design a prototype line of toy animals and action figures that looked more organic and lifelike, without using traditional Lego bricks.
How did Lego plan to promote the Galador franchise?
-Lego planned to promote the Galador franchise with a TV show, video games, and comics, aiming to make the TV show as integral to the franchise as the toys themselves.
Who was the producer hired for the Galador TV show, and what was his notable work?
-Tom Lynch was the producer hired for the Galador TV show, known for his work on tween kids shows like The Secret World of Alex Mack, Kids Incorporated, and The Journey of Alan Strange.
What was the main gimmick of the Galador toys?
-The main gimmick of the Galador toys was 'glinching,' which involved detachable limbs and heads, allowing kids to mix and match parts to create their own unique action figures.
What was the Keck Powerizer, and how did it interact with the Galador TV show and video games?
-The Keck Powerizer was a multimedia action figure and Lego's first and only game console. It came with a small screen and could play games that were unlocked by picking up encoded audio signals from the Galador TV show. It could also interact with the video games, further enhancing the glinching experience.
What marketing strategy did Lego use to build anticipation for Galador?
-Lego used an Alternate Reality Game (ARG) to build anticipation for Galador. The ARG was a website designed to look like a computer terminal, where users could enter prompts to discover clues about a secret story related to Galador.
What were some of the factors that contributed to the failure of the Galador franchise?
-Factors that contributed to the failure of the Galador franchise included poor reception of the TV show, lack of significant promotion from Disney, competition with Lego's own Bionicle product line, and packaging that failed to effectively communicate the toy's unique features.
What was the ultimate outcome for the Galador video games?
-The Galador video games faced cancellation due to the poor performance of the toy line. However, the PS2 game developed by Asylum Entertainment was eventually released in 2006 by Focus Multimedia as a competent action-platformer.
How did Lego recover from the financial setback caused by the Galador failure?
-Lego recovered by learning from their mistakes, focusing on communication and collaboration, and returning to their roots with fewer products and more research. The success of the Bionicle line and the appointment of CEO Jorgen Vig Knudstorp helped Lego regain its footing and profitability.
Outlines
ð Introduction and Gratitude for Support
The speaker begins by expressing gratitude for the overwhelming support they've received, particularly for their latest video on the making of Bionicle. They acknowledge the success of their small channel and the inspiration drawn from positive feedback. The speaker then introduces the topic of the video: the lesser-known history of LEGO, specifically the development of a strange and different product line during a challenging period for the company in 1998.
ð LEGO's Financial Struggles and Shift in Strategy
LEGO in 1998 faced its worst financial loss ever due to a series of poor business decisions. The company was struggling to identify the root of its problems and believed they had become out of touch with the market. They thought that kids were no longer interested in traditional LEGO bricks and that the company needed new, youthful ideas. This led to the laying off of top designers and the hiring of 30 new, young designers, marking the beginning of a questionable phase of experimentation for LEGO.
ð The Genesis of Galador: A Bold New Direction
LEGO embarked on a new project, initially titled 'Project Genesis', aiming to create a line of toy animals and action figures with lifelike parts, moving away from traditional LEGO bricks. The concept evolved into creatures, then aliens, and eventually led to the development of a new sci-fi theme. Despite the initial success in test groups, the development phase was blurry and stressful, with high expectations and big plans for the project, including a TV show, video games, and comics.
ð¬ Production and Promotion of Galador
LEGO hired producer Tom Lynch, known for his work on kids' shows, to helm the Galador TV show. The show was to be a significant part of the franchise, with production beginning in 2000. The show's main protagonist, Nick Bluetooth, and his companions were developed, with a focus on the 'glinch' ability, which allowed transformation of limbs into parts of machines and organisms. The toys were designed with detachable limbs and heads for mix-and-match play, but this also led to some awkward and unappealing outcomes.
