Very cool trailer. New, but nostalgic at the same time. Attention to detail is amazing, from the background set pieces, to the way the characters move like real action figures come to life. A lot of variety in the figures too, my personal favourite is the winged Necronite with the glowing claw and little minion creatures. Toys didn't seem this cool when I was a child, lol. And it's impressive how much emotion is brought out of "plastic" faces. I could tell there was some serious history between the two main characters on the first watch. And THEN I paused and read the back of the packaging in the box. Serious kudos to the team behind this. Excellent work. Comadran Studios seems to be a games company, so no movie, but will be interesting to see what style of game this turns out to be.
So happy that you took the time to read the story behind them! We'll dive into it in future posts about the characters where we will show them in detail, you can find us on Small_Soldiers_official in Instagram! Thank you so much for the kind words and again, so happy that you took the time to check details!
Backing up the comment from the original source, as one of the directors and creator of the new characters, I'm touched by your comment and atention to detail, can't wait for you all to know a bit more of this
Great catch with the text on the box! A small detail we wanted to put there that goes a long way in explaining the lore for anyone interested in the characters. You were the first to point it out among all viewers as far as I know!❤
@@BratbaticusThat would follow the original movie; the soldiers were the bad guys willing to do anything to follow their programmed rivalry, and the monsters were peaceful.
I love the idea of a scene somewhere in it, some guy going. "Hey I found these plans for this AI Chip from the 90's." "Looks good to me. Wonder why they stopped using it." "Well, digging into it I found like 6 crates of chips in storage." "Free money. Run it in the Nekron line."
I love how you guys kept the idea of the monsters/"bad guys" being ironically more human than the "good guys". That's one of the things i loved a lot about Small Soldiers
Yeah but imo they added a little bit more deviousness to the monsters this time. I mean hell, one of them was literally aiming point blank at Ray Razor at the glass door (clearly it was never gonna go through but the intent was still there) Also there’s way more going on in the meta lore between these two factions if one were to read the back of one of the boxes shown~
@@dereknight861They may have memories of the pre packaged "storyline" where they're ruthlessly hunted by the solders. Ray is also clearly the aggressor here. Dude is probably very justified in wanting her to be put down as soon as possible.
I agree but correct me if I am wrong but seems to me that they gave the characters a bit more complexity here. The way I understood the story in the back of the box is that Ray (the lead soldier) had a brother who became a Necronite and now they fight opposite teams. So the Necronites may in fact be the bad guys this time around. That could be neat twist IMO
That moment when the necronite leader placed his hand on the soldier's, just to be attacked through the glass and the Necronite leader gave her a sad look, almost like saying "I'm sorry it has to be this way". Its amazing what can be expressed with so little facial expressions.
Makes you wonder if the Nectonite leader knows that they're just toys and is disappointed in the soldier for easily being influenced by their box advertising narrative.
From the description, this is a MOVIE done in a real time game engine. If you have ever heard of Oats Studio and "ADAM". You can also just look up Realtime Engine Movies. They are going to be shorts. But there is NOTHING stopping a studio from going Full length movie.
The sadness in his eyes when she refuses to see him as someone equal!!! The emotion conveyed in just a tilt of the head!!!! This is just incredible 🤩!!!
You've made all of us old chaps that loved Small Soldiers as kids, and grew up with it in the back of our memories like a forgotten box of beloved toys in the attic, *_very_* happy with this! The sheer love and animation skill involved to make it feel exactly in the spirit of the original movie... dear god. "Proof of concept" and it's already a work of art.
I'm glad to see the "bloodthirsty military industrial complex war criminal psychopaths vs misunderstood emotionally complex monsters" dichotomy be faithfully preserved in this reboot
Wonder if it’ll be the same, it does tbh the monster holding his hand to the window looks like he was asking for peace then the elite shoots the glass. I read on a website the roles might reversed but it seem that opinion might be wrong considering she unloads a mag into the window 😂😂
@@Vulkanprimarch his backstory is on the box she flips. It’s her brother who was mortally wounded and she resurrected him in “the Necron pits”. Perhaps she made him a monster so it would be easier to see him die, while he wants peace having seen conflict from both sides.
@@VulkanprimarchOn his box at 1:40 it says that he's rays sister (the girl we're following through the video)That was gonna die but she saved him in the necron pits but he became one them Also VULKAN LIVES! *STOMP STOMP*
I like the small touches in this proof of concept trailer. Like on the box for the main Necronite guy says that he is Ray’s brother (Ray is the pov toy in the trailer) and kinda explains what happened to him.
It’s such a cool backstory. Caden Cannon was Ray’s sister and was once human and a necronite hating commando. He took out the previous necronite leader but was fatally wounded. Ray took him to the necron pits in an attempt to save him, but in order to do so Caden was transformed into a necronite himself and Ray’s arm was lost, due to getting also necronised in the pits. Caden now going by Khadeen, changes his ways and in repentance becomes the new necronite leader, while Ray now going by Ray Razor, gets a new bionic arm with a blade, views him as a traitor and along with the space elite vows revenge. Also Khadeen’s uses his sister’s necronised arm as his sword.
The same thing around here brother, I grew up watching the movie more than once and I always wanted figures of the Gorgonites and the elite commando, maybe now if they bring out real figures when I get a job I'm going to spend money like crazy on them
its dumb that companies don't make cool toys anymore. cause they never realize that kids they were selling that stuff to. are not only all grown up, but most of them got cheated out of their childhood and would absolutely buy the toys they wanted cause they have adult money now.
I like how the Necrons design looks generally more opposing like these guys could be seen as a threat over their cuddly forefathers. And the leader has a cool stoic vibe to him
Fun fact, the red horned one with a triple barrel cannon arm is said to be a gladiator who "face the precursors to the Space Elites", hinting at him being a descendant of the Gorgonites proper.
I especially love how Khadenn (the leader) was putting his hand on the glass when facing Ray. Since these two are siblings, I believe it was a gesture of "It doesn't have to be like this Ray, we don't have to fight" But since Ray was raised on Nekronite stereotypes thanks to the Empire (no, not that one) fighting them, she refuses his peace offering
And I am pretty sure the one guy with two pistols is the communications officer from the first. Hell I got serious Chip Hazards daughter vibes from the leader. They fight because they are programmed to do so.
I love the switch towards the end of seeing the necronites as the good guys just trying to escape and the ruthless pursuit by the commander lady. Also the hint of a lost kinship that these two factions once had.
Reading the box the leader is Khadenn but formerly Caden Cannon, brother of Ray Razor (apparently last names depend on marketability). After he got critically injured she saved his life but a side effect mutated him into a necron. So yeah, a brother vs sister plot is definitely at play here.
I mean, the monsters being the good guys and the humans being bad was the set up on the original movie, so it's more "oh, we're doing this again" then a twist...
@RipOffProductionsLLC This looks more like the necrenites WERE the villains and the Commando Elites WERE the heroes. Khaedenn is slowly redeeming the Necronites, but the Commando Elites don't know/believe the Necronites can change.
Small Soldiers is so underrated and it’s so amazing to see this concept being honourable to the original yet unique to itself. But also, Ooooh there some tension between the Nekron leader and Ray that I am alll here for, I really want to see that explored in detail.
3:05 I felt SO relieved to see a moment like this. The Small Soldiers movie was a favorite of mine as a kid, and one of the coolest things about it was the way it subverted the old trope of “humans versus monsters.” The “monsters” were intelligent creatures with depth who just wanted to live in peace, while the “heroic soldiers” were villains hellbent on destroying them just for being different. I was worried this new entry was going to forget/ignore those roots and go with the much more cliched “humans and monsters fight each other, waaaaghh!” I’m glad to see the people making this haven’t forgotten the nuance that made the original great.
I felt the same way. The one thing I did want to see by the end of the original movie was the humans maybe gaining a little bit of compassion and making peace with the Gorgonites, but it probably didn't really work with the narrative and their personalities, plus it was a comedy so the conflict was kinda played for laughs. This looks really great though, it feels like a more "grown up" version of the original film in what little there is to see so far.
It's not really a fair assessment with the original since the Commando Elite were forced to hate the Gorgonites, it always felt weird to me because it's not like they chose to hate them. Hell, they didn't even have a reason for hating them, they were just programmed to hate them by a greedy corpo suit. The Command Elites were supposed to be cool, honorable soldiers, seeing them get slaughtered throughout the movie was a little fucked up considering they didn't choose to be the way they were.
