Escape RIG21 game icon showdown

Ok, now it is time to get serious:) Here are 4 different icons for Escape RIG21 with and without title and in small size. Any comments or preferences? #RebelNature will soon come alive.

1# Res in front of RIG21

2# GUI graphic on metal

3# Semi submerged RIG21 icon

4# RebelNature Res tag icon

Flashback - The LEGO and Star Wars collaboration - part 1

A color layout of the minifigs behind the Star Wars logo

Back in late 1997 I got one of those phone calls that you can only dream about. 

At that time we at ADVANCE only dared to dream about what would happen if LEGO started to work together with some of the big film IP’s of the world like Star Wars, Indiana Jones, any of the Superheroes or others. But that was only wild fantasy.

Working at ADVANCE I had been doing many different LEGO launches until then and was heading the Art Direction of LEGO Technic . I had done some concept development on different new projects including my own test project “Cybots”. 

But then one morning this call came through!. I can’t remember the exact words but it was something like “Would you like to start working on the design for a new project we are starting up? It includes travling to San Francisco to have the first meeting with Lucas arts at The Skywalker Ranch to have design discussions and see the first glimpse of the new film “Episode 1”. 

“Wh-wh-What….YES!!! of cause” was my prompt answer.

As this was the first collaboration with a major IP we needed to make a clear connection between the 2 brands LEGO and Star Wars. I suggested to make a mini figure logo where the 2 sides of the conflict meet behind the Star Wars logo. That would blend the 2 brands perfectly. My good friend Jan Kjær who was then my assistent made the final version of the logo.

I might have forgotten the details but the approval process went extremely easy and both Lucas and LEGO were happy with the layouts. So it was just to go and put it on paper and cardboard (the web was not up and running yet). 

One thing is certain. My experience with Star Wars gave me a lot of inspiration for what came later in the form of Bionicle.

The very early logo sketch together with
my treasured Skywalker Ranch mug:).

The final box front design of the 1999 LEGO X-Wing Fighter
with the minifig logo in the upper right corner

Cleanup in progress. Please have patience

Here is a snapshot of my work desk right now. A strong cup of coffe (in an limited edition Bionicle/Hero Factory promo mug) and piles of old sketches (if you look closely you can see the first time the word BIONICLE was written). On my screen the outlines of my new company is taking shape. Faber Fuel, with the rebel rocket icon.

To file 28 years of work, sketches and thoughts is a job on its own. Especially because I have a strange habit of keeping all the work sketches.  Sketches are my fuel and my product so there you have the backstory of the name. I am starting to get an overview and warming up to filming the unboxing of what turns out to be several crates stored in the basement deep under Advance in Copenhagen. So please have patience. Now back to the diggingJ

Faber Files Proudly presents “Rocket”

This is actually a concept I created back in 2010. It was designed to symbolize the journey you take when you try to create new stories and envision new worlds. The tagline was “Rocket – cruising the infinite space between the ears”. 

Now it has become a symbol of the change I’m about to make. The 15^th of October 2014 I had been working for 28 years at Advance in Copenhagen and it has been an incredible journey with so many fantastic adventures it is hard to keep track. Since 1986 I have been working creatively on average 4 different LEGO lines every year so when added up that is quite a number. For many reasons 2014 have been the year of change and I have realized that to progress further I have to risk going into the unknown. From the 1^st of January 2015 I establish my own 1-man setup and why not call it “Rocket”. From this setup I will still work as a freelance with Advance on LEGO projects but also give full attention to “Rebel Nature” and some other ideas I have in the drawer. This blog will be an important communication tool so thanks for all your support and just wait and see. I will be a lot more active out here in the time to come. I would be great to get some more of you as followers, nudge,nudge;)

This is the "work in progress" logo of my future company

The original logo as it looked back in 2010

A model of Rocket hanging in our office

 

Rebel Nature City wall logo - 3 months later

May 2014













August 2014

What is Rebel Nature?

“Rebel Nature” is a powerful and intriguing story with direct reference to our current environmental situation on planet earth and especially in our oceans. The story gets its basic fuel from the conflict between longtime balanced natural evolution and speeded technological human progress.

The aim is to create the first girl "Eco" superhero who acts on new and emphatic morals and ethics of the 21st century instead of the values of post 2WW that most other super-heroes pursue. The moral of Rebel Nature is “balance and evolution” instead of “victory” understanding that good and evil is relative sizes and that winning is not the goal. 
Rebel Nature explore the idea that evolution is a reaction to what actually happens on the planet. If humans create an impact, evolution will react. Not based on any moral but just based on biology and survival of the fittest. The only fantasy ingredient added in Rebel Nature is that nature has started speeding up evolution driven by the inclusion of plastic in the food chain and plastic is for sure something that nature has not created.

The lead character of Rebel Nature is a young girl called Res Waveborn and she is a very different superhero with an unusual childhood that sets her apart from every other human on earth. Res’ childhood teaches her to act when everybody else adapts and teaches her to pursue balance instead of victory in the conflicts she encounters. She will travel through this strange and yet familiar world and act as our guide as she tries to understand her past, present and future.

Rebel Nature is a personal story and journey of a girl who grows up in the most unusual of all places with the most unusual foster parent. Her personal goal is to find the truth about her parents herself and their idealistic project. Her superhero goal becomes to unify humans with their own robotic creations and seek a new balance and understanding with nature. It is about time because nature is radically changing to answer the human effect.

Rebel Nature doesn’t try to moralize. It delivers great action, big emotions mind-blowing locations and a peek into a possible near future.

How are we going to tell the story? well since this is a self financed project until now. I can't tell the exact plan but it will grow organically with bits of story and information coming out in different media.
These websites will surely play a big role and the first active piece of content that we are working on is an app game that tells a small part of the story to test the concept and wake the interest. The concept work creating this app gives us a lot of material we can use to move into "movie mode". I'm working with my long time friends and super crew at Ghost VFX Copenhagen to bring this to life and we are very ambitious so lets see... This is just the beginning.