ð® The Keck Powerizer: A Multimedia Action Figure
The Keck Powerizer was a unique toy that combined the features of an action figure with a multimedia device. It was designed to interact with the Galador TV show and had a screen and games that could be unlocked during the show. The toy also interacted with a website, galadore.com, which used an alternate reality game (ARG) to build anticipation for the franchise. Despite the innovative concept, the execution was flawed, with a small screen and unresponsive controls leading to a frustrating user experience.
ð The Downfall of Galador
Galador faced numerous challenges, including competition from LEGO's own Bionicle line, poor marketing, and a lack of understanding of the product's unique features. The TV show was criticized for its plot and visual effects, and the toys failed to sell due to similar issues. The franchise was ultimately a failure for LEGO, leading to a reevaluation of the company's strategy and a return to its roots under the leadership of new CEO, Jorgen Vig Knudstorp.
ð Learning from Failure: LEGO's Comeback
The failure of Galador served as a learning experience for LEGO, highlighting the need for better communication, collaboration, and research within the company. The success of the Bionicle line and the appointment of Knudstorp as CEO helped LEGO recover and return to a focus on its core product: the LEGO brick. The company's turnaround emphasized simplicity, research, and effective communication across departments, ensuring that the mistakes made with Galador would not be repeated.
Mindmap
Keywords
ð¡Galador
ð¡Bionicle
ð¡LEGO
ð¡Glinch
ð¡Marketing
ð¡Product Development
ð¡Financial Loss
ð¡Interdimensional Travel
ð¡McDonald's Toys
ð¡Electronic Toy
ð¡Alternate Reality Game (ARG)
Highlights
The speaker expresses gratitude for the support received by their channel, particularly for their latest video on the making of Bionicle.
The Bionicle product line is noted as having played a significant role in saving LEGO during a challenging period.
LEGO's worst financial loss in history occurred in 1998 due to a series of poor business decisions.
LEGO believed they were out of touch with the market and that children were no longer interested in traditional LEGO bricks.
LEGO hired 30 new designers with fresh ideas, replacing many of the experienced designers who had been with the company since the 1970s.
The experimental phase at LEGO led to the development of a new product concept, Project Genesis, which would evolve into Galador.
Galador was a sci-fi themed toy line with buildable action figures and interchangeable parts, a concept that tested well with focus groups.
LEGO's marketing executives at the time believed that the LEGO brick had become obsolete.
The Galador project was ambitious, with plans for a TV show, video games, and comics, indicating LEGO's high hopes for the franchise.
The Galador TV show was co-funded by major players like Disney, showing the level of investment in the project.
The main character of the Galador TV show, Nick Bluetooth, had the unique ability to 'glinch,' transforming his limbs into parts of machines and organisms.
The Galador toys had detachable limbs and heads, allowing for customization but also leading to some awkward and unappealing appearances.
The Keck Powerizer was a multimedia action figure and LEGO's first game console, incorporating a screen and games that interacted with the TV show.
The Galador ARG (Alternate Reality Game) was an early marketing tactic that aimed to build anticipation for the franchise.
The Galador franchise ultimately failed, with the TV show receiving poor reviews and the toys not selling well.
LEGO's focus on the Bionicle line at the same time as Galador led to internal competition and a lack of shelf space for the new line.
The Galador toys were poorly marketed, with packaging that did not effectively communicate the unique 'glinching' feature.
The failure of Galador was a significant learning experience for LEGO, leading to a renewed focus on their core products and improved inter-departmental communication.
LEGO's recovery after the Galador failure involved returning to their roots and focusing on fewer, more well-researched products.