*Yawn* Truth be told it’s derivative now. Yes, small soldiers was about that, but it’s okay for the artist to try for a new motif. That’s what art is after all: experimentation. Of course, it’s always fine if the artist decides to continue in the same direction. I just find it boring in this specific case.
At 1:42, the Necronite box says: Khadenn Emissary of the Necronites; Leader of the Necron Army. Formerly known as Caden Cannon, a proud member of the Empire, he fought against the Necronites alongside his sister Ray. After receiving a fatal wound...his sister saved his life in the Necron pits, even though this meant he would be reborn as a Necronite and become her sworn enemy. Touched by the ungraspable knowledge of the Necron mind, and with a...experience in battle, Khadenn was chosen as a leader o the army and...determined to end this war against the Empire and his sister. The only way to stop the war is... TO WIN!
But it seems he doesn't want to kill his sister my guess is either he is the oldest or the youngest. But my guess is that he really doesn't want her dead but she does, but when she missed her punch you can tell deep down she really is at war with her self yet will not hesitate to kill him.
If I had to guess they don't want to kill each other the only reason she wants to kill him is because of the changes that happened to him as he is he still is her brother but her duty tell her otherwise
As an animator and 3D artist, this literally blows me away. Incredibly well done, shot, animated, rendered. Everything is film quality. Great job! Would definitely pay for the whole family to see this one. Would love to see a deep dive into how y'all did this, what rig your used, what rendering engine was used. FANTASTIC!
I just want to say, this is one of the best ways I've seen an old concept rebooted to breathe new life into it and utilize modern affordabilities and technology without it being lazy nostalgia bait or disrespectful to its source material. The designs of all the characters are all great, you can look at them all and instantly tell them apart individually and which side they're on and it feels as if a bit if their personalities all show through in how theyre presented as well. Props to the animators for really bringing them to life and getting that accross as well, they look alive while still feeling plastic and somewhat stiff in movement for their lack of joints. If someone told me a short trailer for a game based off a fondly remembered yet mostly forgotten cult classic movie I saw when I was eight, would drop in 2023 that would not only completely recaptivate my interest, but actually got me excited for the future of the franchise, I'd have called you crazy. Bravo.
How am i just now finding this!??. Im a fan of the original film and i am LOVING everything about this. The same menacing monster "villains" being more in need of running and the soldier "heroes" being the aggressors. The motion is so good and yet still feels like toys moving. Im keeping this in my feed
I’m actually super impressed and happy that they kept the spirit of the movie alive for this, the monsterous toys were originally planned for being a peaceful race by the toys creator, but the company wanted a generic “humans good monsters evil” toy line and made the human army side who relentlessly hunts them down
This was really incredible. So much emotion without any dialogue at all and some genuinely great character design. I'm not sure what comes of this, but I'm a fan already.
Small Soldiers was a childhood favorite of mine. It is unreal to see a sequel after 25 years! You guys have already done an amazing job just with this proof of concept.
The thing that made the Commando Elite so terrifying and deadly in the first movie, was their inventiveness. 🛠 All who have seen the movie will remember the scenes of their vehicles with nail guns and flamethrowers made from household hardware and chemicals. Not to mention Chip Hazard’s helicopter. And easily most terrifying of all, them figuring out how to make copies of their own X-1000 chips in order to implant them into an army of Frankenstein Barbie dolls. I hope that we get to see some of this inventiveness in this new movie. It looks great from this proof of concept. 🎥
Which makes it hilarious when the soldiers in this one act as if their guns and weapons could actually do anything, but considering they're either rubber, plastic, or foam/nerf... Yeah looks cool, but definitely not capable of killing each other. That said it makes me excited to imagine all the cool makeshift weapons they could get that would be an actual threat.
Word, I feel you on that. Although on a small scale their instant adaptation to configure any to every miscellaneous object and make it "mobileee & lethallllyleee" showed peak less macabre IQ. But peep the tech the company had back in 1996-97. It was the first time you saw 3d printing before it was available for the public.
Love how the neceonites are given a more “human” portrayal, especially in how he held his hand up to the glass to the female warrior. Excited to see how this turns out.
Small soldiers was my favorite movie as a kid. This short film had me smiling the entire time. It’s so well made and the animation is amazing. Fantastic work! Hit me right in the nostalgia.
This is absolutely mind blowing. The characters movements capture the way the puppets moved in the original movie perfectly. In the original film, you could always tell when it switched from real prop to CGI, but this is all CGI and looks like the live action puppets did. Really fantastic, cannot wait to see more.
As someone born in the 90's that grew up watching Small Soldiers, this was an awesome production you made. The nostalgia is real. I love the spin off modern take. Would love to see a full film!
Bro the backstory for this goes hard. The leader of the Necronites was formally a human (Caden Cannon) who killed the previous Necronite leader. His sister Ray (the girl with the white hair) took him to the Necron pits to try save him as he was fatally wounded in the battle. The pit saved him, but at the cost of being transformed into a Necronite himself and also took his sister’s arm in the process. Caden, now seeing that the war with the Necronites is unjust, changes his ways and becomes Khadeen the new leader of the Necronites, in penance for what he’d done. His sister however got a new cybernetic arm with a retractable blade, and becomes Ray Razor, vowing revenge on her brother, who she now saw as a traitor and formed the Space Elite to exact revenge. The coolest part of all this is, Khadeen now uses his sisters Necronised arm as his sword, hence why he touch’s the glass at 3:02, as this is probably the first time he’s seen his sister with her new arm
This is incredible. Love everything about this. The "toys" starting to go against each other as soon as human left the area, the designs of the Necronites and the Star Elites and the vibe it gives with the Necronites being somewhat sympathetic and the Star Elites being hard-wired to see them as nothing but enemies.
I think the major difference between Toy Story and Small Soldiers is that in Toy Story, the toys know they're toys and their identity is in their relationship to each other and to their owners. What makes Small Soldiers special is that the toys are born with a narrative that they follow, despite being toys. The earnestness, in spite of the silliness, is what makes Small Soldiers compelling.
The thing is in Toy Story, the toys were magically alive. In Small Soldiers if you actually watched the original was due to the toy company putting a military grade AI chip on them making them move on their own and playing out their programming while also learning.
Whoever designed these characters, your not payin them enough! The design is so intricate, every character is full of life, unique, and just by looking, i can already imagine the voices they would have, their personalities, you have shown us an entire backstorys worth in 5 minutes with no speech. Keep pushing this, its such a fantastic idea.
I'd collect those action figs if the would produce them. So sick, especially the dude with the telekenetic wall creatures or the samurai that sheeves his sword into a rifle.
I always loved Small Solders, this concept is freaking amazing, I love how the toys are animated like actuals with each of their movement affecting the physics in the small plastic body, I hope this can get greenlit someway
Okay, everyone who worked on this trailer/proof of concept? All of you should be extraordinarily proud of yourselves. This was freaking incredible. Small Soldiers was a huge part of my childhood, and seeing it brought back like this is fantastic. I love how you've reconfigured the aesthetics to match up to a more team-shooter style, I think it fits really well. The new commandos, in particular, are wonderfully designed. I also love how you animated the characters. The weight of them feels really appropriate for an action figure. And the slightly jerky movements look amazing, it's great attention to detail. I genuinely hope this succeeds, this looks so promising. And, yes, if these end up on a shelf somewhere, damn straight I'm buying them.
If all toy commercials were this good I would buy them ALL!! It's actually kind of a shame that you don't see more commercials with this quality, we KNOW they have the money.
This is CRAZY good. Thank you all so much for this. Everyone involved understood the assignment. In art school I learned: As an artist, your job isn't truly complete until the individual interacting with your art forgets your existence. Your art should live on it's own. This felt thoughtful and thoroughly fleshed out beyond it's runtime. What a grand illusion you've created here. Thank you again.
