Netflix’s LEGO One Piece takes a deliberately different approach to retelling the Straw Hats’ adventures. Instead of simply recreating the first two seasons of Netflix’s live-action One Piece with LEGO characters, the two-part animated special uses Usopp’s storytelling to give familiar events a much more exaggerated and comedic spin.
According to showrunner, writer and executive producer Tom Hyndman, making Usopp the narrator was one of the most important decisions during production. Speaking with Animation Magazine, Hyndman explained that the team needed a way to make the project feel different from the live-action series rather than simply retelling the same material.
“The big moment for us was determining that the narrator was going to be Usopp,”
Hyndman said.
“We definitely wanted to find a way to differentiate ourselves and not make it just a retread of the first two seasons.”
Usopp’s Exaggerations Became the Foundation for LEGO’s Humor
Usopp was particularly well suited to the role because exaggerating stories is already a defining part of his personality. That allowed Hyndman and the animation team to maintain important story moments from the live-action series while giving themselves considerably more freedom to make those scenes ridiculous.
“Usopp is a character who has an interesting relationship with the truth,”
Hyndman explained.
“That made it fun to keep the core themes and story moments. And then figure out how to surround those with the craziness and frenetic energy of LEGO!”
This approach also gave LEGO One Piece a reason to exist beyond simply presenting the same story in another visual style. The special can preserve the recognizable adventures of Luffy and the Straw Hats while Usopp’s unreliable narration provides opportunities for visual gags, exaggerated action and unexpected twists.
The animation was produced by Atomic Cartoons in Vancouver, with around 50 people working on the project. Hyndman was the sole writer, while director Chelsea Ker helped translate the script into the exaggerated physical comedy expected from a LEGO production.
According to Hyndman, many of the animators were already One Piece fans and went beyond simply adapting the script. They looked for new comedic possibilities that would make sense within the franchise while pushing them further into the LEGO style.
The LEGO Format Let the Team Go Even Further
Hyndman’s writing process also changed as production progressed. He explained that the first draft was written more like a conventional animated story, establishing the narrative before the team began adding elements specifically designed around LEGO.
Later drafts focused on questions such as what could be built, what could move in an amusing way and which familiar moments could be transformed into distinctly LEGO jokes.
“It was a lot of ‘Let’s amp it up as much as humanly possible!’”
Hyndman said.
“Thankfully with LEGO, you can do that infinitely, and it never really hits a point where you’re like, ‘Okay, that might have been a little bit too much!’ You never get there!”
That philosophy appears to be central to the special’s identity. Rather than treating LEGO as merely a visual replacement for the live-action characters, the production uses the format itself to reshape how One Piece’s world works.
Characters can be broken apart, rebuilt and exaggerated in ways that would not make sense in the live-action series. Usopp’s storytelling provides the narrative excuse for that creative freedom, while the LEGO format allows the animation team to push the comedy even further.
A New Way to Experience Netflix’s One Piece
LEGO One Piece also benefits from Hyndman’s familiarity with Netflix’s live-action adaptation. He joined the original series during its first season and continued working on Season 2 before the LEGO project began in November 2024.
Interestingly, Hyndman admitted to Animation Magazine that he was not previously familiar with One Piece before joining the live-action production. He initially jumped into the series alongside writers who already knew Eiichiro Oda’s manga and anime extremely well.
That experience ultimately helped shape his approach to the LEGO special. Rather than attempting to reproduce every detail of the enormous franchise, the team focused on preserving its recognizable characters, themes and major story beats while finding a new comedic perspective.
With Usopp’s exaggerated narration at the center, LEGO One Piece effectively turns familiar adventures into a chaotic retelling that can appeal to existing fans while offering younger viewers another way into Netflix’s growing One Piece universe.
| Started | October 22, 1997 |
|---|---|
| Publisher | Shueisha |
| Author | Eiichiro Oda |