Transcripts
hello everyone and thanks for stopping
by i know you're here for galadore so
i'll make this quick i just wanted to
give a brief thank you for the
overwhelming amount of support i've been
given over the past month i know it
sounds funny coming from such a small
channel but the amount of positive
comments i've received from my videos
have been truly inspiring especially for
my latest video on the making of
bionicle which covers lego's early
development of the product line
for those of you who have subscribed for
part 2 of that series you'll be glad to
know that it is on the way
in the meantime i'd like to cover a
different side of lego a side that
revealed itself to me during my research
for the bionicle video
i came to learn that while the bionicle
team was busy working away on the iconic
toy line that arguably saved lego there
was another team far off in a dark
corner of lego headquarters building
something
far
far stranger
let's start with some pretext the year
was 1998 and lego had just experienced
their worst financial loss in history
due to an unfortunate series of bad
business decisions lego was flying full
tilt into the new millennia with each
blunder building off the other with so
many issues piling up legos struggled to
pinpoint the root of the problem and
that made it that much harder for them
to get a grip on the situation
one problem lego thought they had was
that they were growing out of touch
they started to think kids just weren't
into lego bricks anymore and who'd
blamed them
everything in the late 90s was high
octane edgy and ridden in limp bizkit
font
maybe lego just wasn't cool anymore
maybe they needed new blood new ideas
from younger minds to help usher lego
into the new millennia yeah that was it
lego wasn't showing up to y2k and old
hand-me-downs no sir lego was showing up
with frosted tips jinko jeans and a
brand spankin new razor scooter
i really wrote that in okay well
let's go with it the point is lego
didn't think they were cool anymore they
thought they needed a change and this
led the company to lay off their top
designers we're talking old danish guys
who'd been working there since the late
70s guys who knew their stuff and how to
create amazing products with lego
in their place lego hired 30 new
designers all young minds with fresh and
inventive ideas
now there's no doubt lego hired talented
new staff but designing with lego was a
completely different beast than
traditional toy development
how would their ideas compete with the
years of experience lego's previous
designers had with the company
that was the moment when lego asked who
said anything about building with lego
what ensued was one of the most
questionable phases of experimentation
lego ever underwent
of course the vast majority of lego
products were still made with lego but
after the turnover that was no longer
really at the top of their checklist
maybe this will put it into perspective
in 1998 there were high-level marketing
executives that genuinely believed that
the lego brick had gone out of fashion
essentially proclaiming it to be
obsolete
this was an observation made by niels
milan peterson one of lego's design
veterans that thankfully got to keep his
job
now it's important to note niels was not
one of the employees that thought this
but he was eventually forced to
participate
just before the turn of the millennium
lego approached niels with a brand new
project the company challenged niels and
his team to design a prototype line of
toy animals and action figures
the challenge was to design them to look
more organic with more lifelike parts
aka without traditional lego bricks
turns out the marketing team was getting
excited over a new product concept that
was working well in test groups
this concept incorporated the idea of
buildable action figures with
interchangeable parts a concept
popularized by chris faber who had
proposed something similar to the
company in 1995.
more on that in my bionicle video
the project was initially titled project
genesis and went through a rapid series
of developments during the concept stage
the initial idea of toy animals quickly
evolved into creatures and creatures
quickly evolved into aliens somewhere
along the line the name galador was
thrown into the mix and now lego had a
brand new sci-fi theme in the works
unfortunately the process around the
toys development phase really is that
blurry and there aren't many in-depth
details about the product's early stages
what is known however was lego's near
manic level of optimism towards the
project
big plans were being put in place to
make gallador success including a tv
show video games and comics
pressure was building for niels and his
team to make the toy a hit and it proved
to be quite stressful although the toy's
initial success in test groups helped to
ease the team's fears
interestingly galador sheds some light
on how large of a company the lego group
really is
while an entire promotional campaign was
being built for bionicle a completely
separate multi-million dollar budget was
being carved out for galador
it was quite impressive actually
two somewhat similar action figure toy
lines releasing at almost the exact same