I loved the original Small soldiers, these creators perfectly captured the charm of the film, and injected a dose of Sci-Fi crazy. With no words and only about 5 min, you can tell that war is all that is known to these beings, even though they just found consciousness. Only one among their number knows the concept of compassion, Emissary Khadenn leader of the Nekron army. Is that compassion based on the preprogramed backstory where there are still feelings for his 'sister' Ray, or do they alone know truth of their nature. Or to use the words of Sheriff Woody: "You... are... a... toy! You aren't the real Buzz Lightyear! You're a...You're an action figure! You are a child's plaything!" This is so impressive - just the look on Ray Razor's face... it was that of a static plastic mold, and to my eye I could see no movement or even a change, but I could feel the unseen teeth grit in rage, and understand the smirk of revenge anticipated. I do not know if it is just good writing, a masterful move of direction or art of CGI I have not seen performed before (or the full triple threat, plenty of kudos to go around). Only note I have is that it looks like your going for 'Nekron' in the title and promo, but in the film it is all listed as 'Necron' If your sticking with K, I would have all the footage be updated to have an ill placed 'K' sticker put on all the instances of Necron.... as the legal department came running down at the 12 hour after all the boxes and promo materials were printed, with a ' Cease and Desist Letter' from Games Workshop. ("Necro is a Greek prefix, are you telling me they own Greek?" "I am telling you that their Lawyers can argue they do, long enough to delay release of of the toy line, and then our company will be financially Necro")
This works on so many levels! It can be a proof-of-concept animation, or just a one-off original work. It can be a remake of the original movie or a new tv series trailer, which I would personally be all for either. It can be a commercial for a new toy line, which I find I would totally buy some of these figures.
I really, REALLY hope you make a full feature film out of this. What with Spider-Verse on everyone's mind right now, there's a spotlight being cast on how creative animators are putting spins on the genre that people hadn't even considered, and this is right up there. The fact they all move just like REAL TOYS, the hidden lore on the toy packaging, the perfect designs, the aesthetic of the whole thing... If you stick the landing that you've set up for yourselves here, you guys are going to slam dunk right into being the next big wave in animated feature films. Well done.
@@slifer1178 I think a movie would be COOLER, honestly, seeing animation like this play out when I don't think the action of a game could really make this style feel as unique as it would on the big screen, but a game's fine enough too.
I noticed how afew of the commandos are OG members who have been upgraded. It not only makes sense in a merchandising view that "these members sold better than the others, so lets remodel them to fit the feel of the new sets and sell them again." But in the cold view of the commandos, it gives a "Death doesn't mean you're done soldier." It's VERY cool to me and a nice touch. Also I kinda want the new "Surge" to have this "just like her old man" feel IF this keeps going.
To whomever made this. Please, make an entire film. This is, by far, one of the most beautiful videos for Small Soldiers, I've seen. The details, how they still believe their weapons are real, even though they are toys. How the Necronites seem more human in nature. It's vividly epic. Made me wanna rewatch the original Small Soldiers. Love it. Keep it up. 😁
This was absolutely stunning. I really hope this gets the attention it deserves for a full blown film budget. Been wanting a Small Soldiers sequel/reboot for so long
I loved that moment with that new Archer (his successor, I imagine) offered an olive branch, like: "Look, we can get along." and our new Chip just being like: "Nope, only war, bro." These character designs are amazing, and I love that all the designs across each faction appear to have a cohesive, unified theme to them, I love that a lot. I would LOVE to see more.
The names are Ray Razor (Chip) and Khadenn (Archer) and they're related if you read the boxes. I'm honestly just wondering what happened to the Gorgonites or if the Necronites are just a different faction or subspecies.
If you look closely on the box he comes from, he’s actually the brother of Ray and mutated after being given necrocells when he was fatally injured, it’s so cool that small attention to detail but still showing there’s history between Ray and Khadan
@@Dalton_Boardman2000 I think the idea is that these new characters are from the future. The new generation, either descendants of the old in their in-universe story or simple new factions in the same universe, so to speak.
@@Dalton_Boardman2000best bet in universe after the failure of the initial batch the company did a rewrite and rebranding of the fractions, something relatively common actually. So the Commando Elite became the Space Elite complete with a more morally complex "cool strong female leader". And the Gorgonites became the Necoids which based off the back box paragraph and the other dudes willingness to just shoot ray through a wall until their leader waived him off, the Necoids are less drug addled hippies and more actual warriors, but due to the programmed backstory and I'm guessing remnants of the previous programming they're trying to avoid an actual battle to the death.
Small Soldiers was one of those films from my childhood that i first fell in love with and still holds a special place in my heart. I had all the figures and every piece of merchandise they put out, sadly the film didn't do too well when it first came out and it has been forgotten by many. Your production is amazing and makes me what to see more. I like how you incorporate science fiction into the characters; before it was classic military versus medieval monsters. Now it's space soldiers versus aliens. I would imagine the female leader of the commando elite is somehow related to Chip hazard. She inherited his love for violence, destruction, and eliminating any enemy "scum." The leader of the aliens, who was supposed to be the villain of the series, doesn't want to fight and has something of a pacifist mentality. Towards the end, I believe he has feelings for her, which he has learned thanks to the new chips that are in all of them. He doesn't want to fight her but when she fires her toy gun at him, you can see the disappointment and heartbreak on his face.
If ya'll haven't considered making movies, you need to seriously consider it for the future. THIS is quality and lightyears above and beyond most if not all of what Hollywood can vomit up lately. No dialog, yet it speaks deeply, meaningfully, and volumes, in less than 5 minutes. Keep your team of writers and creators. Keep them happy, and make more stuff like this. You could all be one of the catalysts that overturns the current Dark Age of the entertainment industry.
This is modeled and animated better than the current Hollywood movies. Wish the studio would see this and give the guy some money to make this a feature film.
0 spoken words, nothing but pure emotion and story telling. I would like to petition to get these character toys brought into the real world. I would definitely spend money to have a collection of these guys.
This is legitimately magnificent. So much character and story in a 5 minute clip, and with no dialogue. I love the character designs and the hint that the commando leader is implied to have some depth to her; she looks emotionally devastated when the door closes on her. Even the leader of the Necronites looks sympathetic to her, another r awesome touch. I don't know exactly what this is, but color me interested.
Right? I knew I wasn't the only other one who saw that. It's like her face is plastic, so it's constantly stoic, but her heart is broken to see her own brother as her enemy.
One of them looks like the love child of Nick Nitro and Brick but with a Terminator face and it’s fucking metal that these guys look like something out of a 90’s anti hero cyberpunk comic book
I mean, I don't disagree but what does Star Wars have to do with anything here? Why do you people always fish for cheap likes? I mean, you might as well say this is better than any of Ed Wood's movies. At least that's something original?
Granted that's not difficult seeing how Star Wars has basically devolved into literal propaganda pieces, but between this and Godzilla Minus One you see just how high the quality of let's just say less "message" driven stories have become. Also keep in mind this is made for probably a few hundred thousand dollars whereas the last Star Wars piece was made for hundreds of millions and still looks like shit so...yeah, agreed.
I was a fan of the Small Soldiers back in 1998. I wish they revive them since our technology today can and they can be smarter with today's AI and the story could really work well in today's generation. Thanks for this nostalgic short animation.
Funny enough about the technology. The opening scene in the movie showing the figures being 3D printed was real 3D printing done with a resin printer. But after filming they decided that the 3D printing didn't look futuristic enough so they added the lasers in post and flipped the video 180° (if you know about resin printing, it's done by dipping the print trey into a vat of UV cured resin and means that most prints are printed Upside down)
First off, this is amazing! Glad to see the small soldiers fandom is still alive and well. Second off, watching this video I honestly thought for a second those were actual figures. Crazy how detailed and realistic everything looks on unreal engine 5.
This went so unbelievably hard lmao. I dunno if this is for a game, or for a movie or what have you, but just this short alone is phenomenal. I hope everyone that worked on it feels as proud as they should. Goddamn.
4:47 I love that you can see spiritual references to the original Commando Elite Starting Far left it looks like theres references to; Link Static, Brick Bazooka with the heavy armored form. Butch Meathook with the sniper, Nick Nitro to the Right of him and to the far right the face bears resemblance or inspiration to Kip Killigan. With the obvious Chip Hazard reference in the leader. You can tell the designs were inspired by the original characters but still distinct and creative on their own.
That's the one design that really caught my attention. So cool looking but just the right amount of goofiness how her minions file out together. It's the one figure that I'd totally have to buy if it were real.
If I can trust you guys to do this the justice it deserves, I'm SOOOOO hyped seeing this in whatever form it comes in! As long as there isn't some type of big studio interfering and crapifying the love of this, then I'm SURE you could pull off something amazing!
JESUS CHRIST I LOVED THIS MOVIE AS A KID! It's a complex narrative about not judging a book by its cover! you know there's a broken lovers story in there, the amount of lore you guys packed into that is amazing!
Im shocked to this day no-one ever attempted to give the people a Small Soldiers animated series based off the in-universe Lore of the toys. This however just makes me wish and hope its greenlit cuz you mfing cooked with this ma dood!
Okay, I LOVE this as a concept. And I'll second what so many others have said; the character designs, the "feel" of the video, the emotion they convey despite their action figure aesthetics and lack of dialogue, it's all incredibly well done. And, am I nuts, or do some of the Space Elite actually *look* like characters from the original Commando Elite antagonist faction, just given a new sci-fi space military aesthetic?
