No matter what generation you grew up in, you had that one action figure that stood out above all else. Maybe it was Transformers, maybe it was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or Power Rangers. But there are those toys that didn’t quite light the world on fire. The upcoming Nacelleverse project aims to change that, and many of the creative forces behind the project assembled at Los Angeles Comic Con to discuss the genesis of the project.
The Nacelleverse is an interlocked universe of toy series including RoboForce – which serves as the foundation of the entire project – Sectaurs: Warriors of Symbion, The Great Garloo, Cowboys of Moo Mesa, and a name familiar to ’90’s kids: Biker Mice From Mars. Founder and CEO Brian Volk Weiss talked about how his passion for RoboForce stemmed from the story behind the original toy line: it was meant to receive a major push until the Transformers took the world by storm. That fed into the reboot’s storyline, which reimagines RoboForce’s giant warriors as a failed peacekeeping initiative who must step up when the world is threatened.
The Nacelleverse has also scored some powerful producers; Dwayne Johnson’s Seven Bucks Productions has come aboard as a producer for RoboForce while Ryan Reynolds will produce Biker Mice From Mars via his Maximum Effort productions. There will even be comics published via Oni Press, with Melissa Flores (Mighty Morphin’ Power Rangers, The Dead Lucky) as head writer. “A lot of these worlds…we haven’t actually seen them in anything but comics,” Flores said. “To build them from the ground up is amazing…I’ve fallen in love with the characters purely out of design.” Nacelleverse #0 will take place from the eyes of the Great Garloo before building out the other series, with Weiss praising Flores’ ability to build out worlds.
Also in attendance was Julee Song, who voices teenage genius Soraya Aviram in the upcoming RoboForce series. She talked about how intimidating it was at first to land the role, until she realized she had to approach the role from a grounded standpoint. “Soraya’s on a journey,” she said. “They feel like they’ve failed her, but she feels the opposite way,” Flores added when talking about the relationship between Soraya and the RoboForce. Audience members even got to see the RoboForce theme song – and sung along, as our voices would be added to a future episode!
But at the heart of the Nacelleverse is an underdog story. These are characters who don’t have the name power of Optimus Prime or the Power Rangers, yet they’ve managed to score some of the biggest creatives in comicsdom and Hollywood. It’s that story that appealed to Seven Bucks’ Brian Gerwitz; learning about the story behind RoboForce convinced him to bring Seven Bucks on board as it resonated with Johnson’s meteoric rise to stardom.
During the Q&A session, Flores said that writing for the Nacelleverse was similar to her Power Rangers work in that she could write for both younger and older readers. Weiss talked about how his work on shows including The Toys That Made Us influenced his decision to make the Nacelleverse. “Everything we do is organic. I wanted to make toys…do we make something for scratch, or do we take something from the past and try to bring it back? I thought it best to bring something back.” I asked if there were any toys that Weiss wanted to be
The Nacelleverse may be one of the most ambitious creative endeavours to date. It doesn’t just span comics and animated series, but also action figures – prototypes for RoboForce were on display while the Biker Mice From Mars figures will finally be able to sit on their bikes. What makes this project stand out from other attempts at shared universes over the years is the pure amount of love pouring from the creatives – passion can take you a long way as a creator, and hopefully it pays off as well as Nacelle’s previous projects.
Nacelleverse #0 goes on sale in spring 2024 from Oni Press.
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