time by the same company i mean
what could go wrong right
right that wasn't important lego was too
busy planning the next big move for the
project and that was the tv show
from early on it was decided that the
galadore tv show was going to be just as
much a part of the franchise as the toys
were and for that to work production
needed to start yesterday it was late
1999 when all these decisions were being
made and lego wanted to release the toys
with the show by 2002 at the latest so
they had better get a move on
lego ended up hiring a producer by the
name of tom lynch known well throughout
the industry for his diverse portfolio
of tween kids shows including the secret
world of alex mack kids incorporated and
the journey of alan strange
tom's original pitch for the show truly
impressed lego and captured the
company's vision for what the galador
theme could be
this gave the company a new surge of
confidence all over again and in january
of 2000 production began for galador
defenders of the outer dimension
now it's important to note that lego was
only partially invested in the
television show which is to say they
weren't the only company funding the
production with big players like disney
throwing their hat in the ring as well
regardless this was still quite the
financial risk for the company producing
television shows wasn't cheap and
finding networks to pick up the show
wasn't simple either
thankfully tom was an industry veteran
and was committed to making the show a
success
right out the gate tom became directly
involved with the lego team working
alongside designers to build the story
and characters in tandem as to somewhat
sink the production of both the show and
its toys
after a flurry of brainstorming sessions
tom would emerge with the story a wide
array of characters and of course its
main protagonist
galadore centered around a 15 year old
boy named
nick bluetooth who utilized
interdimensional travel by means of a
spaceship called the egg
but he didn't travel alone joining him
on his journey was the skittish robot
jens a furry blue alien named nepal an
anthropomorphic frog named europedis and
his human sidekick allegra zane who in
typical 2000's fashion used karate as
her secret weapon and as for nick
bluetooth's special skill
well
allow me to show you
[Music]
that's right nick's superpower granted
him the ability to transform his limbs
into parts of machines and organisms
gaining their abilities in the process
this mutant power was dubbed the glinch
and apparently gallador invited you to
experience it
glinching was the driving force behind
galador not only did nick utilize this
power throughout the tv show but it also
served as the main gimmick behind the
toys
all galador figures had detachable limbs
and heads allowing kids to mix and match
parts to create their own glitched out
action figure unfortunately that meant
you could do things like this
and this or this
and that's not even the worst of it
galador's own commercials showed off the
glitch and even that looked ridiculous
it was almost as if the producers saw
sid in toy story and just said that
let's let's do that but who were we to
judge apparently the concept performed
flawlessly among test groups and lego
was fully confident in moving forward
with the project having mapped out 15
unique toys for its initial release
meanwhile somewhere in montreal canada
production for the television show was
well underway
tom lynch approached the project with an
extraordinary level of enthusiasm laying
out multiple story arcs intended to span
five seasons
it was quite an ambitious and optimistic
undertaking considering the show was
starting off with just two seasons under
quite a conservative budget
those two seasons would span 26 episodes
with an air date set for sometime in
2002
production of the show leaned heavily on
green screen with an emphasis on cgi for
the show's visual effects
turns out much of tom's enthusiasm for
galadore translated into rather
enthusiastic writing making for some
pretty expensive scenes
one of the challenges of screenwriting
fantasy shows is developing an
entertaining body of work that still
adheres to the limits of a predetermined
budget it's akin to walking a tightrope
with entertainment on one side and
bankruptcy on the other there's a
balance to it and once tom's colleagues
got a hold of the scripts for the first
few episodes they realized what
direction tom was leaning
when they tried to push him in a cheaper
direction tom assured his team that he
could make it work
ultimately the galadore show was forced
to cut corners in a few places certain
scenes eventually had to be reworked and
the budget was set quite low for
character costumes
this meant that many of nick's alien
companions and his enemies would be
accomplished with actors in rubber suits
something that the production team
thought nothing of at the time
besides power rangers was filled with
rubber suits and that franchise was
pulling in hundreds of millions in
revenue every year
and as a matter of fact galador actually
had something power rangers didn't turns
out tom and the lego team had one final
piece of movie magic up their sleeve
during production of the television show