And with maybe a gender swap or two thrown in there? Yeah, I can see it. Suppose we will have to wait for a proper charecter dosier on all of them to get a better idea of exactly what is going on here, but damn if I am not intrigued by what I see.
I don't know if it was on purpose but I love the fact that some of the human toys kinda resemble the ones from the original movie. Loved every second of this. Awesome work from your entire team behind this.
Man I just love how they move so creepily, especially Ray Razor. The most memorable thing of the film is how well they nailed the look of living action figures. I wished this was just a straight up sequel because this looks amazing.
This is absolutely incredible! The character designs are great, the storytelling (even though their is no dialogue) shows a lot of promise! I really hope whatever this ends up being lives up to the hype of this video!
OMG you absolutely MUST make this into a feature length. The team behind this is INSANELY talented, you can just tell and instantly understand how much effort was put into this. What do we need to do to get more of this? Tell us and we'll make it happen! ❤❤❤❤❤
This was animated so well and the designs were fantastic. I was a bit sceptical at first but then I remembered this is how they would be designed in this day and age.
im rewatching small soldiers this instant, this movie gave me sooo much childhood memories and sparked my passion to start collecting things as a hobby and the reason why i came to love warhammer 40k
As a kid, I would watch Small Soldiers almost every day to keep me occupied - I know every line and every scene and even own the original VHS and video games. This really brings back a slew of memories and hits a special place in my heart - I really look forward to seeing how this progresses! Great job, seriously, well done.
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Very cool trailer. New, but nostalgic at the same time.
Attention to detail is amazing, from the background set pieces, to the way the characters move like real action figures come to life.
A lot of variety in the figures too, my personal favourite is the winged Necronite with the glowing claw and little minion creatures. Toys didn't seem this cool when I was a child, lol.
And it's impressive how much emotion is brought out of "plastic" faces. I could tell there was some serious history between the two main characters on the first watch. And THEN I paused and read the back of the packaging in the box. Serious kudos to the team behind this. Excellent work.
Comadran Studios seems to be a games company, so no movie, but will be interesting to see what style of game this turns out to be.
So happy that you took the time to read the story behind them! We'll dive into it in future posts about the characters where we will show them in detail, you can find us on Small_Soldiers_official in Instagram! Thank you so much for the kind words and again, so happy that you took the time to check details!
Backing up the comment from the original source, as one of the directors and creator of the new characters, I'm touched by your comment and atention to detail, can't wait for you all to know a bit more of this
Great catch with the text on the box! A small detail we wanted to put there that goes a long way in explaining the lore for anyone interested in the characters. You were the first to point it out among all viewers as far as I know!❤
@@smallsoldiers_official Toyline? ???
@@BratbaticusThat would follow the original movie; the soldiers were the bad guys willing to do anything to follow their programmed rivalry, and the monsters were peaceful.
That ninja that came out of the cop car was insane. The idea of the sword sheath turning into a gun is amazing
Yeahh looks like mythic ffar gun skin in codm 😂😂
Ninja could get his/her own movie. Hope we get a scene of Ninja making a metal sword. 🥷
power rangers ninja storm did thet
In case you don't see it, the Ninja wasn't even on his box, he awake earlier than others.
Also he was inside the police car for some reason.
Ninja’s name was just revealed. Introducing, Sharp Saya
I am so glad people haven’t forgotten Small Soldiers. It still remains one of my favorite childhood movies
Same
I also played the old Small Soldiers on PS1. They were amazing
I have never seen it but heard about it. This trailer convinced me to finally watch the movie.
I love the idea of a scene somewhere in it, some guy going. "Hey I found these plans for this AI Chip from the 90's." "Looks good to me. Wonder why they stopped using it." "Well, digging into it I found like 6 crates of chips in storage." "Free money. Run it in the Nekron line."
It was really ahead of it’s time when it came to CGI and stop motion
I love how you guys kept the idea of the monsters/"bad guys" being ironically more human than the "good guys". That's one of the things i loved a lot about Small Soldiers
Yeah but imo they added a little bit more deviousness to the monsters this time. I mean hell, one of them was literally aiming point blank at Ray Razor at the glass door (clearly it was never gonna go through but the intent was still there)
Also there’s way more going on in the meta lore between these two factions if one were to read the back of one of the boxes shown~
@dereknight861 the minion holding up his "gun" ready to execute Razor when it obviously would just bounce right off the glass made me chuckle
@@dereknight861They may have memories of the pre packaged "storyline" where they're ruthlessly hunted by the solders. Ray is also clearly the aggressor here. Dude is probably very justified in wanting her to be put down as soon as possible.
@@Dalton_Boardman2000good point, the Necrons woke up way earlier than Ray(since they were already at the door) but chose to escape instead of ambush
I agree but correct me if I am wrong but seems to me that they gave the characters a bit more complexity here. The way I understood the story in the back of the box is that Ray (the lead soldier) had a brother who became a Necronite and now they fight opposite teams. So the Necronites may in fact be the bad guys this time around. That could be neat twist IMO
I really do hope this gets a greenlight. This new style and motion would do the original justice.
Tru the og was the perfect 7-11 yr old kids action flick & a reimagining with today's vfx could be insanely cool based off this short film
I'm pretty sure this is a game trailer
It's greenlit they gonna show something soon
I hope it's voice acting is on point. The OG film had some GREAT voice acting.
@@thenegromancer4695Really? Thats great news.
That moment when the necronite leader placed his hand on the soldier's, just to be attacked through the glass and the Necronite leader gave her a sad look, almost like saying "I'm sorry it has to be this way". Its amazing what can be expressed with so little facial expressions.
Thats because the soldier (Ray Razor) is his sister (pause exactly as she opens the box)
Makes you wonder if the Nectonite leader knows that they're just toys and is disappointed in the soldier for easily being influenced by their box advertising narrative.
I think the Necron was hoping the elite had broken their programming like the necrons seem to have. Maybe this time it might end better who knows.
And absolutely zero dialogue too.
I mean the main character is a buzz cut woman and shes angry at a man showing her mercy and peace.
Makes me want a Small Soldiers 2 movie more than a game.
From the description, this is a MOVIE done in a real time game engine. If you have ever heard of Oats Studio and "ADAM". You can also just look up Realtime Engine Movies. They are going to be shorts. But there is NOTHING stopping a studio from going Full length movie.
Makes me want the toys.
Same here
I agree
And small soldiers 2 movie based video game too I want
The way they actually move like toys is incredible. I can tell that was no easy feat, the rigging is honestly impressive.
I was just thinking that, theres something about the mimiscule 'bounce' between movements that really communicates theyre made of tiny bits of plastic
They are toys
And the sound effects 2
@@artfrombelow and the little unsmooth chonky rotation on the minigun? love it!
@@david-arthur8166 Well... no. They are bits of 1s and 0s compiled into an image of a toy. This is all done in UE5
The sadness in his eyes when she refuses to see him as someone equal!!! The emotion conveyed in just a tilt of the head!!!! This is just incredible 🤩!!!
It's his sister. Pause at 1:40
That little head tilt just said to me,
“So that’s all I’ll ever be to you… a monster.”
@@IkesPimpHandgreat eye!
theres going to be an update soon
You've made all of us old chaps that loved Small Soldiers as kids, and grew up with it in the back of our memories like a forgotten box of beloved toys in the attic, *_very_* happy with this! The sheer love and animation skill involved to make it feel exactly in the spirit of the original movie... dear god. "Proof of concept" and it's already a work of art.
@ACougarSwagnum my box in the attic are an afirmation of it... we are indeed old chaps
@ACougarSwagnumI'm afraid we are....
On another note, I heckin loved small soldiers even though it scared the bajeezus outta me
Much love for the late and great Phil Hartman.
Bruh chill,Im only 29
Yep yes we are 😮, I must say it took me back to when I was a kid .
I was thoroughly convinced that this was stop motion animation! I’m absolutely blown away by the detail and subtlety in the animation!!!
Wait that’s not live action!
@@jaywilliams8730 NOPE! Unreal Engine 5.
@@phantomshotgun9223what can't it do at this point?
It's really impressive. They look like actual toys! Their faces look like they shouldn't move and yet they do and somehow it looks natural.
