Since Netflix delivered a compelling live-action adaptation of One Piece, the series' popularity has spiked, leading to an incredible new One Piece story set to debut on September 29. One Piece first began life as a manga in 1997, before being adapted to make an anime series that began airing in 1999, before eventually securing a release in the US in 2004.
Since then, the show has gone on to achieve incredible things, with the anime series now climbing to have well over 1000 episodes and counting. But beyond that, the show is also starting to break into more mainstream circles thanks to Netflix's adaptation, and other versions of the story, like the recently announced Lego One Piece story set to arrive on Netflix in just three months time.
While Monkey D. Luffy has generally been at the center of the One Piece stories, it seems as though the Lego One Piece story is set to shake things up as they shift the focus to Usopp, one of the other members of the Straw Hat Pirate Gang from the series.
In Lego's usual style, they are incorporating stories about building and playing with double entendres that transform the idea of the One Piece to discussing a world built with many (Lego) pieces. With Usopp as an unreliable narrator, and an effort to make this a more family-friendly, comical experience, the two-part animated special will recount major moments from the first two seasons of the show with a distinct Usopp twist.
Overall, while it seems that the stakes won't be quite as high as the other versions of the story, the Lego One Piece specials will be an exciting new chapter in this show's history that speaks to a much larger change around how this story in particular is being received around the world.
Things don't really get more mainstream than Lego. The toy brand has been selling its immensely popular blocks for almost 70 years now, and in that time, it has gone from being a niche toy to something that is almost universal. With theme parks and massive factories that attract visitors from across the globe, Lego is for everyone and has been embraced as such.
Building on that concept, Lego, as a company, has one of the broadest ranges of officially licensed partnerships with major brands and studios that allows them to create toys that feature patented and trademarked characters, and they have released several video games not just based on their generic toys, but in collaboration with major brands like DC, Marvel, Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Harry Potter, and so much more.
For One Piece to now join the lineup of things that Lego itself is building content around, it feels like a major milestone that marks a significant moment in the show's history. It's no longer a niche manga from Japan, and it's no longer something that belongs exclusively to fans of anime, but it's becoming a global brand with fans across every age range.
The Lego One Piece series is so much more exciting than just being a collaboration where the company puts out a couple of new sets, but this is a huge investment that makes it immediately accessible to a larger audience, thanks to the series debuting on Netflix.
Evidently, One Piece was always bound for greater things with a stunning and dramatic story unfolding over literally hundreds of episodes that fans kept coming back to. But now, the Lego One Piece show will embark on a new era for the franchise as a whole, and ensure that the future is bright for this series as it welcomes every age group to enjoy the adventurous tales of the Straw Hat Pirates.