a sound engineer by the name of lao
kirsten worked closely alongside
galadore's audio department
lao's goal was to embed discreet bursts
of white noise into certain parts of the
show
this white noise was actually an encoded
audio signal hidden strategically
throughout galadore episodes and
surprisingly enough this was not a
sequence of well-placed subliminal
messages
turns out lego was utilizing
cutting-edge technology to send signals
to an electronic toy they were
developing for the galadore theme
this strange new toy was dubbed the keck
power riser
the keck powerizer was a mechanical suit
of armor that enhanced one's ability to
glinch
the toy however was a sort of multimedia
action figure and in a weird way lego's
first and only ever game console
along with swappable limbs and
headpieces the toy also came with a tiny
screen embedded into the figure's back
the cat came pre-loaded with 22 games
many of which needed to be unlocked as
kids played with the toy
the games were played by utilizing the
keck's arms and legs as a sort of
controller there was also a sensor that
detected when the toy was being rotated
which served as a function for many of
the games as well
essentially the toy would pick up the
encoded audio signals hidden throughout
the tv show and trigger an appropriate
response whether it be by unlocking a
new game that went along with the
current scene or activating a voice clip
ready
these vocal responses would even change
depending on which parts were connected
to the toy kids could attach the head of
jens one of nick's companions or attach
the head of gorm his sworn enemy this
would make it so the toy either cheered
nick on during the show or shouted evil
bad guy lines when he was in trouble
this proved to be a genius move by the
marketing team because it encouraged
children to tune in to every galadore
episode to unlock new prompts for the
toy
kids could even log onto galadore.com
and download new games directly to the
keck power riser as demonstrated in this
astoundingly cheesy commercial
download new missions from the web
reach higher levels
win new missions
[Music]
when the inevitable video games were
released for galadore kids could play
alongside their keck powerizer which
would interact with the game in much the
same way as the tv show keck power
risers could even communicate with each
other allowing kids to play two-player
competitive games
on paper the idea actually sounded quite
interesting but in reality it was
somewhat disappointing for starters the
screen was incredibly small and in order
to play the games kids needed to
actively swing the toy's arms and rotate
the keck to control it many users point
out that the toy isn't incredibly
responsive and this can result in having
to perform exaggerated movements to get
the game to register your inputs
trying to accomplish this while playing
a mini game on a postage stamp size
screen just makes for a frustrating
gaming experience
early on it was clear that the ambitious
nature of the product was a risk for
lego
not only did the keck powerizer use
electronic components it also had a
multimedia feature that needed to embed
itself into all aspects of the franchise
for it to be effective
most importantly the keck had to release
alongside the tv show which wasn't due
to air until 2002
with so much of the franchise's success
relying on the release of the show lego
had to find creative ways to promote
galador until its official launch
this was around the time when the
galadore website would go online
after securing the domain for
galadore.com lego moved in quickly to
start promotion
this kicked off with a fairly new
marketing tactic for the time known as
the arg or alternate reality game
args were quite popular throughout the
2000s and were primarily used to build
anticipation for a certain release
they were some of the first viral
marketing campaigns and were used by
multiple franchises including halo to
promote their ips
the idea behind the arg was to use a
platform like a website to craft a world
that appeared as though it truly existed
in real life
let me explain the website for galadore
was designed to look like a computer
terminal with prompts that users could
enter to discover images of newspaper
clippings strange schematics and journal
entries this was meant to give the
impression that users were exploring
someone's personal computer and
discovering clues to a secret story
the site would be updated a handful of
times to reveal more clues as galadore
neared its official launch
eventually users would learn that most
of the clues were in reference to a man
named dr bluetooth and his plans to
travel to an alternate dimension via a
spacecraft called the egg
this would segue into the tv show's main
story where nick dr bluetooth's son
would inherit the egg and embark on
adventures of his own
development of the ark went smoothly and
was released in late 2001 by producer
gabriel walsh with the help of tom
lynch's visual direction
sometime after the launch of the
promotion gabriel would start exploring
external links to see how the website
was being received
while gabriel was exploring these links
one very peculiar website caught his eye
it appeared to be some sort of internet