I'm glad to see the "bloodthirsty military industrial complex war criminal psychopaths vs misunderstood emotionally complex monsters" dichotomy be faithfully preserved in this reboot
Wonder if it’ll be the same, it does tbh the monster holding his hand to the window looks like he was asking for peace then the elite shoots the glass. I read on a website the roles might reversed but it seem that opinion might be wrong considering she unloads a mag into the window 😂😂
I'm actually hoping the flip it. It would be cool to see some diabolical monster toys, and some kid ass good guys, with big guns.
Why was the Nekron leader reaching out to her hand like that? Additional B-plot?
@@Vulkanprimarch his backstory is on the box she flips. It’s her brother who was mortally wounded and she resurrected him in “the Necron pits”. Perhaps she made him a monster so it would be easier to see him die, while he wants peace having seen conflict from both sides.
@@VulkanprimarchOn his box at 1:40 it says that he's rays sister (the girl we're following through the video)That was gonna die but she saved him in the necron pits but he became one them
Also
VULKAN LIVES! *STOMP STOMP*
Whatever this is: TV Series, movie, game, shorts, TOY LINE; as a fan of the original, I'm there, and bringing my kids.
The one Nekronite that spread their wings and then little dudes came out as sort of shields was dope as hell.
The was cool. The detail that caught my eye was the ninja having his sword sheathed into what was actually some sort of LMG.
I just think they're adorable
Think she's a chick. Makes sense with her "Brood" deploying to protect her.
*Also their battle stance 😂*
I LOVE the small bit of lore we got on the back of his box, knowing that he is ray's brother makes that moment so much more impactful
The one small soldier with the katana was smooth af with the transition
Riggghht? With a duel weapon. It looked like a sniper what he put his blade into.
I like the small touches in this proof of concept trailer. Like on the box for the main Necronite guy says that he is Ray’s brother (Ray is the pov toy in the trailer) and kinda explains what happened to him.
It’s such a cool backstory. Caden Cannon was Ray’s sister and was once human and a necronite hating commando. He took out the previous necronite leader but was fatally wounded. Ray took him to the necron pits in an attempt to save him, but in order to do so Caden was transformed into a necronite himself and Ray’s arm was lost, due to getting also necronised in the pits. Caden now going by Khadeen, changes his ways and in repentance becomes the new necronite leader, while Ray now going by Ray Razor, gets a new bionic arm with a blade, views him as a traitor and along with the space elite vows revenge. Also Khadeen’s uses his sister’s necronised arm as his sword.
ngl, they could make an entire toy franchise off these guys, and I as a grown man, would absolutely buy them.
The same thing around here brother, I grew up watching the movie more than once and I always wanted figures of the Gorgonites and the elite commando, maybe now if they bring out real figures when I get a job I'm going to spend money like crazy on them
its dumb that companies don't make cool toys anymore.
cause they never realize that kids they were selling that stuff to. are not only all grown up, but most of them got cheated out of their childhood and would absolutely buy the toys they wanted cause they have adult money now.
I still have all my old GI Joes and Transformers
I would absolutely buy these figures they came out
They all look great. Perfect decor figures imo
Saaaaaaaame I want necronites I want necronites
I like how the Necrons design looks generally more opposing like these guys could be seen as a threat over their cuddly forefathers. And the leader has a cool stoic vibe to him
The Necronites are doing what they do best...they are hiding.
@@valiang8867
Fun fact, the red horned one with a triple barrel cannon arm is said to be a gladiator who "face the precursors to the Space Elites", hinting at him being a descendant of the Gorgonites proper.
As his father before him
I especially love how Khadenn (the leader) was putting his hand on the glass when facing Ray. Since these two are siblings, I believe it was a gesture of "It doesn't have to be like this Ray, we don't have to fight" But since Ray was raised on Nekronite stereotypes thanks to the Empire (no, not that one) fighting them, she refuses his peace offering
I freaking love that they move like barnaby dixon puppets than like stop motion. Its so "lifelike" and just wonderfully believable
Cannot be stressed enough, cool af reference. 👍
Agreed. It really makes them feel like toys.
funny thing is the credits say it was made in unreal engine 5
I knew i wasnt the only one that noticed the combination of expressive body animation in spite of the physical limitations!
@@TheDrac1236Oh dang, so we're looking at something similar to Lego Movie's animation here.
Would love to see this turned into a Small Soldiers sequel! Maybe even do some call backs to some of the original cast and creatures from the 1st!
I'm NGL the guy on the far right at the end reminds me of Nick Nitro
And I am pretty sure the one guy with two pistols is the communications officer from the first.
Hell I got serious Chip Hazards daughter vibes from the leader. They fight because they are programmed to do so.
@@Misterebony Since that the leader of the Necrons is her brother, Chip Hazard would be both of their dad.
They're home in gorgon
@@Misterebony yeah Ray Razor would want to avenge there dad makes sense
Oh man, the nostalgia
The thing I love about this most is that it seems to have kept the spirit of the original in tact
This is astonishing. I never expected Small Soldiers to come back or to look this good.
Same I thought it was forgotten, still one of my favorite movies
Yeah all the character designs are so detailed I love it
I love the switch towards the end of seeing the necronites as the good guys just trying to escape and the ruthless pursuit by the commander lady. Also the hint of a lost kinship that these two factions once had.
if you read the toy box, it explain they are Bother and Sister.
Reading the box the leader is Khadenn but formerly Caden Cannon, brother of Ray Razor (apparently last names depend on marketability). After he got critically injured she saved his life but a side effect mutated him into a necron. So yeah, a brother vs sister plot is definitely at play here.
I mean, the monsters being the good guys and the humans being bad was the set up on the original movie, so it's more "oh, we're doing this again" then a twist...
I feel like the brother is brainwashed and ray will either find a way to kill him or save him.
@RipOffProductionsLLC This looks more like the necrenites WERE the villains and the Commando Elites WERE the heroes. Khaedenn is slowly redeeming the Necronites, but the Commando Elites don't know/believe the Necronites can change.
Small Soldiers is so underrated and it’s so amazing to see this concept being honourable to the original yet unique to itself. But also, Ooooh there some tension between the Nekron leader and Ray that I am alll here for, I really want to see that explored in detail.
Ray and Khadeen are brother and sister
3:05 I felt SO relieved to see a moment like this. The Small Soldiers movie was a favorite of mine as a kid, and one of the coolest things about it was the way it subverted the old trope of “humans versus monsters.” The “monsters” were intelligent creatures with depth who just wanted to live in peace, while the “heroic soldiers” were villains hellbent on destroying them just for being different. I was worried this new entry was going to forget/ignore those roots and go with the much more cliched “humans and monsters fight each other, waaaaghh!” I’m glad to see the people making this haven’t forgotten the nuance that made the original great.
I felt the same way. The one thing I did want to see by the end of the original movie was the humans maybe gaining a little bit of compassion and making peace with the Gorgonites, but it probably didn't really work with the narrative and their personalities, plus it was a comedy so the conflict was kinda played for laughs. This looks really great though, it feels like a more "grown up" version of the original film in what little there is to see so far.
It's not really a fair assessment with the original since the Commando Elite were forced to hate the Gorgonites, it always felt weird to me because it's not like they chose to hate them. Hell, they didn't even have a reason for hating them, they were just programmed to hate them by a greedy corpo suit.
The Command Elites were supposed to be cool, honorable soldiers, seeing them get slaughtered throughout the movie was a little fucked up considering they didn't choose to be the way they were.
*Yawn* Truth be told it’s derivative now. Yes, small soldiers was about that, but it’s okay for the artist to try for a new motif. That’s what art is after all: experimentation. Of course, it’s always fine if the artist decides to continue in the same direction. I just find it boring in this specific case.
I honestly wouldn't have minded the trope of the himans being the good guys
i love that movie...but i was 100% sure it was called toy soldiers not small soldiers, i feel like my life is a lie now
At 1:42, the Necronite box says:
Khadenn Emissary of the Necronites; Leader of the Necron Army.
Formerly known as Caden Cannon, a proud member of the Empire, he fought against the Necronites alongside his sister Ray. After receiving a fatal wound...his sister saved his life in the Necron pits, even though this meant he would be reborn as a Necronite and become her sworn enemy.
Touched by the ungraspable knowledge of the Necron mind, and with a...experience in battle, Khadenn was chosen as a leader o the army and...determined to end this war against the Empire and his sister.
The only way to stop the war is... TO WIN!
So it’s a sibling rivalry then, not lover’s quarrel
But it seems he doesn't want to kill his sister my guess is either he is the oldest or the youngest. But my guess is that he really doesn't want her dead but she does, but when she missed her punch you can tell deep down she really is at war with her self yet will not hesitate to kill him.
wait the leaders of both side are siblings.
If I had to guess they don't want to kill each other the only reason she wants to kill him is because of the changes that happened to him as he is he still is her brother but her duty tell her otherwise
@@westhawk7259just like irl
The closest I've ever seen CGI look like stop motion. The weight and jerkiness of the movements is really well done.
Cash In Cash Out by pharrell music video. Nice CGI stopmotion and merrygo round effect all in one.
That's the wonders of a dynamic skeleton template that sets the range of motion on any particular character model.
lego movie also does this well
You ever watch The Lego Movie?
You can see some print lines for some shots which means sometimes it's a physical model.
Imagine playing with your bionicle and the thing came to life and start fighting each other
6/7 year old me would be grabbing my parent's camera and filming it. I LOVED bionicle as a kid!
Me with a massive transformers collection, knowing there’s a massive war happening when I leave for work.
Damn, I haven’t had nor seen a Bionicle set in like 9 years.
As an animator and 3D artist, this literally blows me away. Incredibly well done, shot, animated, rendered. Everything is film quality. Great job! Would definitely pay for the whole family to see this one. Would love to see a deep dive into how y'all did this, what rig your used, what rendering engine was used. FANTASTIC!
They used the unreal engine based on the description
I was having the same thought! I'm an animator too, and this was freaking insane. I absolutely cannot fathom how they made this look so good.
your comment just took the words outa my mouth
Bro its clearly UE with intentional 12 and 24's to simulate smooth stop motion....
How are you so pro and can't figure that out lmfao.
@@zigfaust filmmaking is all about asking questions and problem solving no matter how many Oscars one may possess. Your comment sucks balls!
I just want to say, this is one of the best ways I've seen an old concept rebooted to breathe new life into it and utilize modern affordabilities and technology without it being lazy nostalgia bait or disrespectful to its source material. The designs of all the characters are all great, you can look at them all and instantly tell them apart individually and which side they're on and it feels as if a bit if their personalities all show through in how theyre presented as well. Props to the animators for really bringing them to life and getting that accross as well, they look alive while still feeling plastic and somewhat stiff in movement for their lack of joints.
If someone told me a short trailer for a game based off a fondly remembered yet mostly forgotten cult classic movie I saw when I was eight, would drop in 2023 that would not only completely recaptivate my interest, but actually got me excited for the future of the franchise, I'd have called you crazy. Bravo.
yikes
How am i just now finding this!??. Im a fan of the original film and i am LOVING everything about this. The same menacing monster "villains" being more in need of running and the soldier "heroes" being the aggressors.
The motion is so good and yet still feels like toys moving.
Im keeping this in my feed
I’m actually super impressed and happy that they kept the spirit of the movie alive for this, the monsterous toys were originally planned for being a peaceful race by the toys creator, but the company wanted a generic “humans good monsters evil” toy line and made the human army side who relentlessly hunts them down
Well now they got their wish, maybe the Necronites won't be like the Gorganites this time, it be like Doom.
The Necronites seem nice though; they didn't want confrontation despite having superior numbers, they ran instead.
@@ionryful
I think both sides have their reasons to fight and are capable. They just have conflict in doing so because their leaders are siblings.
@@ionryful Because the Leader of the Necronites is her brother @1:41
@@all-s0rts Damn, good catch, i had not seen that.
Haven't heard anything about Small Soldiers in almost 20 years-good to see this franchise getting some fan love again.
Hell yeah! Same here brother
This was really incredible. So much emotion without any dialogue at all and some genuinely great character design. I'm not sure what comes of this, but I'm a fan already.
character design is S-tier at the lest, i want this things so bad.
2:15 Agree. Bird lady's wings also being her minions. Amazing.
I absolutely love how even the art style of the characters on the box arts and cardboard standees matches the original movie
this is actually a cool idea for a sequel with a new generation of toy soldiers (like Hasbro with MLP and Transformers)
Small Soldiers was a childhood favorite of mine. It is unreal to see a sequel after 25 years! You guys have already done an amazing job just with this proof of concept.
Heh. Unreal.
Watch small soldiers a week ago the movie was great
I still watch it from time to time, still holds up well. One of my favourites
I'm honestly surprised to see Small Soldiers make a return I never thought to see that I'm at a lost for words.
I remember that watching that movie as a kid on a VHS, I thought everybody forgot about the movie.
The thing that made the Commando Elite so terrifying and deadly in the first movie, was their inventiveness. 🛠
All who have seen the movie will remember the scenes of their vehicles with nail guns and flamethrowers made from household hardware and chemicals. Not to mention Chip Hazard’s helicopter.
And easily most terrifying of all, them figuring out how to make copies of their own X-1000 chips in order to implant them into an army of Frankenstein Barbie dolls.
I hope that we get to see some of this inventiveness in this new movie. It looks great from this proof of concept. 🎥
Which makes it hilarious when the soldiers in this one act as if their guns and weapons could actually do anything, but considering they're either rubber, plastic, or foam/nerf... Yeah looks cool, but definitely not capable of killing each other.
That said it makes me excited to imagine all the cool makeshift weapons they could get that would be an actual threat.
Word, I feel you on that. Although on a small scale their instant adaptation to configure any to every miscellaneous object and make it "mobileee & lethallllyleee" showed peak less macabre IQ. But peep the tech the company had back in 1996-97. It was the first time you saw 3d printing before it was available for the public.
The fact that I can't tell if this is stop motion or computer animation shows just how much of a good job you did on this. Holy hell, subscribed!
Love how the neceonites are given a more “human” portrayal, especially in how he held his hand up to the glass to the female warrior. Excited to see how this turns out.
came looking for this comment! such a tiny subtle detail to lead us to believe there is a deeper history between the leaders of both factions
That was essentially the plot of the original movie the soldiers were the bad guys and the aliens were pacifists that just wanted to go home
Yeah cuz if you look closer in box of nekronite leader in back it says the leaders of both factions are siblings
@@tyzerro yeah cuz they are siblings
Read the back of the box at 1:40
Small soldiers was my favorite movie as a kid. This short film had me smiling the entire time. It’s so well made and the animation is amazing. Fantastic work! Hit me right in the nostalgia.
The animation, the lighting, design, everything looks absolutely incredible!! This is amazing
This is absolutely mind blowing. The characters movements capture the way the puppets moved in the original movie perfectly. In the original film, you could always tell when it switched from real prop to CGI, but this is all CGI and looks like the live action puppets did. Really fantastic, cannot wait to see more.
Crazy how so much emotion is conveyed without having any dialogue, also this whole scene 3:40 is just too badass.
I love this scene so much.. So badassss
As someone born in the 90's that grew up watching Small Soldiers, this was an awesome production you made. The nostalgia is real. I love the spin off modern take. Would love to see a full film!
As a person born in 2001, I agree
As something born in the 70's, I also agree.
Bro the backstory for this goes hard. The leader of the Necronites was formally a human (Caden Cannon) who killed the previous Necronite leader. His sister Ray (the girl with the white hair) took him to the Necron pits to try save him as he was fatally wounded in the battle. The pit saved him, but at the cost of being transformed into a Necronite himself and also took his sister’s arm in the process. Caden, now seeing that the war with the Necronites is unjust, changes his ways and becomes Khadeen the new leader of the Necronites, in penance for what he’d done. His sister however got a new cybernetic arm with a retractable blade, and becomes Ray Razor, vowing revenge on her brother, who she now saw as a traitor and formed the Space Elite to exact revenge. The coolest part of all this is, Khadeen now uses his sisters Necronised arm as his sword, hence why he touch’s the glass at 3:02, as this is probably the first time he’s seen his sister with her new arm
This is incredible. Love everything about this. The "toys" starting to go against each other as soon as human left the area, the designs of the Necronites and the Star Elites and the vibe it gives with the Necronites being somewhat sympathetic and the Star Elites being hard-wired to see them as nothing but enemies.
I think the major difference between Toy Story and Small Soldiers is that in Toy Story, the toys know they're toys and their identity is in their relationship to each other and to their owners. What makes Small Soldiers special is that the toys are born with a narrative that they follow, despite being toys. The earnestness, in spite of the silliness, is what makes Small Soldiers compelling.
Wasn't buzz lightyear like that for the entirety of the first movie lol
The thing is in Toy Story, the toys were magically alive. In Small Soldiers if you actually watched the original was due to the toy company putting a military grade AI chip on them making them move on their own and playing out their programming while also learning.
My heart broke when I rewatched it then paused to see the Leaders lore, seeing her shoot at the glass actually hurts my soul.