forum and many of the users were
conversing strangely referring to
something known as phase 3
they appeared excited stating that they
were ready to begin their travel into
the alternate dimension and that users
should be ready
upon further investigation gabriel
learned that the forum was regarding
another alternate reality game called
ong's hat
turns out aung's hat was one of the
first args ever created and felt so real
and true to life that many users
believed it was
coincidentally many of the themes
surrounding long's hat coincided with
galadore's story
both args mentioned a spaceship called
the egg and both spoke to the topic of
interdimensional travel
these eerie similarities sparked a
frenzy among conspiracy theorists
leading them to believe that this was
some sort of sign and that the idea of
the egg and interdimensional travel had
made its way into popular culture this
became one of the factors that led to
aung's hat being shut down as many
internet fanatics would take the story
so seriously to the point of camping
outside the creator's house demanding
answers
some but not all believed that the
creator of vong's hat was withholding
information regarding interdimensional
travel and they were starting to become
aggressive this eventually led to a
threatened lawsuit by the creator of
aung's hat which for reasons unknown was
never filed thankfully the bad publicity
didn't find its way into mainstream
media and gallador could proceed with
the launch
it was late 2001 at this time and
galador was steering steadfastly towards
a release for february of 2002. as
production was wrapping up for the show
the lego company and roughly 150 team
members were treated to a private
screening of the first two episodes
and this was the exact moment when
things started going downhill
to put it bluntly the show was bad
galadore's special effects and wow
factor were not to the level that lego
had anticipated with one of the main
issues being the rubber suits
product designer niels milan peterson
describes his initial reaction to seeing
one of the characters he created on the
big screen quote
it was the first time we saw him the
character and it was this man in a
rubber suit it really looked like some
of those old horror movies from the 50s
we really felt like oh this is not what
we expected end quote to add to the hurt
tom lynch had recently been informed
that disney a partial investor in the
galadore show had just purchased the
family channel
this was catastrophic news for tom and
his team because at the time family
channel was airing power rangers a
franchise that was pulling in 150 to 200
million a year in licensing revenue tom
being an industry veteran knew this
meant disney was going to pour the vast
majority of their promoting power into
power rangers and galador would be left
to fend for itself
this news was received only two months
prior to the show's airing and would
severely impact the outcome of the
launch
regardless of the fact lego trudged
forward and on february 9th of 2002
galador released to the world to add to
the promotion of the launch an online
game called galador quest was released
which had players roam across dimensions
solving puzzles and completing tasks to
further glinch their character
there would also be a promotional set of
mcdonald's toys which looked
nightmarishly bad but still cleverly
incorporated glinching into their play
features
as for the television show the first
episode of galadore would air on ytv in
canada and on the now defunct fox kids
in the usa
reception for the show was less than
favorable
critics were confused by the story's
plot and the visual direction made the
show look cheesy and amateur
it wasn't long before galadore was being
moved around in the programming schedule
which was a very bad sign for any
television show
additionally lack of significant
promotion from disney didn't help the
show's chances either and it was slowly
becoming apparent that galadore's launch
was not what lego expected
to make matters worse the toys were
simply not selling this was most likely
due to a multitude of different factors
for starters lego launched galadore near
the peak of bionicle's popularity this
resulted in a competition that gallador
would ultimately lose
since both toys were in development at
roughly the same time it was difficult
for lego to anticipate bionicle's
success which would ultimately leave no
room on the shelf for the galadore theme
additionally the toy lines were just too
similar with both products incorporating
science fiction themes along with
buildable action figures
it quite literally put lego in
competition with itself
another issue was the way the toys were
marketed on shelves
not only did the packaging cover half
the toy with box art but it also failed
to explain the toy's driving gimmick
strangely enough the back of the box
never actually showed that the toys had
interchangeable parts
leaving kids to wonder why the figures
looked disjointed and broken inside the
packaging
looking at some of these images now it
wouldn't be a stretch to think this the
presentation is quite poor and fails to
explain what makes the toys fun in the
first place it's especially unfortunate