Whoever designed these characters, your not payin them enough! The design is so intricate, every character is full of life, unique, and just by looking, i can already imagine the voices they would have, their personalities, you have shown us an entire backstorys worth in 5 minutes with no speech. Keep pushing this, its such a fantastic idea.
God looking at these designs makes me feel like a kids again watching commercial for these cool toys.
I'd collect those action figs if the would produce them. So sick, especially the dude with the telekenetic wall creatures or the samurai that sheeves his sword into a rifle.
Charlize Theron as the voice of Ray.
Idris Elba as the voice of Khadenn.
People here a year later with no updates on this film
I know right. I come back from time to time to check it
You can't rush art.
I always loved Small Solders, this concept is freaking amazing, I love how the toys are animated like actuals with each of their movement affecting the physics in the small plastic body, I hope this can get greenlit someway
Okay, everyone who worked on this trailer/proof of concept? All of you should be extraordinarily proud of yourselves. This was freaking incredible. Small Soldiers was a huge part of my childhood, and seeing it brought back like this is fantastic. I love how you've reconfigured the aesthetics to match up to a more team-shooter style, I think it fits really well. The new commandos, in particular, are wonderfully designed.
I also love how you animated the characters. The weight of them feels really appropriate for an action figure. And the slightly jerky movements look amazing, it's great attention to detail.
I genuinely hope this succeeds, this looks so promising. And, yes, if these end up on a shelf somewhere, damn straight I'm buying them.
I would like that, a whole toyline of them.
Same this would be a sick ass movie
I agree, it felt like I knew their weight when they moved.
I always loved Small Soldiers, even to this day.
If this doesn't show we need another Small Soldiers, I don't know what does.
If all toy commercials were this good I would buy them ALL!! It's actually kind of a shame that you don't see more commercials with this quality, we KNOW they have the money.
This is CRAZY good. Thank you all so much for this. Everyone involved understood the assignment. In art school I learned: As an artist, your job isn't truly complete until the individual interacting with your art forgets your existence. Your art should live on it's own. This felt thoughtful and thoroughly fleshed out beyond it's runtime. What a grand illusion you've created here. Thank you again.
Thank you so much, that is a beautiful way to put it indeed
I loved the original Small soldiers, these creators perfectly captured the charm of the film, and injected a dose of Sci-Fi crazy. With no words and only about 5 min, you can tell that war is all that is known to these beings, even though they just found consciousness. Only one among their number knows the concept of compassion, Emissary Khadenn leader of the Nekron army. Is that compassion based on the preprogramed backstory where there are still feelings for his 'sister' Ray, or do they alone know truth of their nature. Or to use the words of Sheriff Woody: "You... are... a... toy! You aren't the real Buzz Lightyear! You're a...You're an action figure! You are a child's plaything!"
This is so impressive - just the look on Ray Razor's face... it was that of a static plastic mold, and to my eye I could see no movement or even a change, but I could feel the unseen teeth grit in rage, and understand the smirk of revenge anticipated. I do not know if it is just good writing, a masterful move of direction or art of CGI I have not seen performed before (or the full triple threat, plenty of kudos to go around).
Only note I have is that it looks like your going for 'Nekron' in the title and promo, but in the film it is all listed as 'Necron' If your sticking with K, I would have all the footage be updated to have an ill placed 'K' sticker put on all the instances of Necron.... as the legal department came running down at the 12 hour after all the boxes and promo materials were printed, with a ' Cease and Desist Letter' from Games Workshop. ("Necro is a Greek prefix, are you telling me they own Greek?" "I am telling you that their Lawyers can argue they do, long enough to delay release of of the toy line, and then our company will be financially Necro")
The style is absolutely perfect. Its smooth yet still has a realistic "choppy charm" like from Small Soldiers.
The toys in the original were almost entirely CG.
These toys are both stop motion and cg. Which is a breath of air in my opinion.
@@DinosaurianationazationThe ones in this are also only CG. Everything in this video is Unreal Engine.
@@Dinosaurianationazation This new one is 100% CG. Even the environment.
Yes fabulous, but that sword holster rifle third arm is the chef's kiss of this for me.
this is immaculate, I have watched this 5 times now I'm just in awe at how well designed this all is already. Bravo
Five times?? I think this is my fifteenth!
@@dereknight861I haven’t had a chance to rewatch it, but you know I’ve not been able to get it out of my head since then.
"Are you scared?... we're all scared..... you'd have to be CRAZY not to be scared." 🔥🙏
FR goated writing on that one
This works on so many levels!
It can be a proof-of-concept animation, or just a one-off original work.
It can be a remake of the original movie or a new tv series trailer, which I would personally be all for either.
It can be a commercial for a new toy line, which I find I would totally buy some of these figures.
I loved this, and I love the small callbacks to the originals.
I've never seen an animation style so well done that it fooled me into thinking it was stop motion, keep up the great work, you got my like.
I really, REALLY hope you make a full feature film out of this. What with Spider-Verse on everyone's mind right now, there's a spotlight being cast on how creative animators are putting spins on the genre that people hadn't even considered, and this is right up there. The fact they all move just like REAL TOYS, the hidden lore on the toy packaging, the perfect designs, the aesthetic of the whole thing... If you stick the landing that you've set up for yourselves here, you guys are going to slam dunk right into being the next big wave in animated feature films. Well done.
It looks like this might be a game. But, I would like to see a movie follow this plot
@@slifer1178 I think a movie would be COOLER, honestly, seeing animation like this play out when I don't think the action of a game could really make this style feel as unique as it would on the big screen, but a game's fine enough too.
The sword gun at 4:26 is probably one of the coolest things I've ever seen.
Hope we get a scene of Ninja making a metal sword.
I noticed how afew of the commandos are OG members who have been upgraded.
It not only makes sense in a merchandising view that "these members sold better than the others, so lets remodel them to fit the feel of the new sets and sell them again."
But in the cold view of the commandos, it gives a "Death doesn't mean you're done soldier."
It's VERY cool to me and a nice touch.
Also I kinda want the new "Surge" to have this "just like her old man" feel IF this keeps going.
To whomever made this. Please, make an entire film. This is, by far, one of the most beautiful videos for Small Soldiers, I've seen. The details, how they still believe their weapons are real, even though they are toys. How the Necronites seem more human in nature. It's vividly epic. Made me wanna rewatch the original Small Soldiers. Love it. Keep it up. 😁
I would donate money for that.
Or if it a game! I pray it be like borderlands mix with overwatch!
This was absolutely stunning. I really hope this gets the attention it deserves for a full blown film budget. Been wanting a Small Soldiers sequel/reboot for so long
I loved that moment with that new Archer (his successor, I imagine) offered an olive branch, like: "Look, we can get along." and our new Chip just being like: "Nope, only war, bro."
These character designs are amazing, and I love that all the designs across each faction appear to have a cohesive, unified theme to them, I love that a lot.
I would LOVE to see more.
The names are Ray Razor (Chip) and Khadenn (Archer) and they're related if you read the boxes. I'm honestly just wondering what happened to the Gorgonites or if the Necronites are just a different faction or subspecies.
If you look closely on the box he comes from, he’s actually the brother of Ray and mutated after being given necrocells when he was fatally injured, it’s so cool that small attention to detail but still showing there’s history between Ray and Khadan
@@joelboland3814 oohhh, and here i thought it was a romance thing. woops!
@@Dalton_Boardman2000 I think the idea is that these new characters are from the future. The new generation, either descendants of the old in their in-universe story or simple new factions in the same universe, so to speak.
@@Dalton_Boardman2000best bet in universe after the failure of the initial batch the company did a rewrite and rebranding of the fractions, something relatively common actually.
So the Commando Elite became the Space Elite complete with a more morally complex "cool strong female leader". And the Gorgonites became the Necoids which based off the back box paragraph and the other dudes willingness to just shoot ray through a wall until their leader waived him off, the Necoids are less drug addled hippies and more actual warriors, but due to the programmed backstory and I'm guessing remnants of the previous programming they're trying to avoid an actual battle to the death.
Small Soldiers was one of those films from my childhood that i first fell in love with and still holds a special place in my heart. I had all the figures and every piece of merchandise they put out, sadly the film didn't do too well when it first came out and it has been forgotten by many. Your production is amazing and makes me what to see more. I like how you incorporate science fiction into the characters; before it was classic military versus medieval monsters. Now it's space soldiers versus aliens. I would imagine the female leader of the commando elite is somehow related to Chip hazard. She inherited his love for violence, destruction, and eliminating any enemy "scum." The leader of the aliens, who was supposed to be the villain of the series, doesn't want to fight and has something of a pacifist mentality. Towards the end, I believe he has feelings for her, which he has learned thanks to the new chips that are in all of them. He doesn't want to fight her but when she fires her toy gun at him, you can see the disappointment and heartbreak on his face.