because the idea behind galadore was
actually pretty unique
most online reviewers enjoy the
glinching gimmick finding it to be
clever and fun to mix and match with
some of the character designs are really
creative as well with nepal and his pet
shimmel commonly being a crowd favorite
but the damage had already been done
unfortunately lego ended up making a
series of big marketing mistakes that
wound up costing them dearly with the
toys selling poorly and the show
receiving less than favorable reviews it
was starting to become clear that the
launch wasn't what lego had built it up
to be
they could only hope galadore's debut
video games would come to the rescue and
save some of the company's profits
the galadore series was set to release
two games published by ea one of which
was a home console title by asylum
entertainment and the other a game boy
game by tier tech studios both titles
would incorporate the keck powerizer as
well with dozens of unique audio cues
hidden throughout levels
unfortunately since the games weren't
slated for release until late 2002 the
development teams got a front row seat
to galadore's flop
nick ferguson a producer for the
galadore ps2 game recalls a trip he took
to e3 during the wrap up of the game's
development
having flown to los angeles to attend
the convention nick made a brief tourist
stop at la's disneyland before the show
there he encountered a lego store where
his worst fears were confirmed
nick recalled seeing a huge bargain bin
filled with galador toys alongside a
promotion that offered a free galadore
figure with any purchase over thirty
dollars
at this point nick made the responsible
decision to withhold his discovery from
the team as he knew they were all back
at the studio working hard to get the
game done
besides the developers working on
galadore already knew the toy was a flop
and weren't entirely thrilled to be
working on the project at that point
they had even gotten a chance to see the
tv show before its release and just like
the designers at lego they weren't all
too impressed
everyone was more than ready to put the
game behind them and move on to the next
contract
but unfortunately that wasn't exactly
how it would play out
as the game was nearing completion
asylum's entire development team was
called into a meeting where they were
informed that the game had been
cancelled
unfortunately galador was performing so
poorly that lego didn't find it a
worthwhile investment to sink more money
into the distribution of a game that was
more than likely going to flop
it was a soul-crushing experience for
the entire team at asylum
the developers had sunk roughly two
years into the development of the game
only to learn they would never get the
closure of seeing it on store shelves
yet strangely enough through some
awkward hot potato exchange of property
rights the game would eventually see a
belated release in 2006 by a company
named focus multimedia
galadore by asylum entertainment would
launch as a fairly competent action
platformer with some decently engaging
gameplay
had lego taken the chance of releasing
it in 2003 maybe it would have helped
ease the inevitable fall of the toy line
but unfortunately that wasn't the case
lego would call it quits with galador
only six months after its initial launch
with the final episode of the tv show
airing on august 24th 2002
the franchise would be remembered as an
abysmal failure for the lego group one
that helped to nearly bankrupt the
company
looking at the situation from a sort of
post-mortem viewpoint it's quite clear
that lego had become a victim of their
own ingenuity their decision to shake up
the very foundation on which the company
was built on ended up costing the
company dearly and their lack of
direction communication and research had
run rampant throughout every department
at lego
this was clearly demonstrated with
galadore where designers and team
members never got a chance to see the tv
show until it was about to air leaving
no room for external creative input
the same went for the marketing
department and how they neglected to
showcase the main feature of the toys on
the packaging
the entire development process was a
disjointed unorganized and very very
expensive mess
thankfully lego would learn from their
mistakes
the bionicle toys would introduce a new
standard for lego's production one that
ensured communication and collaboration
were at the forefront of the process
a little over a year later lego would
hire jorgen vig nudestorp as the
company's new ceo nudestorp would work
to dissect the issues surrounding lego's
downfall and construct a roadmap for how
the company would return back to the
brick
a mantra that would illustrate the need
to return to the company's roots with
fewer pieces more research and better
communication between departments
with the help of nude storp and bionicle
to save the company's profits lego would
see its return to the top and the brick
would become more relevant than ever
before
galador was part of the process
it was a sign for the company to slow
down learn from their failures and
figure out what worked
and it most certainly was not the glitch
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