I remember seeing Small Soldiers merchandise everywhere back in the day. Good times.
If ya'll haven't considered making movies, you need to seriously consider it for the future. THIS is quality and lightyears above and beyond most if not all of what Hollywood can vomit up lately. No dialog, yet it speaks deeply, meaningfully, and volumes, in less than 5 minutes. Keep your team of writers and creators. Keep them happy, and make more stuff like this. You could all be one of the catalysts that overturns the current Dark Age of the entertainment industry.
If this becomes a movie or a UA-cam series, I’ll be going all out watching it. Even seeing new characters.
seriously hoping this becomes a game or movie. brought back some serious childhood nostalgia
This is modeled and animated better than the current Hollywood movies. Wish the studio would see this and give the guy some money to make this a feature film.
0 spoken words, nothing but pure emotion and story telling. I would like to petition to get these character toys brought into the real world. I would definitely spend money to have a collection of these guys.
This is legitimately magnificent. So much character and story in a 5 minute clip, and with no dialogue. I love the character designs and the hint that the commando leader is implied to have some depth to her; she looks emotionally devastated when the door closes on her. Even the leader of the Necronites looks sympathetic to her, another r awesome touch. I don't know exactly what this is, but color me interested.
Much like in the original movie all the toys carry their backstories and emotion with them. You can tell the devs really got the movie.
After she opens the box you can read the Necron leader's story which certainly sheds light on it.
Right? I knew I wasn't the only other one who saw that. It's like her face is plastic, so it's constantly stoic, but her heart is broken to see her own brother as her enemy.
This brought me back. I instantly recognised who these new soldiers are based on such as Nick and Brick. Just hit me right in the memory box
One of them looks like the love child of Nick Nitro and Brick but with a Terminator face and it’s fucking metal that these guys look like something out of a 90’s anti hero cyberpunk comic book
Also the 3 barrel wielding nekronite looks like the gorgonite leader lol
Not a single word spoken and it's ten times more intense and interesting than everything Star Wars has put out since 2015 COMBINED.
Bruh it's 2023, nobody cares if you shit on Star Wars anymore lol
I mean, I don't disagree but what does Star Wars have to do with anything here? Why do you people always fish for cheap likes?
I mean, you might as well say this is better than any of Ed Wood's movies. At least that's something original?
Granted that's not difficult seeing how Star Wars has basically devolved into literal propaganda pieces, but between this and Godzilla Minus One you see just how high the quality of let's just say less "message" driven stories have become. Also keep in mind this is made for probably a few hundred thousand dollars whereas the last Star Wars piece was made for hundreds of millions and still looks like shit so...yeah, agreed.
Dude it's 2024 nobody cares if you defend Kathleen Kennedy anymore lol
I was a fan of the Small Soldiers back in 1998. I wish they revive them since our technology today can and they can be smarter with today's AI and the story could really work well in today's generation. Thanks for this nostalgic short animation.
Funny enough about the technology. The opening scene in the movie showing the figures being 3D printed was real 3D printing done with a resin printer. But after filming they decided that the 3D printing didn't look futuristic enough so they added the lasers in post and flipped the video 180° (if you know about resin printing, it's done by dipping the print trey into a vat of UV cured resin and means that most prints are printed Upside down)
First off, this is amazing! Glad to see the small soldiers fandom is still alive and well. Second off, watching this video I honestly thought for a second those were actual figures. Crazy how detailed and realistic everything looks on unreal engine 5.
It had me midtaken for genuine stip motion.
This went so unbelievably hard lmao. I dunno if this is for a game, or for a movie or what have you, but just this short alone is phenomenal. I hope everyone that worked on it feels as proud as they should. Goddamn.
Defenitly a game. Unreal Engine 5 is an engine for Videogames made by Epic Games.
This looks like an opening cinematic.
4:47
I love that you can see spiritual references to the original Commando Elite
Starting Far left it looks like theres references to; Link Static, Brick Bazooka with the heavy armored form. Butch Meathook with the sniper, Nick Nitro to the Right of him and to the far right the face bears resemblance or inspiration to Kip Killigan. With the obvious Chip Hazard reference in the leader.
You can tell the designs were inspired by the original characters but still distinct and creative on their own.
Small Soldiers was a staple of my childhood. Even though this looks modern and visually stunning, it still feels true to the original!
it truly feels like its a sequel to our OG.
"There will be NO MERCY"
That was awesome, I got goosebumps
The necronite designs are baller. I love the one whose wings are actually her minions.
That's the one design that really caught my attention. So cool looking but just the right amount of goofiness how her minions file out together. It's the one figure that I'd totally have to buy if it were real.
This is so AWESOME! Glad to see the Small Soldier fandom is still alive and well
If I can trust you guys to do this the justice it deserves, I'm SOOOOO hyped seeing this in whatever form it comes in! As long as there isn't some type of big studio interfering and crapifying the love of this, then I'm SURE you could pull off something amazing!
JESUS CHRIST I LOVED THIS MOVIE AS A KID! It's a complex narrative about not judging a book by its cover! you know there's a broken lovers story in there, the amount of lore you guys packed into that is amazing!
Sibling actually
Man I loved small soldiers. If they made a sequel I’d be all over it. This looked so good
Im shocked to this day no-one ever attempted to give the people a Small Soldiers animated series based off the in-universe Lore of the toys. This however just makes me wish and hope its greenlit cuz you mfing cooked with this ma dood!
Okay, I LOVE this as a concept. And I'll second what so many others have said; the character designs, the "feel" of the video, the emotion they convey despite their action figure aesthetics and lack of dialogue, it's all incredibly well done. And, am I nuts, or do some of the Space Elite actually *look* like characters from the original Commando Elite antagonist faction, just given a new sci-fi space military aesthetic?
And with maybe a gender swap or two thrown in there? Yeah, I can see it.
Suppose we will have to wait for a proper charecter dosier on all of them to get a better idea of exactly what is going on here, but damn if I am not intrigued by what I see.
I definitely recognized Nick Nitro and Link Static
I definitely saw Archer within Khadenn (Caden)'s Lieutenant when he tells him not to shoot through the glass
It definitely conveys an in-universe reboot for the original toy line.
I don't know if it was on purpose but I love the fact that some of the human toys kinda resemble the ones from the original movie. Loved every second of this. Awesome work from your entire team behind this.
Yes because follows the plot of the toys. You can see survivors becoming mechanized and the new ones are their
childs i think.
Yep I got hit with a wave of nostalgia as soon as I saw a couple of them. Might have to find the movie and watch it again.
Pretty sure that's Nick Nitro still, but injured and augmented for this new squad. This looks amazing!
Yeah, the guy on the right at the end looked familiar!
I recognized Nick
Man I just love how they move so creepily, especially Ray Razor. The most memorable thing of the film is how well they nailed the look of living action figures. I wished this was just a straight up sequel because this looks amazing.
are these characters from the OG film?
This is absolutely incredible! The character designs are great, the storytelling (even though their is no dialogue) shows a lot of promise! I really hope whatever this ends up being lives up to the hype of this video!
This is such a nice love-letter to the original series that I grew up with. Kudos to everyone on the team, I'm excited to see where it leads you all
OMG you absolutely MUST make this into a feature length. The team behind this is INSANELY talented, you can just tell and instantly understand how much effort was put into this. What do we need to do to get more of this? Tell us and we'll make it happen! ❤❤❤❤❤
Agreed! Excellent storytelling!
Says the guy going to fund it.
update coming soon: www.youtube.com/@SmallSoldierz
This was animated so well and the designs were fantastic. I was a bit sceptical at first but then I remembered this is how they would be designed in this day and age.
im rewatching small soldiers this instant, this movie gave me sooo much childhood memories and sparked my passion to start collecting things as a hobby and the reason why i came to love warhammer 40k
As a kid, I would watch Small Soldiers almost every day to keep me occupied - I know every line and every scene and even own the original VHS and video games. This really brings back a slew of memories and hits a special place in my heart - I really look forward to seeing how this progresses! Great job, seriously, well done.
While not every day, I sure as hell watched this movie a million times! Was definitely a powerful childhood memory
I've got the figures and still got my first ever dvd of small soldiers small soldiers is my favourite movie and i cant wait for this
94' baby!!! this and lion king was my favorite movie as a child